Dear Church Family,
“
Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us; glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and always. Amen.”
– Ephesians 3:20-21
Dear Friends,
As you know, over the past several months at South Lyon First we have been assessing what resources God is providing us with for ministry in 2020. Budgets have been set accordingly and we will continue to create ministry and mission opportunity from all the blessings that we are given. Church Council and I believe God is guiding us to a future through these times and our denominational transition. I believe God has been preparing us for such a time as this and we need to kindly, boldly, and confidently allow the Holy Spirit to set our vision and the work before us.
2020 will start with early planning as all are invited to a Leadership Training and Visioning time. Please mark your calendar for January 18th. As I look at the big picture for our church, I pray that we grow in faith and numbers, continue to be active in our mission relationships locally and globally through local projects and Ministry Shares, and to remain together as a faith-filled church family. As I have said all along, you have been and remain a church that loves and serves all. You are a church that is Christ-focused, Spirit-filled, and Mission-driven and God has great plans for our future and God’s presence in our community through those efforts. The specifics on how we live out our mission in 2020 are the details that we all need to work on during our visioning time. You are all needed to make God’s plan come true here at South Lyon First.
We are asking all members and those who worship with us regularly to make an “over and above” commitment to prayer, worship, service, and creating a Vision 2020 Plan. My hope is that everyone who is part of our family of faith would spend the next couple of weeks praying about how God is calling us to commit to the future of our church. I know that God has already provided the talent, resources, and people to do the ministries in 2020 and you have an important part in God’s plan. Maybe you are being called to increase your prayer time, maybe your family will increase your worshiping by one more Sunday each month. Maybe this is the year you find a Sunday School class or midweek study group. Maybe this is the year you show up to choir practice, pick up bell ringing, or dust off your bass guitar and join the Ignite Band. Maybe this is the year that you try a mission project. Maybe, just maybe, 2020 is the year that you see yourself as God sees you and you know just how much you are loved and that grace is poured out for you in unending ways.
All of these things are the gifts that we give to our God, community, church, and yourself. How will your gift require sacrifice from you? It depends on what God is asking of you for 2020 and what you need to strengthen your spiritual journey. I know that South Lyon First really has made a difference in many of your lives. It has and is a place where you connect with God and one another in powerful life-supporting ways. A visioning 2020 plan helps give us focus and direction to help God make that difference in the life of someone else.
Thanks again for your support and being part of this congregation! I know in my heart that God will provide for us so that we can move forward with the growth he wants for us. God wants us to dream big! We must now pray like everything depends on God and work and give like it all depends on us! God isn’t offended by prayers that are too big, but rather ones that are too small. We must ask him to provide for us in a way we cannot provide for ourselves, beyond our dreams. Perhaps God is calling YOU to be a big part of the way God provides! Remember, as Ephesians 3:20 says, God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or even imagine through His power that is in US!
I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us in 2020! Happy New Year!
Love and Peace in Christ, Rev. Mary
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January Worship Opportunities
Guest Preacher Rev. Faith Fowler
We will start off the New Year,
January 5, 2020
by hearing the Word of God from Rev. Faith Fowler. She is an outstanding preacher and you will want to make sure you and your children are in church on January 5 to hear Rev. Faith preach. She is both the pastor of Cass Community United Methodist Church and the Executive Director of Cass Community Social Services, a nonprofit agency that provides food, housing, medical/mental health and employment programs for people living in areas of concentrated poverty. She has held these positions since 1994. In addition to her work at Cass, Rev. Fowler has served as a board member of the Cass Corridor Neighborhood Development Corporation, an advisory board member of the Detroit Area Agency on Aging, and a board member and trustee on the General Board of Church and Society. In 2014, Rev. Fowler founded Cass Community Publishing House. She has authored two of CCPH’s books,
This Far by Faith: Twenty Years at Cass Community
and
Tiny Homes in a Big City
. Click here for her full bio:
https://casscommunity3.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/New-Bio.docx
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A Beautiful Day in God’s Neighborhood
Where Kindness Matters
Starting January 12, 2020 our Sunday morning sermons will be inspired by the recent movie, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”, which is based on Mister Rogers' story about kindness triumphing over cynicism and his real-life friendship with journalist Tom Junod. While Mister Rogers created an imaginary world to encourage children to be kind to one another, forgive, and remember that they are people of worth, we will be looking to the
real life of Jesus
to understand these concepts at a deeper level. What happens when we find ways to be a child of God as friend, parent, spouse (significant others), and as a human being. What happens when we live out Mark 12:31, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”? Pull out your cardigans and lace up shoes as we not only dream, but find ways to create A Beautiful Day in God’s Neighborhood right here in South Lyon.
