Dear Church Family:

Happy New Year to you and your family! As many of us know, Pender UMC began our celebration of the New Year at a Watch Night Service of worship, prayer, and anointing with our new friends from Korean UMC of Koinonia. We gathered not only to pray in the New Year, but also to affirm our faith in the triune God and to celebrate God’s our new fellowship as partners in the ministry of making disciples of Jesus Christ. We went to sleep that night with the confidence that the Lord is doing a new and mighty work at Pender, to spread the Good News of his salvation and glory revealed in Christ.

On New Year’s morning, however, a very different kind of message quickly spread throughout our land. As I write, FBI agents are investigating what is now being called a terrorist attack in New Orleans that took the lives of 15 persons and harmed many others. This nefarious act coincided with a suspicious truck explosion outside a hotel in Las Vegas. The concern for more to follow caused the interruption of the much-anticipated Sugar Bowl and quickly supplanted our national reflection about the presidency of Jimmy Carter and the coming inauguration of the new and returning President Trump.       

We Americans have mixed feelings about how best to respond to the interruption of our plans, but we are all humbled at the reminder that there are powerful and sinister forces beyond our control that threaten not just our plans but human lives. Of course, in Israel and Gaza, Ukraine and Russia, and many other countries living in prolonged conflict, any happy New Years plans were dialed back or suspended long ago.  

Christians, like our fellow citizens, may often feel immunized from national or global conflicts. Our struggles are local and personal, and sometimes hidden from others. Jesus’ disciples differ from our neighbors in finding perspective and strength in the fellowship of loving brothers and sisters who struggle and pray with us to always be faithful and joyful in the Lord’s service. We bear each other’s burdens in love, and we give thanks to the Lord for his expanding fellowship of grace and faith that includes us personally and all who trust in him for salvation.   

At the same time, to be a Christian is to know that the saving grace of God that we enjoy is to be shared with the whole world. The one we know and profess to be the incarnate, crucified, and risen Savior, has come to make all things new. When all is said and done, it will not be human powers—just or evil—that determine the course of history, but the coming rule of this same Jesus who has ascended to the right hand of the Father as the rightful Lord of heaven and earth.  

Humans are easily distracted, sometimes by large and fearful interruptions, more often by our near-sighted plans. It is all too easy to lose sight of the Lord’s mysterious providence and loving rule in the midst of the world’s upheaval and our own trials. The early church—living under the constant threat of persecution—knew this all too well. At a time when he intended to write about “the salvation we share,” the author of Jude felt compelled instead to address false teachings about God, the world, and salvation in Christ, to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3). Amid the world’s upheaval, and the believers’ struggles, Jude understood that clear biblical understanding and teaching was essential for his flock to maintain and grow in faithful witness to Christ and in the fellowship of his church. The same is true today.

Beginning January 12 and continuing through March 2, my Sunday sermons will invite us to consider the doctrines (basic teachings) of Christian faith and how they inform our lives and our life together as a fellowship of Jesus’ disciples in this time and place. These beliefs are summarized in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds (and others. See the United Methodist Hymnal #880-882). Throughout this season of Epiphany, we will explore what Christians believe and the difference those beliefs make for how we see our world and our lives, and how they impact the decisions we make faithful living in this troubled world.   

The world may fret or try to escape the human troubles that confront us. But for Christians, this is one more occasion for us to think more clearly and deeply about the teachings of our faith as an essential resource for living and witnessing faithfully to our, sometimes fearful neighbors and friends. I hope you will join us in person, or online, for each of these Sundays, and maybe invite a friend or neighbor who is curious or in need of the truth and love of Jesus Christ.

Christians hope to experience 2025 as a happy and faithful New Year. The disciples of Jesus at Pender will begin by making it thoughtful New Year, by loving God with our hearts and our minds.

Pastor Bruce

• January 4, Bread of Life
• January 5, Fellowship Feast
• January 6, Epiphany
• January 11, District Training Day
• January 12 to February 28, Boy Scout Troop 1530 Online Mulch Sale begins
• January 15, Pender Hill School Open House
• January 26, Juvenile Detention Center
• February 23, Poetry Slam
• March 8, Boy Scout Troop 1530 Mulch Delivery Weekend

Weekly Events

• Sunday
• Children's Sunday School Classes. The children will meet in the sanctuary until just after Children's Time. They will then leave for Sunday School with their teachers. We are asking for volunteers to relieve the Sunday School teachers so they may periodically attend the full worship service.
• Youth Sunday School Class at 10:30
• Seeker Adult Sunday School Class meets at 9:00 am.
• Pray for Pender
• The Impact Youth Group at 5:00 pm
• Monday
• Fun with Music
• Mary Martha Circle, online
• Tuesday
• Handbell rehearsals
• Pastor Bruce Bible Study
• Wednesday
• Ruth Circle
• AA Meetings at 6pm
• Thursday
• Pastor Bruce Bible Study
• Lectio Divina Prayer Group
• Choir Rehearsal at 6:30

Check here for other meetings.

All Pender Meetings run by the school year. Recurring meetings (weekly or monthly) taking place after June 30, 2024 will need to be scheduled again for the 2024-2025 school year.

Now that we have 5 additional congregations meeting at Pender, it is more important than ever to get your room reserved and on the church calendar.

