This Week at PVUMC 12/18/23

Hello friends, Pastor Steve here. One of the things discussed in our Church Council meeting last week was a need for better communication in the church. So I have taken the liberty to start a weekly Newsletter. Each week, typically on Monday, I will be posting to our website all the ways to stay connected here at the church. I hope this effort will help bring all get more on the same page and let people outside the church know what we are up to.

Read Pastor Steve’s Sermon
Yesterday, I preached on Joy being found in the freedom to feel fully the things God put in your heart. To read my sermon, click here.

Children’s Ministry Volunteers Needed
Please consider signing up to volunteer in our children’s ministry. I have recently added dates for 2024. We also have openings for December as well. We’ve been getting visitors lately and this is one of the best ways to offer hospitality and ministry to young families. If all of us volunteer to sign up once a month to watch the nursery and children’s church, then we should have no problem getting coverage. Click here to sign up. 

Christmas Eve Services
10am – Lessons and Carols with Communion
6pm – Christmas Pageant with Communion and Candle Lighting
11pm – Midnight Mass with Communion and Candle Lighting

*If you are planning to come to any of our Christmas Eve services and would like to help out, we especially need some readers, please let me know as soon as possible*

Upcoming Events
Advent Open House in the Sanctuary – This Wednesday (2-5pm)
Tell your neighbors that the sanctuary doors of PVUMC will be wide open on Wednesday. We will have prayer and meditation stations set up around the sanctuary and refreshments in the Fellowship Hall. All are welcome to come and get in the Christmas Spirit!

Epiphany Party at the Parsonage – January 7th at 5pmCome enjoy an Open House at the Parsonage. We will have lots of food and drinks and we will end the evening with a Christmas tree bonfire. Don’t forget to bring your dead Christmas tree to the parsonage when you take it down.

Kids Club/Family Systems Workshops – January 28th
Starting Sunday, January, 28th we will be offering once-a-month Kids Club for elementary aged kids and Family Systems Workshops for adults. Kids Club will be an evening of games, bible lessons, and snacks (think VBS), led by Amanda Pratt. My wife Heather (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist) and I will be leading Family Systems workshops on the topic of marriage, parenting and family; our work will help bridge the gap between mental health care and faith. We will gather on the Fourth Sunday of the month at the church. More info to come, spread the word, all in the community are welcome.

*Be sure to check the church calendar in the events tab for our complete list of events.*

Update from Pastor Steve 12/12/23

Communication Update
New Website! Hello Church, Pastor Steve here. I want to personally thank Daniel Herrin for our website’s new look. Here you will find the latest about what’s going on around here. I want to invite you to explore our site and see all the wonderful features like the church calendar, our Sunday School offerings, the donation page, and our stream of instagram photos. I also want to invite you to my blog (click here). All of my sermon’s are archived there.

Online Directory! I have also noticed that many of you are utilizing and enjoying our new online church directory. To download it, go to your App Store and download Instant Church Directory. If you are still having trouble or would like to be added, don’t hesitate to send me a text or email. I can also upload your favorite family photo or take one for you on my spiffy new iPhone if you would like.

Events Coming Up
Don’t miss out on these wonderful Advent Events:
This Saturday, Dec 16th: Christmas Box Packing (9am) in the Fellowship Hall

Wednesday, Dec 20th: Advent Open House (2-5pm) in the Sanctuary

Christmas Eve Service Times: 10am Lessons and Carols, 6pm Family Service, 11pm Midnight Mass. Communion, Candle Lighting and Christmas Carols at each service.

Sunday, Jan 7: Epiphany Party and Christmas Tree Bonfire at the Parsonage. Please feel free to drop off your dead Christmas tree anytime after Christmas.

Church Update 11/28/23

GREETINGS FROM PASTOR STEVE

    As I reflect on the last five months of serving Pleasant View United Methodist Church, my heart is full. We have accomplished so much together in such a short time and evidence of God’s grace and goodness is all around. There is so much to be grateful for and I pray that each of you are excited and hopeful about what’s next. 

