REMINDER

Sunday, February 27th is Transfiguration Sunday

10:00am - Family Worship Service

11:00am - Fellowship Hour

Church Office will be closed Monday, February 21st

for President's Day

Our students will be collecting donations during the month of February benefitting Interfaith Food Pantry.

You may donate money or food.

Look for our soup pot in the sanctuary!

Membership Sunday is April 17th (Easter)



There will be three classes for new members on Sunday February 27th, March 13th and April 3rd at 11:30 in the Fellowship Hall. If you’d like to become a member of the church, please contact Lisa in the office at church@umcmadison.org or 973-377-1231.

DAILY LECTIONARY READINGS - YEAR C

• Monday, February 21, 2022: Psalm 38; Genesis 33:1-17; 1 Corinthians 11:2-16
• Tuesday, February 22, 2022: Psalm 38; 1 Samuel 24:1-22; 1 Corinthians 11:17-22, 27-33
• Wednesday, February 23, 2022: Psalm 38; Leviticus 5:1-13; Luke 17:1-4
• Thursday, February 24, 2022: Psalm 99; Deuteronomy 9:1-5; Acts 3:11-16
• Friday, February 25, 2022: Psalm 99; Deuteronomy 9:6-14; Acts 10:1-8
• Saturday, February 26, 2022: Psalm 99; Deuteronomy 9:15-24; Luke 10:21-24

Attribution: Prayers for Reconciliation (after WWII Bombings), from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=59144 [retrieved February 18, 2022]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reconciliation_Church_of_Dresden_97265915.jpg.

Dear friends of the United Methodist Church in Madison,

Thank you for your continued faithful commitment to the United Methodist Church in Madison!

As we celebrate our congregation’s 150th Anniversary, we want to share the exciting ways that God has been moving in 2021 with the help of your generosity, as well as our anticipated opportunities and challenges going into 2022.

Here are just a few of the things God has done through UMC Madison this year:

• We are reaching more families as we have seen tremendous growth from 3 students to 45 students at preschool/Daycare Acorn Academy as it reopened under the church’s ownership in the pandemic (formerly owned by Drew University).
• We have welcomed two new international staff people: Student Assistant Pastor Woo Lim Kwak and Student Intern Domingos Francisco Fernando. These students are gaining valuable experience that will serve them in ministry for years to come in the US and beyond.
• We have supported our neighbors through collecting coats and thousands of diapers, and we continue to support the efforts of the Interfaith Food Pantry of Morris County.
• We have welcomed students from Drew University who are participating in the life of the church, including our new ‘Oikos’ program. ‘Oikos’ creates a welcoming space for the international student community and our congregants to share about their culture, language, and traditions of origin and provides a learning space for all to grow together.
• We have baptized 3 little ones into our faith community and we anticipate welcoming 15 new members to the UMC Madison in spring 2022.
• We have received over $100,000 of financial support through federal, state, and GNJ conference grants to sustain Acorn Academy through the pandemic, install a state-of-the-art security system for the church building, and begin a preschool tuition assistance program for international families at Drew University.

Even in the midst of a world-wide health crisis, God is doing great things! And all of these opportunities are possible because of your generous and faithful support through financial giving, volunteering, and prayer.

As we begin 2022, we will also be facing some challenges. Due to the pandemic, organizations that were renting building space from the church have not renewed their rental contracts. We will need to evaluate our budget and our mission going forward. In monthly meetings, the Church Council will assess our vision and mission for how to expand our impact and build missional partnerships with the church conference, our community, and Drew University in light of these new realities. The Trustees are in the process of evaluating our church properties to determine their best use. As we determine giving contributions for 2022, the Finance Committee will re-evaluate our expenses and make recommendations to the Church Council and SPRC for how to bring our expenses into greater alignment with our current financial realities and individual contributions.

In all of this, we invite you to prayerfully consider your contribution to our church in 2021 and help us close out our 150th Anniversary year strong. We would like to continue the vital work of the church in our community, even as we face present challenges.

