Announcements
Commitment
Forms
If you have
not turned in your financial commitment form for 2022, please
do so as soon as possible. Your commitment helps our
Finance Team determine our spending guideline for 2022.
Your commitment to Woodridge UMC has been unparalleled in the
past and we want to go into 2022 with that same
attitude! Let's do this!!!!! Any questions,
assistance or details needed, please contact our financial
secretary, Walt Read, or the church office.
Thank
Yous
THANK YOU to all who donated grocery gift cards for our
sister church, Trinity UMC in Joliet. We sent just over
$1500! Your generosity is greatly appreciated!
THANK YOU to all who supported Woodridge UMC’s Youth
Ministry through the Gift Card Sale. Thanks to your amazing
generosity this fall and winter, we raised just over $1000!
You all truly are the best!
Opportunities/Events
Youth Ministries at WUMC in January &
beyond:
Sunday, Jan.9th: Confirmation will meet on Zoom at the regular
time to discuss plans for January. Youth Group will not
meet this week.
The Bible for Curious People
Our Tuesday
study group is on Christmas break. The Bible for Curious
People will return Tuesday,
January 11th at 10:30 a.m.
Wednesday
Bible Study
Our Wednesday
Bible study starts back up this week from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30
p.m. We meet via ZOOM (for the month of
January). Please join us.
United
Methodist Women Mission U
January
21 - 23 at Rockford: Christ UMC
February
4-5 at Hinsdale UMC
“There’s Far More Than Meets the Eye." Mission U is
presented by United Methodist Women for all (children, youth,
men and women). Organizers will offer several adult
classes, hybrid (in person & online). Fees are $45 for an
in-person adult (lunch included), $15 for each virtual adult,
$5 for each child or youth with a maximum of $15 for children
and youth per family. Another session will be held Feb. 4 -5
at Hinsdale UMC. For details and registration, visit umwnic.org. Different topics are available at each
date but cover the 2021 studies:
- Bearing Witness in the Kin-dom: Living Into
the Church’s Moral Witness through Radical Discipleship
(January)
- Pushout: Becoming Peacemakers in a Culture
of Violence (January)
- Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls
in Schools” (February)
- Finding Peace in an Anxious World
(February)
- Children’s Study (ages 5-11) – Responding
to Violence (February)
Outreach
Opportunities
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
As you have probably heard from neighbors and
news media sources, the tenants of Woodridge Country Club
Condos have had to vacate their homes because of extensive
building repairs. Mayor Cunningham and her offices have
been working diligently to relocate these families. However,
there are some very serious needs for the families in their
temporary spaces at nearby hotels. The immediate needs are as
follows:
1.) Cases of water;
2.) Personal care toiletries (such as full
sized body wash, shampoo and conditioners, lotions, etc.);
3.) Children's activities/games, hot
cocoa, snacks, family-sized cereal;
4.) Monetary donations (addressed to
Woodridge Neighbors Helping Neighbors).
Please feel free to assist where you can. We
will coordinate our efforts through the Outreach Committee
and make a more concerted, church-wide effort in
January. However, you are invited to respond more
immediately if you so desire. Please watch our E-news
for updates and details in the coming weeks.
United
Methodists Respond After Deadly Twisters
United
Methodists in Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and neighboring
states are coming to terms with the devastation of a string
of tornadoes Dec. 10-11, while also mobilizing quickly to
provide food, emergency shelter and other relief.
The storm system that struck on Friday evening into Saturday
morning — including one tornado that caused destruction
across some 240 miles — is blamed for nearly 90
deaths.
A tornado collapsed the roof and walls of an Amazon
warehouse in Edwardsville, Ill., killing six people. The storm also caused
damage to homes, silos and an FS Plant in several downstate
towns. Illinois Great Rivers Disaster Response
leaders are assessing needs at this time. Twisters
sheared roofs and shattered windows at some United Methodist
churches and parsonages, as well as badly damaging congregation
members’ homes and local businesses in Kentucky and
Tennessee. Read
more.
