Dear Church Family,

A few weeks ago I was sitting in an administrative council meeting when Todd Parker, our admin council chair, read the following words as part of his devotional for the evening: 

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1:2-3

This scripture passage has quickly become one that I have returned to time and time again, and my constant prayer has been that God would make this true in my life and in the life of our church family. Which is why I am excited about the season we are preparing to enter into. I believe this is going to be a season of great perseverance, resilience, and even growth for our community. I want to invite you to believe this with me, and to commit yourself to praying for our church as we do the hard work of deepening our faith and strengthening our ministry together. With that in mind, I want to tell you about two things I’ve been preparing that I think will help us charge into this new season with expectation and hope.

First, beginning Sunday, October 1st, I will preach a 5-part sermon series called “Cultivating Resilience: A Journey through the Book of James.” This series was inspired by the reading Todd shared a few weeks ago. I don’t often write sermon series so quickly, but I feel that God has an important word to share with us here, and I have been blessed to spend time studying the book of James more deeply in preparation for these sermons. I pray you’ll make an effort to join us in October, and consider inviting a friend as well. I believe a little more resilience is something we could all use these days! 

Second, also in October,I will offer a 5-week Bible study I am calling, “How to read the Bible.” Don’t let the title mislead you, this Bible study will have application for everyone, whether you’ve never picked up the Bible, or you’ve been reading it your whole life. Additionally, I’m going to offer the Bible study at two different times, Monday mornings @ 10am and Wednesday evenings at 6:30pm. It is my hope that with these offerings, we can make Bible study more accessible for our church community. If you’re interested in signing up, you don’t have to wait, you can do so by clicking this link: https://forms.gle/z14VPNgnR66iupjg6 

As you read through this newsletter, I hope you join me in celebrating the ways God has been at work in powerful ways here at Wrightsboro UMC. All the updates you’ll read here are testimonies to God’s faithfulness in every season. 

As we turn the page on all that has been, and prepare to experience all that will be, I’ll leave you with another scripture that’s been on my heart lately. I pray it blesses you as it has blessed me: 

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19

Grace and Peace, 

Pastor Angelo

MISSIONS AND OUTREACH

Free Yard Sale

On August 26 the Missions Committee held a giant "free" yard sale in the parking lot of the church. We served several hundred people with back to school clothes, household items, and even some furniture. One tent was dedicated to giving away new children's books along with frozen pops. Many wonderful volunteers turned out, including our Scouts, to make this event a great success. Thanks to everyone who helped.

Methodist Home for Children

WUMC very generously furnished 30 bookbags filled with school supplies to the children served locally by MHC. The Block's church, Trinity, financed another 25 through our church making a total of 55 delivered to MHC. Also WUMC sponsored a table of ten at the MHC Epicurean fundraiser at the Burney Center at UNCW. It was a wonderful evening with much money raised for the children.

Armenia Agape Boxes

We're filling one hundred shoeboxes for the children of Armenia with warm hats and gloves, school supplies, and toys. Thanks to the generosity of our congregation, we have almost reached our goal and will be filling them after the Homecoming meal Sept. 24. Everyone is invited to participate. Several members are filling boxes on their own and we expect to deliver approximately 125 to the MERCI warehouse in Goldsboro in early October.

Meals on Wheels

We continue to furnish a hot meal to approximately 40 shut-ins in our community the first Saturday of each month. This is such a blessing to these people and also to those in the church who prepare the meals. If this is a ministry that touches your heart please consider volunteering. We also take home baked cookies to the fire department on a regular basis and can always use bakers.

Wrightsboro Elementary

Hand in Hand and Snack Buddies are active committees in our church; serving the teachers and children of Wrightsboro Elementary School. You might not hear a lot about this committee but they work hard and are dedicated to lifting the spirits of the staff and making sure no child is hungry.

Christmas Extravaganza

This is a tremendous ministry for families who are struggling and many volunteers are needed. It will be held Dec. 2. Santa will be here with gifts and candy canes for the children. They will have breakfast with him and then be taken to an area to Christmas shop for their parents. Their gifts will be wrapped, topped with a bow and ready to put under the tree. Parents are welcome for breakfast and to shop for new toys and clothes for their family.



Please consider coming out to help and get your Christmas spirit going! The night before we will be setting up, having pizza and fellowshipping while getting ready to bring joy to the community. Join us!!

YOUTH GROUP

The Youth meet on Sundays at 5:30pm in the Education Building. Youth in 6th grade through 12th grade are invited to attend. If you have any questions, email Pastor Angelo at angelo@wrightsboroumc.org and we will set up a time to chat!

WRIGHTSBORO UNITED WOMEN IN FAITH

The WUMW meets on the third Thursday of the month. Our next meeting will be Thursday September 21 at 10am in the Wrightsboro UMC Fellowship Hall. At this meeting we will be planning our Brunch and Secret Sister Reveal. Also we will be discussing the possibility of making hygiene kits for the homeless. All women are invited to attend this meeting.

