TIDINGS OF WELLER “Affirm Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as we

care for others and tell people about Him.”

Affirm ~ Care ~ Tell

March 2016

101 N. Altamont Avenue, Thurmont, MD 21788 Office: 301-271-2802 On the Web: www.wellerumc.com

“How is it With Your Soul?”

John Wesley was a busybody who pried into peoples’ personal lives. Well, that’s the impression we might get when we look at some of the questions Mr. Wes-ley posed for those who met in Methodist small groups. These gatherings--known as societies, clas-ses or bands--met weekly for prayer, praise and an examination of the self that today many people would find intrusive. For instance, here are the four questions Wesley prescribed for group members to answer at every meeting:

1. What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?

2. What temptations have you met with?

3. How were you delivered?

4. What have you thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?

In addition, prospective members of these Method-ist groups had to consider 11 questions before even be allowed in the front door of a society. Once ad-mitted to membership, there were three General Rules to follow: “Carefully to abstain from doing evil…zealously to maintain good works…and constant-ly to attend on all the ordinances of God…” (The ordinances of God included going to church every week, daily prayer and family prayer, reading the Scriptures and meditating on them every day, and fasting every Friday).

Wesley’s rules for these small group meetings may seem like a lot of work. But as the name of our Methodist tradition implies, there is a method to the madness. These questions were not designed that the answers should prove embarrassing or food for the gossip mill. (“I can’t wait to hear what Mr. Jones is going to confess at next week’s meeting, can you?”) Wesley’s questions were designed to facili-tate self-examination to help disciples stay on track with Jesus and to grow into mature Christians.

In this season of Lent, when we are called to times of self-examination, prayer and repentance, it seems to me that Wesley’s rules can be a great spiritual aid. They help us define where we are in our spiritu-al journeys:

Where are the places where we are following God’s design for our lives?

Where are we lacking?

What do we need to do to get back on track with God?

Self-examination can be uncomfortable, whether we do it on our own or in a group. But it is worthwhile if for no other reason than to remind us of the awe-some love of God given to us in Christ Jesus. We will find no greater advocate than the one who came from God, was tempted, suffered the pains and the joys of human life, and rose from the grave to give us new life.

Taking time to reflect on our relationship with God will also remind us that God is our source of strength to resist temptation and to continue to grow into the likeness of Christ.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have over-come the world.”

May the God who has overcome the world be your source of comfort, challenge and strength; and may it go well with your soul now and always.

Peace,

Pastor Bob

APPORTIONMENT UPDATE

Weller is making progress on paying our apportionment but there is still more work to be done.

One of the obligations for every United Methodist Church is paying an apportionment to the Annual Conference for the work of the UMC. Apportionment payments made by local churches help fund a wide array of missional, operational and administrative functions of the larger church. By paying our apportionments, we take part in missions in the U.S. and around the world that share the Good News of Jesus Christ, start churches, fund education for seminary and college students, and respond to hu-manitarian needs. Apportionments also pay for the running of UMC agencies that coordinate the work of the church.

In 2015, Weller continued to pay more of our apportionment than in previous years. Although we did not quite reach our goal for the year, we have increased the percentage we pay. The table below shows our progress since 2013. We have increased payments from $6,000 in 2013 to $11,000 last year. That raised the percentage paid on our apportionment from 28 to 51 percent. Our goal is to make 100 percent of our apportionment payment in 2018.

Apportionments are part of the DNA of the United Methodist Church. By working together in this way, we have a far greater impact on God’s world through the Connection than if we were to go it alone.

Your gifts, tithes and offerings contribute to our ability to pay the apportionment, along with other church expenses.

If you are already tithing, thank you for your generosity.

If you are not yet a tither, prayerfully consider increasing your giving.

A one percent increase in giving each year is a great way to step up to tithing.

Increasing your giving honors God and is part of the extravagant giving that characterizes disciples of Jesus Christ. It also helps Weller accomplish its mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ by meeting our financial obligations.

