Sunday March 23, 2025

This Week's Message is:

"Body of Christ: Connected"

Romans 12: 1-8

ACCESS WORSHIP

Join us for our Traditional worship Sundays at 8:00 a.m. and at 9:45 a.m. for Praise worship which is livestreamed on our Facebook and available on YouTube any time after. Our most recent worship services are also posted to our website. To view the last Sundays Service click here.

OUR LENTEN FOCUS

This year as we journey to the cross and empty tomb, we are centered on Sundays around “The Body of Christ.” Come discover what it means that Jesus not only came in bodily form to love and save us, but that we're also called to form the Body of Christ as a community of believers. Come and join us on Sundays for this sermon series through Palm Sunday, April 13.

Easter Sunday - April 20

Worship at 8:00, 9:30, and 10:45am

Come on this festive morning to celebrate that the body of Jesus is ALIVE!!! Death has been swallowed up by life – He is not here; He is Risen!!! Share this worship opportunity with others in your life so they can also experience the joy of this morning. 8:00am service will be more traditional, and the 9:30 and 10:45am services will be led by the band. Please share our events for this Holy Week on Facebook.

PROPERTY/LANDSCAPE UPDATES AND SPRING CLEAN UP

We have contracted with Good Oak ecological services to properly care for and enhance our prairies. We will work with them to help develop and strengthen the prairies until they are established and self-sustaining. We also have a quote for painting services for the front entrance of the church, and will be scheduling that work for the month of June. Lastly, we have scheduled the Spring Clean Up Day for Saturday, April 26th from 9am-noon. Please contact Micah Zielke or sign up at the welcome table if you are able to participate in the work day. Many hands make light work, and these events help build relationships while honoring our property with good stewardship. Thanks for all the ways you help us care for what God has given!

LENTEN WEDNESDAY WORSHIP

Continue to join Pastor Heather tonight and on future Wednesdays at 6:30pm until Holy Week for services centered around Taizé practices. Join her for this midweek reset for your faith and life! Rain, snow or shine!

LIBERATING THE PEACEMAKER WITHIN 2.0

Come join us on Sundays at 11am through April 13 for this amazing class! Elton Tylenda and Josie Pradella have graciously agreed to offer it again and they've updated and streamlined it so even if you were a part of it last year, there are new things. We will together go on a journey to discover our inner peacemaker. Thank you Elton and Josie for offering this gift! Check out www.lifeworldreconnect.org for more information!

THURSDAY WOMENS BIBLE STUDY

The whole Bible in 7 weeks? Sounds a little overwhelming, doesn’t it? In this study called "Seamless," we will be led through the whole Bible, Genesis to Revelation, and learn how it all connects into one seamless thread. Join us as we explore! We meet each Thursday morning from March 13 to April 24 in the New Life Classroom from 9-11:00am. If you have any questions contact Melanie Stepherson at Melanie.stepherson@gmail.com.

EASTER FLOWERS

This year we decided to try a different approach when ordering Easter Flowers. We have a sign up sheet on the welcome table in order to select the type of flower you want. We have only ordered so many so once the list is full we will not be accepting any more. Deadline to sign up is March 30. There are 4 daffodils left.

NEXT WOMEN'S MINISTRY EVENT

Come paint beautiful barn quilt ornaments with Tyanna Lotegeluaki! You can paint one ornament for $10 or two ornaments for $18. We'll gather on Thursday, April 10 at 6:30 pm at New Life. To sign up, click on the link below. This is a list of all of her classes! So choose "Private event for Jillene--1 ornament" or "Private event for Jillene--2 ornaments" and you pay there. Tyanna will send a Google form later for you to pick your design. LINK: https://redesign229.com/events-1

(For those signed up for the tomorrows Paint night should have received an email from Janice Newell)

SAVE THE DATE FOR BRAT FEST 2025! (May 19-27)

The volunteer sign up goes live April 5th at 10am. After that date and time you can sign up at: www.Bratfest.com  The sooner we sign up the more choices we get for days, times, and jobs- take note our own Mad City Funk is playing on Friday at 1:40 PM-2:20 PM. We receive $12 for every hour we volunteer to go to New Life Church-if you check St. Matthew’s ELCA as your charity. This year absolutely everyone has to sign up online with their own email address. (If you don’t have one then contact Judy 608.348.9057 or stop in the office.) More information to come.

OFFICE HELP NEEDED

Liz, our Office Manager, will be on vacation on July 1st-3rd and 7th-8th and she is looking for some help in the office from the hours of 8:30am to noon on those dates. We'd ask you to answer phones, collect mail from the mailbox and check for urgent emails. Please email Liz if you are available and can help; she will train you and give you all the information you'd need.

NEW LIFE KIDS needs YOU! VOLUNTEER!

If you would be interested in being a part of the New Life Kids teaching team, please let Ashley and take a look at the sign up sheet.

NEW LIFE TEENS!

We are hoping to get the middle and high school programming up and running as soon as possible! Please complete this survey if you have a middle or high schooler

NEW LIFE KIDS - Sundays at 8:50am.

