The Beacon Newsletter April 2024

This Month

Martha Lydia Circle: Monday, April 8 at 10:00 am

Trustees Meeting: Tuesday, April 9 at 5:30 pm 

Children's Ministry Meeting: Wednesday, April 10 at 6 pm

Council Meeting: Tuesday, April 23 at 6:00 pm

A Word from Rev. Snell

Dear Cedar Grove Friends:

There are signs of spring and new life all around us. On my way into work each day I’ve seen daffodils blooming along the side of the road, along with forsythia bushes. These are early markers of a changing season, and the promise of new life to come. I looked out in my back yard this morning and saw green grass starting to grow with vigor. Why did I think it was a good idea to put down fertilizer last month? Now I’ve got to fire up the lawnmower and cut this stuff.

These signs of new life and growth coincide with the Easter season now upon us. The dark days of winter have yielded to the growing light of spring, just as the grave has yielded to the power of our risen Lord. Easter Sunday at Cedar Grove last month was a joyous celebration of that Resurrection power. Worship was rich, it was nearly standing room only in the Fellowship Hall for refreshments afterward, and it was a delight to see all the children of the church with baskets and buckets overflowing with eggs from our Easter Egg Hunt.

If the abundance of eggs and candy gave the children joy, the abundance of folks in worship made me happy. We had 126 people in our Sanctuary on Easter Sunday, including a number of friendly faces I had not yet met. Kevin Roby does an excellent job counting worshipers, but it’s not just a number that he is counting every Sunday; each person present, wherever he or she is on the journey of discipleship, is part of the family of faith in that moment in time. Each person present is precious in the sight of the Lord. 

Growth in worship attendance is a marker of vitality in a congregation. Jesus’ Great Commission at the end of Matthew’s Gospel was to “Go therefore and make disciples …” Our task is to make more disciples, to increase the number of those who follow Jesus. A growing church is likely a church striving to be obedient to this command from our Lord. Because it is a vital marker, and because it is easily measured, worship attendance is one of the weekly statistics we track at Cedar Grove. We also track participation in various programs of the church, such as children and adult education, as well as attendance at Wednesday Night dinners. Because giving of our financial resources is part of our discipleship, we also keep an eye on the General Fund Offering on Sunday mornings. 

For those of you interested in the details of the worship attendance and giving data, those numbers are below. We have a few folks among us who love numbers, so this is my quarterly gift to those who revel in statistics. For the rest of you, you can ignore all the tables and charts below; just know that the state of the church in the first three months of 2024 is very strong. The bottom line is that worship attendance and giving are both up from this same point last year. 

If you can’t see the church’s strength in the numbers below this article, you can see it in the faces of the happy children above it. God has blessed Cedar Grove in many ways. I am grateful for how the Holy Spirit at this amazing church, and grateful to all of you for choosing to live into your discipleship journey here. 

See you all soon at Cedar Grove, friends. I’m so glad to be numbered among those who happily call this church home.

Peace,

A.B. Snell

Announcements

Playdate Drop-In — All are welcome to bring children 0-5 years old for Open Playtime in the Ministry Center Tuesdays from 9:30 am—11:30 am. See Pastor Faith for details.

Martha Lydia Circle — The Martha Lydia Circle will meet on Monday, April 8 at 10:00 am in the Parlor. All are welcome to join us!

Wednesday Night Dinners — Join us at 5:30 pm on Wednesday nights to fellowship and break bread together. Men’s and Women’s Bible Studies are open to all beginning at 6:30 pm. 

Men’s Bible Study — Wednesdays, at 6:30 pm. All men are welcome to join in a study of “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren. Contact Greg Witte (301-346-2385). 

Women’s Bible Study — Wednesdays at 6:30 pm. All women are welcome to join in a six week study of “He Speaks to Me: Preparing to Hear from God” by Priscilla Shirer. Contact Diana Seen (443-618-9759).

Annual Conference — Both our pastors and Lay Delegates Greg Witte and Mike Haas will be in Camp Hill, PA April 11-13 for the Northeast Annual Conference. Pray for the Holy Spirit to move mightily among the hundreds gathered there as an exciting new chapter in the life of the Global Methodist Church begins.

