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Good News Gazette

C H R I S T U N I T E D M E T H OC H R I S T U N I T E D M E T H OC H R I S T U N I T E D M E T H OC H R I S T U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T C H U R C H D I S T C H U R C H D I S T C H U R C H D I S T C H U R C H & W I L D W O O D C H A P E L& W I L D W O O D C H A P E L& W I L D W O O D C H A P E L& W I L D W O O D C H A P E L

January 2015

Merrill Worship Services Sunday Service 10:30am

Wednesday Service 6:30pm (Sept.- May)

Wildwood Worship Services Sunday Service 9:00am

Dan Dick, the director of Connectional Ministries with our Wisconsin Annual Conference is coming up to lead us in a discussion of identity and dreams. Who are we as a church? What do we want to do in the name of Jesus Christ? What will it take for us to get there? What are some concrete steps that we can make to turn our dreams of discipleship into a reality of caring for each other, our community, and the world? For ALL Members and Friends of Christ Church and Wildwood Chapel

Lunch will be provided at 11:30, Dream discussion Noon - 2:30 p.m. Christ Church Fellowship Hall

Sunday, February 22 (snow date March 8)

Saturday, January 31 at Christ Church 9:00am - 1:00pm Come sew with us!! Bring your sewing machine or just yourself--all skill levels needed, including no skills!! Join as we do mission, through fellowship with laughter and love.

Little Dresses for Africa Sewing Day

Are you ready to dream? To dream Big?

January 11th we will be celebrating the commitments that we make as a church family. Please consider how you and your family would like to share your time, talent, and treas-ure this next year. Suggestions, and room for more ideas, are found on the Member Inven-tory that was mailed with the Christmas letter. More copies are available in the Gathering Room at the Connection Center. Please be in prayer for each other as we all discern our commitments to this church that we love! See you Jan. 11 as we dedicate our gifts to God during worship.

Thank you for the new garage door and opener! As part of the Warm & Dry Campaign we were able to replace the worn out garage door at the parsonage. The new one is fantastic, reliable, and keeps the snow out and heat in. Thank you!! --Pastor Angie

Youth Gathering from 12:00 to 2:00 pm - lunch provided --at Christ Church Youth Room

Jan. 4 - No meeting Jan. 11 - 12:00 Jan. 18 - 12:00 Jan. 25 - Youth Group + Confirmands + Family = Outing to Sylvan Hill! On Dec. 7th we gathered to spread a little “Christmas Joy”. We played “Deck the Halls” and “Love my Ugly Christmas Sweater?” games.

Y o u t h G r o u p All Youth Grades 6-12 Are Welcome

Sunday, January 25 - Tubing at Sylvan Hill!! 6:00pm - 9:00pm Meet at Christ Church at 5:00pm, return at 9:30pm.

Bring money for purchasing snacks...No Cost for tubing!

RSVP by January 11th to Little Jo, Sharon, or Cindy!

Adult Bible Study - The Bible from Scratch - All adults welcome! We will resume Adult Bible Study on Sunday, January 4 , 9:00am - 10:00am We will start on chapter 6: The Acts of the Apostles. Come and join us in exploring the New Testament. Please bring your Bible! Questions? Contact Wayne at 715-536-6678

Please continue to support the Youth Group by taking your aluminum cans and scrap metal

to Schulz’s Recycling. Ask them to credit “Christ United Methodist Youth Group”

account. You will get a receipt for taxes too…just ask. The Youth Group in turn will

receive a check. It’s a win-win situation. Money raised will be used for their upcoming

service projects. If you have difficulty getting to Schulz’ Recycling,

please contact Little Jo Hernandez @ 715-573-3218

and he will stop and pick-up your cans and scrap metal.

Thanks for your support!

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---- ----Christ Church NewsChrist Church NewsChrist Church NewsChrist Church News---- ---- RED BUCKET

Sunday January 11th we will pass the Red Bucket. The collection will go towards Harbor House.

UM Men will meet Saturday, Jan. 10th at 9:00am

All men are welcome!

Christ Church has 3 Women’s Groups that meet monthly. The three groups come together at times during the year for fellowship or planning. If you would like more information about one of these groups or to join them, please contact: Joy Circle: Jan Neale at 715-536-8335

Ruth Circle: Nancy English at 715-536-6885

Women’s Evening Fellowship: Violet Woller at 715-539-2906

C H R I S T M E T H O D I S T W O M E N

Joy Circle: Tuesday, Dec. 6 - 9:30 am at Cindy Savone’s

----------------------------------------------- Ruth Circle: No January Meeting

----------------------------------------------- Women’s Evening Fellowship:

Tuesday, Jan. 13 - 6:30pm

Thank you to Rosemary Schielke, Denise Maurisak, and Wayne Pugh for delivering our Sunday worship tapes or dvd’s for the past year to our shut in members.

