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Upcoming
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Family Fun Night every Sunday!
Ash Wednesday @ 7pm
March 5th
New Sermon Series - Faith fit
March 10th
Messenger's Choir @ Valencia HS, 4:30pm
March 11th
Goodwill Truck - from 9am - 12pm
Save the Date!
April 9th
Psalm Sunday
April 13th
Good Friday
April 16th
EASTER!
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Ministry Links
to Website
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Birthdays
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Pam McPhee
3/1
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Paul Van Leuven
3/1
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Karin Kelly
3/1
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Debbie Gonsalves
3/1
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Rebecca Heinisch
3/1
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Ken Kreyenhagen
3/5
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Jamie Swartz
3/5
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Laurie Farmer
3/7
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Lyndsey Aponik
3/7
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KerrySue Thompson
3/24
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Melissa MacKinnon
3/24
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Barbara Forletta
3/26
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Laura Erickson
3/26
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Jane Wells
3/29
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Jim Wohlfarth
3/31
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Brian Napoli
3/31
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Charity Dell
3/31
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Letter From the Pastor
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Upcoming Events & Sermon Series
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We give thanks for our new elected Team Leaders. More...
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Update From Board of Trustees
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As our Campus ages we find more...
More...
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Small World Preschool Update
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 Find out what's happening in
Maturing Ministries,
COSROW, and
Hospitality Committee.
More...
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Letter from Pastor Melissa
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Dear Beloved Community,
First, we celebrate the nine new members who joined on Sunday, Feb. 12. It was a great time of growing in our life in Christ together.
Second, we are entering a time where we get to focus on our following Christ and discipleship. Many of you have Fit Bits or devices that help you track your physical fitness. I love how when I am in a meeting or at a baseball game and someone looks down at their device and says, "Oh I almost made all my steps today!" or "I better get moving I am so far behind in my steps!" Our time of Lent is almost like one of those devices. Lent helps us to focus on growing in our faith. It puts into place practices that help us connect to God and deepen our faith. Lent is our Faith Fit time.
Lent is one of the oldest seasons in our church calendar. It is a season of self-examination and turning our eyes to Jesus. The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD developed the idea of a time for the church of fasting and self-examination called Lent where forty day of preparations for Easter. Previously there may have been a short time of preparation of a few days of fasting before Easter, like our Holy Week today. The forty days of preparation starting with Ash Wednesday and not counting Sundays came from the forty days Jesus was in the wilderness as told in Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13. The reason we don't count Sundays is because those are days we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, like "little Easters".
Over the years the observance of Lent has changed and many ways of observing Lent have emerged beyond just fasting and giving up items in our life. In fact adding something thing has become popular. Like adding a spiritual practice or adding a service to others helps us prepare our hearts for the celebration of Easter. What are those spiritual practices that help us be Faith Fit? The new sermon series, Faith Fit, starting on March 5, will help us discover new practices, or recover spiritual practices that help us grow spiritually so we can be Faith Fit.
Faith Fit Sermon Series
The First Sunday of Lent, March 5: Faith Fit Relationships
The Second Sunday of Lent: March 12: A Life of Worship
The Third Sunday of Lent: March 19: A Life of Hospitality
The Fourth Sunday of Lent: March 26: A Life of Opening to Jesus
The Fifth Sunday of Lent: April 2: A Life of Service
And third, we give thanks for our newly elected Team Leaders (see the list in the CR). Pray for them and their teams each day as they lead our congregation and partner with each of us in the mission of making disciples for the transformation of the world. In addition to agreeing to be our leaders, they voted in a Membership Covenant to live out their own discipleship. They agreed to live out their Membership Vows; prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness in a specific way for the coming year. Listed below is how they will live out their Membership Vows. The Membership Covenant is a resource from Excellence in Ministry Coaching, emc3.
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Prayers
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Opening to Jesus/
Obeying Jesus
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Participate regularly in a small discipleship group or other accountable discipling relationship.
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Presence
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A Life of Worship
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Participate in weekly worship at least 3 weekends each month unless prevented by illness or travel.
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Gifts
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A Life of Generosity
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Commit to proportional giving to the ministries of this congregation and to moving toward a tithe.
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Service
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A Life of Service
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Serve in some way in the local community (beyond the walls of the church) each month.
