Graduate Recognition Sunday & Blessing of the Keys
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” ~Proverbs 3:5
With springtime comes the rite of passage found in graduation. A road of hard work and perseverance are rewarded. On Sunday, June 3 during our 8:30 and 10 a.m. worship services we invite you to honor those graduating from high school and college. Click here to submit a Graduate Recognition Announcement! During worship service we will also be hosting a Blessing of the Keys to mark the great milestone and responsibility as many teens earn their driver’s licenses.
Questions? Please contact Sue Nesbitt, associate for youth discipleship.
Please note: So that we can provide recognition to graduates, kindly submit a Graduate Recognition Announcement by Monday, May 21.
A tree that gives
Pastor John has been encouraging us during this Advent season to open up our circle of Christmas giving to include others not in our immediate family or zip code.
While our Boycott Xmas Celebrate Christ focus has been on our brothers and sisters of Hope UMC in Kenya, the circle has also been widened for 204 children and adults in our immediate area through the Giving Tree.
You may have seen or bumped into one of the presents swelling from beneath the tree in the lobby this past Sunday. All told, we collected 204 gifts.
The gifts are being distributed to Faith Friendship Villa in Mountville (gifts pictured above), Mt. Joy Headstart, CB Winters Headstart in Columbia and Oswego Village.
Building Hope
Building Hope – an advent project to Support HOPE UMC in Kenya
Building Hope is about developing a connection with a community of Kenyans who chose to form a United Methodist church because our member, missionary Julie Campbell, and our congregation are United Methodist. We believe that God is calling us to reach out in faith and form a partnership this new church. As their brothers and sisters in Christ, it is our responsibility to walk with them to share the gifts, talents and resources with which God has blessed us, and assist in equipping their community and church to care for the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of their people. Our prayer is for God to guide us in potentially building an ongoing relationship with this church and community in Kenya so that Hope UMC will become a beacon of God’s love and hope in Kenya.
During our Boycott Xmas Advent series, you will have the opportunity to learn more and donate to this project. You can support Building Hope in two ways:
1 ) For each $15 or more donation, you will receive a “Building Hope” ornament to place on the sanctuary Christmas Tree. For your donation, you will be helping to equip the newly formed Hope UMC church with chairs, an altar or a brick to help build their church building. Ornaments will be available on December 6th in the lobby.
2) For a longer term donation of $65 per month for one year, groups, families and individuals, can commit to sponsor an AIDS orphan in the village, through Life for Children Ministry ( Julie Campbell is affiliated with Life for Children and the Mission Society). You will also receive a “Building Hope” ornament to place on the sanctuary Christmas tree.
We hope to fill our sanctuary tree with the Building Hope ornaments, to serve as a reminder of the beautiful gift we can give to our sisters and brothers in Kenya, all in the name of Jesus. This is just one way that you can [GIVE MORE] and [LOVE ALL] this Christmas! For more ideas on how you can Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More and Love All-click here
Download the Boycott Christmas Booklet and Idea Guide Here:
Give alternatively, give hope
One way to join our Boycott Xmas movement is to give gifts that will give hope to people around the world. You can do this without even leaving Lancaster County by visiting the Gifts That Give Hope Fair at the Lancaster Farm and Home Center, 1383 Arcadia Rd., tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Click HERE for more info.
Advent Conspiracy – What is it?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6g6PkSa9Bk&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Listen as the three pastors who started the conspiracy that has inspired our Xmas Boycott at Hempfield UMC talk about the what and why of Advent Conspiracy.
Fellowship Night photos
Those gathered for worship joined hands during the closing prayer.
Pastor Keith had commission leadership hold visuals to demonstrate the work the care, connect, equip and reach out commissions are doing.
Pastor John talks to those dining in the Spirit Cafe.
Luanne, Rose and Joan serving dinner in the Spirit Cafe.
Pastor Keith converses with the Hammels.
The Hussars strike a pose after finishing their dinner in the MPR.
Report of the pastor
As part of our church’s annual Charge Conference meeting, held prior to Friday night’s Annual Fellowship Night, Pastor John shared a report that was also distributed during a worship service held later in the evening. Pastor John also shared a vision he has for our future in ministry together. Audio of what he shared will be made available soon.
