Newsletter - December 2015

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December 2015 Ministry Opportunity: Serving Pasadena's Homeless Through Pasadena’s Bad Weather Shelter (BWS) Pasadena Covenant helps man the Bad Weather shelter on Wednesday evenings: Dec. 2nd thru Feb. 24th Homelessness is a significant problem here in Pasadena. Pasadena Covenant partners with area churches and the City of Pasadena to help respond to this need. During winter months when temperatures drop to 40 degrees or below, or there is a 40% change of rain, Pasadena Covenant’s gym transforms from a basketball court to a shelter for those who need a safe place to stay at night. Area churches share responsibilities: as the host church, we cover Wednesday nights. There are several jobs, so if your time is limited, you can volunteer with what fits your schedule. Our volunteers basically help anytime from 6:30-9:00pm, so even if you need to arrive late or need to leave early, there will be opportunities for you to help. Trained, professional staff will be on site to help direct volunteers. You may sign up for one, two or more Wednesday nights, either as an individual or as a group (e.g. life group or group of several families). Children are welcome to serve with their families under their parent's close supervision. To sign up to help, or for more information about the BWS, come to the Bad Weather Shelter table in the Courtyard/Gym on Sundays after church (during hospitality time) or call Wayne Walker (626) 429-5120 or e-mail Wayne at [email protected] (on the subject line put: BWS). PASADENA COVENANT CHURCH

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Newsletter - December 2015

Transcript of Newsletter - December 2015

Page 1: Newsletter - December 2015

December 2015

Ministry Opportunity: Serving Pasadena's Homeless

Through Pasadena’s Bad Weather Shelter (BWS)

Pasadena Covenant helps man the Bad Weather shelter on Wednesday evenings:

Dec. 2nd thru Feb. 24th

Homelessness is a significant problem here in Pasadena. Pasadena Covenant partners with area churches and the City of Pasadena to help respond to this need. During winter months when temperatures drop to 40 degrees or below, or there is a 40% change of rain, Pasadena Covenant’s gym transforms from a basketball court to a shelter for those who need a safe place to stay at night.

Area churches share responsibilities: as the host church, we cover Wednesday nights. There are several jobs, so if your time is limited, you can volunteer with what fits your schedule. Our volunteers basically help anytime from 6:30-9:00pm, so even if you need to arrive late or need to leave early, there will be opportunities for you to help. Trained, professional staff will be on site to help direct volunteers. You may sign up for one, two or more Wednesday nights, either as an individual or as a group (e.g. life group or group of several families). Children are welcome to serve with their families under their parent's close supervision.

To sign up to help, or for more information about the BWS,

come to the Bad Weather Shelter table in the Courtyard/Gym on

Sundays after church (during hospitality time) or call Wayne

Walker (626) 429-5120 or e-mail Wayne at

[email protected] (on the subject line put: BWS).

P A S A D E N A C O V E N A N T C H U R C H

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Adult Bible Class: 9am Sundays (hosted by Couriers)

Come to the Couriers Bible Class, in the Fireside Room, at 9am to hear from John Wipf. All

are welcome; coffee and pastries will be provided.

Join us on Sunday, December 27th for a special time of Fellowship and goodies. Contact

Marilyn Hanks at (626) 791-3782.

Wednesday Evening Adult Small Group

This adult group is open to all for a meal, fellowship and growing in Christ. It meets at the home

of Wayne and Susan Aoki (1002 Dolores Dr., Altadena). Come after 6pm for dinner; the group

conversation is 7-8:30pm.

Women’s Bible Study: Wednesdays at 7pm

Kathy Waldner-Gourash will facilitate a group using a new video series from Priscilla Shirer

(Dec. 2, 9, 16, 30 2015 and January 6, 13, 20, 2016). Please contact Judy Pruitt

[email protected]. We meet in the Corner House at 7pm.

Time of Prayer and Discernment: Sundays at 9am

Randy Hill will be leading a time of prayers and discernment for our next season of Alpha that

will be in early 2016. Please join him in the Santa Barbara room at 9am Sunday morning.

Christmas Eve Service - December 24th at 6pm This year we will celebrate Christmas Eve and the birth of our Savior with a wonderful service filled with laughter, joy, and awe over God’s story of coming into the world as revealed to us by Matthew and Luke. “Double Take” a Christmas play by Dennis Hartin, directed by Matt Webb, will be the perfect way to smile and take a moment to ponder the amazing events that took place on the night of our dear Savior’s birth. Lighting of the Christ Child Candle and singing with the gentle glow of candle light will close out our celebration of this momentous moment in history that changed the world as we know it. Glory to God in the Highest! See you there.

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Sarah Circle will NOT meet in December. We hope to see new faces in the New Year!

