Homebranch News
Worship Services and Sunday School are canceled through April 5th.
We will not be holding Worship Services or Sunday School through April 5th. We will reevaluate at that time what Easter plans will be.
This includes no other church activities through April 11th.
Look for Pastor Chris’ sermon on Pastor Chris’ Facebook page or United Methodist Church of West Union Facebook page. It will be live streamed at 10:15 am on Sunday.
The church will need your financial support through this time. Please mail or drop off your offering at the office. The office will plan on remaining open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, unless things change, so you may want to call ahead. Thank you for your support.
Look for Pastor Chris' Good Friday Service at 7:00 pm on Facebook. Easter Service on Facebook at 10:15 am
Office Hours
9:00 am to 1:00 pm Mondays through Thursdays
Closed Fridays
Lenten Study
Lenten Study has been canceled.
Lily Sign Up
The lily order has been canceled as we do not know when we will be allowed to hold Worship in the sanctuary.
New Pastor has been appointed
March 5th SPRC and Council met with District Superintendent Paul Wilcox. He introduced us to Reverend Rick Burns. There was time for questions. Both SPRC and Reverend Burns decided to accept the appointment. Reverend Burns was given a tour of the parsonage and church. He will be moving from Heritage United Methodist Church in Waverly the beginning of July.
Caring Ministries
Exciting News!
We are forming Caring Ministries, to provide help to our church family members. For one part of the ministry, Karen Halva is organizing those who are willing to be part of a prayer ministry, Prayer Branches. Ardella would type up the list of those prayer requests Pastor Chris mentions on Sundays, and email to those on the Prayer Branches. You would also receive phone calls for anyone with a special prayer request: illness, death, hospitalization, joys, etc. Those requests would be called in to Ardella at the church office, or Karen Halva (563-422 5871 or 563-518-0030). We would contact the first Prayer Branch person, who would call the next Prayer Branch person with the request, who would call the next, etc. If your 'next person' does not answer, you would just leave them a message about the prayer requested, and go on to call the next one on the list, in order to keep the branch going.
To address the immediate needs around the Coronavirus crisis, Sue Williams is organizing another branch of Caring Ministries. Some members of our church family may be sheltering in place and need our help. Caring phone calls, checking to see how they are doing can be instrumental. Also, of great importance will be offering services as needed, i.e. local grocery shopping and dropping items off at their doorstep. If any of you are interested in providing these caring services when the time presents itself, please contact the church office now, so we can be ready. Also, if you are someone in need of a caring service, please contact the office.
Plant a Row for the Hungry
Food insecurity impacts the welfare of individuals, families, and communities. In Fayette County 20% of all children under the age of 18 go to bed hungry daily. (Iowa Community Indicators, Iowa State University)
You can make a difference by planting one extra row of vegetables in your garden and donating the produce to the Open Hands Food Shelf. The Plant-A-Row for the Hungry (PAR) is a people-helping-people program that encourages farmers and gardeners to grow a little extra and donate the produce to a local food pantry that serve the hungry.
If you have no garden space or green thumb there are other ways to help, such as harvest, weighing and delivering produce.
If you are interested in this program for this spring please see the table in the entryway. Some free seeds will be available while supply lasts. Seeds will be available at the church entryway March 1st. You may also donate seed.
Open Hands Food Pantry
There is a need for volunteers to help Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings at the Open Hands Food Pantry. Volunteers are crucial to the pantry success and will help with deliveries, stocking shelves, helping families and having fun.
For more information, please contact Cryss Hill, Pantry Director at 563-422-2150. The email address is: openhandswu@gmail.com or find Open Hands Food Pantry on Facebook.
Updating Emails
I am updating our email list at church. If you have changed your email or never given an email to the church, please email: wuumchurch@gmail.com Thank you.