Your donations can be given in one of three ways:

• MAIL: 24 Madison Ave, Madison NJ 07940
• WEBSITE: www.umcmadison.org/give
• TEXT: ‘Give’ to 973-834-8658

We believe that the Spirit of God is leading us into a new and exciting season of ministry here at UMC Madison. We urge you to consider being a part of it!

Noreen O’Brien, Finance Committee Chairperson

Rev. Kate Hillis, Lead Pastor

Due to the uptick in Covid cases, we will not be serving food or drink during Fellowship Hour to protect our friends and neighbors.

Oikos will meet Sunday, February 27th at 4pm in the library.

See you there!

A FUNDRAISER FROM OUR FRIENDS AT FAMILY PROMISE

We will be helping with Family Promise the week of February 20th, mainly through donations of gift cards to support the families. Please follow the link below to donate online through St. Vincent's website. Thanks as always for your support!

Family Promise Host Week Donation

Dear Family Promise friends,

Thank you for your past support and interest in the Family Promise program. As you probably know UMC Madison has been supporting St. Vincent's Church in a non-contact manner while the guests have been sheltered in motel suites during the pandemic. I'm making a special appeal to some of our past volunteers and supporters to please consider making a donation for our week of support which begins on February 20.

Donations for purchase of gift cards for meals, groceries, gas and internet minutes can be made at the St. Vincent's website, which is svmnj.org. Go to the "Serve" tab, under which you will see Family Promise Host Week donations.

In addition if you are able to donate any of the following "Wish List" items for the families in the Motel Program, it would be appreciated:

Stocking the refrigerator

Laundry soap and dryer sheets

Entertainment for the children (games, books, etc.)

Full size toiletries (like in the past)

The following items would be helpful for when the families move into their new homes:

• plastic dish drying racks
• mop
• broom/dustpan
• bucket
• 2-slice toaster
• 5-cup coffee maker
• door mats (outdoor)
• kitchen mats
• bathroom mat/rug (gray blue beige)
• towels (gray blue beige)

Regarding the support there are three options: Shoprite cards (or funds for such), automobile expenses (gas cards to get to jobs and appointments, funds for repairs), and case management costs for post-graduation support.

Grocery cards and auto expense support are great for families during their time in shelter, which is short-term. However, in thinking about longer-term support, case management for families once they are on their own is crucial and an especially important part of the equation in keeping families stable, living independently, and essential to prevent families from circling back to a situation of homelessness.

The FP social workers have been doing extensive case management in response to the COVID pandemic in addition to their usual shelter case work, as many families have lost their homes due to job loss and from needing to be home for virtual school for the children last year. Because of this, the need for extra support for all of the families from our social workers is at an all-time high.

We thank you so much for your consideration. Please call or email me with any questions.

Peace,

Laurie Hagerich (973-377-9407)

Acorn Academy is hiring! When we say this is a great place to start, we’re not just talking about children preparing for elementary school. It’s also about our employees. When you join our staff, you’ll discover the joy of learning, as you grow and develop in your career, alongside the children in your care. As you inspire them to achieve, you’ll be inventing your future too.

-Competitive wages

-Health Insurance offered

-Supportive, working environment

Email Kareena Salo, Director of Acorn Academy: 

KSalo@acornacademyofmadison.com

Acorn is collecting helpful educational books for their staff library. Helpful topics include: Classroom management, social emotional teaching strategies, nutrition in early childhood, etc. Please donate these materials so that we can build the staff library at Acorn.



Thank you

Acorn is looking for volunteers to come and read to the children in another language during “Read Across America Week” 2/28-3/4/2022. Please contact Kareena if interested ksalo@acornacademyofmadison.com or call (973) 520-8889

Thank you!

Church Office Hours

REMINDER: Office will be closed on Feb 21 for President's Day



Monday - Friday

9:00am - 3pm

If you have any news or announcements you would like to go into this weekly email, please contact Lisa in the church office at

 973-377-1231 or church@umcmadison.org