Church guide

Today I got to start off by participating in the Feed the Families event for Madison County where they raised over $23,000 for our Madison County Food Pantries. I came home, then, and worked on writing the service for Spike King this afternoon for his service tomorrow. I was going to send this out as a one call earlier tonight, but just as I was about to do so, I got a message from a mother in Sikeston who has kids living here in Fredericktown and couldn't get up here to help them due to vehicle problems but knew they needed food. So, I was able to take some of what we have for our Blessings Box over to them to make sure they had something to eat tonight and didn't go hungry. By the time it was all sorted, they had food and were doing ok, I looked at the clock and realized it was after 8, so I couldn't make the one call. Being able to provide hungry kids with food and ease a mother's heart was more than worth it, though. And for the chance to be able to do that, I am thankful. So, now I am putting the final touches on Spike's service and getting ready to eat supper. Tomorrow I get the amazing privilege of worshiping with the amazing folks at Fredericktown UMC as we celebrate Palm Sunday together. And then tomorrow afternoon, I get the honor of celebrating Spike's memory in the celebration of his life. This is a weekend filled with blessings and for that I am thankful. I encourage you to remember your blessings this day and to pay them forward by coming out to pay your respects to Spike's family and loved ones. The visitation is at Follis at 2 PM and the service will be at 3. I know the family values all your thoughts and prayers and would love your presence. This is the day that the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

What does Jesus riding a dinosaur have to do with Lent? Is it significant? Could be! Did Pastor Bryan just include it because he thought it was cool? Maybe! Join us in worship this week to find out as we wrap up our Lent series with "Donkey Parade." Our Celebrations contemporary service begins at 9 AM and our Traditions traditional service at 11 with small groups for all ages in between at 10. We are also looking for a nursery worker for our second service. If you are interested, please let us know! We'd love for you to be our guest in worship this week because here at Fredericktown United Methodist, ALL are welcome, period. And that means YOU. 🌈

Good morning Fredericktown UMC family! This morning we're continuing our search for renewal through Lent by looking at a Scripture that invites a lot of debate: Mary anointing Jesus' feet with perfume and drying them with her hair. This is something that is so extravagant that it seems disconnected from the Jesus we learn about. What is this moment, this experience, saying to us today? How do we make sense of it with a Jesus who is supposed to champion the poor? Let's talk about it together in worship as we discuss "Extravagant Excessiveness." Our Celebrations contemporary service begins at 9 AM and our Traditions traditional service at 11 with small groups for all ages in between at 10. We'd love for you to be our guest in worship this morning because, here at Fredericktown UMC, we want you to know that YOU are welcome! 🌈

Hey there Fredericktown family! This week we're going to be taking a look at what it means to be a "Covenant People." That's a really churchy word I know, but it really just means how we are community together and what it means to be a people together. So, really, how and why are we together. As we continue to look for ways to be renewed this Lent, I hope you'll join us as we work at together-ness. Our larger Celebrations contemporary service begins at 9 AM and our more intimate Traditions traditional service at 11 with small groups for ages in between at 10. This week, we'll also be having a special conversation during small group time in the sanctuary about forming a youth group here at FUMC. Remember your pocket change for our noisy offering that will go towards our Feed the Families donation, too! We would love for you to be our guest in worship this week because, here at Fredericktown United Methodist, YOU are welcome who you are and as you are. 🌈

Thank you so much to the Centene training team for their amazing donation to our blessings box! You all touched my heart and the hearts of this church. You all are amazing! Thank you for supporting this ministry!