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Sunday Morning Children’s Ministries
This month we’re launching our 2
nd
Sunday Children’s Worship service for 4 year olds through 5th graders. Every 2
nd
Sunday of the month, the children will gather in the Chapel for full, age-appropriate worship. January 12
th
will be our first run. Children’s worship will run concurrent with services so there will be two opportunities for your kiddo to engage in children’s worship: 9:15 – 10:15AM and 10:45AM – NOON.
The rest of the Sundays the following opportunities are available for children:
8:15AM Daybreak
Nursery for Infants – 3 year olds
Worship Activity bags for 4 olds– 3
rd
graders
10:45AM Ignite
Nursery for Infants – 3 year olds
GraceSpace for 4 year olds – 3
rd
graders
11:00AM Cornerstone
Nursery for Infants – 3 year olds
Worship Activity bags for 4 olds– 3
rd
graders
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Mission of the Month:
Cass Community Social Services
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Join us on Sunday January 5
th
to hear Rev. Faith Fowler preach at SLFUMC! She will be kicking off the January Mission of the Month with Cass Community Social Services, a Detroit-based agency dedicated to providing food, jobs, health services and housing.
· FOOD: One million meals served a year, with food coming from volunteer donations, a community garden, food banks, and meat from hunters in Northern Michigan.
· HOUSING: Multiple w
arming center
s,
emergency shelters, rotating shelters
hosted by churches and p
ermanent supported housing (where
individuals can stay in an apartment indefinitely) are made available to those in need.
· JOBS: Green Industries was created for those with significant barriers to traditional jobs and links employment with sustainability. Currently 85 adults produce
m
ud mats and flip-flops from tires that were illegally dumped in the city, coaster sets using repurposed wood from demolished houses and glass scraps from Guardian Glass, and shredded materials through a document destruction program.
· HEALTH: A free medical clinic is operated by volunteer doctors and Wayne State medical students, offering health screenings, simple medications, and arrangements for pro bono procedures.
· TINY HOMES: 25 different homes (250-400sf) are planned for this project (19 are now completed or near completion). The residents are formerly homeless, senior citizens, or college students who all qualify as low-income. For seven years the residents will rent the homes for $1/sq. ft. after which time they will be given the opportunity to own the home and property.
Cass has many other outreach programs and services including bicycle rentals, coat and gift drives, a choir of formally homeless men, a store allowing people the opportunity to provide for themselves at a significant discount but giving them a sense of responsibility and accomplishment – just to name a few. They truly are living their motto of
“Fighting Poverty. Creating Opportunity. Building Community.”
Hands-on projects with Cass and SLFUMC began last year. The UMM built an office inside one of their warehouses and have done work inside an apartment building to make it habitable. The youth remodeled a children’s room at the Cass UMC, a youth group went down to do mission work – and there are plans for more in 2020.
· Welcome Rev. Faith Fowler to South Lyon First UMC on Sunday January 5, 2020! (See article above.) This is a great honor to have her join us at South Lyon First!
· We will be hosting an Empty Bowls painting opportunity at the church on Sunday January 12
th
(see further details in this newsletter). These will be used at a fundraiser at Eastern Market on Friday March 6, 2020 (21 & over event). Tickets are available at
www.emptybowlsdetroit.org
if you would like to attend.
· We will be taking orders for recycled tire mud mats through the month of January. Cass Community Social Services collects illegally dumped tires from vacant lots in Detroit and recycles them into indestructible mud mats (
https://casscommunity.org/mud-mats/
). The color of beads between the strips of tires are customizable to support your favorite Go Green! Go Blue! Go Tigers! team, or multicolored or whatever you choose! To date, Cass has picked up well over 30,000 tires from the streets and 12 formerly homeless men are employed in a program creating mud mats from these tires. See the kiosk for order forms in January.
Detroit is changing, rebuilding and growing stronger, but there is still a lot of work to be done. While the growth and excitement in the city is necessary, please remember those that have been struggling in the city for years and pray we find a way to bridge the gentrification. Please consider supporting Cass Community Social Services. You can learn all about their work at
www.casscommunity.org
. Checks can be made out to SLFUMC and designated on the offering envelope to CCSS. During the month of January, your prayers and financial support will make a difference in the City of Detroit.
