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Weekly News & Updates
March 7, 2025
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This Sunday - 10am
It's the first Sunday of Lent and Gathering Jam Sunday. Our band starts playing at 9:45am during the gathering time before Worship begins. Bring an instrument to play along or use one of our percussion instruments to make a Joyful Noise to the Lord.
Then come back for our Messy Church fun at 4:30pm downstairs. It's our annual, Chili Cookoff! Get your team ready because we have also added a Lent Escape Room to the evening's activities. Learn more in a block below.
For morning worship, enter the building through the sanctuary doors facing Stockley Gardens. For Messy Church, enter through the parking lot door.
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Children are Welcome
Our Children's Church* takes place each Sunday during worship, following the children's message. Children ages 3 through 5th grade meet down the hall from the sanctuary for an age-appropriate Bible lesson and craft or activity.
Our nursery* is available for children through age 3.
*Our professional workers are CPR certified, and our staff and volunteers are fully background checked.
*Children's church and nursery are optional. You are welcome to keep your child(ren) in worship with you, if you prefer. Activity bags and rockers, if you wish to use them, are in the back of the sanctuary. A baby changing station is in the lobby.
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Clocks "spring forward" one hour this Sunday, March 9, as daylight saving time begins. | |
Christian Sympathy for the Cross Family
Christian Sympathy is extended to the family of long time, Ghent UMC member Mrs. Annah Cross.
A funeral service will be held this Saturday, March 8, at 2 PM at R.W. Baker & Co. Funeral Home, at 509 W. Washington St. in Suffolk. Burial will be private at the Cross-Gatling plot in Cedar Hill Cemetery Suffolk.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Ghent United Methodist Church, 531 Raleigh Ave., Norfolk, VA 23507.
Click here to read Mrs. Cross' obituary on the R. W. Baker Funeral Home website.
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Lent Escape Room and Chili-Cookoff
Ready to shake things up and dive into a whirlwind of excitement? Join us at Ghent United Methodist Church this Sunday, March 9, for our new, Lent Escape Room! This is your chance to unlock some fun, solve puzzles, and experience the joy of teamwork like never before. But wait, there’s more! Get those taste buds tingling and start cooking up a storm for our annual Chili Cookoff! Bring your best recipes and culinary creativity to the table and let’s see who can whip up the most mouthwatering chili.
Sign up to be part of the competition.
The festivities kick off at 4:30PM. We can’t wait to share this evening filled with laughter, connection, and deliciousness with you! Whether you’re a long-time member or a newcomer, you’re warmly welcomed into our community. This is not just about fun and games, but it’s also an opportunity to strengthen our bonds and serve together. So, grab your family, friends, and maybe even some secret chili ingredients and let’s make some unforgettable memories while growing in faith and fellowship. Who's ready for an adventure?!
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Women’s Chorale Performances
Bellissima Women’s Chorale will be presenting their Spring program, “And Nature Smiled” here at Ghent UMC on Sunday, March 30, at 4:00PM.
Bellissima is an auditioned ensemble performing a wide array of music created for women's voices and is the only musical chorale of its kind in South Hampton Roads.
The concert is free. Please come and invite your friends! The chorale will also be performing on Tuesday, April 1, in Newport News and Sunday, April 6, in Virginia Beach.
Click on the image to see it larger.
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Women's History Month: Music & the UMC
Our second musician for Women’s History Month is Dr. Diana Sanchez-Bushong. Dr. Sanchez-Bushong is the Executive Director of Worship Ministries and Director of Music Ministries with Discipleship Ministries of the United Methodist Church. (Discipleship Ministries was formerly known as the General Board of Discipleship and changed its name in 2015.) Discipleship Ministries provides “resources for Christian education, worship, music, evangelism, new church development, stewardship, funding and financial management, lay leadership development, age-level (children, youth, adult) and family ministries, small-group ministries, ethnic local church concerns, devotional life, spiritual formation, and other areas related to the lives of people and the ministries of congregations.”[i]
Dr. Sanchez-Bushong graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and then achieved her advanced degrees from Southern Methodist and Perkins School of Theology at SMU, and her Doctor of Musical Arts at UT Austin. She has served at several churches and at the Board of Discipleship where she worked with the hymnal revision committee to develop the United Methodist Hymnal 1989. She also helped develop the UM Book of Worship 1992 and Mil Voces para Celebrar, 1996, an official United Methodist hymnal for Spanish-speaking churches. She served as the volume editor for The Hymns of the United Methodist Hymnal (Abingdon, 1989) and authored Your Ministry of Planning and Leading Hymn Festivals (Discipleship Resources, 1990). Most recently, she has served on the editorial team for a new Spanish-language worship resource, Fiesta Jubilosa (Abingdon, 2022), and she was also a contributor Forming Disciples Through Worship (Discipleship Ministries, 2020). She has written extensively on hymnody and music in worship, including the article, “Latin American Hymnody, USA” in the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. She is an adjunct teacher at Belmont University in Nashville.
[i] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/about
- Nellwyn Beamon, Minister of Music, Ghent Church
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Children's Church Community Service Project
Our Children's Church is taking up a collection for our local homeless shelters. We will be collecting socks, protein bars, handwipes, toothbrushes, toothpastes, soap, rain ponchos, Chapstick, hand sanitizer, t-shirts, single serving laundry detergent, water, women's products, and lotion.
Please place donations in the collection bin outside the Children's Church room. The collection ends March 31st. Thank you for helping our children to help others!
