Weekly News – Nov. 25th, 2012
What’s Happening This Week
Join us next week, December 2nd, for the First Sunday of Advent! We’re starting a new series called Advent: Sharing Our Human Experience. For four weeks we’ll engage questions about life, love, suffering, and hope as we consider the incarnation. Our lead pastor Timothy Lloyd will begin this series next Sunday with his sermon titled: “We Are Here: A Reflection on the Mystery of Human Existence.” Don’t forget, if you’ve missed any sermons, you can catch up with our podcasts or sermon videos.
Christmas Decor & Church Workday, Dec 1st from 9am-4pm – Come help decorate the church for Christmas & do some general cleaning! Breakfast & lunch will be provided. This was a great time last year! Get to know people better by serving together!
New Children’s Minister – If you’d like to get in contact with our new Children’s Minister Whitney Pierce, her email is whitney@eastsideatl.org. Or you can catch her at the Children’s Check-in table before or after worship.
Angel Tree Advent Initiative starting Dec. 2nd – We’ve partnered with Prison Fellowship to provide gifts for children with an incarcerated parent. You’ll have the opportunity to choose a child & gift to buy for them. We’ll then deliver these gifts to the families!
Buy your coffee, chocolate, & tea at church! – As we endeavor to take small steps toward justice we’re selling fair trade products in the lobby after church from Equal Exchange. Buying here supports Oakhurst Chuch, the Co-op, & UMCOR! Stop by the info table to buy some today & get in the habit of buying your chocolate & coffee at church!
Pre-service prayer – 10am every Sunday before church. Katie Sack leads these informal times of prayer for the church, its growth, and existence. Consider joining in this time of prayer for the church and centering before worship.
Ways to Connect & Grow Together
Growth groups (small groups) are the way we connect with each other at Oakhurst. If you are interested in learning more about or joining an Oakhurst Small Group please contact Elisabeth Lloyd at Elisabeth(at)eastsideatl.org. Currently we have 7 groups that meet at various times and locations during the week. You can jump in at any time! Groups gather to fellowship, encourage one another, study scripture and pray for one another.
Eastside Church Holiday Bazaar and Fair Trade Market, December 15th from 10am-6pm! Coffee, quilts, chocolate and more! C’mon out and purchase your Holiday gifts from local artisans and fair trade vendors. Crafting for the kids to make their own presents, local musicians and a luncheon make for a great family day. Help create a more just economy and have a lot of fun doing it!
Are you an artist or work for a non-profit that engages social justice? Do you know someone who is? Consider being vendor at our Holiday Bazaar. Booths cost $30 for vendors, but are free to non-profits. You can apply here.
Join our online community at Eastside Church Community Builder. Create an account by signing up at www.eastsideatl.org in the upper right corner. This account allows you to give online, request to join a small group, view service opportunities & more.
Serving Together
Bake Sale for Holiday Bazaar – Baked good donations are needed for the Oakhurst table at our Holiday Bazaar! Profits go to the ministries at Oakhurst. Please contact Maria Carr after church or email her at mariacarr24@gmail.com if you are interested in baking!
Meal Ministry – When people experience big life events, the church community provides meals for the families. We’ve successfully provided many meals in the past but would like to update our email list so we can continue to sustain this growing ministry. Contact Brit Eyster if you’d like to bless the community in this way or to notify her that you’re still interested in helping with this ministry – brit.eyster(at)gmail.com
We always need help on Thursday evenings from 6:30-7:30 to clean the church in preparation for worship. There is a sign up sheet at the information table for those able to contribute. This is an easy way to serve as well as to get connected with others in the church.
Eastside Church Arts Ministry is helping to start a public library in Ghana this year! We are seeking to collect as many books as possible by this October. The books can be any genre (and for any age), as an entire village will have access to this library.
Did the service prompt any thoughts or questions for you? We believe that transformation happens in community and we’d like to keep the conversation going whether it’s about the music, confession, the artwork, sermon, or anything else. You can engage in a conversation by commenting on the sermon blog post at ww.eastsideatl.org/sermons, by commenting on the sermon post on our Facebook page, via email – questions@eastsideatl.org (we’ll post for you as a blog post), or by replying @eastsideumc on Twitter.