Welcome to The Communicator, your weekly guide to the life at Sardis.

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

December 24: Christmas Eve Services

Invite your family and friends to join us in celebrating the birth of our Savior on Christmas Eve. We will have the following services:

  • 5:00 p.m. Contemporary Family Service in the Fellowship Hall
  • 7:00 p.m. Traditional Candlelight Service in the Sanctuary
  • 9:00 p.m. Traditional Candlelight & Communion Service in the Sanctuary
This Week at Sardis
This Sunday's 9:00 Playlist
Sardis' Advent Playlist
9:00 Worship All Time Playlist

December 23: Christmas Movie Night Moved Indoors!

All are welcome to join us in the Sardis House for a double feature Christmas Movie Night on Friday, December 23 at 5:30 p.m. We’ll start with “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and then watch “Elf”. Bring a dinner for your family. We’ll provide a dessert. RSVP to Sarah Dianne Jones. Don’t forget to invite your friends to join you!

December 25: Christmas Day Service

On Sunday, December 25 we will have one worship service at 11:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary. There will be no Sunday School.

Registration Deadline for Preschool Families Noon Year's Eve Party

Preschoolers and their families are invited to come ring in 2023 with crafts, cookies, party hats, and more fun! Join us on Saturday, December 31 at 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. for our first Noon Year's Eve Party! There is no cost, but please click here to register your family by December 26.

Church Office Closed December 26 & 27

The church office will be closed on Monday, December 26 and Tuesday, December 27 in observance of Christmas. If you have a pastoral emergency like a hospitalization or death, please call 704.366.1854 and press 3 to reach the pastor on call. 

Opportunities to Serve

Last Day for the Alternative Gift Market!

 Visit our website for more information and to make your donations, or download the 2022 catalog and order form. You may also pick-up a copy of the catalog and order form in the Gathering Place and Narthex on Sundays (through December 21).

The Final Days of the Reverse Advent Calendar

Download the 2022 Reverse Advent Calendar here. Drop-off donation items in the new Missions Corner blue donation shelves in the Gathering Place by January 8, 2023.

Room In The Inn Neighbors Need You

Updates from Roof Above indicate that neighbors are being turned away each evening due to the lack of beds and hosts. Room In The Inn is such an important and meaningful community outreach as it provides a warm and safe place for our neighbors to sleep through these cold winter nights. We will be hosting our neighbors each Sunday and Wednesday night, January - May. We hope you will help us welcome our neighbors with warm, made beds, warm dinners, and lunches to-go. To explore opportunities to get involved with this ministry and sign-up to volunteer click here.

9:00 Worship AV Volunteer Sign-ups Open

We are looking for volunteers to join the AV and tech team for our 9:00 Contemporary Worship service. We need one volunteer each Sunday to help advance slides and assist with other easy AV and tech support tasks. Our Technical Arts Coordinator, John Nipe, will provide instructions and training. Click here to sign-up for a Sunday (or two)! 

Volunteer in the Nursery

The nursery is open for both the 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. worship services and we need your help to keep it running smoothly! We're so excited about our new nursery location, the former Resource Room next to the Adult Library, and hope that you'll check it out! Sign up to volunteer here! Contact Sarah Dianne Jones with any questions. 

Church Life News & Announcements

Advent Devotional Week 4

This week, you are encouraged to be the light as you pray over and read through Matthew 5:1-48, and reflect on those words with the reflection questions. View this week's devotional pages here. Engage with the first week of the Reverse Advent Calendar and listen to this week's Traditional and Contemporary songs.


Our Advent artwork this week is Light by Hannah Garrity | Sanctified Art.

The Chrismon Tree

If you'd like to learn more about what each ornament on the tree means, you can view our Chrismons and Their Meanings booklet here, or pick up a copy in the Narthex.

Volunteer Usher Pool A Success

The Worship Ministry wishes to

thank each member who volunteered to

be a part of our usher pool this past year.

We’re blessed to have this additional

coverage when needed. The average for

assistance was only two times per

volunteer over the last 58 Sundays, which means the Ministries do a good job

in providing ushers weekly. If you would like to join our pool and help when you are available, please sign up here or contact Coddy Coddington.

Our Church Family

Congratulations: to Virginia Harris Norton and Kyle Norton upon the birth of their son, David Harris Norton. The grandparents are Ruth and Brett Harris.



