A Christmas and New Year Celebration!

To the Congregation of Grace United Methodist Church, 

We have now been using our mailed envelope system for a full year, and, by and large, it has been a great success! We’ve increased the total amount of money given by the congregation in 2024, reduced the total time needed by our volunteers and staff to track your gifts, and, perhaps best of all, we have increased our communication with the congregation. Of all the benefits to mailing our offering envelopes, this is the part about which I am most excited. You receive a calendar of upcoming events, you hear about ways you can support the church and I get to write you and share some of the amazing things happening here! 

Despite the many challenges facing the church each year, there are so many good things to celebrate! We saw a dramatic rise in Sunday School attendance and youth ministry, the Christmas Fair was more successful than ever since relaunching it and people are growing in their relationship with God. When I have people come to my office and ask about how they can read the Bible in a way that it makes sense, or a confirmand asks a question about why Jesus did something that seems controversial, I know that they are wrestling with important questions that will help their faith grow. That’s what a financial gift to Grace United Methodist Church is – a commitment to helping people grow in faith, from children to adults, from birth to the last breath they take on earth. I hope you’ll join in on this important work and make a commitment to continue or increase your financial giving to the church. 

We’ve made one large change in our financial process for 2025. Pushpay was the company we used for several years to process online gifts. That is no longer the case. Instead, we are using Servant Keeper, which is the same company we use for our membership program. This will further streamline our giving and our membership process all while reducing the associated cost. To give online you can still go to www.gumc.org/giving, but you’ll need to register a new account the first time you give. After that, it’s just as easy as before, except now you’ll be saving the church money. 

As always, if you would like to be removed from these mailings for any reason, please contact the church office so we can update our records and reduce the associated cost of these mailings at 201-891-4595 (ext. 1) or email Hilda at info@gumc.org. You’ll still be able to find our mailed letters on our website at www.gumc.org/blog. Our church seeks to be an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ. Thank you for your contribution toward this important goal and may you experience God’s blessing in your life as you support Grace United Methodist Church. 

In Christ,  
Pastor Brian Neville

Behind the Scenes at Grace UMC

Here at Grace United Methodist Church some incredible things are happening, but many of them are “behind the scenes.” I’d like to take a moment to pull the curtain back and highlight some of this great work.

First, you probably heard about it already, but our Founder’s Day celebration was a tremendous success! We celebrated with over 25 members present with 25+ and 50+ years at Grace, then afterward had a concert and barbecue. The concert was presented by Margin Alexander, our music director, and people were absolutely wowed by his performance! So many people came up to me afterward and raved about it. I think hearing about his international experiences has people even more excited about the Grace UMC choir heading to Poland after Christmas to perform as part of an international tour! I’d also like to say thank you to the team of people that made the day a success, from the Ewings that helped set up tables and chairs to the Capazzis who grilled and prepared the food (well done, Peter!). Carol arranged for people to bring food, and Bill jumped in on preparations just because he has a good heart and wanted to help. It was a tremendous event and I was proud to see Grace members and friends come together for this celebration!

Some other highlights behind the scenes includes our Sunday School program. Emily Neville shared that the Sunday school had a 300% increase in attendance from last year. That’s absolutely phenomenal! We also have more children in the Sunday School nursery care and are looking to hire a part time person to cover that area, as well as during choir practice immediately following Sunday worship. This will allow more choir members to participate in practice and strengthen our choir ministry, as well as strengthen our Sunday School program. We are right on the edge of taking this step and continuing the move of these programs in the right direction!

Our Youth Ministry is just about to kick off their regular Sunday evening meetings. They’ve had a great summer with the pool party and a trip to Six Flags. Not only has Sunday School grown, but so has youth group! We have about 20 youth in our program and are welcoming in three new 6th graders, too! There is great energy around this group of young people. Several have commented about how much they like being around each other and that at the end of church they don’t want to leave! What a blessing it is to see young people excited and enthusiastic for life lived in and through the church. We celebrate our young people and the whole church family that is helping to raise up a new generation to love and serve Jesus Christ.

In the nursery school we have Donna Ernst, who has helped the nursery school take some tremendous strides forward. The start of the school year has been eagerly anticipated and smooth in its first few weeks. Enrollment is up, teachers are happy and the school has resumed profitability. We thank Donna for her excellent work and the great additions happening in the programming and education of our littlest Methodists.

Truly excellent things are happening in the church. If you’d like to get involved, let Pastor Brian know. We are making significant strides, but there is so much more we can do! Together we are becoming an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ. God bless!

— Pastor Brian Neville

Founder’s Day

To the Congregation of Grace United Methodist Church,

As Founder’s Day approaches, the church is preparing a celebration! Every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day, the church highlights the members of the church who have been at Grace for twenty-five or more years and our members of fifty or more years! If that includes you, we’d love you to join us so we can take time to honor you! You can call the church office to tell us you plan to join us, or look for the congregational email and respond there. Don’t miss it!

Founder’s Day

September 8th 

In the past, Founder’s Day was celebrated on the date of the church’s founding, June 21, 1868. After 27 ministers and a relocation from Paterson to Wyckoff, Founder’s Day became a celebration of the twenty-five- and fifty-year members of the church. These days, we celebrate all of our members on Founder’s Day, recognizing that it takes all of kinds of people to make a church healthy and vital. We still take time to read the names of our long-time members, who have given so much to bless and support Grace United Methodist Church and to have their picture taken in the chancel area after church, but we know everyone at the church is important to God. This is what it means to be created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and to love as God loves us (1 John 3:16-22).

Usually we have a cook-out and something fun for the children, so watch for other details on this event, but we hope all of our long-time members will join us, as well as family and friends that may have been away during the summer on vacation. Your presence with us means a lot, too! See gumc.org/calendar for all the other exciting events happening at Grace United Methodist Church this fall. God bless!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville 

Summer 2024

To the Congregation of Grace United Methodist Church,

The sun is shining, the temperatures are way up and summer is in full swing! I hope this summer gives you an opportunity to rest and relax. I know that’s something God wants for all of us. A trip to the beach or time spent in a special place renews and reinvigorates us. One part of scripture describes not only resting on the weekly Sabbath, but also spending special seasons feasting and celebrating. If the land gets a whole year to rest, how much more does God want that for you to fulfill all the wishes, hopes and dreams the Lord has for you? Maybe this summer is your time to rest, to feast or to celebrate. Consider what God wants you to do to recover, recharge your batteries, and prepare for the next place God wants to take you!

As always, if you’d like to give a gift in support of Grace United Methodist Church, you can use the enclosed envelopes and bring it to church. You can also go online at gumc.org/giving or mail a check to the address below. We also want to invite and encourage those of you who may be traveling or spending time elsewhere to “pre-pay” this summer. If you have the financial ability to do so, why not give your gift to the church before you leave, so that you can spend that time resting and relaxing knowing that the church has its financial needs taken care of this summer. Every bit helps in these summer months! On the back side of this letter are some of the events taking place this summer. Why not hang it on your fridge? God bless!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

And From the Finance Committee…

73 or Older? Want to save on taxes?

If you are 73 or older and have a 401(k), 403(b) or traditional IRA retirement plan, you can take your required minimum distribution (RMD), which is required by law to be distributed, and give any amount of it you wish to your church or other charity tax-free! If the money is not given directly to a church or charity you will be taxed on it as additional income. Some people can give Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) as early as 70½, so check with your broker. 