Hey there Fredericktown folks, Pastor Bryan here. I'd love to invite you to be our guest in worship tomorrow at Fredericktown UMC. If you have ever been turned away from a church, hurt by a church, or given up on church because of the ways that you have seen people judged, condemned, or shamed, I humbly ask that you give us a chance. We are working to become a family together that welcomes all, and by all we do mean all. We are not perfect, but we are working at getting better and you being a part of what we do here is what helps us to be better. If you've been away from church for a while and are considering coming back this Lent as we approach Easter, or you have never been and have wondered why in the world we gather together on Sunday mornings, we would love for you to be our guest at one of our two services. Our larger contemporary Celebrations service begins at 9 AM and our smaller traditional Traditions service begins at 11 AM with small groups for all ages in between at 10. So, there is something for everyone. As a heads up, I will be talking about grace, sin, and salvation this week in the message, but not in the normal way that you are probably used to. I'm taking a look not at a list of dos and don'ts or being saved *from* something; instead I am looking at what we can be saved *for* : hope, joy, love, service, and peace. So, I would ask you to set aside the ways you have heard those words used before and all the negative, shame inducing, hurtful ways these words have been used in the past, and come hear them in a new way that builds people up instead of tearing them down. Here at Fredericktown UMC, YOU are welcome! 🌈

Hey Fredericktown family! Tomorrow in worship is a special Sunday as we will have a guest leading small groups and giving the message. The Director of Finance & Administration for the Missouri Annual Conference, Rev. Nate Berneking, will be with us in both services giving a message on how we can use the gifts that God has given to us for the good of people and the kin-dom of God. Then, in-between the services, he will lead a Q&A information time that talks about what apportionments are, what they do, how they are figured out, and why they are a vital part of our life together as United Methodists. I am so looking forward to this Sunday, and I hope that you will join us for one of our two services as well as for our small group time! Our larger Celebrations contemporary service begins at 9 AM and our more intimate Traditions traditional service at 11 with small groups for all ages in-between at 10. We would love for you to be our guest in worship this and every Sunday because, here at Fredericktown UMC, YOU are welcome! 🌈

Please remember the Wells & Durham families as they lay Ora to rest today. Thank you.

Hello there everyone! Guess what? There is no snow forecasted for the weekend! It's amazing! I hope that you will take this break in the weather as a chance to be our guest in worship this Sunday. We're starting a brand new message series called "Lent - 40 Days of Renewal" where we will be taking a look at a lot of the myths we have about Lent seeing it as a way for us to be renewed. Here's a preview: you don't have to give up coffee or chocolate. In fact, we will have both coffee and chocolate available in the church, just like we always do. We're starting things off on Sunday with "Jesus Acted Up" and looking at the story of how he drove the money changers and animal sellers out of the temple. How did Jesus act up and why? Join us for worship and let's discover the answers together! Our larger Celebrations contemporary service begins at 9 AM and our more intimate Traditions traditional service at 11 with small groups for all ages in between at 10. We'd love for you to be our guest in worship at Fredericktown United Methodist Church this week because here, YOU are welcome! 🌈

Good morning Fredericktown UMC family! The snow has mostly steered clear of us. So, even though we had worship yesterday just in case, I will be hanging out at the church from 9-11 this morning. If you have any faith questions you'd like to ask, something about the church you would like more information about, or want to know more about General Conference and why I am taking the position I am, I'd invite you to stop by while I'm here and ask those questions. Let's have a conversation. I'll have a pot of coffee on and be ready to chat. My door is always open, of course, but I can't stay away from the church on a Sunday morning if I can help it, so come on by and let's talk. And this is open to everyone, no matter if you are someone that attends Fredericktown UMC regularly or not. If you've not been to church in forever and wanted to ask questions or seek some answers with someone, please come by and be my guest this morning. I would love to talk with you about your doubts, about your questioning, about what drove you away. No pressure, no sales pitch, no judgement: just conversation. I would be blessed by your presence today. Next Sunday, we'll be back to our normal worship times of 9 for contemporary service and 11 for our traditional. I hope to see you at one of those as well!

Just a reminder, Fredericktown UMC family, we are having worship today at 5 PM instead of on Sunday so that we can be sure not to have to call things off due to the possibility of snow and ice. Please be sure you let people who might not be on our one call list know!

Attention Fredericktown UMC family: Due to the prediction of weather coming in Saturday night and all the snow is it supposed to bring, we will be having worship on Saturday at 5 PM instead of Sunday morning. We will have small group before worship at 4 PM to discuss General Conference, what happened, and what happens next. We'd love for you to be our guest on Saturday so that we don't have to miss another week of worship! We'll see you then!