Year Total

Apportioment

Monthly/Yearly payments Target per-cent

Actual Percent of Total

2013 $21,748 $500/$6,000 28% $6,000 28%

2014 $23,419 $750/$9,000 38% $9,250 39.5%

2015 $21,710 $1,000/$12,000 55% $11,000 51%

2016 $20,903 $1,250/$15,000 72%

2017 $20,593 $1,500/$18,000 87%

How are Apportionments Determined?

A church’s apportionment is developed through a formula based on local church operating expenses. This includes salaries, church programs, building and operating expenses. Money spent on missions, clergy benefits and capital improvements are not included in this total. Once these expenditures are totaled up, the apportionment is determined by applying a benevolence factor. For 2015, the be-nevolence factor was 17.75 percent. Apportionments change every year based on the expenses re-ported in preceding years.

APPORTIONMENT GIVING

MISSIONS TEAM BUDGET NEWS MARCH 2016

By Pat Alexander

We decided to restructure our budget somewhat for this year by setting aside part of our budget for missions of our choice and part for missions supported by the General Board of Glob-al Ministries through our conference apportionments.

This year as we reviewed our yearly budget, we decided to evaluate each of our previous recipients in order to make sure we were meeting our church mission goals effectively. We started by reviewing a booklet published as a guide to Missions Committees from the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. We found many interesting ideas and guidelines there. The booklet gave us background on the Biblical and Wesleyan principles of mission giving. It also pointed out that “It makes sense that how we use our dollars and cents is how God is working in mission through us. We have significant financial resources in this nation, which God is calling us to use in mission, both around the world and within the more needful segments of our country. Mission giving is mission.”

The four goals of the General Board of Global Ministries are:

1. Make Disciples of Jesus Christ

2. Strengthen, Develop and Renew Christian Congregations

3. Alleviate Human Suffering and

4. Seek Justice, Freedom, and Peace.

Some of these goals are easier for a local congregation such as Weller to carry out than others. We cannot always travel to other countries to do mission work in person or to know where our money can best be used for God’s work. This is where the Global Missions Board comes in. They have chosen mis-sions here and around the world that meet the UMC mission goals, and they have secure ways in which to make sure the money these missions have been promised will get directly to those in need. At the same time, we at Weller have the privilege of being able to support some local missions and one inter-national mission on our own.

After prayer and much discussion, our budget was completed for 2016. As noted above we decided to restructure our budget somewhat for this year by setting aside $4,000 for missions of our choice at $1,000 each and $3,000 for missions supported by the General Board of Global Ministries through our conference apportionments. Another smaller amount will be kept on hand for donations to local needs or emergencies. The missions we will support regularly outside of the UMC Global Ministries this year are:

Frederick Rescue Mission (Frederick),

The Religious Coalition for Emergency Human Needs (Frederick County),

Catoctin Pregnancy Center (Emmitsburg), and

The Least of These Ministries in the Dominican Re-public.

We will continue to receive donations for the Thurmont Food Bank and disburse them as well as spon-sor trips to Mission Central to volunteer.

We are only able to give to these Missions because of the generosity of those who give to Missions through the Mission envelopes and we want to thank each of you who are able to do that.

Please check out the Missions Bulletin Board in the library for more information about our local and international missions.

March and April Youth Group Announcements

By Sarah Pickett March 20th- Youth Group meeting at the Weller House after the second service to create items to place inside the Easter baskets for our seniors and shut ins. Pizza will be provided for all youth who come to help out. March 26th– This is the day for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. Youth are invited to help set up and run this event. You can meet Pastor Bob and others at the church between 10:00 and 10:15 a.m.