We hope you’ll consider giving this special tax-free gift to Grace United Methodist Church. You must have the distribution go directly to the church. It must never be deposited in your personal account, or it will be taxable. You can take advantage of this tax-free giving any time during 2024, but we hope you will help the church by doing this sometime during the summer. A broker can assist you with your distribution, but if you have any questions, you can contact Alma Mader, finance chair, or call the church office.

Easter Letter 2024

March/April 2024

To the Congregation of Grace United Methodist Church,

This year Easter is early, arriving March 31st, and many people will be thinking of the Easter bunny or Easter eggs. My family always had a tradition of filling an Easter basket full of candy that we would open on Sunday morning before church.  My siblings and I would try and eat as much of it as we could before we had to leave for church. The Neville children always left our Sunday School teachers shaking their heads at us for all the sugar we had so early in the morning on Easter!

But bunnies and candy is not really what Easter is all about. Before Easter is Lent, a season devoted to spiritual discipline. Some people give up meat, or chocolate, while others commit to prayer or fasting.  They do this to prepare themselves for the joy and celebration of the resurrection on Easter. Our bodies suffer a little bit so the wonder of Jesus raised from the dead has an even greater impact in our lives. I invite you to consider how you might experience this wonder anew in this coming season.

This Easter season is a special one for us. We hope to have our amazing choir performing once again for us. The Living Last Supper will celebrate communion and baptism with actors recreating the Upper Room experience. We’ll also have our annual Easter Egg Hunt on March 30th, which is always a hit with the little ones. Then the Sunday after Easter we have the Reverend David Wiley preaching for us! Be sure to join us for our Holy Week services and all the other great occasions at Grace as we encounter the new life that comes from resurrection. You can see all our events at www.gumc.org.

As always, if you’d like to give a gift in support, you can use the enclosed envelopes and bring it to church. You can also go online at gumc.org/giving or mail a check to the address below.  Thank you for being a part of our community and may this Easter have an even greater impact in your life.

In Christ,

Pastor Brian Neville

     *Palm Sunday 10am| 3.24.24                   *Holy Thursday 7:30pm | 3.28.24
Easter Egg Hunt 10am | 3.30.24
Sunrise Service 7am| 3.31.24       *Easter Sunday 10am | 3.31.24

Staff Transitions at Grace

With the passing of our latest church budget, we’ve had a number of significant changes take place at Grace United Methodist Church. Sometimes changes happen to us and we need to respond in helpful ways to move the church forward. Other times we make intentional choices that affect our future. In the last two months we’ve had a mix of both of these kinds of changes and I want to share with you some details about how they came about and where we stand as we try to navigate the transitions.

First, many of you know that our music director stepped down as of December 31st. This was a change that happened to us and was not a choice of the church or its leadership. In the last month we’ve collected resumes, interviewed candidates and selected a new music director, Margin Alexander, to lead us into the next stage of our church’s music ministry. Margin was selected by a committee of both SPRC (staff/parish relations committee) members and the leaders and members of the various music groups in the church. The SPRC acts as the Human Resources department of the church, so it was expected that they would have input, but music can be a tricky thing. Some people may not have an ear for music, and our SPRC members are not selected to serve on the committee based on their knowledge of music! That meant it was important to include the members of the other music groups, which included our children’s choir, adult choir, contemporary worship team and the bell choir.

The process was a good one, especially as we talked about the needs of the congregation. In the end, we had well over a dozen applicants and narrowed it down to those who were best qualified and the best fit for our church. The final selection was of Margin Alexander, and I am pleased with his talents and abilities! He is gifted on multiple instruments, including the piano and organ, and gave an absolutely stunningly beautiful presentation on piano. One thing I learned about the organ is, not only are most organs uniquely designed for their church (and thus need some amount of getting used to), but that there are different styles of how one plays a hymn. Margin shared with me that some churches want the organ played exactly as the notes on the page dictate. Others want something more expressive and creative. I told Margin that his job is to make the hymns sound beautiful every day. Thankfully he has the gifts and skills as a composer to build up the sounds of our organ to truly make it sing! I’m looking forward to hearing the results with a little bit of time for him to do that work and get comfortable with our organ.

Margin will be away the last Sunday in February, since he already had a scheduled international concert before he was hired. We are excited to have him on our team and grateful to have such a skilled musician a part of our program. He will return to us at the beginning of March as we head into the Easter season, and he looks forward to working with our very talented musicians in the church as even more people join in! Be sure to send him a word of welcome at his email address - choirs@gumc.org

Speaking of the music program, we are making another significant change, one that was a combination of something happening to us and an intentional choice. For a few years we’ve been blessed with extra government funds because of the global pandemic. This money was important for us to navigate some of the dramatic changes that took place when we were not worshipping in person. We had to prerecord all our services, then transition to live services broadcast to people that were staying home. The extra money we had let us hire a lead technician for our broadcast booth and hire a lead singer. Both positions were very important to make sure we had the quality for our worship service, even as we had less people in the building and less volunteers available for the work that needed to be done each and every Sunday. Today, things are different. We are largely back to worship attendance numbers as they were before the pandemic, and people are back in the building singing and volunteering. Since our pandemic aid money came to an end in 2023, we knew we were going to have to make some changes. The end result is that our leader singer, Diane, has left us, and the volunteer choir will now lead us in congregational singing each week. In the tech booth, our tech director, Ian, will have his last week with us, and the booth will largely rely on volunteers to provide weekly assistance in broadcasting. Christine, our youth minister, also had her last week with us. More details on the youth ministry will follow, but we are grateful for all of those who have served the church. Though these changes are challenging, and were not asked for by our church leadership, they were necessary because of the changing financial situation of the church. Largely, we are able to return to how things operated before the pandemic, and we are hopeful for a positive, inspiring atmosphere every Sunday in worship. Something that’s also a return to how things used to be is the recent hire of a new custodian, to keep the space clean, neat and organized to aid in worship. For years we’ve had a cleaning service that kept the building clean, but anything beyond that was much harder to get accomplished. You can welcome Mark at his work email address - custodian@gumc.org. This new hire did not cost the church any more money; it was simply a matter of hiring our own person instead of outsourcing the work.

Many changes in a short period of time can feel destabilizing for an organization. Because of this, our leadership team is focusing closely on navigating these changes well and offering the support needed over the next several months. We hope you’ll be patient with our new staff and our volunteers as they get used to their new roles. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to hear from you about how they are doing, though. Getting feedback along the way ensures that we are getting what we need in terms of the worship service, the online service and the church building itself. We need your input. In a few weeks you’ll see a congregational survey. You’re input there would be helpful. This post will also be updated, so check back here for changes coming up. Know that we are lifting each other up in prayer as we take these next steps God has for us in making Grace United Methodist Church an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ. God bless!

• Pastor Brian Neville

Tithe Envelopes

December 2023

To the Congregation of Grace United Methodist Church,

Recently the finance committee has made a change in how offering envelopes will be distributed to our congregation. What you have just received is the first of six bi-monthly mailings to be sent this year. Each mailing contains all of the offering envelopes for the next two months. There are a number of factors that have gone into this decision and I want to share them with you.

1. The cost of these offering envelopes is only a few hundred dollars more than what we are already paying for this service. By mailing envelopes to your home, we are confident that everyone in the congregation will receive them and be able to “give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

2. With this new service, we will be able to combine offering envelopes with our communications to the congregation. Many have lamented the move from mailed communications from the church to email and online communications. We want to be a church that does both, and this change allows us to reduce the associated expense, while increasing mailed communications. We are excited to keep everyone in our congregation updated with all that is happening in the church!