The Men’s Book Club will meet on

Thursday, December 10th, at 7pm at the

Corner House. We will discuss THE

PILGRIM’S PROGRESS, by John Bunyan,

the classic allegory of the spiritual journey

and saving grace. Join us for discussion and

fellowship.

Newcomers are always welcome. For more

info, contact Rich Doyle at

[email protected].

Women’s Book Club We meet on Tuesday, December 15th, from 7:30 - 9:00pm, at Judy Balswick’s house (1425 Mar Vista Ave, Pasadena) for our Annual Christmas Read-Aloud & Christmas Cookie Exchange. Please bring a story, poem, or children’s picture book to share and 2-3 dozen cookies to eat and exchange. If you don’t have time for either, come as you are & enjoy other people’s offerings.

Newcomers, guests, and one-timers are always welcome.

For more information, please contact Jennifer Mawhorter at [email protected].

The Koinonia Christmas party and Potluck

will take place on Saturday, December

12th, at the Corner House. Festivities will

begin at 6pm.

Please contact Judy Pruitt for more

information dapruitt@earthlink.

Trustee Meeting

Thursday, December 3rd

7pm in the Corner House

LUCIA HOSPITALITY Did you know that Pasadena Covenant Church’s early members were mostly Swedish immigrants? Did you know that Sunday services were conducted in Swedish until 1940?

Join us in celebrating the hope and light of the Advent season and our Scandinavian heritage at a Lucia hospitality time after church on Sunday, December 20th. Enjoy some homemade Swedish treats...and you might even catch a glimpse of St. Lucia herself!

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Come One, Come All ChoirCome One, Come All ChoirCome One, Come All Choir

Our combined children, youth, and adult choir will sing during the service on Sunday,

December 13th. Everyone is welcome!

2016 Pictorial Directory2016 Pictorial Directory2016 Pictorial Directory Please return your directory form to the church office along with your photo by Tuesday,

December 15th! If you need a form, please contact Doreen in the main office at

[email protected] or (626) 795-9381.

NEXT NEWCOMERS’ LUNCH - JANUARY 10, 2016! If you started coming to our church in the last year or so and would like more information about

Pasadena Covenant or any of our ministries, please plan to join some of our staff and church

members for a free lunch on Sunday, January 10 after the morning worship service. We will meet

at the Corner House, across the street from our man worship center building. Children are

welcome to come with their parents! Please RSVP to Marianne Hill, 626-798-2097 or

[email protected]. (Please note that there is no lunch planned for the month of

December.)

Budget Update for – December 9, 2015

We now have 3 weeks left in which we can close the gap and meet our offering target for the year! We are so thankful for your generous support to Covenant World Relief for Project Blue in the amount of $10,929.00

Offerings Rents Giving/Rents ytd = 522,750.58 219,490.37 Year-End Target = 625,000.00 209,600.00 Anticipated ytd = 588.037.60 197,914.01 Surplus/(Shortfall) ytd = (65,287.02) 21,576.36

If you’d like the convenience of giving through online banking, you’ll find assistance at http://pasadenacovenant.org/resources/donate/.

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Journey IN the Promised Land: God's Big Welcome

Sunday Mornings at 10:30am

Last year we studied the Journey TO the promised land—stories from the Old Testament of how God led his people. In December finally the story takes on whole new meaning as we shift to this year's theme: Journey IN the Promised Land: Jesus Welcomes Us. This is an exciting month as we begin the story of Jesus' life and ministry with the story of his birth. We will focus particularly on the incarnation—on Jesus' birth as God with Us—what an amazing promise! Each family will be given an advent calendar which you can use throughout the month to follow up on the stories your kids will be learning on Sundays, as we build up to our church and family Christmas celebrations!

Mighty Memorizers Mighty Memorizers is a program to encourage kids to learn one memory verse per month, related to their Sunday School lessons. At the end of the year we will honor our memorizers in a big celebration. Our December memory verse is "They will call him "Immanuel”—which means, 'God with us.' -Matt. 1:23." Take time to discuss the verse as a family and what it means. Challenge the whole family to learn this important message together. Kids can recite their verse to any of their Sunday School group leaders any time throughout the month.

Door of Hope is a local ministry helping families transition out of homelessness. Each month, PCC hosts a simple party for the kids at Door of Hope to celebrate the month's birthdays. It's an easy, simple way to support this important ministry and build relationships with the families there, and one your whole family can do together. If you'd like to be a part of our birthday club team (providing pizza or cupcakes 3 or 4 times during the year) contact Vikki Randall at [email protected].

Family Advent Breakfast

Sunday, December 6th 8:30-10am • Gym

Begin the Christmas season with a fun & meaningful family breakfast served by our students. You’ll also make an advent craft and

receive an advent calendar to guide family devotions. A free-will offering will be taken to help support scholarships for our youth camps.