A big thank you to all who helped in any way to decorate our church for the Christmas season. It was really pretty and inviting to help us focus on the meaning of Christmas.

We wish you all a Happy and Healthy New Year. - Ted & Violet Woller

Disciple Bible Study

Resumes with the New Testament Sunday, January 4th, 4:00pm with Session 13

CUMC New Member Gathering!

Join us on Sunday, Jan. 25 & Sunday, Feb. 22

at 12:00 to learn about Christ Church and

the Methodist denomination.

Harbor House Crisis Shelters’ (HHCS) mission is to provide hospitable shelter, transitional living and services for homeless women and families. Our goal is to assist our guests in attaining services and housing.

HHCS serves the Twin Ports Area with a focus on Douglas County. All potential guests are sheltered based on the availability of beds.

Wildwood Chapel NewsWildwood Chapel NewsWildwood Chapel NewsWildwood Chapel News

Sunday, Jan. 4th

Communion

Paul Puhl 1/7

RaDell Jaeger 1/22

Glenn Remington 1/26

Betsy Remington 1/27

January Cleaning Schedule: 4th 11th 18th 25th

Please remember your food donations. January & February Food Pantry donations will go to the Merrill Food Pantry.

Dime-A-Week will go towards ‘Imagine No Malaria’ through the month of May

Now through March:

We will be collecting hat’s, mittens,

gloves, warm clothes, blankets, and

hand/foot warmers to share

with local people in need.

A way to re-gift/recycle Christmas and greeting cards!

The Residents of Pine Crest Nursing Home create bookmarks out of the front of cards for local libraries. Personal greetings are discarded.

So after you have enjoyed your cards, turn them in to the church office or Jill Schmunk, and she will see that they get to Pine Crest.

Blanket the World Mission Opportunity

The month of February will be an opportunity to support the Blanket the World Mission project. Every $5 donated will be used to purchase a blanket for the needy. Wool blankets will be sent to cooler regions in the world, and cotton blankets sent to warmer regions. Please place a heart on the tree for every $5 you donate. Hopefully, by the end of February, the tree will be completely covered with red and pink hearts, and we will have helped to furnish blankets to those in need.

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---- ----Christ Church NewsChrist Church NewsChrist Church NewsChrist Church News---- ---- A Note from the Finance Team

It’s hard to believe that we are already so close to a New Year. With the New Year celebration,

gatherings and hopes, the Finance Committee wants to keep you informed of the goals for 2015.

First a recap of 2014:

Over the course of 2014, you have often heard and read about the 70% goal that was set for our

Connectional Giving formerly known as Apportionments. As of December 22, 2014, we still need

$1025 more to meet that goal of 70%. We are confident that with everyone’s help and prayers, we

will meet this very important goal.

Plan for 2015:

The Finance Committee has set a goal to meet 80% of our Connectional Giving in 2015. Connec-

tional Giving is our “shared” offerings used for Ministry and Missions. In future monthly newslet-

ters, we will give some tidbits about how and why Connectional Giving is so important for all of us.

Copies of the 2015 Budget that was approved at Charge Conference are available in the office.

Have a blessed Christmas!

Lisa Gervais Chris Sarver John Swope Lana Lowe

Joy Malitz Sharon Hernandez Little Jo Hernandez Tony Kusserow

Attendance card question--answers revealed! You might have noticed that I ask a lot of questions. Each week on the attendance slip that we ask you to complete in worship there is a question. Within almost every weekly email there is a question (or two!). When I see you, or call you, or sit by you...I ask questions. I have always been a bit inquisitive (I prefer that word over nosy.) I ask because I want to know. I believe that knowledge is a gift. I love to learn, to explore, to see and do. I ask because knowing about you helps me to love you and to share with you the God of your heart. Some of you might have been wondering what I do with all of the answers to the attendance ques-tions...well, Jackie takes all of the answers and puts them in a list and emails me the list. I read them, and ponder the answers, sometimes laughing, sometimes thinking of more questions, some-times realizing that I didn’t ask the question in a way that made it easy to answer. During advent our questions centered around the four words of the season: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. I plan to reflect on your responses while preparing for our next advent season. But I hate for you to have to wait until then to share in the joy of reading some responses. Here are the answers that you gave to: What brings you joy? How do you pass it on? Family - with love Children and laughter - pass it on with a smile My children Get married To smile A smile - return the smile My church, my family, my friends, and my dog My time with Jesus and seeing joy in others A good family get together Happiness brings me joy! My family brings me joy! Fellowship with our church family Singing and laughter (and fishing) :) Singing everywhere I am, trying to make others laugh and smile. Hugs! Joy that our family is well and happy to celebrate with us to celebrate Christmas