3. By mailing offering envelopes with the information of each household already on the envelopes we are making the process easier on our volunteers. In reducing administrative work, your tithes and offerings will go toward the areas of ministry most needed!

If you would like to be removed from these mailings for any reason, please contact the church office so we can update our records and reduce the associated cost of these mailings at 201-891-4595 (ext. 1) or email Hilda at info@gumc.org. As always, we seek to be an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ. Thank you for your contribution toward this important goal and may you experience God’s blessing in your life as you support Grace United Methodist Church.

Sincerely in Christ,

Alma Mader (Finance Chairperson)

Christmas Letter to Grace

To the Congregation of Grace United Methodist Church,

The church is busy preparing for Christmas! We’ve had our Christmas fair, the Cookie Walk and will shortly host many children for a fun parents ‘day’ out event. There is also a Lessons and Carols event that I know will be excellent. All the decorations throughout the church were put up at the start of the Advent season and the poinsettia plans are on display as well. As I’ve visited in people’s homes, I know many of you have prepared your home with decorations, too. All is prepared for a wonderful Christmas in our community!

With all that’s happening in our world, though, I hope you are finding time and space for God to lead you. Its easy to rush from one thing to another, but I want to invite you to meet with God in this season. Is there something that seems important, but can be set aside so you can have that time you need with God? Or perhaps something you must do can be transformed with a new mindset. Simeon was changed when he met the baby Jesus as he declared, “for my eyes have seen your salvation…” (Luke 2:30). I hope you will be able to see what God has for you this Christmas!

We look forward to our Christmas Eve services at 4 and 8pm.  The children’s service at 4pm will have our interactive nativity, with a special focus on the star. No one will need to sign up in advance; just come as you are as we invite children (and adults!) to take on roles as we tell the Christmas story. At 8pm we’ll have a more traditional service. Be sure to join us on Christmas Eve to celebrate Jesus’ birth! Don’t forget that we still have a church service the morning of December 24th (Sunday), where we will celebrate the 4th Sunday of Advent. It will be wonderful as we meet with the Lord this Christmas!

We’ve included an envelope for a Christmas offering in the mail if you would like to give a special gift this year. Also, your giving record so far in 2023 is included for your convenience in that same mailing. If you didn’t get it by the week leading up to Christmas Eve feel free to give us a call at the church office. God bless!

In Christ,

Pastor Brian Neville

Christmas Eve Services
December 24th 10am, 4pm & 8pm
4th Sunday of Advent 10am
Family Service 4pm
Candlelight Service 8pm

Tithe Sunday Update

TITHE SUNDAY REPORT

We want to thank everyone who participated in our Tithe Sunday Stewardship Experiment on Sunday, November 19.  Thank you to those who did tithe and everyone who gave generously. On Tithe Sunday, 17 individuals or families (I.e. “giving units”) indicated their offering that morning was a Tithe. Our total offerings in church and online that morning totaled $6,491.

By contrast, our normal average weekly offering is $2,845. The 17 offerings that were tithes helped to more than double our offering and increased our available Ministry potential by $3,646! We know that tithing is not a requirement for New Testament Christians and we are completely aware that not everyone feels they can afford to tithe every week. But our Tithe Sunday stewardship experiment does indicate that if more of us did tithe (keep 90% for our needs and just give 10% for God’s work), we at Grace would potentially have $189,592 per year in additional giving to use to carry out Christ’s ministry.  In other words, if we accept God’s encouragement to tithe, we at Grace could easily DOUBLE our ministry in our community and the world.  And if we do, God promises to”open the windows of Heaven” and pour out blessings so abundantly they overflow!

Several individuals and families said they plan to continue giving a tithe in the future.  Most others said they might not be able to tithe but would be as generous as possible in their future giving. Again, thank you for participating in Tithe Sunday and thank you for your on-going generosity in your stewardship support of all our ministries at Grace.  We are thankful to God for blessing us at Grace so abundantly.

— Ralph Salzgaber (Lay Leader)

Discipleship at Grace United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church has a mission. It lines up squarely with the words of Jesus to “go and make disciples” in Matthew 28:16-20. Our denomination says it like this, “our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Ultimately, everything we do as a church comes down to making disciples, but you might be wondering, what, exactly, does that mean? How do we make disciples?

Making Whole Disciples

I was asked a question along these lines several years ago when I first started at Grace United Methodist Church. One of the things I recognized in answering it was that the things the church historically does (worship, small groups and missions) is not all-encompassing of what it means to be a disciple. Our mind, body, heart and soul all need to be developed in ways that honor God and help us to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:35-40). To that end, I’ve developed a document that is a more inclusive look at what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It lists some ways we can grow, since literally, anything we do can be done in such a way that it honors God, or shows love to our neighbor and moves us closer to the ideal God has for us. ‘Disciple Making at Grace’ (attached below) shows five categories that help us grow: intercultural competence, emotional intelligence, spirituality, mental development and physical development. All of these areas contribute to discipleship and help us to fulfill our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Too often the church can get caught up in one area, spirituality, and think only “spiritual” things matter, ignoring all the other categories. We recognize focusing on spirituality alone will never be enough for us to be whole disciples.

Churches, though, are uniquely positioned to help people grow spiritually.  Out in the world you can find communities and classes that help you grow socially, emotionally, mentally and physically, but you will be hard pressed to find a secular class that helps you grow spiritually. In fact, many of the social ills we suffer from in this country stem from secularization. The less people are challenged to grow spiritually through moral discourse, practicing other-centeredness, and finding meaning in something beyond oneself, the less likely they are to value life. This has all kinds of dire consequences, so we have to take specific steps in the church to help people grow in these specific ways. That’s why we have a vision statement.

The Vision of Grace United Methodist Church

The vision statement of Grace United Methodist Church is to be an inclusive community, passionately following Jesus Christ. This vision statement is narrower than a mission statement, and helps us look at specific actions and tasks people at Grace can do to grow spiritually.  This doesn’t mean that making whole disciples is not important, it is, but no one church could possibly do everything it takes for people to grow. We look at three specific areas taken from our vision statement to help us grow spiritually. They are inclusivity, community and passion.  Here are a few thoughts on each category:

Inclusivity

Gracious Reconciliation

• Several years ago, the Gracious Reconcilers group met to discern what “inclusive” meant for Grace United Methodist Church. Every church will have a different view of this. Some even think that just because you are friendly toward someone you are “inclusive.” That can be far from the case! We have a statement approved by the highest body of our church that says we welcome all. My favorite part of this statement is that we covenant to, “be a congregation who serves all people including the overlooked and the unseen; the people who are seen by God, but who may be invisible to us.” If you’ve ever felt invisible, or unseen, we want you to feel that you have a place here with us.

• This group continued to ask what reconciliation means for our church and came up with a welcoming statement recently. This statement is published in our bulletin every week. It says, “We welcome all people as friends in Christ, without prejudice or distinction based on race, national origin, gender, gender identity, social or economic standing, education, sexual orientation, physical or emotional limitations, or any other classification by which humanity divides people.” We understand that human distinctions between people are not the distinctions by which God sees us. We are a new creation in Christ, so any violation against people or God is reconciled through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14-19).

• Grace United Methodist Church is an inclusive place when we “walk a mile in their shoes” and consider things from another person’s perspective. When someone says something we don’t understand, or violates our understanding of God, we don’t berate them, we ask a question. Dialogue is the way forward when we are truly being an inclusive community.