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Witness
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A Life of Hospitality
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Invite someone to come with me to church/events at least three times per year and build at least three relationships outside the church to witness the love of Christ
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Looking forward to sharing a meaningful Lent with you,
Pastor Melissa
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Family Fun Night!
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Weekly
5:00 pm for Dinner
6:00 pm for Groups!
Men's, Women's,
Youth & Children's Groups
Come for a free dinner at 5 (this week prepared by our Women's group)and stay for groups at 6. Child care is available for our little ones under the age of three years. Meetings will be March 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th, and April 9th & 23rd. No Meetings April 2nd, 16th, 30th and the month of May.
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Upcoming Events & Sermon Series
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Many of you have Fit Bits or devices that help you track your physical fitness. I love how when I am in a meeting or at a baseball game and someone looks down at their device and says, "Oh I almost made all my steps today!" or "I better get moving I am so far behind in my steps!" Our time of Lent is almost like one of those devices. Lent helps us to focus on growing in our faith. It puts into place practices that help us connect to God and deepen our faith. Lent is our Faith Fit time.
Lent is one of the oldest seasons in our church calendar. It is a season of self-examination and turning our eyes to Jesus.
Over the years the observance of Lent has changed and many ways of observing Lent have emerged beyond just fasting and giving up items in our life. In fact adding something thing has become popular. Like adding a spiritual practice or adding a service to others helps us prepare our hearts for the celebration of Easter. What are those spiritual practices that help us be Faith Fit? The new sermon series starting on the first Sunday of Lent will help us discover new practices, or recover spiritual practices that help us grow spiritually so we can be faith fit.
The First Sunday of Lent, March 5: Faith Fit Relationships
The Second Sunday of Lent: March 12: A Life of Worship
The Third Sunday of Lent: March 19: A Life of Hospitality
The Fourth Sunday of Lent: March 26: A Life of Opening to Jesus
The Fifth Sunday of Lent: April 2: A Life of Service
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2017 Team Leaders
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Giving Thanks for our 2017 Team Leaders
We give thanks for our new elected Team Leaders. I ask that you pray for them and their teams each day as they help lead our congregation and partner with each of us in the mission of making disciples for the transformation of the world.
Church Council Team Leader - Mark Hershey
Lay Leader - Keir Karzin
Worship Team Leader - Scott Mocha
Children's Ministry Team Leaders - Kari Beattie & Carrie McPhee
Mission and Outreach Team Leaders - Chuck Everhart & Candy Holsenbeck-Smith
Finance Team Leader - Jenk Stephenson
Treasurer - Jim Schmitt
Finance Secretary - Tricia Welsh
Trustee Team Leader - Keith Paul
Staff Parish Relations Team Leader - Patty Conwell
Commission on the Status and Role of Women - Candy Holsenbeck-Smith & Marsha
Gilpin
Hospitality Team Leaders - Jane Wood & Joy Metzger
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Update from Board of Trustees
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As our Campus ages we find more and more areas that require maintenance. During the Christmas period we had to spend approximately $5000 to fix a water leak that was wasting 3000 gallons per day of precious California water. In the last month we have had to address 5 areas that leaked water from the most recent rainfalls into our facilities.
Each month we hold workdays on the first and third Saturday mornings. We always need more help to work on routine maintenance activities. Weather permitting we paint, change bulbs, change fluorescent tubes, fix leaks, escort pest spraying services, fix sprinklers and many other activities. In the next few months in addition we will be removing some dying trees, installing web cameras and extending our WiFi system.
If you would like to help please come along on first and third Saturdays - if you would like to learn how to do these activities we will pair you with an experienced handyman. We start at 8:00 but feel free to come by later and help for 2-3 hours - or whatever time you can afford.
We appreciate any time and help you can afford!
- Keith Paul
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Small World Preschool Update
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February was a month full of hearts! The children of Small World enjoyed many activities around the theme of Valentines Days. They showed their love for their families by creating "Love Bugs" and "Puppy Love dogs". A favorite celebration was exchanging Valentines with their classmates and teachers! The month of February also brought the discussion of Presidents. The children heard stories about the dogs of the Presidents. Some classrooms explored our currency to discover the presidents pictured on money. One child said, "The President is the boss and makes the rules." In March we look forward to celebrating Spring and everything green!