April 8th– On Friday evening, we will take the Easter Baskets we created to our seniors and shut ins. I’ll let you know the exact time so we can meet at the church and plan our deliveries. April 10th- Laser Tag youth group event at the Shadow Land Adventures at the FSK Mall. We will meet at the church at 3:00 pm and arrive back at the church at 5:00 pm. I will need to know by April 3rd who is interested in going. Please email me at: Sarah.pickett@fcps.org April 24th- Youth Group meeting at the Weller House from 4:00 to 5:30 pm.

EASTER EGG HUNT

Our annual Easter Egg Hunt will be held on Satur-day, March 26th at 11:00 a.m. here at the church. This will be held rain or shine, although we’re hoping for nice weather.

All children through 5th grade will be eligible to participate. We will be asking for donations of wrapped candy and stickers, etc. for treat bags, and cookies to serve after the Egg Hunt.

A box will be placed in the narthex for anyone who would like to donate these items. (Home baked cookies may be brought to the church during office hours that week.) We’d like to have the other donations by Sunday, March 20th. We’d love for everyone to come and bring your friends!

CAKE AND BAKE AUCTION GOOD FUNDRAISER

Thank you for all the baked goods for the Potter's Hands Cake Auction held on 21 February 2016. Al-so thanks to all of those who bid and purchased these tasty items. We earned $380 during the auc-tion. Thanks so much for your support of this Ministry!! Wes Baugher

HUGE THANKS FOR PAINTING WORK

Our church renovation work has begun! This week, we painted the hallway in the educa-tion wing of the church and the stairwell. The results are SPECTACULAR! Please take some time to look at the great job done by our volunteer workforce.

Special thanks to everyone who took part in the painting: Bill Clayton, Kay Miller, Renee Shaffer, Jim Monroe, Roy Clever, and Pastor Bob. And a very special thank you to our crew leader, Bob Follin, who prepped the hallway, directed the work, built scaffold-ing, and cleaned up afterwards. Whew! Thanks, Bob. We could not have done this without you! Thanks also go to Rick Wivell for plastering and patching where needed.

Praise God for everyone’s gift of time and talents on this project.

The new coat of paint in the hallways looks so good we’re looking at repainting the Fellow-ship Hall in the next few weeks. If you want to help, look for a signup sheet in worship later this month .

WELLER BASKETBALL SEASON STARTS THIS MONTH

By Robbie Shaffer Our first two games will be on back-to-back nights. Our first game is on Sunday, March 6, at 8:45 p.m. After that, we play on the 7th at 7:15 p.m. All games will be at First Baptist Church in Frederick, MD. Come on out and support the Weller basketball team!

ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING The special offering for the One Great Hour of Sharing will be received on Sunday, 6 March, at both services. Funds col-lected for this offering go to the United Methodist Commit-tee on Relief (UMCOR) to pay for their operating expens-es. Contributing to the One Great Hour of Sharing allows UMCOR to funnel 1 00 percent of donations given for hu-manitarian relief efforts around the world. Whether it is an earthquake in Central America, typhoon in the Philippines or flooding in the Midwest, UMCOR is one of the first organiza-tions on the scene with help for the victims of these disas-ters. Please prayerfully consider how you can support UMCOR this year through the One Great Hour of Sharing.

UPCOMING FELLOWSHIP EVENTS March 13th - "Breakfast - for - Dinner" Daylight savings begins this day so since our time is already an hour off come for Breakfast at 5:00 p.m. Sunday evening at the Church for pancakes, sausage, bacon and eggs. March 27th - Sunrise Breakfast at 7:00 a.m. after the 6:30 a.m. sunrise service. April 21st– Soup n Sandwich get together for Earth Day at 5:30 p. m. May 11th - Save the date for Girls Night Out. more information to come.

POTTER’S HANDS PUPPET MINISTRY NEWS

By Wes Baugher

The Potter’s Hands ministry is devoted to sharing the love of our Savior Jesus Christ through the use of Puppetry to our Church’s congregation, our Sunday School and as an outreach to our community and other churches. We thank you for all your positive feedback after our performances and our most recent number during the Christmas Eve service where our team performed their first Blacklight pup-petry performance. We are so glad you were touched and have enjoyed their work!