Community

Visitors

• Visitors to our church connect in various settings, some only being loosely connected to the church. It is most often Sunday morning worship, but could be any small group, mission, ministry, event, fundraiser, or any encounter members and friends have in the community. At Grace we record the names and information of new people so we can encourage them in this journey. Often it begins with a visit, phone call or email from the pastor, but many people join the church because a friend invited them to come

Members

• Membership formalizes part of the discipleship process. As visitors and friends connect with our worship service, attend in small groups and participate in missions work they are taking steps of discipleship. Members take a vow to participate through their prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. These are key ways members keep these vows at Grace

                                Worship

• Greeters and ushers meet people at the door of our church. Sometimes they even bring an umbrella to your car! But always they have a bulletin and a smile to make you feel welcome in this space. You can fill in a prayer request as you enter, which will be brought to the pastor for a time of corporate prayer. If you have children, they can join our Sunday School program, but don’t forget to fill out a Sunday School form first so we can make sure they are safe. In worship we have songs we sing, prayers and responses that signal our commitment to God, and we listen to the scripture reading. We hear both the Bible read, and an interpretation of that scripture. This sermon is meant to connect with real life as we consider how it is God calls us to live every day. As worship ends we have a coffee hour to spend some time connecting with other folks, but be quick, the children often get the sweet treats first!

                                Small Groups

• We have several small groups in our church. If its your first time, the short-term studies with Pastor Brian are a good start. They last usually 3-4 weeks, for about an hour each week. When you are ready to go deeper, join a long-term group, like the choir or bells groups, the adult studies, the movie club, youth group, the men’s group, or help us relaunch our young adult group.

                                Missions

• Missions work is an exciting area of church ministry. We help feed the homeless or those with transitional housing needs through Family Promise, we make soup to be delivered to those who are sick, hospitalized or homebound through our soup ministry, we assist in educating young minds through CAMP YDP in Paterson, and collect food for CUMAC, a United Methodist ministry in Paterson that feeds over 40,000 per year. That’s not to even mention our Christmas collections, food drives, visits from the congregational care team and the SOUPER Bowl.

Passion

Service

• Perhaps the biggest, and most important change that happens in a disciple is when they go from “getting” to “giving.” Participating in worship or a small group or a mission is good. We wish more people would do that! But, we also know we are only limited by the number of people willing to do good in this world.  With passionate volunteers and more leaders, the church could do innumerably more good. Are you ready to take the step from being in a small group to leading it? Are you ready to go from sitting in a pew to leading in music or preaching? Are you able to not just offer some support for a good mission project, but to actually make it happen through organizing a project and volunteers? Too often we think we can’t do it. Maybe we think we don’t have the gifts or skills, but discipleship means we are growing! We are developing those skills so that one day we can say “I didn’t have the skills to do this, but now I do.” This is true at any age or stage of life. Someone once told me they were “too old” to volunteer, but I reminded them how they call their friends on the phone all the time. How is that not a gift that God could use to help the church and help build the kingdom of God?! We can serve God and others with any gift we have; it is simply a choice to make the mental shift from being served to serving others. How are you called to serve today?

This is a touch of what the discipleship process looks like here at Grace United Methodist Church. We want to help people become whole disciples, and the best and most unique work we can do as a church is to help people grow spiritually. Opportunities abound, so we invite you to consider what your next step in the discipleship process may be. God bless!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

Planning for 2023-24

We had a great planning meeting this past week! We’ve laid out plans for the following year that include some exciting events! One of the biggest is the return of the Grace Christmas Fair schedule for December 2nd! You can see some of the other great events scheduled below (please note, some dates and times are tentative). You’ll also find a survey link here to hear some of your thoughts and suggestions for worship, including sermon suggestions for the next year. Remember, if you have an event and want to advertise for it, head to the calendar page to fill in the form!

Grace Church Calendar 2023-2024

January (2024)
January 15th Nursery School Closed
January 21st Family Promise

Game Night
Movie Club
Mid Winter Advance

February
February 9th Parents Night Out
February 10th Grandparents Social
February 11th Souper Bowl
February 13th Fat Tuesday Pancake Dinner

Easter Lilies
Movie Club
Souper Bowl Collection

March
March 17th Family Promise
March 28th Living Last Supper
March 30th Easter Egg Hunt

Movie Club

April

CUMAC Egg Carton & Reusable Bag Collection
Volunteer Reception Breakfast
Family Kickball
Movie Club

May
May 10th Mother’s Day Tea
May 10th Parents Night Out
May 19th Family Promise

Movie Club

June
June 5th Nursery School Picnic
June 7th Nursery School Graduation

Summer Camp
Movie Night
Movie Club

July

Summer Camp
Food Drive

August
Building Closed August 19-23

Summer Camp
VBS Summer Camp
Back Packs for Camp YDP
Movie Club

July (2023)
July 15th Food Drive
July 17-21 VBS Summer Camp (9-12pm)
July 21st Youth Group Mid-Summer Gathering (6-9pm)
July 23rd Family Promise

CUMAC Cereal Collection
Movie Club

August
August 14-18 Building Closed
August 22 Mum Sale

Back Pack Drive for Camp YDP
CUMAC PB & J
Movie Club

September
September 10th Founders Day   
September 10th Block Party
September 11th First Day of Nursery School
September 15th Jr. High Group (7-8:30pm)
September 17th Sr. High Group (5:30-7:30pm)
September 22nd Parents Night Out (5-9pm)
September 29-10/1 Ignite Youth Conference
September 29-10/1 Women’s Retreat

CUMAC Canned Meat
Movie Club
Grad Group?

October
October 7th Dads & Donuts (NS, 10/14 Raindate)
October 15th Family Promise
October 21st Muffins with Mom
October 22nd Personal Hygiene Kits
October 23-24 Nursery School Closed
October 31st Nursery School Trunk or Treat

CUMAC Pasta & Sauce
Movie Club

November
November 1st Wreath Sale
November 9-10 Nursery School Closed (NJ Teacher Convention)

Thanks for Giving Food Drive
Movie Club
Poinsettias

December
December 2nd Christmas Fair (9-3pm)
December 9th Cookie Walk (10am)
December 16th Parents Night Out (5-9pm)

Stockings Full of Joy
Movie Club
?Advent Family Workshop?
?Lessons and Carols?

The Grace Nursery School

As many of you know, the Grace Nursery School is a phenomenal 5-day preschool program.  Since its creation in 1965, Grace has blessed so many families, including both children and their parents.  The nursery school began as a ministry of Grace United Methodist Church, which continues to provide oversight to the school. We look forward to continuing the rich traditions of Grace, even after the pandemic and the many changes since. That is why it brings us such pain to announce the resignation of Amy Hofmann, the Grace Nursery School director.  After faithfully leading Grace for 22 years, she will be relocating this summer to North Carolina to live closer to her daughter. We wish her the very best in this new adventure!

As the nursery school goes through this transition it falls to Grace United Methodist Church to guide the process of hiring a new director for the 2023-2024 school year.  There is a staffing committee (SPRC) that will review candidates for the position, and the Nursery School Board, made up of members of Grace UMC who have experience in the teaching field, that will make the final decision of who to hire. We are very excited, however, that our head teacher, Donna Ernst, has submitted her name for consideration as the future director of Grace Nursery School and is our leading candidate.  We will work quickly to have our new director in place as soon as possible so that you can be assured of the leadership of the school for your little one.

Know that you are in good hands as Grace Nursery School and Grace United Methodist Church work together to provide an excellent preschool program. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. You can reach me by phone or email using the information below or stop in my office during nursery school hours. God bless!