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Thank You!
Thank you to everyone who assisted with the consignment sale! It was a huge success. We could not have had such a successful event without Catherine Horn, Sarah Morgan and their crew of volunteers!
- Ann Robertson, Preschool Director
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Attend a small group
One of the gifts the church offers is community, specifically small groups where participants can gather to experience acceptance, belonging, and nurturing, as well as challenge and encouragement, for the journey of faith. Contact the church office for more information on any group.
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Children's Church
This group for ages 3 through 5th grade is each Sunday during worship, following the children's message. It includes a Bible lesson, and craft or activity.
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Youth Group
Our Youth Group is led by Pastor Ryan. We are a fully inclusive faith community, welcoming to all.
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Adult Sunday School
Weekly Bible discussions are in the back of the sanctuary on Sundays, 9 - 9:45am, using the Standard Lesson Quarterly series. Enter through the doors facing Stockley Gardens.
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Other Spiritual Disciplines
In addition to joining a small group, participating in mission work or music ministry, we are encouraged to pray, care for one another, and read our Bible.
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Daily Prayer Starter
"O God, my dwelling place, help me to rest
in you, and when I rise give me your work
to do for another day..."
Adapted from Feasting on the Word: Worship Companion
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Congregational Care
In response to Christ's call to love one another, we want the members of our congregation to care for one another. In-person visits, prayers, phone calls, and mail are examples of the ways we reach out to one another.
To send a prayer request to our pastor and congregational care team, click here to fill in our Connection Card.
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Resources
Want to read the whole Bible this year? Take it one day at a time.
Looking for adult or children's New Revised Standard versions of the Bible? Click here.
Get practices and reflections to help you pray.
Read The Upper Room daily devotional. Click here.
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Music Ministry
All are welcome to join our Music Minister, Nellwyn Beamon, in the music ministry of the church. Contact Nellwyn Beamon for more information.
Worship Singers Singers are always welcome to help lead the songs in worship each Sunday.
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Organ Music at GUMC
Our Organist Brad Norris plays for our 10am worship services on Sundays. His next dates are Easter Sunday on April 20, Mother's Day on May 11, Pentecost on June 8, and July (date TBA).
Trumpet Music
Trumpeter Josh McDonald will be playing on April 20, Easter Sunday, during 10am worship.
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Gathering Jam
Once a month, usually on 2nd Sundays, all ages are invited to bring an instrument or use one of ours and play along during the gathering part of our service at 9:45am. The next Gathering Jam Sunday is March 9.
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Get involved with mission work
We seek to live lovingly and justly as servants of Jesus Christ by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, caring for the stranger, freeing the oppressed, being a compassionate presence, and working to develop social structures that are consistent with the gospel.
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Little Library
Do you have a book you're finished with? Are you ready to read a new one? Then check out our book box! Our Little Library is on Raleigh Ave.
Although GUMC no longer places food in the box, you may see that others in the community continue to do so.
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Food Donations
We collect non-perishable food, drinks and hearty snacks to benefit those who are hungry, including those experiencing homelessness, families, or individuals. Some food will be taken to Ghent Area Ministry on Colonial Avenue. The rest will remain at Ghent for those who ask us for help. Please place your offerings in the basket by the altar each 4th Sunday or contact the church office to make arrangements for drop off.
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Homeless Committee
The Homeless Committee of Ghent UMC meets to coordinate efforts to positively impact those experiencing homelessness.
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Preschool Ministry and Leadership Updates | |
UMC Has Not Stopped Working to Dismantle Racism | |
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Agency’s top exec offers new year’s hopes for 2025.
Read his commentary.
A Prayer for the New Year: Renewing Our Commitment to Justice, Equity, and Reconciliation
In 2024, at General Conference, the members approved the updated Article V - Racial Justice.
You Can Help.
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START with prayer. We are asked to pray for Dismantling Racism efforts, as well as, all persons of color who suffer at the hands of injustice, oppression, and white supremacy.
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The General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR) has a compiled a list of 8 things church leaders and members can do to help anti-racism progress. One way is to denounce false notions of “two equal sides.” Click here to learn more.
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Click here for resources, events, and more.
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Giving News
Our giving represents an act of worship in which we thank God for our blessings and acknowledge that everything we have is a gift from God. Click here to learn about the various ways to give.
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UMC Market - iGive
Shop thousands of stores, any time, to support Ghent Church. UMCmarket, powered by iGive, helps you generate a donation to Ghent United Methodist Church when you shop online at thousands of retailers. Click here to join and shop.
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UMC News: World, VA, and Local | |
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*COVID-19 Mitigation Plan for all in-person Ghent UMC Happenings (Updated March 23, 2022) Our call is to love our neighbors and to do no harm.
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Jesus is for everyone. No exceptions.
A Word of Welcome from Ghent UMC
Ghent United Methodist Church is called to the affirmation of the sacred worth of all people. We embrace as a gift the diversity of our neighborhood and the world. We acknowledge our human family's diversity in sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, language, age, faith history, theological orientation, economic status, education, marital status, abilities, and any other defining feature, real or perceived. Click here to read the message in its entirety.
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How can I get in touch with church staff and the Pastor?
The church office hours are Monday-Friday, 9am to noon. Rev. Ry is scheduled to be in the office 9am-12pm on Thursdays and Fridays. You may also make an appointment, if needed.
Click here to access email addresses or call the church office at 757-622-2843.
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