A statement from Rev. Bryan Schaefer, pastor of Fredericktown UMC, on the future of the church, and where we go from here after General Conference 2019.

Good morning Fredericktown UMC family! This morning in worship, we're continuing our series "Dislike" looking at what having real, authentic relationships means in a world increasingly connected by social media. How do we love people face to face and not thumbs to thumbs? Today, we're going to focus in on compassion and what that means for us as Christians. I hope that you'll join us for worship on this beautiful morning at one of our two services! Our larger Celebrations contemporary service begins at 9 AM and our more intimate Traditions traditional service at 11 with small groups for all ages taking place in between at 10. We'd love for you to be our guest in worship at Fredericktown UMC this morning where ALL are welcome and so that means YOU are welcome! 🌈

I assure you, we're open! That's right Fredericktown UMC family, the weather has held off and the main roads are mostly clear. Side and residential streets may be a little patchy and there may be some slick spots on your sidewalk and driveway, but for the most part things are great! The church lot has been plowed, and thanks to a great group of folks from the church, the sidewalks have been shoveled as good as we can get them. As always, please take care and watch for any refreeze/black ice on your way to church, and take your time coming in, mainly using the side entrances rather than the front and the street parking due to how much we were able to get cleared. But please, take this opportunity to get out of the house and join us for worship! We're kicking off our new message series "Dislike" today, taking a look at building real and authentic relationships in an age of social media and 24 hour news channels. How do we past what is being said to us ABOUT someone and instead get to know them by being WITH them? I hope you'll join us for worship this morning as we kick this off. Our Celebrations contemporary service will begin at 9 AM and our Traditions traditional service at 11 with small groups for all ages in between at 10. We'd love for you to be our guest in worship this morning, because here at Fredericktown UMC YOU are welcome!🌈

Attention Fredericktown UMC Family: Due to the anticipated weather conditions, Compassion Cafe for this month has, unfortunately, been canceled by the school system. I will be sending out a one call later today about this as well, but first I wanted to gauge opinion: they are asking if we could do the March Compassion Cafe on the 16th? What say you?

Valentine's Day carries with it a whole host of feelings, emotions, highs, and lows. There are people who identify feelings of happiness, warmth, and joy with this day, and those who associate feelings of hurt, violence, or sadness with it. This being the truth, I wanted to take a moment this morning and encourage us all to begin thinking about love in a different way than it is usually expressed on the cards we buy or the candy we give. Most of the time, love is seen as a transactional relationship between two people. I love you, and you love me, so the earworm song goes (you're welcome). We even reduce the love of the Divine down to I love others because God has first loved me. I know I've said something similar many times in my own ministry, and I am sure that many of us have done the same. But love is not transactional. Love is not limited. Love is not a power differential between individuals. Love is not something you only give out to others because you have received it. Love is not finite. To quote what I have seen others say, love is not just a feeling or an emotion: love is an idea... the idea that we are all related communally and when one part suffers we all suffer... when one part rejoices we all rejoice. Love is action... action that enters into the mess of our lives and communities and struggles and makes real our work of service and compassion and ministry and help. Love is not "for" someone. Love is not for anyone. Love is "with." Love is with everyone. Love is being with everyone. We only truly love when our love extends to all. So, this Valentine's Day, it is my prayer that we will stop being passive receivers of love that only give it out when we receive it from others, and instead we will be empowered to go out and do love, to create and recreate love, and to celebrate the love that we see in all its forms, between all kinds of people, in all kinds of ways, in many different expressions, and in a multitude of experiences. God is love. Love is love is love. Love never fails. No matter who you are, where you are, what you are going through, and what society, your family, your school, your friends, your peers, your history in churches before, or what the liar has told you, please hear me say this: YOU are loved. That is the truth. It is not limited to one day or in any particular kind of relationship. YOU are loved. If nothing else comes of this day, know that. YOU are loved. And never let anything or anyone, any institution or organization, make you believe anything different. So, have a happy day of love; this day, and every day. Let the Divine's love for you, our love for you, and my love for you be realized today. -Pastor Bryan -Fredericktown United Methodist Church

