Mission Trip to Baltimore

Peoples Church is hosting a mission trip July 11-17, its first ever mission trip outside the state of Maine. We have 6 folks registered which is very exciting, and will take as many as 6 more. The final deadline for sign up is April 11, the Sunday after Easter. This is to ensure significant time for team bonding and information sharing. The next team meeting is currently being scheduled.

The total cost of the trip, including meals in Baltimore, is $265 plus transportation. Looking for ways to help even if you can’t go? Here are some ideas: Sponsoring someone on the trip, financial help or donations of craft supplies, loaning necessary items such as a roof top carrier or air mattress. In addition, we will be planning some special fundraisers as well as times for prayer before and during the trip.

Please contact Betsy Morrison at 767-6063 or Pastor Gwyneth at 409-5530 if you have any questions.

New Family Member!

Teresa and Andy, Anna and Drew welcomed a new member of the family yesterday afternoon, February 23! His name is Luke Richard, 19 1/2 inches long, 7 pounds 2 oz. Mom and baby are both doing well. Welcome to the world baby Luke!

News Briefs

New Sunday School Unit Begins Today, “Go and Tell” which will help prepare the children for Easter with the stories of the Resurrection and the Great Commission. Activities include games, cooking, science, music and crafts. Our center-based curriculum and awesome team of teachers make learning about God’s love exciting and meaningful. Please encourage your children to invite a friend!

Current Lenten Sermon Series on Passionate faith through the Psalms. Many thanks to Chris Ward for preaching while the pastors were on vacation last Sunday.

Inquirer’s Classes begin Sunday, February 28 at 6:30pm. There are four classes on the basics of the faith, Methodism and the covenant of membership. All are welcome, including current members. Please RSVP to Pastor Gwyneth if you will be attending. It is not too late and we can work around other scheduling needs.

Haiti: How You Can Help: Peoples has put together 123 health kits for Haiti! The UMCOR truck is picking up all items March 1. We will continue to collect financial donations. Please make payment to Peoples UMC with a note in the memo line or envelope: UMCOR Advance # 418325 for Haiti. Or you can give securely online at http://www.umcor.org/ 100% of donations go to relief efforts in Haiti through the United Methodist Committee on Relief, not administration.

Jr. High youth group will be meeting at Peoples at 1:15pm Feb 28th. The group meets on 2^nd and 4^th Sundays in the afternoon. Please see Pastor Jamie for info.

Mechuwana Middle School Youth Rally!

Middle School Youth Ralley at Mechuwana for Grades 6-8, March 20-21.

"Come join us for the weekend to learn about the importance of being a good neighbor - in your community, your school, and in the world. The Mechuwana Youth Council has planned a great weekend of fun and fellowship for you - you won't want to miss it."

For a registration form go to our web site: www.mechuwana.org or email mechuwana@fairpoint.net or call: 207-377-2924

Valentine's Cookie Bake

The Valentine's cookie bake was wonderful fun for the young and young at heart! A whole crew baked sheets of cookies before church, and continued baking as the kids began decorating with frosting, jimmies and candy hearts. There were even a few gluten free cookies made. The two year olds preferred to eat their cookies, but even some of them added to the stockpile the older kids were packaging for delivery to folks in the community. Over 40 bags with several cookies in each bag were delivered to folks within the church as well as recent newcomers. Many thanks to Rosemary for heading up this fun and meaningful mission, to those who baked, supervised, packaged, created lists, wrote labels and delivered all the cookies! Happy Saint Valentine's Day!

Click here for the whole Valentine's Cookie Bake Photo Album.

Pastors on Vacation

The pastors will be away during school vacation, February 15-21. If you need assistance during this time, please contact Tom and Barbara as Lay Leaders (799-6321). If there is a pastoral emergency, they can put you into contact with a local clergy who will be on call for us during this time, and can also reach Pastors Jamie and Gwyneth if necessary. As usual, please contact Susan Angell (799-8340) with any prayer concerns to put on the prayer chain.

Valentine's Dance!

The Valentine's Dance was a great time with lots of fun, food and fellowship. Those who attended the recent ballroom dance class got to show off all they learned, and the kids danced some too! Many thanks to Rosemary for putting together beautiful decorations, refreshments and lots of chocolate! And to Dan and Ruth for loaning their stereo system.

Click here to see the whole Valentine's Dance Photo Album

Let Your Light Shine!

Jesus said, "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." -- Matthew 5:14-16 14

During the February Church Council meeting we discussed what an amazing online presence that Peoples Church has between the webpage, online newsletter/blog, and facebook. The photographs and photo albums displayed on these pages have been the reason several families have visited Peoples for morning worship or signed up for kids Sunday School or Vacation Bible Camp. As the saying goes, a picture says 1,000 words.