Sincerely,

Pastor Brian Neville

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An Important Update as of May 15th, 2023

The Grace Nursery School is undergoing important changes. Amy Hofmann, the director at Grace Nursery School, announced her resignation on April 20th to move closer to her daughter in North Carolina. We have already offered our thanks for her service to the school, but we need to give a further update. As of May 11th Amy is on leave. During this interim period Patti McHugh, the Assistant Director, will be leading the nursery school.

In preparation for this transition the Staff/Parish Relations Committee (SPRC), which acts as the human resources department of the church, has worked in tandem with the Nursery School Board to select the next director for the Nursery School. Today we are excited to announce that Donna Ernst has accepted the position as the new director at the Grace Nursery School! Though she has already been busy preparing for the position, she will continue to work closely with Patti to begin in this new capacity at the end of the school year, June 12th.

As always, the Nursery School, at the direction of the director, will have full control of hiring teaching staff. Positions for the summer camp and 2023-2024 school year will be at the discretion of Donna Ernst. In the meantime, we invite you to direct any questions about summer camp, tuition and next year's registration to Patti McHugh.

Once again, we welcome Donna to this new role at the Grace Nursery School and thank our staff, parents and especially our wonderful students for making the Grace Nursery School a truly special place to be. God bless!

Sincerely,

Pastor Brian Neville
Brian Winiarski, SPRC chairperson
Bill DeBlock, NS Board chairperson 

Custodial Services at Grace

We have said farewell to the ‘Steve Kay Cleaning Services’ team at Grace United Methodist Church. This outside company has served to clean the church for the last 16 years. Now, though, we attempt something new. We are going to try and hire our own custodian to do the work here at Grace. Some members have shared with me that ‘the old is new again.’ We once had exactly this situation previous to a cleaning service. We think this change will be good for the church for a number of reasons. One is that, by having our own hired custodian, we’ll be able to ask them to prepare space for us throughout the building. Need a table and chairs set up for a meeting after church? Ask the custodian! Need a space to be prepared for a presentation? Again, our custodian can do it! In the past we’ve always asked whoever was using the space to set up and tear down themselves. That meant sometimes we were asking a group of older women to set up and take down chairs themselves. That just didn’t seem like the right thing to do, so we are excited for this change.

Another good reason for this change is for some of the basic maintenance in the church building. You may have noticed some items and areas of the church have been neglected. Though our Trustees are doing several things to make critical upgrades, such as installing new doors and preparing work to be done on the steeple, many of the smaller tasks that could have been done by a custodian have been left undone. This transition from a cleaning service back to a custodian will allow those smaller projects to be completed.

Perhaps the best part of this change is that we are saving the church money! Between the added expenses for special projects and the fees for administration through an outside company, the cost for a cleaning service is higher than having a hired staff person. This is one small thing the church is doing to improve services, and make sure every dollar you give to the church is used as wisely as possible for the Kingdom of God. If you’d like to contact our new custodian you can email Nelson Perez at custodian@gumc.org. God bless!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

Did the Church Just Lose $45,000?

In short, no, the church did not just lose $45,000. A couple of weeks ago the finance committee met together to review the budget for the 2023 year. We had a very significant shortfall and many of us wondered “where did all the money go?” It took a little bit of sleuthing, but it turns out that a mistake was made all the way back in 2021. The income on our quickbooks program never properly displayed two numbers - Payroll Protection Program (PPP) and the allotment from the Nursery School. All year the numbers showed “0” dollars, despite thousands of dollars coming into the church. When the 2022 budget was put together the income for those areas was properly reported…but the extra income in the line items where that money actually showed up was never reduced. That meant our 2022 budget showed tens of thousands of dollars more than what it should have showed!

With that there is good news and bad news. The good news is that we managed to weather the financial situation in 2022 decently well. That means even with all the assumed income that wasn’t realized, we kept our expenses down enough that it wasn’t a problem. After fixing the numbers, and properly accounting for all of our income 2023 looks like it is slightly out of balance. We are still working to see if we can further reduce expenses to, again, balance the budget. The bad news is that in 2024 we will no longer have additional income from the government like we’ve had since the start of the Pandemic. PPP and ERTC money have helped us weather the storm financially for the last few years, and we’ll be perfectly fine this year, too, but we know we need to make changes in 2024. Changes can come in the form of additional income and they can come in the form of budgetary cuts. I think its always wise to consider both options simultaneously. If we can increase giving a little, and reduce expenses a little, we can much more easily get to a balanced budget. Sometimes even having volunteers step up for things we pay for can be a huge help, so I invite you to consider how you could help in the coming year. What are ways you can give, both through volunteering and in financial gifts, that can help strengthen the church? Perhaps there’s even something we haven’t thought of to help reduce our budget expenses! A little time and effort on your part can go a long way in helping us to get to a healthier place as a church. Let me know if you have any thoughts or suggestions!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

Facility Usage Requests

With the changes we've had, the church administration had discussions about what made the most sense for receiving facility use requests and how to process it. We have something in place we think will work for now. Basically all facility use requests will be processed through the facilities@gumc.org email address.  Most simple items, like a committee meeting or ministry meeting request, can just be emailed to that address.  About once a week the church's google calendar will be updated with those requests and you should get a reply that the request was granted. We want to make sure we keep that calendar accurate so everyone knows what's happening in the building, so please send an email with any changes to your meetings or schedule. If you are a staff person and would like to be added to the list of people that have access to that calendar to add and change events, let me know. It's always easiest and best if people in charge of their meetings are the ones keeping the calendar updated. Remember, all meetings at Grace MUST be on the church google calendar for insurance purposes. If you don't see your meeting on there, let us know!

For things bigger than a meeting, we have a usage form. Anyone using the building for the first time or first time events must use this form, too. You can find the document on the website at gumc.org/calendar (scroll to the bottom and click 'Usage Form'). There you can also request social media items, like the bulletin, an announcement, Facebook post, etc.  When you submit your form (via facilities@gumc.org, the website or to the office mailbox using a form from the main office) it will be added to the calendar unless there are conflicts. It will be forwarded to Hilda, our office administrator (info@gumc.org), for the bulletin and to Emily for social media.

Oh, yeah...Emily Neville has agreed to do social media for Grace! Hurrah! We haven't had someone doing social media here since I began over 2 years ago! Even Alexa, who volunteered for the position in 2020, quickly transitioned to running our sound and video for our online audience, which was a much bigger need at the time.  If you'd like to follow up with Emily regarding social media items, you can email her at socialmedia@gumc.org. This information will be included in a response to your usage requests, unless, of course, you don't provide us with an email. In that case, you better call us (201-891-4595 ext. 4) and leave a message. You'll also be able to click a link in the response email that shows all the items that have been submitted with usage forms and what selections you've made.

Using the button below you'll also find the Communications Audit for 2023. This document lays out the general timeline for various requests and who is in charge of what items at Grace. Where there are ??'s no one is assigned to that item, so it's harder to make those ones happen. Everything is "first come, first serve," based on the time and availability of staff and volunteers, and at the expense of the person running the ministry or event (of course, you can use budgeted line items for advertising, but that's up to the people overseeing those line items). Hilda plans to begin including the weekly calendar in the bulletin in an effort to increase communication of events happening at the church, but you can always check the website. Gumc.org/calendar will always be the most up to date information on what's happening in the church.  Other items are updated as our volunteers are able to, so please be kind and patient in this process. Also, if you see something is not updated properly, you should check in with the person in charge of the event. Did they send in an email? Did they fill in the form and request a particular social media? If not, that's why the information is not being updated. Volunteers need to have the necessary detail given to them in order to make the changes.