Members from the Board of Trustee’s, along with members from the Women’s Groups met to discuss kitchen improvements. The Trustee’s will be putting together a plan to share in February.

Here are notes from our meeting, Wednesday, November 19, 2014

After discussion about improvements to the space those present came up with this list of priorities for the Kitchen.

• Get rid of the Mice (northeast corner cupboard)

• Change the sink/dishwasher situation: dishwasher at counter top height, add a spray nozzle, replace sink

• Hot water (we need to have enough capacity for an event)

• Clean up the Duct work (paint pealing) and paint the room. This could be a work day(s)—fellowship while painting the

kitchen!

• Water-piped coffee pot on the Southeast counter in the kitchen

• Fix/update the floor

• Enclose the island by adding cupboards to expand storage

Other ideas that were discussed but not put in the priority list:

• Get rid of the pass through openings above the sinks. The current look is unappealing.

• Replace counter-tops (agreed that they are fine)

• Replace cupboards (Do we need to?)

• Outlet’s and Circuit’s: keep lots, be sure that they are not on the same circuits

• Gas pipe to stove could be cut/fixed/truncated

• Move the microwave off the counter-top?

• Does Summer Lunch (and other big events we host) warrant a need for an upright freezer?

• Please fix the kitchen faucet (west side). This would be taken care of with the change of sinks.

• Remover the plastic shelf in the fellowship hall -- (done!)

In conjunction with updates, there are a couple of To-do’s that should be completed:

• Schedule an afternoon to remove dishes from the kitchen that we are not using. Keep enough place settings out, put excess dishes in storage in the church so that we have them when we need them but are not taking up valuable cabinet space.

• Move all food items into sealed (mice-proof) containers

• Remind the church to not leave any food in the kitchen unless it is in a mice-proof container

Do you have ideas for the kitchen? Is there an improve-ment or change that would make it easier for you to do ministry here? Please share your ideas with the trustees. Bob Klessig and Kevin Berndt are heading up this project. Check out the February newsletter for the date our next Kitchen planning meeting.

---- ----Christ Church NewsChrist Church NewsChrist Church NewsChrist Church News---- ----

Kitchen Clean-out Tentatively Scheduled Wed., January 21

3:00 p.m. Let’s sort together!

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A note from Pastor Angie A note from Pastor Angie A note from Pastor Angie A note from Pastor Angie

Thank you to everyone who stayed after worship at Christ Church for the potluck and getting the church ready for Christmas! Sharon & Little Jo H. Lenny & Lana L. Jan F. Jeri Lynn & Bonnie B. Dee K. Marcia H. Harriet P. and family Sharon H. Pastor Angie We invite anyone who is able to please stay after worship and help put all the season’s

decorations away on January 4th.

Happy New Year! 2 Corinthians 5:17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! A fresh year, new beginnings...the new year always brings with it both reflection and planning. I am not good at making new year's resolutions, or more accurately, I am not good at sticking to them. But every year, as the calendar changes I look back on the year that has ended and consider what the next year may hold. This year I am going to make a couple of choices for how I live my day to day life. One, I am going to start each day with a word from scripture. I am going to eat breakfast (most days!). I am going to listen to my body and my heart--to make adjustments to my schedule that are life giving. I guess I am making resolutions! Hmmm....old habits are hard to break. At Christ Church we have made a few choices for the new year by listening to our bodies and hearts too. Here are a couple of them:

-All regularly scheduled meetings will be held in either the first or second week of the month. We are being conscientious of the time that we ask people to be available to the church.

-We will dream together and work together at achieving our dreams. We have invited Dan Dick to come up and lead a visioning session with us on February 22. This will be a time for us to talk about "who we are" and share our passions for ministry.

-Member Inventory of Prayers, Presence, Gifts, Service, and Witness We are all taking the time to consider how we want to invest in the life of the church. By complet-ing this inventory and returning it on January 11th we are putting our faith into action. As you reflect on the year that has passed and look forward with hope on the year that is to come, my prayer for you is that you see in yourself a pure reflection of God's love.