Having your photo on one of these pages is also a perfect opportunity to share Jesus with a friend or co-worker in a non-confrontational way, just by showing them your picture at church having fun or involved in meaningful mission. For others who are shy about having their picture taken this also provides an opportunity to sacrifice for the sake of Christ and his Church. For Christians in the USA, sacrifice rarely means martyrdom; rather we sacrifice in little ways every day whether it's giving our time, talent, or treasure, welcoming a newcomer, moving to a different pew for the sake of a visitor, or posing for a newsletter picture!

At Church Council we also discussed importance of online safety for children. Most churches with an online presence have no photo policy, but a few have a short list of practices to ensure safety without placing an undo burden on those who take and post pictures for church publicity. Some of these practices include using only first names in articles except for church contacts and not using children's names. Council hopes to draft a simple policy to review in March and hopefully put into place this Spring. If you have any suggestions, please contact Betsy Morrison.

Worship on Wednesdays

We are continuing to worship together with other United Methodist Churches in our area ("cluster") during the Lent in March. We hope you can join us for some or all of these meaningful times of worship on Wednesdays at 7pm. Peoples will be hosting the weekly Lenten worship on March 10, which will include leading worship with our choir. We will also be putting together refreshments for after worship, and if you can help with these please contact Chris Ward. Thank you!

3/3 Thornton Heights UMC
The church is located at 100 Westbrook Street in South Portland. FMI call 774-0487.

3/10 Peoples UMC
The church is located at 310 Broadway in South Portland. FMI call 799-1413.

3/17 First UMC
The church is located at 179 Ridgeland Avenue in South Portland. FMI call 767-2688.

3/24 Buxton UMC
The church is located at 276 Chicopee Rd in Buxton. FMI call 642-3996.

4/2 (Good Friday - worship at noon) Elm Street UMC
The church is located at 168 Elm Street in South Portland. FMI call 799-0407.

Prayer Shawl Ministry Does More Than Knit!

Submitted by Sue Angell

The Prayer Shawl Ministry gathered tonight at the church and checked and assembled 60 health kits. Yea! We are still in need of 28 finger nail clippers/or metal nail files, 16 toothbrushes and 16 combs to complete the additional kits. Can you help?

It is interesting that the Shawl Ministry first was a group of people that gathered together to just knit shawls. Now we knit in our homes and since that original year we have reached out to the Community as well with sewing and stuffing heart shaped cancer pillows for Mercy, knit preemie and cancer patient hats for MM, knit hats to deliver to the Preble St Center or Teen Center, May Baskets for shut ins and now assembling health kits. We do have fellowship and fun at these gatherings. We will be making May Baskets this year again at our Thursday meeting in April and we want to invite everyone to come and enjoy the fun making or stuffing them with goodies. Since May 1 falls on a Saturday this year, you might want to come to the April meeting and make one not only for shut ins but make one for your own Mom too and take on the task of delivering some on May 1. At home I make up 3 family baskets and deliver them to my grandchildren and a few for my neighbors. It's addictive.

Come join us on the 2nd Thursday of each month at 7pm.

Mom's Group Taking the Challenge

The Peoples moms group is for moms at home with babies and toddlers. It's a fun time for kids to play, and moms to connect and support one another. We also generally spend some time praying for our children at the end. If you're interested in joining us, we meet Thursday mornings in various homee. Contact Pastor Gwyneth to verify the schedule.

Beginning in March, the mom's group is going to take the E100 challenge together! Any moms with babies, toddlers or even school aged children are welcome to join us!

See here for the mom's group photo album.

Join us on the E100 Journey

We are excited that so many have begun or are planning to begin the E100 Challenge to read through 100 key passages of the whole Bible!

A few have requested Guide Books which provide some information about the Bible reading each day. The book cost is $10 which is the suggested donation - if you can't pay that's ok! Or if you can donate some extra to help pay for someone else's that's great too! If you'd like one please contact the pastors at thearrisons@peoplesumc.com

Please also let the pastors know if you need a Bible - we have placed another order for a case of New Living Translation Bibles, which is an accurate and easy-to-read Bible. The suggested donation for a Bible is $5.

You also can print off some additional free resources yourself such as discussion guide (with 2 discussion questions for each reading), 7 habits for effective Bible readers, the Bible reading plan, sermon outlines and MP3 downloads, all at http://www.ministryplanet.net/sites/e100/Downloads

E100 is especially effective to get people excited about reading the Bible because it is so flexible. You can read at your own pace, with your own schedule and use a Bible translation of your choice. We do recommend that you meet on some frequency with a family member, co-worker, friend or small group, both to discuss insights and questions, and to hold one another accountable to sticking it out to the end. If you need assistance finding a group or partner, please contact the pastors.

Blessings as you encounter God in this journey through the Bible together!
Pastor Gwyneth

Baby Shower!

The church hosted a fun baby shower for Andy and Teresa on Jan 31, headed up by Doreen. Many thanks to all who attended!

See here for the baby shower photo album.