The Journey to the Manger- December 2014

Dear Church Family,     

      As I write this Decembers Towers article, I have good news—November isn’t over yet.   This coming week is Thanksgiving.  I want to challenge you to look back over the blessings of this year.  Consider all that God has done for you and be thankful.  As we prepare to enter into the last month of 2014, I enjoy looking back at the blessings and looking forward to my hopes for the coming year.  As a church, we certainly have a great deal to be thankful for.  Perhaps even more exciting is that we have great hopes for what God has in store for our future in 2015.

      Speaking of Thanksgiving, we will be joining the Milton Union Council of Churches for a Thanksgiving service hosted by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on Wednesday, November 26^th at 7 PM. Hoffman is always has one of the largest represented churches at these services.  We hope that you will join us for that special evening as we worship with our brother and sisters from many of the churches in our community.

      As we finish up our Treasure series where we have looked at how you can invest your treasure in the things you treasure, we enter in to our Advent series entitled The Journey to the Manger.  For those of you who were with us during Lent, this series will be similar in that it will give me the opportunity to share some images and stories with you from my trip to the Holy Land this past February.  We had the opportunity to travel to the several of the locations mentioned in the Christmas story, like Bethlehem and Nazareth.  I hope to be able to bring new light to this familiar story as we look at it through the lens of the Holy Land.  I hope that you will join us for this series that will begin on November 30^th and culminate on Christmas Eve.

      Speaking of Christmas Eve, Christmas is right around the corner, which means we have some exciting events on the calendar.  I have been invited to participate in the David Wion and Friends Holiday Concert this year.  The concert will be held at the Dayton Art Institute on Sunday, November 30 at 2 PM.  Our Church Christmas Party will be on December 6^th at 6 PM.  Come with a covered dish to share.  On December 14^th at 12:30, the Future Seekers class will be hosting a Pasta Luncheon with a dessert/gift auction to raise money for Helping Hands.  On December 21^st, the children’s choir will be doing their Christmas performance during the Sunday School hour at 10:15. 

      We will also be having two services on Christmas Eve.  Our 7 o’clock service provides the opportunity for families with children to worship and be home early.  Our 7 o’clock service will also feature our Praise Team from the Open Door Service.  Our 10 o’clock candlelight service is a traditional service with the choir providing a musical Christmas celebration.  Then, we will finish up the Christmas Season with our Service of Lessons and Carols on Sunday, December, 28^th.

      This month we talked about the importance of generosity.  As we move into the month of December, we enter into the season where we remember God’s generosity to us.  He gave us the gift of Jesus.  God became one of us to show us his love.  May we respond to that generosity by continuing to be generous to God and others this Christmas season. Find a way this month to share your time, energy and money in a way that glorifies God and shares with others. 

     Yours in Christ’s Service,

      Pastor Justin

Grateful for Your Generosity- November 2014

Dear Church Family,

      November is here already, which means Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and I certainly have a great deal of to be thankful for. I want to thank all of you for your gifts, cards, and words of encouragement during Pastor Appreciation Month.  Your support and encouragement mean more to me than you know.  I am thankful for the staff that I get to work with at Hoffman.  It makes the work of our church so much easier.  I am thankful for each one of you and what you do to make Hoffman UMC what it is today.

      I am thankful for our growing family.  Chanda is doing well with her pregnancy.  The January 16th due date is coming very quickly, and we have so much to do before then…pick out a name, paint and decorate a nursery, re-baby proof our house, etc.  It is an exciting time!  While Wesley is full of energy and learning more and more each day, we cannot imagine what it will be like with two little boys running around, but we know it will be an adventure!

      Last month was a busy one.  We had the Fall Festival of Praise, Activity Center Dedication, Charge Conference, Crop Walk, Trunk or Treat, and much more.  You would think that things might slow down a bit, but we have a great deal planned for November as well.  We will be hosting our Annual Election Day Dinner (November 4^th) and Craft Show (November 22^rd).  In addition, we will be participating in the Milton Union Council of Churches Thanksgiving service on Wednesday, November 26^th at 7 PM.  Since December is a busy month, I thought you would like to put the date of our church Christmas Party on your calendar for December 6^th.  We will also have our two Christmas Eve Services at 7 and 10.   

