Sunday Funday Parent Celebration

Sunday, May 17 at 10:30 a.m.

All You Knead is Love, Hope, and Fellowship! A Sunday Funday for all Sunday School families. We will celebrate parents and grandparents as a community through fun activities including making veggie pizzas, singing, and crafts. We will learn more about our VBS theme of Hope as we look forward to the upcoming Camp Hope VBS. Sign up here or on the church app to RSVP by end of day May 14.

Last Sunday we celebrated all of our wonderful music groups on Music Sunday. It was the perfect time to recognize and thank Jeff Hunt on his 40th anniversary as Director of Music at Baker Memorial Church.

Veteran's Memorial Day Community Breakfast

Monday, May 25, 7:30-10 a.m. in Wiley Hall

St. Charles VFW Post 5036 is putting on a Fundraising Breakfast at Baker Memorial Church. The cost is $5 per person (pancakes, eggs, biscuits & gravy, sausage) and free for fire, police, scouts, emergency services, military/veterans. Use the Main Street lower level entrance.

We are very thankful for the church Trustees’ coordination of our grounds and building as well as safety needs with our new sidewalks.

Season of Hope Begins June 7

Throughout the month of June, we will honor God’s gift of hope for every season. I Peter 1:3-9: “God has given us a new birth into a living hope!” Worship will explore living hope, practicing hope and lifesaving hope. On June 28, we will celebrate hope with our Camp Hope VBS kids!

Sign up for VBS today!

Sign up for Movie Night here.

Blood Drive

Thursday, June 11, 2:30-6:30 p.m.

Save a life and donate blood at our next Pete Holmes Blood Drive! Versiti Blood Center will be on site taking your donations from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. Make an appointment here. Walk-ins are welcome.

VBS Volunteer Info

Baker Memorial Church is preparing for a summer adventure as we host Camp Hope from June 22–25, from 9 to 11 a.m. Please visit the church app or here to register your children and grandchildren, and feel free to invite your neighbors and classmates as well.

Our goal is to transform Baker Hall into "Baker Lodge," and we need your help to bring this vision to life. We require at least 25 volunteers to make our Vacation Bible School a success. Please visit our SignUpGenius page to view volunteer roles and a wish list for camp items (such as pop-up tents) to help decorate the space.

Save the following dates for our upcoming preparations:

• Volunteer Meet Up: June 7 at 10:30 a.m. in Baker Hall
• Kickoff VBS Sunday Funday Party: June 21 at 10:30 a.m. in Baker Hall

Thank you for your continued support!

Shelly Stienbarger, Director of Children & Family Ministries

Worship Preview

Ascension of Christ Sunday, May 17 at 9:30 a.m.

Although questions like “why did Jesus leave” and “what are the left-behind disciples to do” are important, the Ascension of Jesus ushers us into the awe and mystery of God’s time and space. With Ascension Sunday, we catch a glimpse of heaven, the cosmological realm of Christ. It is the confession of the church that all things heaven and earth are in Christ’s total control. 

With Ascension Sunday, we will take the opportunity to contemplate Christ’s heavenly persuasion on all things earthly and the ministries of the church. To infinity and beyond? Blast off?! 

See you Sunday with music by Carrie Molloy, soloist, and Stephen Uhl, organ, message by Pastor David. Sunday Funday for our children at 10:30 a.m. We're having a Parent Celebration with veggie pizza making, yum!

Sunday Bulletin Link for Online Church

Watching online worship LIVE? There is a link each week to a PDF copy of the worship bulletin here and on the Online Church website page, so that you can follow along.

• Click here to view the May 17th bulletin.
• Register attendance and prayer requests here.

MINISTRY MESSAGE

June Worship Coincides with Annual Conference 

Throughout the month of June, we will honor God's gift of hope for every season. I Peter 1:3-9: “God has given us a new birth into a living hope!” Worship will explore living hope on Sunday, June 7, practicing hope on Sunday, June 14 and lifesaving hope on Sunday, June 21. On June 28, we will celebrate hope with our CAMP HOPE VBS kids! 

In this season of your life, what does hope mean to you? 

In every season of the church's life, hope is more than optimism; its roots are much deeper. Hope in scripture is the gift of God to the people of God who find in the Lord's providential grace a source of energy "to keep on' keeping on. Abraham & Sarah saw hope in the stars, which reminded them of countless generations to come. Ruth experienced hope in the promise of a new home as she traveled with Naomi. Hope was born to Mary and Joseph as the infant Jesus, God's salvation for the world.  

Hope is a perennial blessing upon the earth and its creatures - humankind and others—that leads us to believe God's power is perpetually at work on the side of mercy and justice, healing and reconciliation, shalom and peace. Hope is the seed for the growth of our faith even against all the odds; joy will break through, and love will bloom. 

Expressed by the late primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall in her memoir Reason for Hope, hope lies in nature's amazing resilience if we give her a chance and, if necessary, a helping hand. Goodall writes, "A few years ago I visited Nagasaki, the site of the second atomic bomb that ended World War II. Scientists predicted that nothing would grow for at least thirty years. In fact, green things appeared very quickly. And one little sapling didn't even die. It is a big tree today with a thick gnarled trunk that has great cracks and fissures, all black inside. But each spring that tree puts out new leaves. I carry one as a symbol of hope," she writes.    

The Northern Illinois Annual Conference takes place from Sunday afternoon June 14-Tuesday afternoon June 16, 2026, in Schaumburg. Through worship (ordination, memorial and retirement services), conferencing (legislative sections), bible studies (led by Sally Vonner, the General Secretary/CEO of United Women in Faith) and plenaries (presentations on budget and conference initiatives), the lay and clergy delegates will practice hope for our conference and our denomination for the remainder of 2026. I invite your prayers for our Baker Memorial UMC delegation: Chuck Freiberger, Mandy Hale, Kim Starr and me. You can find more information about the gathering at www.umcnic.org. 

A prayer calendar for the June month of Hope at Baker Memorial Church will be available to the congregation on Sunday, May 31. Pick one up from the church or download it here. 

We pray for God's hope to be present in every portion of the earth, among all of God's children, in whatever needs are present in our hearts or burdens upon our shoulders. Let us give thanks for the living hope we have in Christ.

Pastor David Aslesen

See More News on the Website!

• To see a list of events and programs go to the What's Happening page. Click the button below.
• See volunteer opportunities listed on our Volunteer page. Click the button below.

Ways to Give

Your donation will help provide critical support for our ongoing ministries.

• Donate online here
• Mail your donation directly to the church: 307 Cedar Avenue, St. Charles, IL 60174