I want to let you know what our team has planned in the near future:

Mar 2016 – Performance for the Sunday School Class to help introduce the new Sunday School session.

12 Mar 2016 – Community Puppet Show held at the Weller.

Hope to see you all there!!

The Potter’s Hands puppet ministry is looking for a Few Good arms! Are you longing for the thrill to perform or share your creativity? Have you seen some of our performances and thought “I’d like to work with the puppets or help make props”? If so, the Potter’s Hands Puppet Ministry has an oppor-tunity for you!! If you’re at least a 5th grader or older and have a desire to be a Puppeteer or Propateer, please contact me, Wes Baugher, at (240) 818-1122.

Thank you!!

God Bless!

WELLER UNITED METHODIST CHURCH MUSIC MINISTRIES

The purpose of this music ministry at Weller UMC is to provide opportunities for spir-

itual growth through music and to enhance the worship service.

Please consider joining one of the groups below.

Instrumental Ensemble If you play an instrument of any type and would like to share your talents, please join this group. Practice times will be selected as needed. Please see Debby. Youth/Adult Handbell Choir This group is open to youth entering middle school and older. We will meet every Thursday, from 6:15-7:15 p.m., in the handbell room down-stairs. Adult & Youth Choir The choir is made up of youth and adults who enjoy singing. All levels of singing are welcome from beginner to advanced. Rehearsals are held every Thursday night from 7:30-8:30 p.m., in the sanctuary. If you are interested in joining one of the groups or would like to find out more infor-mation you can send me an e-mail to the address listed below, call the office, 301-271-

2802, or come to one of the rehearsals and check it out. Easter Cantata will be on April 10, 2016, 10:00 a.m. Combined Service

Deborah.Shultzaberger@fcps.org

“Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth.” (Psalm 96)

A RECIPE FOR GOOD TASTE

By Pastor Bob

The baked goods auction had many highlights as our resident bakers brought lots of tasty treats to the auction block. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Many of you who were there may cringe at the mention, once again, of Kellwood Rolls. We must have sold eight bags of those rolls. I had a number of people compliment me on the rolls, for which I must express gratitude to my paternal grandmother’s recipe. Clara (Andrews) Kells grew up on a farm in upstate New York in the late 19th/early 20th centu-ries. I’m pretty certain this is a recipe she learned on the farm. So for those who like to bake and would like another taste of these rolls, here’s the recipe as it appeared in the Cook Book for the Brooklyn Methodist Home, published in 1939. Enjoy!

Kellwood Rolls

½ cup sugar

½ cup butter

2 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

1 cake yeast dissolved in 1 ¼ cups lukewarm water

5 ½ cups flour

Mix in order given and let rise until light. Roll to ½ inch thickness, cut with 2 in. biscuit cutter. Spread with melted butter, fold over. Let rise until light. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in hot oven.* Makes about 2 dozen rolls.

Mrs. Edward W. Kells

*FYI, for the hot oven, I baked the rolls at 350 degrees.

Worship

Sunday School

Church Offering

February 7 111

Feb. 10 (Ash Wed.) 14

February 14 91

February 21 103

February 28 87

February AVG. Ash Wed. Not Incl.

98

March 2016

BIRTHDAYS 01 Sarah Kells

03 Skyla Smith

04 Robin Gautney

05 Bob Miller

06 David Grimm

08 Ernest Staub

09 Arlean Fogle

17 Melissa Mathias; Catherine Pitt

22 Louise Shaffer

25 Zach Howes

ANNIVERSARIES

1 John & Vickie Howes

Pastor Bob will put church closings on his blog.