- Michelle Moyer
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What's Happening
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Maturing Ministries - M & M 's 
The "Seniors" meet on Fridays on March 10th and 24th. On the 10th we will celebrate birthdays and St. Patrick's Day! The program starts at 10 am and we end with lunch around 11:30. On the 24th we will talk about "Spring".
Out To Lunch Bunch - Friday the 3rd at Olive Garden at 12:30. All women invited and a good time is always enjoyed by everyone.
Hospitality Committee will meet the 8th of March at 7 pm in the conference room. We will discuss discipleship and how we on Hospitality can improve our role in the church. We wood love for families to sign up for greeting on Sunday mornings! The sign up calendar is on the little in the Church narthex. Thank you.
The Tuesday Joyful Bible Study will be starting the Lenten study "Foundations" Tuesday March 14th. Workbooks are available in the office for $12.00. All women are invited to a very "Joyful" time at 9:30 until we quit talking! This study will take us through the 40 days of Lent.
COSROW
Save the date -
Women's Retreat
will be September 15-17, 2017.
Our focus will be the Bible in hymns and we want you to help us plan. Make a reservation early and tell us your favorite hymn. After consideration of changing our location, there were more people who wanted to keep it at Aldersgate than wanted to move it. If you have any questions, let us know. We would like to have your reservations even if you can't make a payment right now. Let us help you work out a plan.
Mother, Daughter and Friends Tea will be May 13, 2017
Watch for more information. We want all of the women and girls in the church to be a part of this special event.
Join our Noon Bible study.
All adults, regardless of age are invited to join our class. We begin gathering about 11:30 for fellowship in the Fireside Room and start our study time 10 minutes after the 11:00 Service ends. During Lent we will start with a movie about Dietrich Bonhoeffer on March 5. March 12 we will begin our study written by Will Willimon, a Bishop in the UMC and a professor at Duke University. Spirituality will be the theme of our books for the Spring. Do you want to know more about the Trinity? Come and explore with us.
Outreach
The Winter Shelter run by Bridge to Home needs our help. Each night during the Winter season the shelter serves meals to the homeless in our community. March 3rd, 4th, and 5th our church has volunteered to provide the food. We still have several openings for volunteers. This Sunday will be the last Sunday to sign up before the March 3rd. Weekend. Signups will be available between services or click the link in this week's email blast.
For further information contact Chuck Everhart @ 805-229-7689
Upcoming Dates for Family Promise
May 28-June 4, 2017
July 30-August 6, 2017
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J.A.M. Club
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Happy March! We have been having so much fun in Sunday School learning about our faith. Our Unit for March is Jesus Shows Love. Our focus stories are Jesus Shows Love to Ten Lepers; Jesus Shows Love to Zacchaeus; Jesus Shows Love at the Last Supper; and Jesus Shows Love in the Garden. In my opinion our kids are learning something way more important than eschatology* (Love, Justice, Peace, how to be a Christ follower) AND we are making it fun for them to learn.
Our curriculum is easy to teach and the kids love it. We would love more teachers and helpers for Sunday Morning and Sunday Night. We are in the process of starting a Tweens class for our 5th and 6th graders. There is a place for everyone, and the commitment can be as little as once a month.
Parents, I have homework for you. We are going to be going back to basics with our children. We are reintroducing the Lord's prayer this month, followed by the Apostles Creed and much more. Please help us to help the kids put these words in their hearts.
- Kristi Smith
Vacation Bible School
June 26th - June 30th
from 9am - 12:30pm
At Santa Clarita United Methodist Church's VBS Hero Central, your students will enjoy an interactive, energizing, Bible-based good time as they discover their strength in God. They will become Heroes and explore how to serve God and God's mission for their lives.
or in the church office.
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Youth Ministries
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Goodwill Truck
The Goodwill truck will be returning on Saturday, March 11th from 9am-12pm!
Tell your friends, neighbors, family members, and people you see moving around you! Donations can be made the day of the event, or any time before then. No large furniture or large electronics are able to be accepted.
All donations are tax-deductible!
Contact Brandon for more details, and help support our Santa Clarita UMC youth by donating your old stuff!
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