Your church family wants to pray for you. If you have a procedure or are in the hospital, please let the church office know so we can, as a church family, be praying your healing.

Coming Soon

New Year's Day Worship & Brunch

Join us for brunch and worship on New Year's Day! Brunch, provided by Dahlia Grove, will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Fellowship Hall. Brunch will be a full, hot breakfast and delicious! We will take up a love offering to benefit Dahlia Grove and cover the cost of the food. There will be one worship service at 11:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall. During worship we will explore the Scripture passage Matthew 25:35-45. Epiphanies for the New Year. All are welcome. Invite a friend!

Registration Open for the 2023 Women's Retreat

The 2023 Sardis Women's Retreat will be February 17 -19 at William Black Lodge in Montreat, NC. We will be led by Rev. Martha Kearse, Senior Pastor at Peakland Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA. Our Contemporary Worship Leader, Beth Williams, will be leading the music for the weekend. Registrations are now open! Click here to register.  

Save the Date: Friends Empowering Haiti Fundraiser

Friends Empowering Haiti was founded 30 years ago as a result of the strong relationships formed between missionaries in the U.S. and local leaders in Bayonnais, Haiti. Their mission has been to share God’s love and to support locally-led efforts to create healthy, hopeful and empowered communities throughout Bayonnais.


On Thursday, March 9, there will be a 30th year celebration with delicious food, drinks, a silent auction, and Actionnel Fleurisma, (founder of ), as the guest speaker. Please mark your calendars for this special event, invitation to follow. For more information, please contact Betsy Liles, fundraising chair.

Click here to explore our church calendar and see all the meetings and events coming up at Sardis. Don't forget to add anything of interest to your calendar!

Opportunities to Share & Updates

Talk to Your Tax Professional Now About Giving Strategies

The last several years have brought changes to the way your generous giving affects your tax return. You may want to consider talking to your tax professional about the following giving strategies:

  • Prepay your 2023 Pledge: If you paid your 2022 pledge this calendar year, you might want to consider prepaying your 2023 pledge. “Stacking” your charitable giving may help you get over the new standard deduction thresholds.
  • Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs): If you are 70½ or older, you can make a direct transfer from your IRA to Sardis. Giving a QCD also goes toward satisfying your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD). The non‐deductible gift provides a benefit in that your adjusted gross income (AGI) would be lowered.
  • Above the line deduction: The CARES Act permits eligible individuals who do not itemize deductions to deduct $300 of qualified charitable contributions as an "above-the-line" deduction, i.e., as an adjustment in determining adjusted gross income (AGI), for tax years beginning in 2020.



Year-End Giving

Thank you for your continued support of Sardis. Many have given generously this year and fulfilled your 2022 pledges, and for that, we are deeply grateful. However, between now and the end of the year, Sardis needs $154,336 of yet-to-be fulfilled pledges for our operating budget to end the year whole. You can complete your pledge by...

  • Making a secure online contribution at sardis.org/giving (or through your ChurchLife app)
  • Sending payment through your bank
  • Placing an offering during worship this Sunday
  • Texting 'Sardis' + Amount to 73256 

 

To be deductible in 2022, your gift must be received or postmarked prior to midnight on Dec. 31. Director of Operations, Art Kite will be available at the church office from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. on December 30. For questions, including instructions for making a stock gift, please contact Art Kite (704.366.1854 ext 204). Sardis and those we serve are grateful for your continued support.

Will You Make an Impact?

During the stewardship season, we are asked to consider our contributions to the church’s annual operating budget for next year. It takes significant resources to fund day-to-day operations—not just keeping the lights on but supporting our staff, our families and fulfilling promises we have made to our mission partners both in the city and around the world. As of today, we have received 237 pledges totaling $1,382,020 which is just 90% of our goal of $1,529,000. You can help by returning a pledge card in the offering plate on Sunday or making a pledge online by clicking here!

Amazon Smile Gives Back to Sardis

Support Sardis by starting your shopping for gifts or everyday household items at smile.amazon.com.

  • Amazon will donate 0.5% of eligible purchases to Sardis Presbyterian Church whenever you shop on AmazonSmile.
  • AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Use your existing Amazon account.
  • When you enter Sardis Presbyterian Church on your first visit to smile.amazon.com, don’t let the incorporation year puzzle you! While Sardis was founded in 1790, we were incorporated in 1984, so you’ll see that date associated with AmazonSmile.
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