It is also important to remove it if you are no longer meeting so that other groups can use the space.

Pender Members and Pender-sponsored groups such as Boy Scouts should go here, click add event. Please list your first-choice of room number. 

You will get an email when your event is approved. Note that you cannot add an event to a room that is already reserved for another meeting.

Ministry opportunity - would you like to serve your church and the Lord?

Please consider signing up to serve communion. We celebrate this sacrament on the first Sunday of each month and on other special Sundays throughout the year. 

Please contact Donna Parker at musicalmother@gmail.com if you would like to be a part of this wonderful ministry.

We need you! Our wonderful and dedicated children's Sunday School teachers deserve the opportunity to attend the worship service with their families. 

There are sign up sheets in the Narthex with two slots available each Sunday between now and the end of the year. 

You do not have to plan any lessons or even teach. 

We are just in need of extra hands and eyes in each of the two classrooms. 

Please prayerfully consider volunteering for just one Sunday and give our teachers a blessing. 

You will be equally blessed!! 

The Rest Stop could use some snacks, M& M’s and flavored waters.

It needs frozen items to munch on but since they are frozen it's hard to have them donated.

Please drop items off in the office so they can be given to our hard-working officers.

Thank you!

https://2025.novatrainingday.com/

Hi Sunday School Families & Friends, 

There are some wonderful family/children's activities happening ithis year. Please come and enjoy! All are welcome -- and invite a friend!

As of November 30, 2024:

MTD actual revenue was $44,419; YTD actual revenue was $502,099;

MTD actual expenses was $46,370; YTD actual expenses was $548,407;

MTD net loss was ($14,066); MTD net loss was ($1,951);

YTD net loss was ($46,308).

Bridge of Hope Fund:

2023 $37,159

2024 (as of 11/30/24) $$131,626

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Total as of 11/30/24 $168,785

Western Fairfax Christian Ministries ("WFCM") Current Request for Donations

WFCM has been providing food and services to the community for 37 years! Pender was one of the twelve founding churches that set the path and began the journey.  Becky Bryan is our current liaison with WFCM.  Please contact her with any questions.

In May more than 700 families were provided groceries from the Food Pantries, a 15% increase over May of 2023. Serving more families means we have a greater opportunity to make an impact with our donations. 

There are multiple ways you can support this community ministry.  The ways we hear of most often are donations of goods or money. Another way to participate is through volunteering of time to work in the Food Pantry.  If you are interested in volunteering, contact the WFCM office or Becky Bryan.

Financial donations to be used to stock the Food Pantry can be made to Pender to be forwarded to WFCM.  In a recent newsletter, WFCM explained that, because of the savings that flow out of bulk purchases, a donation of $100 is used to purchase the equivalent of $600 of food. 

For donations of food and toiletry items, you may leave your gifts in the grocery cart located by Pender’s front doors.  OR, you can order from Amazon for direct delivery to WFCM at 4511 Daly Drive, Suite J, Chantilly, VA 20151.

~~~

Western Fairfax Christian Ministries - “WFCM”

Update from Becky Bryan, our liaison with WFCM:

From the November WFCM letter we learn that 850 families were served Thanksgiving food as a result of the food donations.  One of the important donations was from the Scouts who collected 44,145 pounds of groceries and toiletries for WFCM. 

These toiletries and canned goods help stock our shelves and provide more options for families WFCM was grateful that the Scouts collection provided enough toilet paper and bar soap donations to resume providing those items to each family in addition to the usual one toiletry per person in the household each month. 

Thanks to each of you at Pender who support these amazing programs with your donations of funds, non-perishable food and toiletries.  

There are 2 ways to support the WFCM food provisions through Pender:

1.     Financial donations designated WFCM may be made to Pender to be forwarded to WFCM.

2.     Donations of food and toiletries may be left in the blue grocery cart located by Pender’s front doors.

Another way I’ve found to be quite easy is to make purchased through Amazon and have them delivered directly to WFCM at 4511 Daly Drive, Chantilly 20151.

The most needed items in the Free Food Market this month:

Food

·       Flour (Maseca preferred)

·       Sugar (1 or 2 lb. bags)

·       Vegetable Oil

·       Pasta Sauce 

·       Pasta 

·       Cereal (low sugar preferred)

·       Pancake Mix

·       Family Sized Snacks (pretzels, crackers, etc.

·       Canned Chicken

​

Toiletries

NOTE: Toiletry items cannot be purchased by our clients with SNAP​​

·       Body Wash

·       Toothpaste 

·       Tooth brushes

·       Hair Shampoo

·       Toilet Paper

·       Large size pull-ups (size 4T/5T for toddlers) 

·       Size 6 Diapers 

·       Baby Wipes 

​

Financial donations designated WFCM can be made to Pender to be forwarded to WFCM. 

Donations of food and toiletries may be left in the blue grocery cart located by Pender’s front doors.

Pender is an open and welcoming church. We accept and embrace all persons, period. All people are blessed children of God. Pender is a caring and praying church community; we believe as Christians that we are called to follow and practice the ways of Jesus Christ, who is our ever present and living God.

Our mission is to practice and embrace, providing unconditional love and acceptance of all of God's children as He loves and accepts all of us.

We do not discriminate based on age, mental, physical, or intellectual ability, culture, gender, race, religious belief or unbelief, or sexual orientation.