Educational
Opportunities
Please
come
and
participate!Sunday School
Vacation Bible School
Confirmation Class
Adult Education
Monday Night Study
Wednesday Morning Bible Study
Thursday Night Study
Adult Faith Retreats
Church Library
Church and Society
Sunday School
For all ages, children and adults.
Vacation Bible School
Monday July 19 - Friday July 23, 2010 - Gallactic Blast!
Confirmation Class (for 7th and 8th graders)
We will meet on Sundays, usually from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at least twice a month starting September 20th and 27th in room #8. I will ask that we have sandwiches or a light lunch foods during fellowship time so the youth will have something substantial to eat before class. Parents may want to stay, visit, enjoy some more coffee, read the paper or hold a discussion group focused on parenting during this time. Some of our church members are already familiar with “Active Parenting”, one of the best DVD and conversational parenting programs available. I would love to get it up and running for anyone who is interested. It addresses the common concerns of parents with children in all age groups, infants to teens.
I invite parents to attend class with the youth on September 20th for an orientation session. It will include time for questions and answers. Please call or email me or Kristi in the office if you plan to attend and want to have your child be confirmed this year. (diane@spartaumc.org/Kristi@spartaumc.org) Please let me know if you have childcare needs during that time as well. I will find someone to staff the nursery and/or lead activities for elementary age children.
On September 27th we will prepare for the homeless families who will be coming to church that day. If we have guests we will meet a little longer that day, starting at 12:30 p.m. and going to 2:30 p.m. I will conduct a study, and then we make snacks and welcome bags. The youth should also have an opportunity to help meet and great guests from Interfaith Hospitality Network as they arrive, review the rules and settle into their rooms. If we do not have guests on September 27th, we will meet for the usual 12:30 p.m. to1:30 p.m. time. (This is the Sunday all members are invited to meet with our Church Finance Chair at 12:00 p.m. in Demarest Hall for a brief financial update.)
I expect confirmands to participate in youth fellowship events and to be in worship on a regular basis. I will ask them to attend ministry committee meetings in the life of the church to see what happens behind the scenes. We may plan some field trips and invite quest speakers. The focus of the year’s study, however, will be “The Bible and Basic Beliefs of the Christian Faith.” I will have the youth read and study a book entitled Open Christianity, expose them to an overview of the Bible, review vows and creeds, and engage them in service projects. The service projects can be as simple as assisting in hospitality for the homeless, donating time in the Thrift Shop, participating in worship or assisting one of our Ministry Committees with a project. Tentative meeting dates for the first part of the year following September will be: October 11, October 25, November 8, November 15, December 6, and December 20. Note: December 20th we will meet a little later in the afternoon to go caroling for some of our home bound members!
The confirmands will take their vows on Sunday, May 23rd, Pentecost Sunday, with all new members. They may join at either the 8:30a.m. or the 10:30a.m. service. If you will not be available that Sunday, please let me know as soon as possible so I can plan a back up date for those who need one.
Adult Study
There are several different segments of the community vis-a-vis adult education.
There are the folks who have been engaged at a
fairly
serious level for some time. They’ve read more than a few books
concerning
theology and spirituality. They have engaged in hundreds of
conversations
exploring the works of contemporary authors in matters of theology and
faith.
Then there is another segment who engage in “more
traditional” Bible study. Some of them
meet each week with the pastor to go over next Sunday’s
readings together. Others were meeting on Sunday mornings to follow a
biblical or timely topic.
And all of this has been good.
It has engaged adults in the task of growing
in appreciation for their faith, working at developing an adult
understanding
of the basics of our faith.
Too many of us grew up with the idea that: “you
get your
faith when you’re young and then you’ve got it for life.”
Translate that: you’ve got a level of human
understanding of faith that was quite suitable for a young teenager. And now you are trying to live an adult life
faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ in a rapidly changing world.
Our contemporary experience has us living within a
completely different culture than that in which the biblical documents
were
written. Our view of the world, of the
earth and the universe, is very different than that of the people of
the
biblical narrative. And we are having to deal now with moral issues
that are
far more complex than the issues of ancient
How do we raise our children for living in the
future with
faith, if our own understanding of our faith is still back in the
1950’s,
1960’s or 1970’s?