That's the basics. If you have any questions or concerns, let me know. Below are some key items for your information. God bless!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

Google Calendar: gumc.org/calendar
Email for facility and usage requests: facilities@gumc.org
Email for bulletin items: info@gumc.org (but the attached form also at gumc.org/calendar should be filled in first)
Email for social media requests: socialmedia@gumc.org (but the attached form also at gumc.org/calendar should be filled in first)

Penitence in a New Season

Hello Grace Members and Friends,

This past week the weather turned cold quick! It was 70 degrees, yes, but I definitely had to wear a jacket because of the wind! I can’t believe how the temperature can be exactly the same, but the feeling is so different. Much of life can be like that - things look one way on the outside, but feel different on the inside. Even the church experiences this as we go through ups and downs, seasons of growth and times of trial. Sometimes just one person can make all the difference; I hope you will seek out ways you can be a person that makes a difference, whether through outward expressions of care and concern, or by looking inward to see how you can grow.

As we begin our October series on Penitence, I am thinking and reflecting specifically on how I have made mistakes, how I have hurt others (whether intentional or not) and how I can do what I can to make things right. Things will never be perfect; we’ll never have everyone happy with us or perfectly content with our work, but we can always apologize. We can always seek to improve our relationships with others. I say with some regularity that people are more important than things. Still, its easy to leave things broken between people. Its easy to ignore difficult relationships, rather than seeking to redeem them. I think Jesus calls us to work on those difficult relationships, to improve them and find life even in the challenging places. I hope you’ll join us for our October series and explore with us how we can be penitents that turn to God and find our life in him.

I also wanted to share a few updates with you as we start getting into the core of the church year.

• This weekend is the annual women's retreat and the youth IGNITE weekend. Both are phenomenal events and can have a really big impact on those who attend. I invite you to be in prayer for those attending

• We have our first Pathways to Congregational Development meeting October 11th. This is a group that will work with a Conference Coach to help us assess strengths and opportunities at Grace as we come out of the pandemic. I'm excited to see what will come of our work together!

• October 2nd is World Communion Sunday. This will be the first time in several years that we take communion by the rail. We'll invite people to come forward to kneel, and also have the ushers provide prepackaged communion for any who wish to remain in their seats.

• The Trustees are continuing their work to aid the church in both ministry and facilities. They are exploring a process to help increase funds available to do important work in the church.

• We've just added a movie night to the schedule for October 14th at 7pm. We'll have free concessions and hope to have a great night!

• We are working with the new Stewardship Foundation Executive Director, Brian Roberts, regarding long-term sustainability for the church. We hope to have a luncheon after church with him when he joins us this winter.

• Nominations for 2023 is ongoing. We have filled some important vacancies, as well as added some new committees for the long-term health of the church! Its a great group of leaders for next year!

Those are some of the things we are working on here at Grace United Methodist Church. October 2nd is the start of a new sermon series on Penitence and I hope it will move your heart! God bless!

In Christ,

Pastor Brian Neville

A Founder’s Day Thank you

Some of our 50-year golden members at Grace United Methodist Church

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Our Founder’s Day celebration came together in some surprising ways, with unexpected changes, but it was a success none-the-less, and its all thanks to you! I want to give a specific thank you to those who took on leadership for the event. Some of you will recall that this event is combined with festivities for the Sunday School and much of the planning would typically happen through the Sunday School director position. Our church has had gaps in that position as we seek to hire a new director, so several folks stepped up to fill the void. Hilda Gomez, Asha Anand and Emily Neville were instrumental in making Founders Day happen, so the first ‘thank you’ goes to them!

We also had Carol Freeswick organizing the food, drinks and desserts. The Winiarskis returned for their second year of grilling making sure those hot dogs and hamburgers were delicious. Patricia led our children and helped to organize the 9/11 flag-planting that happened between the worship service and the food. Ian and Colby made sure we had sound available. Asha had an awesome craft that let the children make there own bubble wand, which fit nicely with our theme about the Holy Spirit. Jack and Mark helped set up tables and chairs (along with the Neville boys, Davy and Halloran!). Gwen and Laura had a booth set up for Mathnasium in Wyckoff. Many of you donated food, and so many delicious desserts! It was an all-out success, and I’m grateful to all of those who helped and participated. Thank you!

As part of Founder’s Day, we also had the many 25- and 50-year members of Grace come forward for a picture after the service. Each received a carnation for 25 or 50 years of membership, and it was a blessing to see so many of the saints of the church there to mark the occasion. I want to offer a particular warm welcome to those who, for the first time hit the 25 and 50 year milestones. Welcome to a very exclusive (but inclusive) club! For another year, Mr. Whiteman has retained the title as longest living member of Grace United Methodist Church, having become a member January 1st, 1941! Take a look at the picture of our many, incredible members here at Grace.

The 25- and 50-year members at Grace United Methodist Church

I do want to give an update on a few things here at Grace. One is that we continue to look for a Sunday School director. We have had several candidates come forward, but none has been the “right” one, so we continue to look for the best fit to help our program thrive. If you know someone who might be a good fit, let us know! You can find the job posting on the Grace UMC Facebook page. In the meantime Patricia has agreed to continue to oversee our children’s programming along with our amazing Sunday School teacher volunteers. I know my boys are loving Sunday School these days so something good is happening there, for sure!

I also want to offer a hearty ‘thank you’ to our Trustees, who have organized much needed work around the church. If you come by sometime during the work week in the next few weeks, you’ll see construction happening all around. The facia board and gutters are being repaired and replaced around the entire building. So far the work that is completed looks beautiful! I’m looking forward to the completion of that project and the renewed look that it will give to our church.

We also have a few changes happening inside the building, as well. The worship committee met over the summer to discuss a few changes. Mostly it is rearranged furniture as we turn the bell tower into a information center that will let people sign up for events happening in the church. This committee also provides flowers and decorations for the sanctuary every week, so I hope you’ll tell some of our worship committee members how much you appreciate their efforts. Along with some of the indoor changes, people have asked for the coffee hour to be served from the bell tower, closer to where the people are. So, this week, as we return to a weekly indoor coffee hour, you’ll find some hot coffee waiting for you without having to go anywhere special! Remember, coffee is only served when someone signs up to provide it! Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers over the summer who provided for the outdoor reception. We hope to have the same kind of response of volunteers throughout the rest of the year. You’ll find a sign-up board in the bell tower, right next to where the coffee is served, so sign up to create a warm, welcoming environment for folks after church.

We are also starting new member classes soon, and you can check out all of the short-term small groups I will be leading over the next year (including new member classes) on our website at www.gumc.org/study. There are several interesting topics this year, but I am most excited for ‘The Gift of the Nutcracker.’ Can you believe I have never seen the Nutcracker before? This Christmas will be a first for me as we explore this ballet through the lens of Christ and culture.

Regarding the long-term, the church is participating in the Pathways for Congregational Development program. A small group is coming together to discuss the strengths of the church, growing opportunities, and to discern how we can more faithfully serve God with the people, the gifts and the resources we have. I invite you to be in prayer for the Pathways team. You can learn more here.

One last note for you. This morning many of us heard word that Tom Kemper has come out of his surgery in good health and in high spirits. Many of you have prayed for him throughout his cancer journey, and we are so grateful for this good news today. I take it as a sign of the faithfulness of God; not that everything will always go well for us. It won’t, and we will always face trials throughout our lives. It is a sign of faithfulness, because we know that no matter where we go, no matter what we may face, God is always with us, and these acts of grace remind us of that. Keep praying for Tom, for each other and for Grace as we seek to be an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ. God bless!