Sunday Worship Schedule

April 7 - Scripture: John 20-19-31 Preacher: Pastor Faith

April 14 - Scripture: 1 John 3:1-7 ~ Luke 24:36b-48 Preacher: Rev. Snell

April 21 - Scripture:1 John 3:16-24 ~ John 10:11-18 Preacher: Rev. Snell

April 28 - Scripture:1 John 4:7-21 ~ John 15:1-8 Preacher: Rev. Snell

May 5 - Scripture: 1 John 5:1-6 ~ John 15:9-17 Preacher: Rev. Snell

May 12 - Mother's Day Scripture: Acts 1:1-11 ~ Luke 24:44-53 Preacher: Pastor Faith

May 19 - Pentecost Scripture: Acts 2:1-21 ~ John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 Preacher: Rev. Snell

May 26 - Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8 ~ John 3:1-17 Preacher: Rev. Snell; Baptism of Zachary McDonald

Children & Youth Update by Pastor Faith Wilkerson

"Healing rain coming down." That is part of a song lyric by Christian recording artist, Michael W. Smith who perfomed at Wicomico Youth Arena last month. 

Hasn't this been a fitting song for the last weeks of rain? For some of our youth, it was their first concert. They enjoyed the praise and worship along with the adults who also attended.

Sunday Mornings at Cedar Grove

Following the children's message, our Junior Church is offered for preschool - middle school. Some of the best moments are when the older children play alongside our younger ones.

Interested in Children's Ministry? We have opportunities to serve on Sunday Mornings as well as the Summer camps and Vacation Bible School. Contact Pastor Faith for details.

Our Maundy Thursday worship service featured an intergenerational team of actors, readers and musicians. Several were from Lighthouse Fellowship a new church in St. Leonard.

Pictured left is Michael Rent and Lucy Swann delivering the perspective of the disiple, Matthew. 

Over Holy Week, youth helped prepare for our Egg Hunt hiding eggs for others. Fourteen children participted in the mid-week hunt on Tuesday, March 26. Seventeen participated on Sunday, March 31.

Mission Corner by Redeeming Hope

Hi Cedar Grove Family,

Thank you for your continued partnership with us as we are advancing the Gospel together in so many different ways. Jesus is so good and faithful to us, and I am eager to share how He is moving in our weakness and building His church through broken vessels like us.

Clarksville, TN - Redeeming Hope Church

We have seen consistent growth and movement in our Sunday Gatherings since the fall. We now have a solid core of mature, godly families who are investing in our church community and the advancement of the Gospel in Clarksville. We are so grateful!

One huge area of celebration is in our youth ministry. We started it with five or six teens meeting for breakfast over the summer, and now we have 20-25 youth attending each week. This is growing so much that we are looking for alternative spaces to meet!

We are seeing a majority of our members in weekly discipleship groups in addition to attending our Sunday services. This is huge. Please pray with us for the Lord to provide our church financial stability and a permanent facility in Clarksville.

Togo, Africa - Establishing Faculte Biblique Du Togo

Cedar Grove Church was a significant partner for a trip in August and September of 2023 to Togo. I was able to spend two weeks teaching a class on the Spiritual Disciplines. This class was four hours per night for two weeks and we had the incredible privilege to have mostly the same students as last year! This means that the pastors are staying in the program, which is a huge win for the seminary. A group of pastors have put into practice the last class I delivered on Discipleship, and they requested that I come back and lead a discipleship conference for area churches this summer. I was also able to meet and encourage the missionary teams on the ground during the days and preach at multiple churches.

Liverpool, England - Starting a Coaching Cohort

In addition to traveling to Togo, the Lord afforded an opportunity to travel to Liverpool, England to help establish a coaching cohort with pastors through an organization called AT3 (Alliance for Transatlantic Theological Training). This ministry sends interns to the UK to learn how to minister in post-Christian contexts, supports local churches in England, and also has intended to provide leadership coaching for pastors who are hosting those interns. However, the leadership coaching had yet to be developed, which is where the opportunity to partner arose. I wrote a leadership multiplication curriculum for the UK, went to Liverpool to recruit pastors into this cohort, and have been meeting with them monthly over Zoom for six months. This curriculum is going very well, and I was invited back to do a second cohort in 2024.

Thank You + Partnering Together to Continue the Work

We celebrate what God is doing through our partnership together. The Lord keeps opening doors and we keep seeing His faithfulness as we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Since Redeeming Hope is small and God has been providing additional opportunities to invest time into Togo and Liverpool, our family relies on the Lord through missionary support for the majority of my salary.

Please continue to pray for open doors, humility, faithfulness, and fruitfulness Cedar Grove, you are having a huge impact in Clarksville, Togo, England, and the world through your investment.

Thank you!

Josh Young

The Beacon Newsletter is a monthly publication of Cedar Grove Methodist Church in Deale, Maryland.