Much Praise and Thanks,
Your Mission Team
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Bible Journaling, Tuesday, January 14 @ 7PM
Looking for a new way to explore scripture? Or a creative outlet? Or great company on cold winter’s night? Consider this open invitation for the novice to the experienced to gather for fun and fellowship as we plumb the Word together.
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Connections Class:
Beginning Tuesday, January 14, Rev. Mary will facilitate
Connections
. The
Connections
group curriculum was developed by Brené Brown PhD, LMSW, who has conducted years of groundbreaking research on shame and vulnerability. This 8 week course is designed to help participants:
* Understand the behavior patterns that keep you stuck
* Provide relief and understanding of where your discomfort is coming from
* Take appropriate, healthy risks in life and in relationships
* Feel a deeper connection to yourself and others.
There is a sign up sheet available on the kiosk.
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Upcoming Opportunities for Men
• Every Tuesday morning: devotion, prayer and breakfast 6:30 am in the Parlor
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•
“First Saturday Breakfast” on January 4
th
will be a pictorial look back at our 2019 programs and ministries. Start the New Year off right by attending one of our most fun and rewarding breakfasts of the year! Join us 7:30 – 9:00 in the Friendship Room.
•
The Tuesday night weekly Bible study group resumes Jan. 14
th
7:30 – 8:30 in the parlor with a Max Lucado study of 1, 2 & 3 John & Jude. Sign up on the kiosk or Ignite bulletin board.
Click on this link for more details.
•
“First Saturday Breakfast” on Feb. 1
st
features Craig Shaw speaking about some of his NASCAR experiences while working at Michigan International Speedway.
•
Quarterly Euchre Tournament Friday, Feb 14
th
6:45 – 10:00 p.m. in the Friendship Room. Sign up on the kiosk or Ignite bulletin board for a fun evening of laughs, snacks and cheap prizes! $5/person.
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Save the Date – Winter Jam Concert 2020

Sunday, February 23 @ EMU Convocation Center
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Youth Group Lite
New this month
– Youth Group Lite moves to the 1
st
& 3
rd
Wednesday evenings of the month from 6-7PM, beginning Wednesday, January 15
th
. Dinner will be available for families from 5:30PM – 6PM. Families will need to reserve their spot the Sunday prior, and dinner will be provided at the church for $5/person. We’re hoping that this will help our families!
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Making Valentine’s Day plans?
Consider supporting Parent’s Night Out – Youth Missions Fundraiser
Saturday, February 15, 5-9PM. Sign up information will be available January 12.
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VBS 2020 – Champions In Life!
Save the dates for VBS 2020 - August 3-6, 2020. We’ll get Ready, Set & GO with God through the Summer Olympic season!
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Empty Bowls Detroit Painting Project
Please join the Mission Team on Sunday January 12
th
for a family-fun, all-ages, all-abilities (even no-abilities required!) fun event! We will have ceramic bowls and paint available for you to make your own fabulous piece of art. These bowls will be returned to Cass Community Social Services in Detroit to be glazed and fired in the kiln and then used to support Empty Bowls 2020, which is a fundraiser hosted at Eastern Market on March 6, 2020. Everyone at Empty Bowls Detroit is a volunteer and 100% of the proceeds from their events is given to Cass Community Social Services to help them provide more than 700,000 meals annually to those struggling with hunger in Detroit.
A free-will soup dinner will be available as well during our event. You are invited to fill a bowl with delicious hot soup from a local restaurant and say a prayer for those whose bowl is often cold or empty.
To ensure we have enough bowls on hand we highly recommend buying your ticket through the Empty Bowls event link below:
If you would like to attend the major fundraiser in Eastern Market on Friday March 6, 2020 where your bowl will be made available to the attendees, tickets are available at
www.emptybowlsdetroit.org
Please plan to join us for this fun event – and share with your family & friends!
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God’s Country Mission Trip Information Meeting
Want to know what the God’s Country mission trip is all about? Join us Sunday, Feb.9
th
12:15 – 1:00 in the Friendship Room to learn about our church’s annual July mission trip to the U.P. We will “show and tell” from our experiences, provide details about the 2020 trip, and answer any questions you may have. This event is especially for those exploring first-time participation. Find out why this trip has become such an important and meaningful part of our outreach ministry! Contact Dave Smith (
daveandkathysmith@yahoo.com
) with questions.