Peace and love in the New Year--Pastor Angie

Ann Pinnow 1/6

Kaitlyn Dickman 1/8

Tara Kloth 1/10

Jodi Turner 1/11

Kevin Berndt 1/13

Lana Lowe 1/13

Connor Bergmann 1/14

Jack Hernandez 1/17

Tyler Monroe 1/19

Mary Jo Schnur 1/19

Amy Bergmann 1/25

Jerry Bacher 1/26

Christ Church VolunteersChrist Church VolunteersChrist Church VolunteersChrist Church Volunteers Thank you to those who volunteer to keep our Sunday morning hospitality and min-

istry staffed. Please call or e-mail the church office, or sign up on the table.

WORSHIP LEADER

January 4 Steven Clark

January 11 Angela Hernandez

January 18 Rosemary Schielke

January 25 Dawn Schroder-Silvela

SONG LEADER

January 4

January 11 Angela Hernandez

January 18

January 25 Dawn Schroder-Silvela

PEACE CANDLE

January 4 Rosemary Schielke

January 11 Angela Hernandez

January 18 Ginny Schaper

January 25

COUNTING TEAM

January 4 4

January 11 1

January 18 2

January 25 3

ACOLYTES

January 4 Daniel Ricci

January 11 Rachel Bergmann

January 18 Daniel Ricci

January 25 Rachel Bergmann

GREETERS

January 4 Rosemary Schielke

January 11

January 18 Ginny Schaper

January 25

COFFEE FELLOWSHIP

January 4 Rosemary Schielke

January 11 Pastor Angie

January 18

January 25

NURSERY

January 4 Sharon & Little Jo Hernandez

January 11 Angela Lersch & McKenzie Monroe

January 18 Cindy Klessig

January 25 Tanya Sliwinski

SCRIP SALES

January 4 Little Jo Hernandez

January 11 Sheila Drury

January 18 Dawn Schroder-Silvela

January 25

FOOD PANTRY

Deliver Week of Jan. 25: Nancy Lehman

At Christ United Methodist Church, our Sunday school classes meet monthly on either the 3rd or 4th

Sunday of each month (see schedule below). Classes are held from 9:00 – 10:15am for children in

grades K-5. - Amy & Kelli, Co-Teachers/Superintendants

Jan. 18 Questions? Please call the church office Feb 15 (Prepare ashes for Ash Wed/Lent

March 29 (Palm Sunday)

April 26 May 10 (Mothers Day)

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Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, One of my favorite Christmas songs is, “Star-Child,” words by Shirley Erena Murray and based on the gospel of Matthew 2:1-12. It is found in “The Faith We Sing” #2095 with music by Carlton R. Young. The second verse is, “Street child, beat child, no place left to go, hurt child, used child, no one want to know." Our hearts ache this Christmas because too many of the world’s children are described by those words. Our hearts are heavy because so many in our nation are experiencing deep sadness and grief from events and reactions that tear at the fabric of our relationships with each other. Our hearts go out to those who feel beaten down by prejudice and racism, and to those hurt and mis-used, whose very being is ignored as those ‘no one want to know.’ But, into our messed up, angry, conflicted world, neighborhoods, families, and individual lives, comes the Star Child: “Hope-for-peace Child, God’s stupendous sign, down-to-earth Child, Star of stars that shine.” How will we receive the Star Child? With whom will we share the message of hope the Child has come to share? Where will we go to bring healing and joy to people? When will we find peace in our hearts and communities? At least the beginning of the answer to our questions is found in the refrain: “This year, this year, let the day arrive when Christmas comes for everyone, everyone alive!” This is our mission, our purpose, our task: To share the Star Child’s message of hope, healing, joy, and peace with our neighbors near and far in what we say and what we do. May it be for all of us, Christmas comes for everyone, everyone alive!

Hee-Soo Jung, PhD

All laity in the Wisconsin Annual Conference are invited to the second annual Leadership Convocation for Laity with Bishop Hee-Soo Jung on February 13-14 at Wesley UMC in Wausau. We will recognize laity leadership, worship and praise together, learn about new faith starts in Wisconsin and Imagine No Malaria, study and vision, and break bread and fellowship! Registration information will be coming soon. Contact Deanna Shimko with any questions.

Thank you for sharing wreaths, poinsettia's and flowers for Christmas! Our sanctuary’s were beautiful!

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