    When I arrived at the end of June, we were in rough shape. We lost so many good friends and church family in the disaffiliation fight. Church attendance and giving was at historically low levels and these unprecedented times in the UMC led many of us to wonder if this was the end for PVUMC. We persevered, but more importantly we healed and we listened. When I got here, those in church leadership referred to our situation as a rose bush that was cut down to the bulb. When a rose bush grows too many branches and gets in an untenable way it stops producing flowers. In many ways, our crisis forced us to look deeply at ourselves, to address some of the dysfunctions and fruitless endeavors that were spreading us thin and causing conflict. I am thankful for the honest and vulnerable work so many of you have done to grow not only as church leaders but as followers of Christ. To witness God doing something new and redemptive has been an incredibly heartening thing to be apart of and I’m thankful for the fellowship.

    Moving forward we are going to continue offering the healing and redemptive power of small groups to our church members and the community. We are going to continue and grow our mission to feed Cheatham County children and their families through our FUEL program. With our newly opened counseling center, we are going to explore more ways to offer mental and spiritual health services to the community. 

    Many of you have asked about our current financial state after going through such a tumultuous and uncertain season. The good news is, as our Finance Chair, Beth Bostwick has stated, all of our bills have been paid. However, there is still more work to be done. Please see the letter from Beth Bostwick pasted below:

-Rev. Steve Lefebvre, Pastor

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FINANCE UPDATE 

If we look at the numbers only, we could say this year has been a struggle.  However, when we look at what we have accomplished with God’s help it has been an outstanding year, maybe the best one in the last 10 years.

All bills have been paid.  The number of children provided FUEL bags has increased by 33% to 83 bags per week.  We received outside goods and monetary donations with an estimated value of over $7,000 dollars to help fund our food ministry and our application for Second Harvest has been approved. This does not include any estimates for the food collected by the Boy Scouts and Good Pasture School.  We will be providing food boxes to feed at least 30 families for Christmas, packed with canned and perishable goods.

For the month of December, if our offering collections are $12,000, we will finish the year meeting our revised offering estimate.  This is $2,500 more than our normal monthly offering collections. 

For 2024, our operating budget (salaries, utilities, maintenance, etc.) has a deficit of $2,200 per month or $26,000 for the year.  We have a separate budget for missions, and we expect to raise any money needed for missions from outside sources, including fundraisers.  Our partnership with Second Harvest will help reduce the price of the food for the various food ministries.  Full budgets are available in the hallway leading to the fellowship hall.

-Beth Bostwick, Finance Chair

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LETTER FROM THE COATES

    There is much to think about as I reflect on the events of 2023, both around the world and in our church. One of the realities of conflict is the cost to all involved, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and financially.

     What gives me hope as we emerge from the struggles our church has experienced recently is the resilience, faith, and commitment of our church family. Like any family experiencing conflict, there will be difficult decisions and emotional trauma, but there will also be great potential for growth and renewed vision. I am excited to be part of what God has done and is doing in this family of faith. Pleasant View UMC continues to be a beacon to the community and help those in need.

    We also need to take care of family. Like every family, our church family must provide for its basic needs. When the family comes home, the “house” needs lights, water, heat, and all the other things that meet the physical needs of those within. We also want to be able to bring guests to our “house” where they feel welcome in every way, and we must provide for those who take care of us and our “house.”

    Jack and I are committed to digging deeper financially to help not only continue the mission efforts of this amazing church family, but also to provide for those basic needs that assure our “house” and our caregivers are ready to help us live out our new vision of who we are and who God wants us to be. I hope you will join us as we prepare for a new year.

-Carol and Jack Coats

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ONLINE GIVING

On this Giving Tuesday, please consider making a donation to Pleasant View United Methodist Church. One convenient way you can give is by clicking this link and giving through PayPal.