Here is the letter:
Dear Friends,
Thanks be to God who has saved us and called us to new life in Jesus Christ. On this Charge Conference 2009, we at Hempfield United Methodist Church can take great joy in the work that God is doing among us, in us, and through us. We can anticipate wonderful things as we seek the Lord together, and serve side-by-side as sisters and brothers in Christ. In this year we have seen God’s hand at work in a number of ways.
We have seen many changes in our staff. We began the year with the commissioning of our new youth director Jonathan Hobbs and have been blessed by his ministry. SHOUT, our senior high ministry, continues to be a vibrant and exciting ministry for our youth. Under Jonathan’s direction we have seen the formation of a new Sunday morning junior high ministry, X-Factor. We are glad for what the Lord continues to do in our youth program.
We were sorry to see Donna Dutka, communications coordinator, and Lori Martzall, adult discipleship coordinator, move on to other places of service. They served Hempfield well through exemplary service and we will miss them in those roles, but are glad they continue to worship and serve as fellow members. We are glad to have Matt Ralph join us, bringing great skill in communications, and will look forward to seeing God bring to us a new group life director soon. Nick DiConstanzo, our skilled tech intern, left for college; but we are glad for the ministry of Greg Farmer, whose gifts we have already been blessed by in his role as A/V tech associate.
In February and March, we completed our visioning process and saw the formation of four new commissions as a result: connect, care, equip and reach out. It has been exciting to see the energy of these lay-driven commissions and the faithful work that has already begun to bless our church.
In the summer, we were glad to have Julie Campbell, our missionary in Kenya, join us in worship. We were then amazed to hear that a church had formed around her work desiring to become United Methodist to be in fellowship with Hempfield, the church that sent her. Our new sister church, Hope United Methodist Church in Wachara, Kenya, is a new ministry focus for us, and it will be exciting to see what God will do as we seek to strengthen this new relationship. Along these lines, we were happy to have Pastor Joseph Shalilo from Kenya join our membership, and this Thanksgiving we will be hosting the Streams of Life Kenyan leadership conference.
In the fall, we adopted a new Sunday morning worship schedule with two services instead of three. These two services better meet our worship needs at this chapter of the life of our church and has made possible a fellowship time between services for our members to meet and share in each other’s lives.
This Christmas, we will challenge our members and the people of our community to rethink Christmas through a program called “Boycott Xmas,” which is adapted from the nationwide Advent Conspiracy movement. We hope to better honor Christ through our Christmas celebrations and help people rediscover the true joy of the Christmas season.
Finally, in the New Year we look forward to a new small group initiative. We have already seen a great deal of work done in preparation for this program, and believe that it will be one of the chief ways that our members will share in life together, and welcome new people into our fellowship. Truly, we have much to be excited about.
In all of these things we can give thanks to God who leads us. May the Lord make us ever responsive to the work He is doing among us.
Respectfully submitted,
Pastor John Longmire
Give Hope Sunday
What good is hope? You can’t hold it in your hand or see it blowing in the wind. But as Christians our faith gives us hope, and in hope we find comfort—even joy—in times of trouble.
Hope in the life of the poor is more valuable than you know. When hope is infused into a community that knows only the confines of poverty, perspectives begin to change. People begin to believe they can contribute to the greater society, even change it for the good. Hope, though you can’t see it, changes lives.
Give HOPE Sunday is about educating people how hope is distributed through small loans to people living in poverty. It’s not about a once-and-done offering for the poor. Participation will have a lasting impact on individuals, families, and communities; a small loan can create opportunity for a mother to clothe, feed, and send her children to school.
HOPE International is in the dream business. They use small loans, biblically-based business training, and savings services as catalysts to release people from physical and spiritual poverty. They have found that when people are offered a chance to make their lives better, great things happen.
On Sunday, November 8, we are featuring Peter Greer at both services. He is the president of HOPE International, a locally established, Christian faith-based, non-profit organization. Their focus is on alleviating physical and spiritual poverty through microenterprise development.
Want to learn more? Check out the HOPE International website, or come to Gifts that Give Hope: Lancaster’s Alternative Gift Fair on Nov. 21 from 10 a.m to 4 p.m.
3050 Marietta Avenue, Lancaster, PA 
717.285.5156 