— Pastor Brian Neville

The Summer of 2022

What are we working on at Grace United Methodist Church? There are many things happening, even as we are in the middle of the summer months, but I thought I’d spend a little time doing some regular updates to keep people informed of all that is happening here at Grace. Here’s some highlights of what this week holds for us:

• There is a funeral for a member of a local United Methodist Church. I will be presiding at the funeral and interment, connecting with new families that live in our area. Though the goal is squarely to honor the life of the deceased, I recognize there is deep value in connecting with the extended family and supporting them through their grief. Part of the reason the church exists is to support people through a variety of stages in life, from birth to marriage to death, and to offer a place for people to grow spiritually throughout.

• The Staff Parish Relations Committee met on Monday evening. We welcomed a new member, Peggy Chagares. Thanks for being a part of the team, Peggy! We also adjusted the schedule for the rest of the year, including staff reviews. We reviewed the pastoral appraisal given by the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference. There was also some discussion about the team that would be used for walking us through selecting a new Christian Education director for our Sunday School. I’ll be the point person for much of that effort over the next couple of weeks. One last item of significance for SPRC was a review of the employee handbook. Its been a few years since we updated it, and the committee came up with a plan for how to tackle that important project.

• One of the key things we can do during the summer is take a deep breath and reflect on our plans for the next year. Several leaders gathered a few weeks ago to discuss worship, sermons and the schedule for the church. The sermons and Bible studies are set for the year. Next we have to meet with a couple of our creative types to come up with art and graphics for all of the series. We noticed last year that doing a new image every single week was pretty exhausting for our volunteers. We are looking forward to changing it up this year by having one key image for each series that can easily be updated by the office staff from week to week. We are also reviewing our list of events for all of 2022-23, with some of your favorite events like the tricky tray and cookie walk, and also looking at adding some new events to the year as well. We are looking at coordinating with the Cub Scouts on a movie night so we can have a nice bonfire added to the evening. We are also looking at a date night for Valentine’s Day and plant sale around Mothers Day. We had to have a follow-up meeting this week to work out some of the details for the new events. The schedule will be made available to the staff and leaders of the church after the office gets a chance to review it for accuracy.

• On Wednesday I have my strangest meeting of the year. Its the Bergen County Tax Hearing. As you probably know, Grace UMC doesn’t pay taxes, but somehow, when part of our property was sold, we were added to the tax assessors list (with our name, but someone else’s address!). Every tax bill we’ve received, we called and told them we are a church and it had the wrong information on it. They’ve said “oh, okay, that’s just a mistake.” Apparently it needs to go to a Bergen County Tax hearing to have us officially removed from the tax list! I’m assured that the hearing is simply a formality, but I’ll be in on that meeting Wednesday.

• On Sunday we will be having a Congregational Care Team lunch. This group hasn’t met in the two years I have been here, but after adding a few new members, I wanted to bring the group together to eat, share stories, encourage one another and see what we could learn from our caring visits. I talked with Hilda in the office about how we would provide lunch and I’m going to put together an agenda for the meeting so it has good flow and people can walk away feeling like they’ve learned something and that they were blessed by our time together.

• Last, but certainly not least, we have Vacation Bible School. This big event happens next week! The station leaders are busy preparing skits and projects. The crew leaders are prepared to guide our campers through the fun and chaos, but most of all, Mrs. Chris Cauda is doing everything she can to make sure we have a perfect week. She’s pulling out all the stops with some special animal visitors and a carnival! Its a week that can’t be beat, and we are prepping every day for it. Decorations go up on Wednesday, so lend us a hand if you can! Please be sure to pray for our campers and staff. We know it can be a lot of fun, but its a ton of work as well, so please keep us in your prayers, and pray that those young people’s lives are touched by God this week!

That’s a pretty typical week at Grace. It’s all over the map, but lots of good things are happening! We keep plugging along, trusting that our best efforts, along with wise counsel and strategic steps will help us be a better church, making disciples and changing people’s lives.

I want to share a little more about the list I wrote above, though. You'll notice all of the items I listed are things I've made a commitment to participate in. I regularly lead worship, funerals and weddings. I participate and lead committee meetings. I help plan the year, especially as it relates to worship. I also volunteer, on occasion, in support of some of the events taking place at Grace. The role of a pastor can be very wide and diverse. It's so wide and diverse, in fact, that many people struggle to understand just what it is that pastors do.

This is from Susan Beaumont, an expert in church leadership. She says, "The expectations placed on senior ministers are often too numerous to faithfully execute. For example, the Book of Discipline in the United Methodist Church outlines more than thirty “essential functions” of the role. Other denominations operate with similarly excessive criteria for success. Most people cannot attend to more than twelve essential functions in their role. The governing body of the congregation should work with the senior minister to shape a job description that reflects the specific needs in the context. What are the expectations of our senior pastor in this time and space? Should the senior minister give priority to the supervision of the staff team, the development of the board, the pastoral care of congregants, the worship life of the congregation, the preaching task—or something else?" https://susanbeaumont.com/2019/10/29/five-pitfalls-to-avoid-when-evaluating-the-senior-minister/

These are important questions for our church to work through, especially as we continue to make the transition from two appointed clergy to one.  Some things cannot be done by a single appointed clergy-person. Some things may simply not be done at all! That's what happens as churches make transitions and discover the gifts and talents to be best utilized for the glory of God. I want to be faithful to the things I commit to do, and I want to do as much as humanly possible to help Grace grow and thrive, but I also realize that when things have to come "through me" for approval it can create a bottleneck that stops good, helpful things for the church from happening. 

The best remedy for such a situation is to empower the people! You are the best answer for the best things to happen here at Grace.  As others take on the authority of decision making, there are a couple of other things that have to happen along with it. Some may be nervous or anxious to make decisions without my "okay." That's alright; I hope you will grow in confidence, and know that I won't "bite your head off" for doing something different from what I might choose.  The only time I take issue with a person's decisions is when they do them out of what we might describe as a "sinful" place.  Are you angry, selfish, conceited, hard-hearted or jealous? Please don't make a decision from that place! Come and talk with me and see if we can find a way forward. I am certain that we hold a mutual desire for the church to succeed, and we can best get there by working together. The other thing that needs to happen is to increase communication for alignment.  If people are working at cross-purposes it can be  destructive to the church.  We are a team together and we need to move in the same direction.  You'll find that I am a "rule follower." If the Book of Discipline describes how we are supposed to do something, I'm going to advocate for us to follow it as closely as practicable.  But where there are not rules, there is freedom! That freedom can be a beautiful breath of fresh air to empower us to use our creativity to bring our best selves to the challenges that face our church. Yet, that freedom must be directed. It cannot go in the opposite direction of other work happening in the church.

I think of a concert, where each instrument in the orchestra plays its own piece.  The notes and music might be different for each instrument, but when played together it forms a beautiful work that can move the soul.  That's how the church works, too. Each person is an instrument of God's gifts and we want to both honor the gifts in you, and help those gifts work together for the good of the church.  My hope is that, by increasing communication and my specific commitments, you can have a better sense of the direction we are going in together.  You have likely heard by now of the Pathways for Congregational Development. This is a major initiative of the Annual Conference to help local congregations discern the path, the steps to take, to gain alignment and work in concert together for the good of the congregation.  We are forming a team currently and I hope that it will not only help the congregation to work together, but that I would grow, too. I don't know which 12 functions are most essential for me to do here at Grace. We can only discover that by joining together to discern a vision for the church that meets as many needs as possible, to do as much good as possible. Our stated goal is to be a faith community that passionately follows Jesus Christ. By increasing communication and gaining better alignment, I think we can better meet that goal and help our church thrive.