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Christmas Eve at the Shelter - December 24, 2015

At Christmas our hearts turn to home and family, even as we tell the story of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem, in search of shelter for baby Jesus to be born. So it seems particularly appropriate for us to think of and care for the members of our own community who are without home or shelter this Christ-mas.

During the winter months, Pasadena Covenant Church partners with other area churches in order to host a Bad Weather Shelter to house the homeless in our gym. Usually the shelter is open only if the temperature dips below 40 or there is a 40% chance of rain.. However, as part of our own Christmas cele-bration and Christmas Eve worship service, PCC will be hosting the shelter, come rain or shine, with a full Christmas dinner. We are expecting up to 144 homeless men and women from our community to join us for this very real Christmas celebration. Our celebration may be especially full this year due to the rainy el nino weather.

This is an amazing way to celebrate the birth of our Savior, and there's many ways you can be in-volved, even if you will be traveling over the holidays. Here's how:

Donations needed in advance of Christmas Eve:

• money: about $700 is needed to provide for paid staff (director, social worker, security, cleaning crew) for the shelter as well as paper goods and other components of the meal

• donate items to be included in the 144 gift bags PCC Kids ministry will put together for our guests Need by Dec. 13th:

• individually wrapped bars of soap • wrapped Xmas candy

• individually wrapped hand wipes • combs

• hot chocolate packets or tea bags

Donations of cooked food needed by 6:30 pm Christmas eve (can bring with you on your way to the Christmas Eve service). We will give you a disposable foil pan to bring it in:

• cooked, sliced 7-8 lb ham • large pan of sweet potatoes

• large pan of roasted white potatoes • large pan of green bean casserole

Volunteers needed to serve Christmas Eve from 7-9 pm (can come after the Christmas Eve service): help serve our meal to our guests and welcome them in the name of Christ.

Come to the sign up table on the patio between services to make your donations or sign up to help or provide cooked food. You may take home a Christmas ornament which you can give to someone on your gift list to indicate a donation has been made in their name to Christmas at the shelter.

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Family Advent Breakfast Here is a sneak peek of some of the Family Advent Breakfast photos! Look for more photos in the

January 2016 newsletter!

TheStudy: Sunday mornings, 9-10:15am (Student Room) All Wednesdays: LifeGroups, 6:30-8pm (Student Room)

Off-white elephant party: The Party, Wednesday, December 30th

For more information about upcoming events, please contact our Pastor for Youth Ministries, Dave Rinker, at [email protected].

Congregational Business Meeting Congregational Business meeting on Sunday, December 13th, following the worship service in the

Sanctuary.

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Pasadena Covenant Church

539 North Lake Avenue

Pasadena, California, 91101-1217

Return Service Requested

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1 Tuesday 2 Wednesday 5:45pm Children’s Choir 6:30pm PCSM LifeGroup 7:00pm Women’s Bible Study 3 Thursday 7:00pm Trustee Meeting 4 Friday 5 Saturday 6 Sunday 8:00am Advent Breakfast 9:00am Classes 10:30am Worship Service 11:45am Hospitality 12:00pm Miriam Singers 7 Monday 8 Tuesday 9 Wednesday 5:45pm Children’s Choir 6:30pm PCSM LifeGroup 7:00pm Women’s Bible Study 10 Thursday 7:00pm Men’s Book Club 11 Friday 12 Saturday 6:00pm Koinonia Christmas Party & Potluck

24 Thursday 4:30pm Christmas Eve at the Shelter 6:00pm Christmas Eve Service 25 Friday - Offices & Facilities Closed Christmas Day 26 Saturday 27 Sunday 9:00am Classes 10:30am Worship Service 11:45am Hospitality 12:00pm Miriam Singers 28 Monday 29 Tuesday 30 Wednesday 5:45pm Children’s Choir 6:30pm PCSM LifeGroup 7:00pm Women’s Bible Study 31 Thursday - Offices & Facilities Closed

December 2015 13 Sunday 9:00am Classes 10:30am Worship Service 11:30am Congregational Meeting 11:45am Hospitality 12:00pm Miriam Singers 14 Monday 15 Tuesday 7:00pm Women’s Book Club 16 Wednesday 5:45pm Children’s Choir 6:30pm PCSM LifeGroup 7:00pm Women’s Bible Study 17 Thursday 18 Friday 19 Saturday 20 Sunday 9:00am Classes 10:30am Worship Service 11:45am Hospitality 12:00pm Miriam Singers 21 Monday 22 Tuesday 23 Wednesday 5:45pm Children’s Choir 6:30pm PCSM LifeGroup 7:00pm NO Women’s Bible Study