August 12, 2021 COVID UPDATE
Due to the increasing spread of the COVID-19 DELTA Variant, our re-entry team has released the following statement:
In this extraordinary time we urge you to share love and compassion for those in our midst by wearing a mask at church, to stop the persistent coronavirus from spreading. We understand if you have a medical or other concern that keeps you from wearing a mask but want to ensure the safety of those around us as we worship. Thank you.
June 24, 2021
In- Person Vacation Bible School is headed our way!Join us July 25-28 from 6pm-8:30pm at the church.Rocky Railway Vacation Bible School is a faith-filled adventure where kids discover that trusting Jesus pulls them through life’s ups and downs.. It’s a great experience for all kids ages 3 up through outgoing 5th graders (6th grade in the Fall of 2021). Children must be fully potty trained and in underwear in order to attend.REGISTER AT:
https://vbspro.events/p/nlfumcrockyrailway
February 4, 2021
The Small Group Ministry would like to announce that we will be having an all congregation(or others outside our church are always welcome) LENTEN series beginning the week of February 21 continuing for the following 6 weeks.
The book we will be using as our study guide is: The Last Days of Jesus (Six In-depth Studies Connecting the Bible to Life) Deeper Connections by Matt Williams. Due to COVID restrictions, each participant will need to purchase their own book, whether they choose print or electronic is your personal choice. The book/participant’s guide is available on Amazon, Christianbook.com, and Cokesbury.com for approximately $9.99 for paperback. Leaders will also use the accompanying DVD series with each lesson. The DVD is a great narrative with each session showing actual geographical places in the Holy Land of Jesus’s last days (think of it as a chance to travel vicariously) plus different speakers each week. We think this study will deeply enrich your Lenten spiritual journey.
We are offering the small group at different times so as to give participants a chance to select a time that works best for them. Depending on COVID restrictions, we hope that maybe some of the groups can meet in person within the church (with adherence to all COVID restrictions).
Listed below are small groups available to select and the leaders names and email addresses. Please contact the leader of the group you would like to join so they can plan accordingly. Please feel free to invite coworkers, friends, family, etc to join you in this small group study.
Monday mornings 10:30AM Seniors et al, Kathy Boyd contact person dkb700@southslope.net
Monday evening 7PM Men’s group led by Richard Grugin richcat111@southslope.net
Wednesday Evening 7PM Discipleship Group led by Gary Vance gkvance@gmail.com and Laura Bibby dbibby6347@aol.com
Wednesday Evening 7PM Women’s Group led by Suzette Betts slbetts@netins.net
Thursday noon Led by Pastor Alecia pastor@southslope.net
We think that this study will deeply enrich your Lenten journey and bring you comfort and joy during the Holy Season. If you have not yet joined a small group study, this would be a perfect way to check out all that small groups have to offer for education, companionship, and a deeper connection to your faith!
January 21, 2021
Confirmation
Confirmation is not only a United Methodist tradition, but is a great class of spiritual investigation, questioning, learning, growing and formation. The 2021 confirmation class is starting January 24h, and it is NOT what confirmation class was years ago. This is a dynamic, energetic, modern, re-imagined look at what it means to be a Christian today. We don’t give answers; we uncover and discover our faith together! This year’s confirmation curriculum has been altered to fit in with pandemic safety guidelines, and students now have the option to attend virtually or in person.
If you have student in 7th grade or older and are interested in learning more about confirmation, please contact Pastor Beth at nlmfamilies@gmail.com
January 19, 2021
RE-OPENING OF THE SANCTUARY FOR WORSHIP
Starting January 24, we will return to on-site worship in the sanctuary at 10:00 AM. The doors will open at 9:50 AM for seating, which allows the worship team to prepare prior to the time. Re-Entry team has limited the capacity to 50 people at this time. Seating is spaced for social distancing for households. Masks are required throughout the service, which is for your safety as well as those on the platform. When on the platform, the worship leaders will not have their masks on during the service. They will don masks when they shift to the floor during the sermon or special music. We do this as part of loving our neighbor.
Now we have 3 options from which to choose on Sunday mornings:
*On-site worship,
*Live-stream on NL Methodist streaming on FB, and
*Local NLTV, channel 5, at 9:30 AM, which carries a previously recorded service.
We are excited to have multiple ways to worship!
December 24, 2020
Christmas Live Stream
We had a wonderful live stream for our Christmas Service. If anyone wants to watch the video of it Here is a direct link: https://www.facebook.com/108329567465372/videos/1440238246322868 It will be on our Facebook page NL Methodist Streaming always to watch at your convenience.
