Open Steeple Newsletter
Job Opening
MECE Preschool and Kindergarten (a ministry of FUMC) is now accepting resumes for the Director’s position for the 2012-2013 school year. Requisites include: Director’s credential, administrative experience in a preschool, strong personal faith walk, QuickBooks and child care data base entry. MECE is gold seal accredited, serves 126 students and 20-24 staff members and operates Monday through Friday from 8:15am-2:00pm. Please email all resumes and credentials to Melissa Walls: mwalls@fumcbocaraton.orgor call 561-395-1244 x143 for any further questions.
February Mission Outreach - Blue Envelopes
Blue envelope giving in February is designated for Boca Helping Hands and Global Health Action.
The month of November 2011, Boca Helping Hands (BHH) handed our 2,751 pantry bags which was over 2,000 more than the previous year. People who previously donated food to the pantry are now in line to receive pantry bags. BHH continues serving lunch six days a week and a family dinner on Thursday night. They have also started a food distribution in the West Boca area.
Individuals are empowered to lead healthy lives through:
- Proper nutrition
- Preventative and primary health care initiatives
- Women's health and reproductive health
- Prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS.
- Prevention of domestic violence
- Income generation opportunities
- Rural development activities
Children are the primary beneficiaries of Global Health Action.
Our New Purpose
Dear Leaders (aka “Early Adopters”, aka “The 16 %”),
Happy New Year! Now that the Thanksgiving/Advent/Christmas rush is behind us for another year, I am excited about being able to focus more attention on our new mission/purpose of “making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world”. I want to let you know what we are doing so you can offer input and suggestions, and also help others begin to connect the dots as we move forward.
We are currently working on implementing our new purpose in four areas;
1. The New Testament Bible reading plan. We are encouraging all our members to begin reading their Bibles, focusing on the New Testament this year. Daily time with God is a critical component of becoming a Disciple of Jesus Christ. I urge you to join us as we read through the New Testament together.
2. The current sermon series, “Making Disciples…”We will be talking as clearly and compellingly as we know how, on both campuses, about what it means to be a true Disciple of Jesus. Our themes for the next four weeks are; Abiding, Obeying, Bearing Fruit, and Loving. Our Worship Team has created great banners to go along with each of those themes. We also will have videotaped personal testimonies from members of the church family to go along with each week’s theme. I hope you won’t miss a single Sunday of this foundational sermon series.
3. Wednesday Family Night Dinners. Starting on Wed., Feb 1st, we will have a twelve week series of Family Night Dinners. We will begin with a light meal from 6:00pm-7:00pm, followed by classes for all ages focusing on the theme of Discipleship. The two adult class options will be a Bible study led by Pastor Gary, and “Following Jesus” led by me and Vicki Blose. The “Following Jesus” option will be the new member’s class for those interested in joining our church, but will also be open to current members who want to explore what it means to be a Disciple. The Youth will also be using this curriculum, and this 12 week class will be the 2012 Youth Confirmation Class. Even our children will be getting in on the Discipleship training, through a Bible based program called “Pioneers Club”! And, of course, we will provide our usual outstanding nursery card for younger children and babies. More information will be coming - including how to sign up – so be watching for it; you do not want to miss this!
4. The church website. Our website < fumcbocaraton.org > is constantly evolving as we try to keep up with changes in technology, as well as the changes in our own church! As more and more people begin using the internet as their primary means of communication, it is essential that we have a web presence that accurately reflects who we are, and what God is doing here. If you have not logged onto our new “FUMC Connect” site and updated your profile – as I encouraged you to do in my last blog – I hope you will do that now. Just go to the website, fumcbocaraton.org, and click on “FUMC Connect” on the very top line of the home page. The instructions will take you from there.
As you can see, we are busy living into this new vision for our church. And this is just the beginning; we are already working on our Lenten sermon series, which will pick up on the second half of our purpose statement; “…for the transformation of the world.” I invite you, as an early adopter, to do two things; keep praying for our church as we continue on this adventure, and participate fully in the process of becoming a “Disciple of Jesus Christ” who is involved in the “transformation of the world.”
See you Sunday,
Ken