As much as I dislike to cancel worship, unfortunately, the roads are just too icy and too dangerous to have people get out on them. You are valuable and loved and I would hate for any harm to come to any of you while on your way to worship. In some cases, your driveway is fine (like mine), but the streets are slick, slick, slick (like mine). I've talked with the sheriff's department and they say the roads and parking lots in town are getting slicker as the morning goes. And I am afraid our parking lot and sidewalks would be very hazardous. Stay home and stay safe this morning. Remember that we have Compassion Cafe coming up this Saturday, so if you would like to help us out with that, we need your assistance! Please contact the church office this week and let us know if you are able to help us serve our community. Thank you and be careful if you have to get out!

A statement from Rev. Bryan Schaefer, pastor of Fredericktown UMC, on the future of the church, and where we go from here after General Conference 2019.

We're starting a brand new message series at Fredericktown UMC this week! It's called Dislike and uses a lot of the ideas and imagery of social media, and the pressures that it puts on us, to take a look at how we connect with each other in the world today. I hope to encourage people to focus less on what they are getting off social media and the echo chambers that we get ourselves trapped in and focus in more on connecting with people in real, tangible, in person ways. I believe that when we do that, we will find that a lot of what we have thought or "disliked" about other people and about ourselves will fade away and we will begin to see people more like God does; less like a profile to be skimmed and make assumptions about, and more like a person to be known for who they truly are.

We'd love for you to be our guest in worship this week as we celebrate the end of the Christmas season with Epiphany and it's radical message of inclusion and welcome. Our Celebrations contemporary service begins at 9 AM and our Traditions Traditional service at 11 with small groups for all ages in between at 10. At Fredericktown UMC, YOU are welcome! 🌈

We would love for you to be our guest in worship this week! On Sunday we will have our Celebrations Contemporary Service at 9 AM and our Traditions Traditional Service at 11 with small groups for all ages in-between at 10. On Monday, we'll have our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service beginning at 11 PM and ending at Midnight, just inside of Christmas. Communion will be served at the Christmas Eve service, but in the United Methodist Church, all are welcome to come and take part. You do not need to be a member of this church or any church to receive communion. It is also completely voluntary, so if you come and do not wish to receive communion, that is just fine, too. We want you to know that YOU are welcome at Fredericktown UMC and we would love for you to be our guest. I look forward to celebrating Christmas with you! 🌈

We're warming up for worship this morning! Just waiting for you to join us! I'm so blessed to serve with this amazing group of people in worship! Pastor Bryan

Hey there Fredericktown family! This week we're starting off on a brand new worship series called "The Heart of Christmas" where we'll be trying to get past all the wrapping we've put around Christmas to get back to it's heart. Our Celebrations contemporary service begins at 9 AM and our Traditions traditional service at 11 with small groups for all ages in between at 10. We'd love for you to be our guest in worship because here at Fredericktown UMC YOU are welcome! We'd love the oppertunity to show that to you. I'll see you tomorrow! 🌈

Hello there Fredericktown UMC family! This week we're wrapping up our Thrive worship sereis with a special One Church worship service. Instead of our usual 9 and 11 services, we're combining them into one at 10 AM. We're doing this to celebrate and commission our brand new Blessings Box for service to our community. At the end of worship, everyone who is comfortably able will be invited to come on out and stand around our blessings box as we pray over it and commission it for service to our community. It's an exciting moment and I am pumped to be a part of it! Also, don't forget that this is "fall back" Sunday, so you even get an extra hour of sleep! How perfect is that? I'd love for you to join us in worship. I'd love for you to be our guest. Here at Fredericktown UMC YOU are welcome. 🌈

This Sunday we start off our brand new message series called "Across the Fence." I hope you'll join us at either our Celebrations contemporary service beginning at 9 or our Traditions traditional service at 11. I'll see you there!

We had a great time at the fireworks tonight! Got to give out some gifts to a ton of kids, meet some new folks, and enjoy the show. Thank you to everyone who came and helped out or prayed for us tonight! It was great fun!