Dear church family, one of my favorite Biblical passages is the story of 12-year-old Jesus being discovered at the temple by his parents. We marvel at the child, but it is also important to appreciate church leadership that valued a young heart. It reminds us of the importance of seeing, hearing, and making space for children. We saw Sewickley United Methodist Church leadership—Pastor Hannah, Kelly and Leap of Faith, and Mr. Erik—creating extraordinary space for young hearts in our November 23 worship services. The girls in the Kingdom Movers dance team were given space to share their joy in both services, and Mr. Erik invited cellist Josef P., a middle schooler, into a duet in the Traditional Service. We were blessed by all of it. Thank you to our worship leaders and to a church family that values all that our youngest hearts have to offer. And thank you to Grace for the incredible imagination, patience, courage, faith, and energy she models for the girls in her dance ministry.

Sincerely,
Bill Utterback (Education Committee)

The United Women in Faith thanks everyone who helped to make the November Rummage Sale for Missions a huge success. Whether you donated items or money, whether you worked one hour or 21 hours, whether you unpacked boxes and bags, packed boxes and bags, or kept the tables looking neat, we appreciate your help. We raised $2,683 for United Women in Faith mission projects.

We want to say how grateful we are to our church and customers for answering the call for help at the Cookie Walk, whether it was baking, buying, or working behind the scenes. Together we succeed every year. Thank you for everything!

Debbie and Joe Consoli

Thanks for Giving! The Sewickley Food Pantry thanks everyone who contributed to the Thanksgiving food drive. Because of Sewickley United Methodist Church members’ exceptional generosity, more than 30 families enjoyed a full Thanksgiving meal.

Dear church family, The Fellowship of the Cross youth and leadership would like to thank God and everyone at Sewickley United Methodist Church for the incredible support we received throughout the year and across November, our busiest season. With your generous hearts and encouraging spirit, we were able to make the following contributions:

  • We delivered more than 130 shoe boxes to the Operation Christmas Child collection center. Each box will be delivered to a child who will also hear of the Love and Light of Jesus.

  • We collected more than $400 through the sale of handmade Christmas gifts for Ornaments 4 Orphans. All of the money received will be sent to the families and communities (for schools and clinics) of the artisans. Children and families in Kenya, Uganda, Peru, and Nepal will benefit.

  • We filled care packages for college students in our church family as they face the end of the first semester. Each box is filled with Halloween candy, salty snacks, hot chocolate packets, and gift cards from Starbucks donated by church family.

We contributed to Operation Christmas Child for the 15th consecutive year, and we have provided more than 1,600 boxes since 2011. Our boxes have reached children in Ukraine and multiple countries in Africa, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

We would like to thank Kara W. for wrapping 100 shoe boxes in love and festive paper, as she does for us every year. And we are thankful for Elliett and Evarett and their roles in the wrapping process. People at the Operation Christmas Child collection center marvel over their art and dedication. We would like to thank everyone who contributed gifts during our Christmas in July worship services and throughout the year. We are also grateful to the Building and Maintenance, Haunted House, and IV/AT teams for their care and cooperation in our basement headquarters throughout the year. We are especially grateful to Ms. Diane and the Pumpkin Patch team for partnering with us as we moved to make shoe boxes available to the community. Your extra effort helped us reach more than 30 children this year. We want to thank Felicity, Johnathan, Mr. Dan, and the youth group for adapting their meeting schedule and joining us on Operation Christmas Child delivery day. We are looking forward to a long partnership. We thank Pastor Hannah and the Leadership Board for their love and light throughout the year.

And, yes, we have already started collecting for next year’s Operation Christmas Child campaign. Our bins are located in the narthex and in the library hallway. We are grateful for all the ways our church family allows us to share the love of Jesus.

Sincerely,
Grace Rogansky, Pamela Mayo, and Bill Utterback