      In November we are doing a sermon series on Matthew 6 entitled Treasure.  The study will be based on Jesus’ words, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).  In addition to a daily devotional book that goes with the series, there will be several small groups that you can take part in. Over a period of four weeks, we will look at the many ways that our treasure (time, energy, money) affects our hearts. We will consider how financial challenges in our personal lives affect our relationships with people and with God. We will see how giving helps to determine the way we feel and act. If you have stress related to money or feel there may be more that God is calling you to do with your resources, this will be a helpful series.  We look forward to an exciting month considering our treasure and God’s treasure. Here is what you have to look forward to this month:

· Where Is Your Treasure? (Matthew 6:19-21)                

· Week 2: The Problem with Two Masters (Matthew 6:24

· Week 3: Giving Your Treasure Back to God (Matthew 6:1-6)

· Week 4: Don’t Worry ’Bout a Thing (Matthew 6:25-34)

      As I mentioned earlier, we had our annual church charge conference on October 15^th.   During this charge conference, we approved our new structure for 2015.  I took the opportunity to share a little of the rationale behind this new structure during our sermon series in October.  We are eager to move into this new structure at Hoffman Methodist Church because we believe it will  maximize our mission and ministry.  The main administrative body of the church will now be called the Church Board, and the model we used for developing this new structure is called the accountable leadership model.  One of our goals for 2015 is to make sure that everything we do as a church connects with our mission and ministry. We are excited about being creative as we try to make these connections happen.

      As we move into November and prepare for our time of talking about stewardship, I always like to spend some time to reflect on how we are doing financially as a church.   First of all, we have reason to celebrate.  We paid off our Activity Center this year.  We are now a debt free church.  Your generosity and commitment made this possible.  As I mentioned at the dedication, this is a building that has been utilized by our church and our community a great deal over the past 11 years.  I am grateful for your generosity to this project. 

      For 2014, our budget required an income of $246,175.50.  As you may remember, we celebrated the fact that we met our budget goal in 2012 and 2013.  As of September 30, 2014, we are $7,042.32 behind our YTD budget goal.  While our church has experienced growth in membership this year, our giving has gone down when compared to YTD last year.  This is partially due to the winter weather that fell on Sundays to start the year off.  In March of this year, I reported to you that average attendance for the year was 148 and that giving had been significantly impacted.  We never really came out of that slump.  While I am not convinced that 2014 will be a year that we meet our budget goal (remember faith is not one of my top 3 gifts), I know and trust that God will continue to work through our church to do miraculous things as God has done in 2014. 

      Through your generosity this year, the church has continued to reach more and more people in our community.  So far, we have had an average worship attendance of 178.  We have also had 11 baptisms and 15 new members.  We sent a mission team to Haiti, and donated significantly to the Imagine No Malaria and other missional efforts.  We have a developed a vibrant youth ministry, and our Bible Studies and Sunday School classes are reaching more people.

      On November 23^rd, as we finish up our series on Treasure, we are going to give you the opportunity to make a commitment to giving to the ministries of Hoffman.  We invite you to do so by filling out a Commitment Card (attached at the bottom).   The cards will also be available on Sunday mornings.  These commitments help us be responsible stewards of what you give.  With these cards we can establish an estimated income for the coming year.  We can better discover how 2015 will become a year where we meet our budget as we did the last two years.  Last year, we only had 46 commitment cards submitted; however, this year, we are hoping to receive at least 60.  I hope that you will prayerfully consider filling out a commitment card and bringing it to church with you on Sunday, November 23^rd or mailing it to the church to the attention of Joy Paulus, our financial secretary.

      We hope that you will join us in making 2015 one of the most fruitful years in the history of Hoffman United Methodist Church!
Yours in Christ’s Service,

    Pastor Justin