Kids in Kindergarten through 5th grade are invited to join us each Sunday morning in the ReCreation Center! They will be learning about the parable The Prodigal Son

BABY TO 4K FAMILIES - Sunday at 8:50am Families with babies - 4K are invited to meet in the Kidzone to spend time together. This is a time for children to play together and for families to connect.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WORKSHOP

This Sunday March 23rd from 2-4 pm Pastor Walter Baires and Iris Christenson will lead a workshop called "Know Your Rights" to be held at New Life Church. We will be talking about what an immigrant (or a bystander) should do if an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agent comes to an immigrant's home, school, church, place of employment, or approaches him/her while in any public space. We'll talk about an immigrant's Constitutional rights and how to best assert those rights. We'll provide informational handouts that explain everything we cover in the workshop. This workshop is intended for Allies who wish to support immigrants and their families and will be conducted in English. If you have any questions, call or text Iris Christenson at 608-239-6060."

Please note: A Know Your Rights workshop for immigrants and their families will be held on a different date and include translation into Spanish.

NEW WAY TO HELP CALLED CarePortal COMING TO NEW LIFE!

Our Social Purpose Team is very excited to introduce this community to a new way we'd like to help the most vulnerable in our community! CarePortal is connecting technology that drives action for the local church to restore and strengthen families. Child-serving professionals enter vetted needs of a family in their care into CarePortal, and with the support of the community, church responders show up to make connections and meet these practical needs. For more info please contact Nicole Hines.

ST MARK'S FOOD PANTRY

Mark Taylor, coordinator of St Mark’s food pantry, did a ministry minute the first Sunday of Lent to talk about volunteer opportunities at the pantry. He began his presentation by sharing the food pantry shelves were uncomfortably empty that previous Thursday evening and he was on edge because of it. However, before the pantry doors opened to shoppers generous donations were dropped off by our church, another partner church and 2 individuals. Thank you for continuing to support St Mark’s food pantry. The pantry is also in need of volunteers to stock the shelves and help the shoppers. Pantry hours are Thursday evening from 5:00 to 7:00 PM and Friday from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Typically volunteers come 15 minutes before the pantry opens and stay 30 minutes afterwards to help with any restocking. Any help is appreciated and can be tailored to fit your schedule whether it be once a week, every other week, every third week or monthly. Currently, the biggest need for help is on Friday. If your are interested in volunteering Mark can be reached by email at stmarksfeeds@gmail.com or by phone 608-256-8463. Thank you!

ROOTS ETHIOPIA FUNDRAISER

You are amazing! New Life supplied ALL of the books needed for the High School in Ethiopia! (see pictures above) Over $2,000 donated! Of course, there is always room for more - ANY additional amount that comes in for this will go to the next project at the high school, which is renovating a room to create a hands-on science lab. This is the final project to improve this High School in southern Ethiopia. Please follow this link to donate and we'll see if we can complete this project before Pastor Heather's next sabbatical leave in May/June! Thank you!

SOCIAL PURPOSE FUND

We continue to need your help in order to be able to distribute gift cards to those in need - which totals on average about $1,000 every month! Because of the increased need, if you would be able to give to this fund, please submit checks with "Social Purpose Fund" in the memo or give online to that fund. Thank you! Also, please know that if you are experiencing any financial need (rent/mortgage, utilities, groceries, medical, unemployment/furlough, etc.) you only need to let Pastor Heather know. This information will be keep confidential to her and our financial officers (treasurer and bookkeeper).

Prayers needed for

Hospitalized, Injured, Ill or Medical Prayers



Don Skaar

Barb Zimmerman



Dave Kolmodin's Son Paul

Jean Krebs, Ann Krebs Byrne's mother

Shirley Theel

Every Day Prayers

Connie Losse

Russ Theel

Donna Butlers Stepson Lamarcus

Donna Butlers neighbor, Sally

Burke Bowie, friend of Wayne & Barb Meyer

Dave and Patti Kolmodin

Condolences

Family of Greg Mueller-a friend of Karen Tribbey

If you would like to be included on our prayer list, please contact the church office. Permission is required from the individual for us to print their name. Individuals will be on the list for one month unless requested to office.

Office hours are Monday through Thursday. Please feel free to contact staff members of New Life by email at newlifelc@newlifelc.com or by calling the office at 608-223-9337. Contacts are listed here.

New Life Staff:

Rev. Heather Hayward, Pastor

pastor@newlifelc.com

Ashley Reinke, Children & Youth Ministry Coordinator

youtheducator@newlifelc.com

Liz Rusch, Office Manager/Newsletter

newlifelc@newlifelc.com

Jim Manos, Bookkeeper

bookkeeper@newlifelc.com

Shakia “Queen” Turner, Property Manager

shakiamturner@yahoo.com

New Life Church Council:

Jillene Fisch, President

Linda Sime, Vice President

Tom Olson, Secretary

Ken Wundrow, Treasurer

Iris Christenson

Brian Coel

Shannon Erb

Deb Kohlwey

Louise Miller

Shawn Peters

Uriah Reppert

Russell Theel