I hope you'll join me on the journey! Here are some specific tasks that I plan to do to increase communication and help us find better alignment:

• share my calendar with all staff so they can see all the tasks that I have committed to do for Grace

• write more frequently about the goals and direction of the church. My current goal is to write a blog post at least once a month to help clarify the mission and gain alignment

• work through the Pathways for Congregational Development workbook with a team to help clarify our mission and vision. From that will flow the 12 essential functions for my ministry

If you have additional thoughts or suggestions, feel free to email me back or come visit me in my office. I'm usually in M-W and do sermon writing off-site on Thursday. I'm also available on Sunday afternoons by appointment. God bless and thank you for all you do to grow the church community!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

A New Year at Grace United Methodist Church

It might seem strange to mark the start of July as a ‘new year’ at Grace UMC, but in many ways…it is! The pastoral appointment from the Bishop runs from July 1st to June 30th, our contracts with outside organizations runs on the same schedule, and the Sunday School program follows that of the school year - September to June. July marks many new starts, so it is time to share some of what we are looking at here at Grace for this new year.

• We are looking to hire a new Sunday School Superintendent

• We are starting a new program with the Annual Conference called ‘Pathways to Congregational Development’

• We are working on our worship services this summer to get the right feel, and we could use your help on stories from you in some sermon series this year!

• Details on the covenant from the Special Church Conference

Keep reading for more information or to get in touch with us!

A New Sunday School Superintendent

A few years ago the church had an Associate Pastor that was in charge of overseeing our Sunday School program. Because of the financial deficit of the church that position was removed just as I came on board at Grace in July of 2020. We’ve had a couple of volunteers running the program since then, and they’ve done an admirable job, but even they agree its time to have a hired person running the program again. Let me pause to say thank you to Chris and Patricia, who ran that program the last two years. I deeply appreciate their work, especially while we were dealing with the pandemic and I was still new to the church. They kept our program alive in difficult times, so thanks to both of them. If you see them, be sure to share your thanks for their work, as well.

We have posted the Sunday School Superintendent job description in a number of places: indeed.com, our facebook page, our website, with the Annual Conference and at several universities, including Drew University. We’ve received a few applications, but perhaps the most important advertising is word of mouth. Maybe you know our next great employee at Grace UMC, so if you know someone who might be a good fit, be sure to share the job description. You can find it attached to the button below.

You might also wish to give an additional gift to the church in support of this move. The Church Council talked a lot about whether we had the financial reserves to hire this new person. In the end we decided to take a step of faith, hoping that putting together a great program would lead to more families connecting here at Grace. Eventually we expect the position to pay for itself, but in the meantime money given above your tithes and offerings would go a long way to help us jump start this position and move us in the right direction. You can give online here.

Pathways for Congregational Development

Grace UMC has many rich traditions, but the combined problems of decreased attendance over 30+ years and the pandemic have put our church in a new place. What is the way forward? How can we restore the traditions of Grace and grow as a community? The answers aren’t always clear, and having my first year here with online worship and much of the congregation avoiding public gatherings didn’t help! Our Annual Conference is offering a new program called Pathways for Congregational Development where we can work with a facilitator to assess where we are, consider a plan to move us forward and engage in new and revived ministries. There is no better way to help our church thrive than to do the tough work of evaluating our ministries and deciding where it is that we need to go next, together, as the Grace community doing God’s work. If you are interested in being a part of the team email Pastor Brian Neville at pastor.brian@gumc.org.

Worship in 2022-2023

One last important item we are looking at for this next year are changes to our worship service. I asked the congregation to share with me some of their suggestions for sermon ideas and there were many excellent ones! I took those suggestions to our planning meet from a few weeks ago and asked the group gathered what was most important to them? What suggestions seemed to resonate? I’m happy to say many of the congregations ideas were included in the series we have planned starting in September. Over 60% of sermon suggestions fit in 7 topics. We couldn’t fit all of them into one year, but I look forward to preaching on these great topics!

We also have a few special series we’ll be doing that with which we need your help! In November we are doing a series on those special collections people hold onto. Perhaps you have one? A collection of fine china or special ornaments. Maybe you make art or collect coins? Whatever it is, tell us about it! We want to feature your collections as we share the series in church.

A second series we need help with is in January on fraud. Ever get a phone call from someone offering you a warranty on a car or computer you don’t own? Perhaps you have been defrauded? Maybe someone tricked you into thinking they were someone they were not. If so, tell us your story as we try and encourage others by 1. raising awareness of these schemes and frauds and 2. discern our true identity in Jesus Christ.

We are also spending this summer tinkering with our Sunday morning worship service. We are trying to strike the right balance between contemporary and traditional. We’ve switched to singing hymns for the congregational songs, but keeping contemporary music in other parts of the service (with lyrics so you can sing along). We hear that people enjoy hearing others sing familiar songs in the combined service! People are overjoyed to have the outdoor reception again and that our sound system is working properly (after a significant investment from our Trustees. Thank you Trustees!). We are working on some of the critiques people have offered, such as the song leader being too loud, not having a choir, bringing back the passing of the peace and communion offered in different modes. These are all good suggestions and we’ll work toward answers that satisfy as many people as possible, but know that our goal, ultimately, is not to satisfy people, but to satisfy God. As long as our worship is genuine and we keep loving one another at the core of how we treat one another, I think we’ll be able to get through any differences in worship in a way that pleases God and helps our church grow.

If you’d like to share your stories with the pastor or any other thoughts regarding worship at Grace, feel free to send an email to me at pastor.brian@gumc.org or use the button below.

The Covenant from the Special Church Conference

There was much good discussion regarding the Special Church Conference held June 26th after church. After lunch, discussing the biblical history and meaning of covenants, and sharing the stories of those gathered together, the church voted on the covenant proposed by the Gracious Reconcilers. I sensed many people aiming for a certain kind of church - that Grace UMC is welcoming to all people and that we stay committed to our primary goal of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. I appreciate all those who joined us for the Special Church Conference, and especially those who shared their thoughts and opinions with the gathered group. You can see the policy stemming from the meeting in the church office.

God bless and thanks for your support at Grace UMC, an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ!

In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville

A Covenant from the Gracious Reconcilers

The Special Church Conference on June 26th will involve a vote on a covenant crafted by the Gracious Reconcilers, a group that met in our church to discuss how our congregation could engage people who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Below you will find the covenant and some documents that may help illuminate the wrestling that has taken place in the United Methodist Church. We hope you’ll join us to discuss what our church’s response to this proposed covenant might be. If you haven’t registered for lunch, you can do so here.

What is the covenanting process? www.gnjumc.org/the-way-forward/developing-covenants/
How have some Methodists responded to these issues? www.umnews.org/en/news/debate-about-church-future-heats-up
What are the rules about welcoming the LGBTQ+ community? www.christianpost.com/news/umc-high-court-affirms-striking-down-of-lgbt-ordination-resolution.html
Who is welcome to worship at Grace United Methodist Church? see my blog post here.
In the United Methodist Church we’ve had a challenging history with the issues surrounding the LGBTQ+ community. Read this comic book style series by the Wesley Brothers, who walk through some of the history surrounding the insertion of the phrase ‘incompatibility’ in the Book of Discipline. They also share some of the staggering statistics of self-harm for LGBT youth. www.wesleybros.com/wesbros/a-history-of-incompatibility-part-1/