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2020 Gifts of Love Talent Auction
Save The Date - March 28, 2020
SLFUMC - Food at 5:00pm Auction Starting at 6:00pm
As a Mission-Driven church, we give gifts of love year round. But every two years, we host our Gifts of Love Talent Auction - one of the favorite events in the life of our church.
Our talents in this congregation are limitless. Start thinking about what talents you can share. Examples of past items are unlimited trips to a garden, ski lessons, a week in a condo, baby-sitting, catered dinners, a bagpiper performance, and veterinary services.
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Exploring Membership Class
January 26th at Noon in the Library (Rm. 106)
Interested in learning more about becoming a member at South Lyon First UMC or learning more about the ministries here? Please sign up on the kiosk, on the Ignite bulletin board, or contact Rev. Kenny Walkup at
kennywalkup@gmail.com
. Lunch and childcare will be provided.
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Save the Date:
Chili Cook-Off & Trivia Night - February 8th
Please come taste the amazing chili in the chili cook-off on February 8
th
in the Fellowship Hall from 5:00-7:30 PM. This year we will also have trivia games. Bring a team of up to 8 players or come on your own and join the fun! Check out the weekly Sunday announcement page for details. For more information, contact Dan Noble at
namder04@yahoo.com
or 248-982-0108.
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Our Nursery is GROWING and We Couldn’t Be More Excited!
If you love the littles and love sharing God’s great love with them – we have opportunities on Sunday mornings for nursery volunteers. If you are available at least once a quarter, please contact Kendi:
kendikristine@att.net
or 816-665-9387.
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Holy Land Trip November 11-19, 2020
I have spent a life time reading about the special places in Jesus life as they are written about in the Bible. I have thought about what it looked like, smelled like, and sounded like, and even dreamed about it.
If your heart’s desire is to visit Israel, I want to encourage you to believe that dreams do come true – it is possible! Ed McKenna a member of our church and a Collette travel agent has created a meaningful itinerary for us that covers those biblical stories we have imagined in our minds eye, we will travel with a guide, eat in places that serve wonderful food and stay in 4 and 5 star hotels.
There are brochures available at the kiosk. I am looking forward to traveling to where Jesus walked with our church family as we study scripture and experience the culture of the area as we spend 9 days sightseeing in places like Jaffa, Caesarea, Nazareth, Cana, Tiberias, Seas of Galilee, Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Golan Heights, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Mount of Olives, just to name a few. I personally cannot wait to wade into the River Jordan and renew my baptism vows in the very water that washed over Jesus. - Rev. Mary (
revmarymcinnes@att.net
)
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Snow is Falling and Great Books
are Calling!
Check out our church library located next to the copy room. From devotional books and church history to children’s books, we have resources for you. Take a moment and browse through or watch for the traveling cart in a church space near you!
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Ignite Band Opportunity
If you or someone you know are a musician who is passionate about worship and looking to play or sing with a band, we have an opportunity for you! The Ignite band is currently looking to expand our pool of talented servants. We rehearse Thursday nights from 7-9 PM in the Fellowship Hall. You need NOT be available every week. Please email the Ignite Band Director, Aynsley Fant at
aynsleyfant@att.net
or call/text 615-319-9581 to set up a time to be heard and see if it's a good fit.
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Pasty Sales a Rousing Success!
The God's Country Cooperative Parish (GCCP) mission team would like to thank everyone who contributed to our annual fundraising Pasty Sale. We sold more than last year, primarily because of your generosity in donating pasties to the clients of Active Faith (227 of 720 total sales)!
The mission team to the Upper Peninsula netted nearly $1900. This money helps offset the cost of every individual that goes on the trip. Again, thank you for your support.
Submitted by
Holly Schlusler
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Church News
- Liam Parrish, son of Peter & Christina, born 9/19/19 and baptized 12/1/19
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Click the link below to see
this month's birthdays!

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Holiday Office Hours
The church office will be closed from December 24
th
- January 1
st
. If you have a pastoral emergency during this time, contact Rev. Mary (586-515-0013) or Rev. Kenny (248-361-6658). All other voicemail and email will be monitored and returned as needed.
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Sunday Worship Schedule
8:15 am Daybreak in Sanctuary
9:30 am Sunday School for all ages
10:45 am Ignite in Fellowship Hall
11:00 am Cornerstone in Sanctuary
Office Hours
Monday - Thursday 9:00am - 3:30pm
Closed Fridays
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for more information about our church or any of these programs!
Do you prefer a printed copy of our newsletter? Hard copies are available on the kiosk in the lobby!
Newsletter is edited by Lori Penndorf
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