December 22, 2020
Our Christmas service this year will be online only. We will live stream the entire service on Christmas Eve at 3pm on our Facebook page “NL Methodist Streaming”. The video of the stream will be available on the same page to watch at any time for your convenience.
December 17, 2020
I wanted to give a huge shout out to all of our volunteers and staff who are stepping up to this challenging year. Without the help of everyone in our congregation we wouldn’t be able to do all our events, Nor would we be as connected to each other as we are in this socially distanced time. The best way I can think to show thanks to our staff, and volunteers is to show some pictures of all the smiles and joy they have brought And mention some of the events we have done so far this holiday season.
We beautifully decorated a tree outside the front of the church.
We had a reverse caroling event where you could drive up and just listen to all these amazing singers in our congregation.
We have had a couple of classes, Such as Exercising, Christmas bow tying, Potpourri making and more to come this season.
With all that we still have more plans coming up for this holiday season. If you missed a class and want to still watch it you can find it on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/NLMethodistStreaming.
-Eli F.
November 28, 2020
Watch us on TV!
We are excited to announce that we will be streaming our Sunday services on the North Liberty TV channel! You will be able to watch us Sunday mornings at 9:30am starting December 20th. We are offering this so people who are unable to watch the streams over the internet can still see our services. When we air them it will be the previous weeks service. This is an additional way we are getting our service out there, We will still be having our Live streams on our Facebook page. I believe channel 268 is the channel it will air on if south slope is your provider. Or channel 5 for mediacom (118-3 for digital ready)
Dec. 20: 5:00 – 6:30 Blue Christmas Service
Pastor Beth and the Stephen Ministers will be offering a special livestream service on Sunday, Dec. 20, at 5:00 PM. The Blue Christmas service is especially relevant if you have suffered a loss, are feeling isolated, or if it just feels like there is little or no hope in your life. Sometimes, Christmas just isn’t bringing you the anticipation for joy. The service is available to help you acknowledge those feelings and find joy and hope in God.
-Stephen Ministry
The first week of December we will begin an All Congregational study for the Advent season. Our topic will be Angels, and the book we will be using to guide our study will be: Angels Standing Guard by Doug Connelly. The book is available on Amazon, Cokesbury.com and Christianbooks.com and possibly at local bookstores. Please order as soon as possible so you can get the book in time to begin the study. If you need help with the cost of purchasing the book just let us know and we will provide a book for you. There will be several times offered so all can participate according to the availability of their schedule. We will have a group at
· 10:00AM each Monday morning led by members of the Senior Saints,
· a group offered on Monday evenings at 7PM led by Richard Grugin,
· 2 groups will be offered Wednesday evening at 7PM (one led by Gary Vance and Laura Bibby and second group led by Suzette Betts) and
· a group on Thursdays at noon led by Pastor Alecia.
You can contact any of the leaders, contact the church office and ask them to sign you up or you can register online through our church website or you can register on our Facebook page. We will need your name and email address. This study corresponds with the sermon series that Pastors Alecia and Beth will be presenting during the Advent season. We are looking forward to learning more about this exciting topic. Please join us!
-Suzette Betts
ADVENT IS HERE!
In anticipation of Christmas, we have three wonderful Advent events on Sunday evenings in December.
Dec. 6: 5:00-5:30 Decorate the Tree
We will have a lighted Christmas tree set up in front of the church, near the bell and crosses. We ask EVERYONE in the congregation to bring an ornament to place on the tree. We will have ladders for the courageous to go to the top of the tree. You can place the ornament yourself, or, if you wish, hand it off to a member of the worship team who will place it for you!
THEN, at 5:30 PM Christmas Candle-lighting
We will form a circle around our specially decorated Christmas Tree. You will receive a candle to hold. Family groups can be close together, otherwise, we will stand 6 feet apart. We will sing “Silent Night” as we light our candles in the circle. This will be recorded so that we can show it as a part of our 3 PM Christmas Eve livestream service. (If the weather is bad, please stop by the portico after hanging your ornament to be recorded individually lighting a candle.)
Dec. 13: 5:30 – 6:30 Reverse Caroling
Normally, our choir, Grace Notes, would be going out to carol among our church community. This is not an option this year, so we are trying a new event — Reverse Caroling! We have already started to gather small groups of people who will be singing one or two carols. Our groups will be stationed around the church parking lot. Anyone who chooses, can “drive-thru” the parking lot to hear the carolers as they share Christmas Joy through song. Stop by the entrance to the church to receive a candy cane on your way out. Invite your neighbors! Also, if you wish to bring your family to sing that night, please let Lynn know by texting her at 319-936-7164.
CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
Christmas Eve service will be livestreamed at 3 PM on December 24 and then available for you to watch anytime on Christmas Eve that fits your schedule. We will not be open for a regular service, so we encourage you to not only watch when it is convenient, but to share the livestream site with your friends and extended family!
CHRISTMAS CARD GREETINGS
Many of us have special cards that we send out to family and friends. If you can send a copy of your card (with your family picture and name on it) to the church (as early as possible) we will start sharing those cards during our Sunday livestream services during Advent. It’s a great way of greeting your church family!
-Lynn Jansen
November 6, 2020
Covid-19 Update
Church Family,
Starting this Sunday we will be returning worship to online only and invite you to join us on Facebook at our streaming page, NL Methodist Streaming. All small groups and meetings are to be held virtually as well until further notice. Our candlelight event is POSTPONED as well.
The last few weeks of opening church and following all of the rules and guidelines has not always been convenient, but we have chosen to joyfully follow them. There is no way that we would have been able to do that without the support of so many of our church members, and on behalf of the church leadership team I just want to thank them for all of their hard work.
We want church here to be safe for everybody. Not just to be safe, but to feel safe as well. We hope that this has been the case for those of you who have joined us in person for worship services. We really enjoyed meeting in person and still being able to stream online.
As you know, the transmission levels of COVID-19 in our area are increasing daily. At the recommendations of our Bishop, and in review of reports by leading epidemiologists in Iowa, analysis of updates from medical researchers and public health organizations across the state and nation, and in discernment of resources including the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the Iowa Governor’s office, our re-entry team has made the decision to move our church back into the red zone. The guidance from the Conference Crisis Response Team and the 3-2-1 Reentry Plan states that when your county is in the Red Zone (as Johnson County currently is), we are to refrain from public gatherings, including indoor worship and other in-person activities.
We recognize that this might be a disappointment for some, but we hope that you understand that our decision that we’ve taken is not made out of fear, but out of love and care for each other. We anticipate this transition to last for a minimum of 3 weeks, at which point the re-entry team will meet again to re-assess the COVID-19 situation here in Johnson County.
Our mission statement calls us to Follow Christ, and invite others to follow Him also. I want to encourage you that we can still do this, even though we are pressing pause on meeting in person. I encourage you during this time to reach out to others and let them know that they are loved by you and loved by God. No matter where we meet, there is always power in the gospel of Jesus. We are still a church that gathers together, whether in person or online, and you belong here. We are here to support you, encourage you, and pray with you in all your needs. This season won’t last forever, so let’s keep growing together and looking to Jesus to light our path on this journey.
In Christ,
Rev. Beth Graham
On Behalf of the Re-Entry Team:
Margaret Adams, Suzette Betts, Connie Bryant, Beth Graham, Elaine Hernandez, Jesse Hernandez, Alecia Hilmer, Dale Ingle, Lynn Jansen, Cindy Malott, Betty Mitchell, Lyle Muller
November 3, 2020
Head on over to our COVID-19 UPDATES tab to find more information on all of our ministries online offerings.
TRADITIONAL PLAN DECISION
This is The Position Statement that was passed by church vote on January 26th, 2020.
” North Liberty First United Methodist Church is a gathering of individuals from a diverse and evolving community with varied backgrounds and lifestyles. We recognize the abundance of God’s amazing grace and that all of us have unique gifts and relationships with God. We believe and affirm that all human beings are individuals of sacred worth, created equally in God’s image. We strive to recognize God in everyone. Therefore, we welcome everyone to be fully included in the life of our church.
Our faith calls us to support all who seek the blessings Christ makes available. It is why we, the members of North Liberty First United Methodist Church, reject the 2019 United Methodist Church General Conference decision to adopt the doctrine known as the Traditional Plan. It is why we affirm lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning persons, including those choosing to marry before God, choosing to preside over the weddings, serving as United Methodist clergy or serving in church leadership.
Our faith calls us to be driven by compassion, mercy and the love of Christ. We are the hands and feet of Christ, serving each other and letting our actions speak loud and clear in North Liberty, in God’s church and in God’s world. We support each other in our journey of faith and encourage one another to reach beyond our comfort zones to follow and invite others to follow Jesus Christ.
All are welcome in our church.
Our Mission Statement: To follow and invite others to follow Jesus Christ.”
Upcoming Important Dates :
May 2020, Scavenger Hunt Challenge Winners!! Thank you to all teams who participated in spreading God’s love !
Save The Date!
First United Methodist Church of North Liberty 