How
to help
Donations also can be made directly to the
Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference’s Disaster Response Fund, the Missouri Conference disaster response, the Arkansas Tornado Fund or the Illinois Great Rivers Conference Disaster Response Ministry.
DuPage
Pads: Did You Know?
DuPagePads operates a Street Outreach call line
for anyone who observes someone unsheltered or in need
of services. Please notify our Street Outreach team at
630-682-3846, option 2, or email streetoutreach@dupagepads.org with the following information:
Your name and contact information (for
possible follow-up)
- Individual’s/Family’s Name (if
known)
- Location (last seen)
- General Description
ONGOING OPPORTUNITIES
Suits for Success
There are donation boxes in the hallway by the
coat rack just outside the narthex for both men and women's
clothing. The clothes are picked up, dry cleaned and
then taken to area men and women's prisons for people being
released. NO belts, shoes, underwear or ties.
"Goin'
Green" Shoes & Clothes Recycling Box
Located in the northeast corner of our parking lot,
this receptacle is a convenient place to recycle any shoes
and your clothes that are at or near the end of their
usefulness.
Did you know discarded clothes account for more
total landfill space than any other waste item? The “Goin’
Green” Box helps us reduce our waste.
How is this different from our “Suits for
Success” ministry?
The big difference is that “Suits for Success”
cannot accept shoes of any kind, nor can they accept belts,
ties, or underwear. “Goin’ Green” accepts all shoes and
clothes.
In summary: Keep bringing your gently used clothing
donations to the “Suits for Success” collection boxes in the
hallway.
For all shoes and any other clothes, instead of
throwing them in the trash, put them in the “Goin’ Green”
receptacle in the northeast corner of the parking lot.
West Suburban Food Pantry
We have a basket that we "inherited"
from the Faith, Lisle church that is waiting for
donations. It sits in the narthex, usually near the
sanctuary doors. They did not stop operating during the
pandemic and there is pending legislation in our state and
nation that might cut their corporate donations in large
amounts. Let's replenish our basket!!!
Used Eyeglasses
There is a
basket also in the narthex for collecting used
eyeglasses. Jorie would see that her sister, Kendra,
got the eyeglasses and that they are recycled to the Lions
Club and Gift of Sight groups. Kendra is continuing
this important mission. (Prescription eyeglasses only).
January Outreach Offering
Family Crisis
Fund
The Pastors of our church use our Family Crisis
Fund to assist persons who come to our doors through the week
needing help with food, utilities, prescription medicine(s),
gas, emergency rental payments, and similar. The Family
Crisis Fund is also available to church members in their time
of need for the same types of assistance (food, utilities,
etc.) In addition to your monetary donations, we can also
utilize gift cards from grocery stores, restaurants, and gas
stations. These are also very helpful. The Pastors are
grateful for your faithful support in helping the church do
the work of Christ on a daily basis. Your generosity is
greatly appreciated.
Northern Illinois Conference
Prairie
Central District
The new names
of the districts, which went into effect July 2021, are Lake North, Lake
South, Prairie Central, Prairie North, and Prairie South. We
will be in the Prairie Central district. Click here to read the list of churches in each district. Find the new
district webpage here.
Prairie
Central Monthly Lay Meetings
Please join
our District Superintendent, Jeffrey Bross and
your lay colleagues in the PCD every SECOND
Thursday of the month beginning on September 9
and ending on May
12 at 7pm. We will share news, have
some prayer and devotion, hear the call story of a colleague
and laugh with your friends. We try to keep it to an
hour but if something is really important and we need some
extra time, we can do so. This is a no-stress way to
stay connected and get lifted up and know you are not alone.
Please note that ALL lay persons who are in
leadership at their churches are invited. This is not just
for designated "lay leaders" but anyone who
has an interest in the church and gathering with
other lay persons.
Hope to see you there. Contact the church office for
the link.
Amazon
Smile
Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible
purchases to Woodridge United Methodist Church whenever you
shop on
AmazonSmile.
AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same
prices, same service. Support WUMC by starting your
shopping here.
Ways to
Connect
January
7, 2022, Volume 12, Edition 1
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