After taking a break for the summer in August we spearheaded an effort to provide the Wrightsboro Elementary School Staff with baked goods to welcome them back to school. Thanks to all who baked and provided food items, the staff was most appreciative. At our August meeting we assembled a 3 tier candy bar cake and a candy bar bouquet which were donated to the Epicurean Evening (a fundraiser for the Methodist Home for Children) silent auction. We also contributed items for the backpacks that Missions assembled for the Methodist Home for Children and donated all 100 colored pencil boxes and 56 boxes of colored markers for the Agape Shoeboxes for Armenia.

For questions and further information contact Eva Czepiel lefty1210@atmc.net

Wrightsboro Children’s Ministry Updates

VBS- READY, SET, MOVE

This year's VBS was a huge success. We had over 40 kids, youth, and adults come through our doors to learn about and experience God’s love. The Wrightsboro Kids Ministry would like to say thank you to all those who gave to our cause and/or volunteered their time to make this annual event happen. God’s love certainly moved through this special week. Kids made waves by donating toys for our Christmas Extravaganza mission, learning and memorizing scriptures, and making friendships with one another! It's been a great week and we are so thankful for our church family who made it happen. Join us as we continue to pray for the Holy Spirit to work in these children’s hearts and to grow their faith in Jesus. We look forward to next year’s VBS. 

BACK TO SCHOOL SUNDAY & BIBLES

On Sunday August 20th during our 10am service we had a back to school prayer for all the students and teachers that were returning to school in the Fall. We invited the kids and school support staff to bring their book (or work) bags to service with them so that we could lay hands on them and offer up a special prayer to send them into this new school year. Each participant (and many others) received a keychain to put on their bag to remind them of God’s and Wrightsboro UMC’s love for them. 

In addition, a few of our children received Bibles. 

• Rosemary Clarke- Kindergarten
• Amelia Sanchez- 3rd Grade
• Benjamin Shoaf- 3rd Grade
• Benjamin Fisk- 3rd Grade
• Johnathan Durst- 3rd Grade

Children’s Church

Children’s Church is currently being offered for ages 4 years through 5th grade during 10:00am worship. The Nursery is now open to kids 3 and under. Children are now being checked in to Children’s wing before the service. Upon arrival they are checked in on our ipad and given a Name Tag. Parents are asked to promptly come pick up their children after the service. 

During this time the Children will have fun singing songs, hearing a Bible lesson, doing age-appropriate games, crafts, and playing in different stations. For our families who worship from home, GO! Provides us with a Parent Portal which you can access here. The Parent Portal provides access to the weekly video we use with our lesson. This GO+ video platform features the “Journey Today Show.” Join the JTS crew in this fun-filled show uniquely designed to be an interactive experience that leads kids towards faith in Jesus. With built in Bible reading and discussion, each episode has as much learning as laughter. It’s a hilarious way to help kids learn and grow whether at church, at home, or on the go, the kids in children’s church have truly enjoyed it so far. Again we are so excited to be expanding our children’s ministry and we pray that these new resources will help our families connect deeper to each other and their faith. 

If you have any questions regarding our Children’s Ministry or would like to volunteer in any way please reach out to Hannah.

UPCOMING EVENTS



10/29- Annual Trunk-or-Treat- for more information see announcement 

TRUNK or TREAT NEEDS YOU!!!!

This year's Trunk or Treat will be held Sunday October 29th from 4-6p. Are you creative? Do you love Halloween? Do you like giving out prizes?... Volunteer to Decorate a Trunk! You can decorate your trunk yourself or we do have some decorations available to help you, if needed. Our goal is to have at least 10 cars. 

If you are unable to decorate your trunk but would like to help we do need donations. This year we will be taking donations of CANDY (of course), also individual snack packs (ie chips, snack bars without nuts, etc), and small little toys (stickers, spider rings, etc). If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to Hannah.

UNITED METHODIST MEN

The UM Men will be meeting on Sunday, October 8th at 8:00am in the Fellowship Hall. Everyone is invited to join them for breakfast.

CRAFTY FRIDAY

Crafty Friday meets Fridays at 9:30AM. We do a variety of projects throughout the year

and are currently making crayon box mummies for the Wrightsboro Elementary School

Staff. Our most recent projects were sewing 50 cell phone and tablet pillows and

making 50 keychain bracelets which we are donating to the Christmas Extravaganza.

Once the mummy project is completed we are considering doing some poured paint

vases and starting a Christmas project for the Wrightsboro Elementary School Staff.

Please Join us! You don’t have to be crafty and you can bring your own project as it is as

much about the fellowship as it is about the project.