Welcome to December! As we enter the Christmas season we have a lot to inform you of so we hope you will take the time to stay up to date with all that is happening at Village Green Community Church.
DECEMBER SCHEDULE
The Advent series, Holiday Hope, has already started, with the first week on November 27 when we focused on hope. Here is the outline for the month of December.
December 4 – This is our regular Communion service. Remember to pick up your communion cup as you enter the auditorium and for those of you online, have the elements ready if you want to participate. The Advent theme of the week is love.
December 11 – We have a special presentation from our youth and the Advent theme for this week is joy.
December 18 – We have another special presentation, this time from the children. The Advent theme for this week is peace.
December 24 – Christmas Eve Service. The service will start at 6:30 and will be an evening of celebrating the birth with carols, a short message, and the lighting of candles. Please remember that this will be the final time to give an offering during a service in 2022.
CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S DAY
Both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on Sundays this year so here is the schedule for those two services.
Christmas Day – We will be closed with no in-person or online service that day.
New Year’s Day – There will be no in-person service but there will be an online-only service. The online service will be available at the usual 10 am time slot. The first service of the month is typically a communion service, but in January, communion will be celebrated on the 8th (the second week), rather than the 1st.
YOUTH SCHEDULE
The last youth meeting for the year will be on December 19. The next youth meeting will resume on Monday, January 9.
WORSHIP TEAM GATHERING
Make sure to mark Friday, December 16 on your calendar for the next gathering of worship and A/V team members. This is an opportunity to gather, learn, and build community within a critical ministry team here at Village Green.
Anyone who is interested in serving on the worship, audio/video, or live-streaming teams, is also invited to come and be a part of the evening. We are in need of more volunteers in these ministries, so if you have any desire to serve in these areas we would love to see you on the 16th.
CONNECTION CARDS
Our new digital connection cards are now operational. They serve a number of important functions from updating your information and areas of service to letting us know how we can serve you.
Here is the link to stay in touch
OFFERINGS
Beginning with this edition of the newsletter, we will be adding a financial update. The following chart shows the givings for the first 8 months of our fiscal year (which runs from April 1 to March 31). Our monthly need, to meet all our expenses is $22,916.67 a month. The chart shows the offerings, rentals, total, and benevolent giving for each month. The second last column shows whether we made our budget or not.
| Monthly Need $22,916.67 | |||||
| Month | Offering | Rentals | Total | Monthly +/- | Benevolence |
| April | 21,139.75 | 1,200.00 | 22,339.75 | -576.92 | 2,590.00 |
| May | 20,488.75 | 1,200.00 | 21,688.75 | -1,227.92 | 1,160.00 |
| June | 16,694.00 | 1,975.00 | 18,669.00 | -4,247.67 | 340.00 |
| July | 18,033.00 | 2,496.95 | 20,529.95 | -2,386.72 | 745.20 |
| August | 15,729.00 | 1,640.00 | 17,369.00 | -5,547.67 | 330.65 |
| September | 23,316.05 | 300.00 | 23,616.05 | 699.38 | 693.05 |
| October | 21,682.90 | 300.00 | 21,982.90 | -933.77 | 365.00 |
| November | 19,528.60 | 300.00 | 19,828.60 | –3,088.07 | 1,158.95 |
| Total | 156,612.05 | 9,411.95 | 166,024.00 | -17,309.36 | 7,382.85 |
Roof Offering
At present, we have received $15,920 for the roof. This is NOT included in the chart above (The total cost of the roof was $140,000). As a reminder, the opportunity to contribute to the fund to pay off the roof will be open until the end of our fiscal year which is March 31, 2023.
Please make sure you clearly designate any monies for the roof, otherwise, it will go into the general fund. We also want to encourage you to not redirect your normal offering to the roof fund as this is to be over and above your regular giving.
INTERESTING STATISTICS
It is that time of year when certain platforms give out their stats and we recently received an update on our Sunday morning messages from Spotify. Here is what they had to say.
-We created 1,357 minutes of new content. That was more than 83% of other creators in the Religion and Spirituality category.
-We saw a 16% increase in listeners and a 25% increase in followers.
-Spotify defines the majority of our listeners as “Adventurer”, which means they are willing to venture into the unknown, to search for fresher podcasts and gems to be found. And so they found us!
-Our series, Only Jesus, saw a 79% increase between April 24 to 30 as compared to an average week.
All in all, an encouraging report. Let’s keep liking and sharing because it looks like it is making a difference.
COMING IN JANUARY 2023
On January 8, we welcome Sam and Hanni from the Persian ministry, Persians Pointing Persians to Christ. Sam will be presenting an update on their ministry and a message from Scripture. This is a reminder that this will also be our January Communion service.
Starting on January 15, we begin a new series, God Is… To know God is to know his true attributes and character. What is God really like and why is understanding him necessary for our personal growth and relationship with him?
January 15 is also the week that the next session of Life Groups begins. If you are interested in joining, changing, leading, or hosting a group, simply contact the church at office@villagegreenchurch.com.
CHRISTMAS AT VILLAGE GREEN
As we enter into the Christmas season, we want to take time to thank you.
For those of you who call this church home and commit to it on a regular basis – Thank You
For those of you who serve faithfully, in any area of ministry – Thank You
For those of you who give out of generosity for the sake of the Gospel – Thank You
For those of you who help to build a community that is welcoming and safe – Thank You
For those of you who bless others in the name of Jesus – Thank You
For those of you who reach out and help when a need arises – Thank You
For those of who who diligently pray – Thank You
For those of you who watch online – Thank You
For those of you who simply come to be with our community – Thank You
For those of you in leadership-Board, Elders, and Staff – Thank You
If I have missed a category, and you are involved with Village Green in any way, Thank You. We are grateful for the community we have here and appreciate the many wonderful people who make this church such a wonderful place to be a part of.
We want to wish you a most blessed Christmas. May the joy and peace of the season be yours as well as your family. May you experience the wonder of faith and may our hearts be open to allowing room in our hearts for Jesus, as we anticipate a new year that will soon be upon us.
From all of us at Village Green Community Church, MERRY CHRISTMAS!
To close, here is the reading from Luke 2:8-14
8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”