Some folks will say: Everything else changes, but
our faith
remains the same. But the heart of our
faith is a living relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. And we all know from our experience of
friendship, marriage and family, that living relationships are always
growing,
changing and developing.
Many of us grew up in an
Adult Faith Enrichment - Sunday Mornings
Sunday adult faith enrichment classes begin at
9:15 a.m. with coffee and snacks. We will be underway with our studies
at 9:30 a.m.
a) In the Wesley Room, there will be a six-week study
"Introduction to the BIble: How it came into being and how to interpret
it a new way for a new day".
b) In Room 8, there will be a six-week series
with film and discussion of the documentary “A Force More
Powerful”. This is a review of the great peace movements and
their leaders.
Join us each Monday night from 7:30pm to 9:00pm in the Wesley Room to further your Christian journey with a variety of short studies. We are currently studying Marcus Borg's book Jesus.
Past studies include the books God's Politics, The Will of God, Losing Moses on the Freeway, Good Goats, and Rescuing The Bible From Fundamentalism, Claiming The Promise, The Gospel According To Starbucks, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, If Grace Is True, The Art of Possibility, Golf and the Spirit, In Search of Paul, Flat Hot and Crowded and the video series Living The Questions, Saving Jesus and Countering Pharaoh's Production-Consumption Society.
Come and join in!
Wednesday Morning Bible Study
Each Wednesday morning from 9:30am to 11:00am, we meet in the Wesley Room to read and discuss the week's lectionary readings. Our pastor leads us as we discern the meaning for us today. All are welcome.
Thursday Night Study
Join us on Thursday nights from 7:30pm to 9:00pm as we meet in the Wesley Room to further our Christian journey with a variety of short studies. We are currently reading The First Paul by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan. All are welcome.
Adult Faith Retreats
"Speaking the Truth in Love"
6:30pm Friday October 23 - 6:30pm Saturday October 24 at Aldersgate Camp and Retreat Center.
Includes four meals: two dinners, breakfast and lunch, Bible pictionary, free time for resting, journaling, walking, reading or talking and four sessions learning about "speaking the truth in love" and worship with a closing communion service and dinner.
Goal:
Learning to communicate honestly about what we think and feel with family, friends, co-workers and fellow Christians without labelling, put downs, fights, misunderstanding or judgment of others. Classes will be interactive with participatory exercises interspersed with mini-presentations. All sessions will be based on the communication skill sets from "Talking and Listening Together" developed by Interpersonal Communications, Inc. Pastor Diane is a certified trainer in this communication program and she will lead our retreat. The cost for the event will be $30.00 per person with scholarships available. More details to follow. Register at the Welcome Table in church or by calling the church office.
Church Library
The church library consists of the library cabinet in the narthex and an extension of that library in the Wesley Room. The narthex cabinet will have featured books, plus a sign out sheet. The Wesley Room will have the majority of the books, plus a sign out sheet. In both places, there is a small children's section.
For current book selections, click on the library category below or view the book lists in the Wesley Room.
Adult (sorted by author)
Adult (sorted by title)
Children/Youth (sorted by author) (Please preview the book before sharing it with your child.)
Audiovisual (sorted by author)
Reference (sorted by author)
A word on donating books to the church library. There is a basket near the narthex cabinet for donations. We have limited space, so the library committee will make decisions and either incorporate your donations into the library, or donate them to the Thrift Store.
Church and Society
The mission of the Church and Society Committee is to help church members respond to pressing social issues and advocate for peace and justice. We are guided in our work by the United Methodist Church's positions on social, economic and political issues as stated in the Social Principles.
In 2008, we specifically addressed the following issues: the federal budget, new nuclear weapons, national housing trust fund, national health insurance, Darfur genocide, single homeless men, Iraq War anniversary, Iraq War memorial day, Iraqi refugees, torture and homosexuality.
The Sparta UMC has explored the situation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender persons in relation to the church, since they are the only group of people singled out by the United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline as objects of deliberate discrimination. Questions & Answers Regarding Inclusivity of All Persons
Previously, the Committee worked on the following advocacy issues: a just federal budget, health coverage for the uninsured, increasing the minimum wage, nonviolent stewardship resolution of the 2005 Greater NJ Annual Conference, senior citizen housing, and caring for the earth.