SUMC is an active church in our local community and in missions around the world. Here’s what’s going on.
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Fellowship of the Cross
On July 16, Sewickley UMC will celebrate Christmas in July during both worship services. We will have a tree in the sanctuary and share some Christmas music. The Fellowship of the Cross is encouraging our church family to bring some Operation Christmas Child gifts to place beneath the tree.
As we step into June, we find 38 shoeboxes wrapped in bright Christmas paper sitting on a table in one of our basement classrooms.
Elizabeth Groff is the child we think of as we pack shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. She is the child who drives us to shop and share and pray through every OCC campaign.
Our 2023 Operation Christmas Child is accelerating into spring.
Fellowship of the Cross sponsors two girls in Zimbabwe through The Nyadire Connection. To help pay for their school fees this year, we are selling candygrams before and after services January 29th and February 5th.
Thanks to our congregation from UWF, FotC, Pastor Russel, and Bill Utterback for our support of missions, Operation Christmas Child, the Building of Faith, and the Haunted House.
If you have leftover Halloween candy, and don't know what to do with it, you can donate it to FOTC.
Fellowship of the Cross will be selling Christmas ornaments, nativity sets, jewelry, and stocking stuffers from a tree in the rear of the sanctuary. We will be there before, between, and after worship services. 100% of the proceeds from our sale are returned to Ornaments 4 Orphans.
We have 100 empty shoeboxes wrapped in vibrant Christmas paper.
The story of Jesus and the Roman Centurion, found in the eighth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, is among my favorite to share with the children.
As the Sewickley UMC family is celebrating Christmas in July on July 24, the Fellowship of the Cross is asking church family to consider making a contribution toward our 2022 Operation Christmas Child campaign. You can leave a gift under the tree that will be in the sanctuary only July 24, or you can make a financial donation.
As the Fellowship of the Cross formally launches our 12th Operation Christmas Child campaign, we remember that our shoeboxes from 2014 and 2016 were distributed in Ukraine, a nation now ravaged by war.
On behalf of the residents of the Union Aid Building at 511 Centennial Avenue, THANK YOU to the Fellowship of the Cross, their leaders, and all church family youth for planting flowers in our gardens and containers on Sunday, May 22nd.
On their way to children’s church in late April, some Sewickley UMC kids carried armfuls of stuffed animals, contributed by members of our church family, to our Operation Christmas Child room. They were surprised to see all that has been contributed toward our 2022 campaign.
The SUMC children and youth will re-visit tradition by planting flowers around the church campus on May 22, the final morning of our 2021-22 Children’s Church school year. The Fellowship of the Cross and the Education Committee will again host the event.
As the Fellowship of the Cross formally launches our 2022 Operation Christmas Child campaign, we remember that our shoeboxes from 2014 and 2016 were distributed in Ukraine, a nation now ravaged by war.
Our 2021 OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD shoeboxes were shipped to children in the Dominican Republic and Honduras on December 9 and may have been distributed in time for Christmas.
We brought lollipops to reward the kids for using their Children’s Church activity time to fill shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. No game. No craft. We had a service project in front of us.
The Bible story we shared that morning featured the boy who offered his lunch to Jesus, who then used the fish and small loaves to feed thousands. We do our best for Him, and trust Him to use it in miraculous ways.
Can you guess what happened?
The lollipops went into the shoeboxes. The children didn’t ask us about it. They understood: We give him our best and trust him. The kids were listening!
And, yes, we know that the OCC people no longer accept candy in the shoeboxes.
Grace found and removed the lollipops as she spent more than an hour re-packing the shoeboxes. The children were not listening when I said the lids to every box need to fit. They stuffed each box beyond capacity and handed them to Grace, who is gifted with much patience and the ability to cram notebooks and crayons and slippers and sunglasses and balls and dolls and dinosaurs neatly into small spaces.
Jade, Bella, Gideon, Jordyn, Amelie, Christian, Emma, Roger, and Evan spent their Sunday hour filling boxes, and four of them returned after the service to fill more boxes.
This is our 11th year of filling OCC shoe boxes, and each year brings a new Light into the process. This year, He shined the light on the youngest among us and their willingness to serve and share and do their best for Him. While the boxes are intended to share His Love and Light with children around the world who would not have anything for Christmas, and may not know Jesus, they also serve to shape the hearts of our children.
Thank you, from the Fellowship of the Cross, to everyone who contributed. For the 10th consecutive year, we have filled at least 100 shoeboxes. We have contributed more than 1,100 boxes, reaching Africa, South America, Central America, Caribbean nations, and Ukraine.
Thank you to those who contributed shoeboxes and wrapping paper, and thank you to Kara and her daughters, Elliett and Evarett, for again wrapping 100 boxes for our project.
Thank you to everyone who contributed gifts to fill the boxes. Every box was blessed with an array of school supplies, a tooth brush, a washcloth, sunglasses, socks, a stuffed animal, a ball, adhesive bandages, tissues and “wow” gifts from a menu that included t-shirts, flip-flops, ball caps, bandanas, dolls, hair accessories, flashlights, water bottles, cups, and toys.
Thank you to everyone who contributed financially.
Thank you to the Pumpkin Patch team and the Sale for Missions team for supporting our project in multiple ways.
Thank you, Pastor Hannah, for your support and for the Christmas in July idea that accelerated our gathering. Thank you, Pam H. for your energy in so many areas. Thank you, Martha, for all you have done for us since we launched in 2011.
We haven’t talked about next year yet, but I know of nine children who want to help, and I recently found a bag of pencils and glue sticks in our collection box outside the church office. We accept donations year-round, and we never have too much. Grace will make it fit! But we cannot pack lollipops!
The Fellowship of the Cross
Pamela Mayo
Grace Rogansky
Bill Utterback
The Fellowship of the Cross youth will be collecting contributions through the morning of December 19.
FOTC needs updated mailing addresses for college students and your leftover Halloween candy to send to them.