www.wellerumc.com

February 7 48

February 14 44

February 21 44

February 28 26

January AVG. 41

February 7 $3,082.00

February 14 1,876.00

February 21 2,266.00

February 28 1,835.00

ACH Monthly Deposit 1,580.00

Total $10,639.00

5

Greeters 8:30 06 Bob & Louise Shaffer 13 Scouts 20 Betty Shorb, & Lee Taylor Acolytes 8:30 06 Chloe Mathias 13 Scouts 20 Dakota May Scripture Readers & Call to Worship 8:30 06 Bob Fahnestock 13 Scouts 20 Dorothy Clever

Holy Thursday, March 24 Greeters: OPEN Acolyte: OPEN Scripture Reader: OPEN 2 Ushers/Communion Stewards: OPEN Sunrise Service, 6:30 a.m. Greeter: OPEN Scripture Reader: OPEN 2 Ushers: Jody Hahn; OPEN

Greeters 11:00 06 Catherine Pitt 13 Scouts 20 The Herbert Family Acolytes 11:00 06 Makayla Eibert 13 Scouts 20 Megan Clark Scripture Readers 11:00 06 Bob Miller 13 Scouts 20 Kelly Alexander

Easter, March 27, 8:30 a.m. Service Greeters: OPEN Acolyte: OPEN Scripture Reader: Jody Hahn 2 Ushers (Communion Stewards): Jody Hahn; OPEN Easter, March 27, 11:00 a.m. Service Greeters: OPEN Acolyte: OPEN Scripture Reader: OPEN 4 Communion Stewards: OPEN 2 Ushers: OPEN

HELPERS FOR MONTH OF MARCH

Messages and Scriptures: 06 One Great Hour of Sharing (offering) Healing Service, Something New: New Creation, Isaiah 65:17-19, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 13 Scouting Ministries Sunday - Something New: A New Story, Philippians 3:4b-14 20 Palm Sunday, Something New: One Street Over, Luke 19:28-40 24 Holy Thursday - 27 Sunrise 6:30 a.m. - 27 Easter Services: Something New: New Remembrance, Luke 24:1-12

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1

Puppet Minis-

try 6 p.m.

Book Club 7 p.m. (Weller

2 Prayer Time,

7 p.m.

Lenten Study @ Mark

Eyler’s, 7 p.m.

3 Trustees, 7

p.m.

Choirs 6:15-8:30

p.m.

4 5

6

Holy Com-munion, Heal-

ing Service, One Great

Hour of Shar-ing Offering

7 Scout

Leaders 7 p.m.

Prayer Bible

Study, 7 p.m.

8

Puppet Minis-try 6 p.m.

Church Coun-

cil 7 p.m.

9

Prayer Time 7 p.m.

Lenten Study

@ Mark Eyler’s, 7 p.m.

10

Choirs Rehearse 6:15-8:30

p.m.

11 12

Puppet Show @ Weller 7 p.m.

13 Prayer Shawl

Ministry

14

Prayer Bible Study, 7 p.m.

15

Puppet Minis-try 6 p.m.

Worship De-

sign Team 7 p.m.

16

UMW 1 p.m.

Prayer Time, 7 p.m.

Lenten Study @ Mark

Eyler’s, 7 p.m.

17 Choirs

Rehearse 6:15-8:30

p.m.

18

19

God & Me 1-3rd graders

10 a.m. Weller House

20 Palm Sunday

Passion Play Deerfield UMC 7:30

pm

21

Prayer Bible Study, 7 p.m.

22

Puppet Minis-try

6 p.m.

23

Prayer Time 7 p.m.

Lenten Study

@ Mark Eyler’s, 7 p.m.

24

Holy Thursday

Service 7 p.m.

25

Passion Play at

Deerfield UMC

7:30 p.m.

26 Easter Egg

Hunt 11 a.m.

27 Easter Svcs.

(see inside)

28 Prayer Bible

Study, 7 p.m.

29

Puppet Minis-try

6 p.m.

30

Lenten Study @ Mark

Eyler’s, 7 p.m.

31

Choirs Rehearse 6:15-8:30

p.m.