Peoples Mom's Group February 4 and 11

The Peoples mom's 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 in February, we will be meeting on the 1st and 2nd Thursday 11a-12pm (February 4 and 11) at the pastors' home, but contact Pastor Gwyneth to verify the schedule. Hope to see you there!

For a photo album of the mom's group click here or go to Peoples on facebook.

Valentine’s Dance Feb 12 !

On Friday, February 12 at 7pm, Peoples is hosting a fun valentine’s dance for the whole family. We’ll have a variety of music for all ages, and refreshments. All are welcome, and bring a friend! We could use a good sound system, if anyone had one available to borrow. FMI contact Rosemary Herd at 799-2392.

Valentine's Cookie Bake

Sunday, February 14 the Sunday School will be decorating cookies and asking families to deliver them. Join us for worship at 10:30am and then kids and helpers will leave from worship to begin decorating and bagging cookies! Most cookies will be prebaked, but a small amount will be baked during Sunday School as well. Students will be asked to deliver (if they wish) one or more bags. We hope to be done shortly after our normal time, by about noon.

We have all of the supplies we need, just need some helping hands! We are looking for 4-6 adult volunteers to assist with frosting, baking, helping with the young ones, bagging and labeling. If you can help out in any way, please contact Rosemary at 799-2392 or Andy Folley at 749-5702. Thank you!

Serving at the Root Cellar February 25

Peoples is scheduled to host the Root Cellar’s weekly community dinner Thursday, February 25 at 5pm, which provides food for many needy families. If you can help serve or provide food, please contact Carol at 799-5995. We especially need about 8-10 people to help serve. Thank you!

Family Pizza Night February 25

Family Pizza Night is scheduled for Thursday, February 25 at 5pm. This is an event for parents, Sunday School teachers and other Sunday School volunteers for a time of fellowship. However, this is also a wonderful opportunity for ANYONE to have some time of fellowship and Bible discussion. All are welcome! In addition, we will have some teacher training and time for questions and sharing about the next Sunday School unit. We hope you (and your children!) can attend!

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.

Interested in church membership?

Inquirer's Classes for membership at People Church will begin the end of February. Please contact the pastors if you are interested in finding out more about membership at Peoples. New members will join on Palm Sunday, March 28 during worship!

Worship Around the Cluster During Lent

We will be worshipping together with other United Methodist Churches in our area ("cluster") during the Lent. 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!

2/17 (Ash Wednesday) Cape Elizabeth UMC
The church is located at 280 Ocean House Road in Cape Elizabeth. FMI call 799-8396.

2/24 West Scarborough UMC
The church is located at 2 Church Street-Route 1 in West Scarborough. FMI call 883-2814.

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.

4/10 (Good Friday) Elm Street UMC
The church is located at 168 Elm Street in South Portland. FMI call 799-0407.

Keeping in Touch By Email

The contents of this newsletter are available by email or paper copy each month. It saves the church significant printing and postage costs if you prefer to read the newsletter on your computer, or have the ability to print at home. Please contact the pastors if you would like to receive the “Peoples News” monthly church newsletter by email.

Many active members are on the Peoples email prayer and information chain. Prayer requests and updates, as well as information and reminders about church events are emailed to this list throughout the week. Please also contact the pastors if you would like to be added to the email prayer & info chain.

Remember, you can request to be removed from either of these lists at any time.
Pastors Gwyneth and Jamie Arrison
thearrisons@peoplesumc.com
619-1509

Come Celebrate 2009!

Join us for Life in Review 2009 – This is a chance to hear creative presentations from teams and committees from the church to celebrate what God had done throughout the year. This year’s Life in Review is scheduled after church on January 24. Please come and celebrate the ministries of Peoples Church together, with lunch and lots of fun.

Exciting Training Event Jan 23

ReThink, ReNew, ReChurch! January 23 12:00– 4:30pm right here at Peoples. This is a great time to think about new ways to do ministry in the 21st century. The day will begin with a round table discussion on new church plants and new ways to be the church. These include classes in postmodern thought, 21st century culture and reaching out to the unchurched. There will be a class to encourage participation on mission trips. There will also be classes for members of Worship, Trustees, SPRC and Finance committees. To register, contact Pastor Jamie by email or 799-6814.

Dancing with the Stars

The 6-Week ballroom dancing and relationship building class has begun! Classes are being held Mondays at 7pm with an hour-long ballroom dance class led by Ann Rita Smith of Maine Ballroom Dancing followed by an hour class, Mastering the Mysteries of Love, led by Steve and Kathy Beirne. Class will be closed after the second class, January 11. Cost per couple is $70, which includes the text. Registration forms are available by contacting the church office at 799-1413. Hope to see you on the dance floor!

Jr. High Sledding Party This Sunday!

Youth Sledding Party this Sunday, January 10 - meet at 1:30 pm at Fort Williams, Cape Elizabeth. All middle schoolers, grades 6-8, are invited to join us this Sunday afternoon at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth for an afternoon of winter fun! We'll meet up by the swing set on the left when you first drive in at Fort Williams. Please dress warmly... It's supposed to be really cold this weekend! Also, bring a sled if you have one -- otherwise we can share.

Following our sledding adventure, we will head back to Peoples Church for hot chocolate. The event ends at 3:00 pm.

The group meets every 2nd and 4th Sunday afternoon. Come and join the fun! Please contact Pastor Jamie if you'd like to know more, or to find out about carpooling.

Kids, Come Build a Model Temple!

New Sunday School Unit Begins Sunday, January 10. Come learn about Jesus in the Temple! And experience building a model temple. All kids ages 3-11 welcome, and bring a friend! For more info. call Andy Folley at 749-5702.

Prayer and Meditation in Candlelight

Are you feeling stressed out after the holidays? Need a place just to "be?" Join us this Sunday 7-8pm for a candlelight meditation service. There's a short Scripture followed by about 45 minutes of calming music in a beautiful, candlelit sanctuary. All are welcome!

Thursday Mom's Group

The Peoples mom's 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 1st and 3rd Thursdays 10-11am at the pastors' home, but contact Pastor Gwyneth to verify the schedule. Hope to see you there!

For a photo album of the mom's group click here or go to Peoples on facebook.

Mission Trip Informational Meeting

The Mission Team at Peoples Church (did you know we had one?!) hopes that you will consider joining us this Sunday, January 10, after worship in Ellis Hall for a brief, one hour informational meeting that will explain the many different and wonderful ways to be involved in the Mission Trip to Baltimore, Maryland that we have planned for this July 2010. The Mission Team has been meeting for about 8 months to discuss, discern and pray regarding what mission trip we should embark upon as a church and with others who might be interested. We really beleive that God is calling us to this trip to Baltimore to assist with activities for inner city children and youth.

In our history as a church, there is no record of us ever going on a mission trip ouside our own state so this is will be a very exciting venture for all involved. There are many ways to be involved: from actually going on the mission trip, to providing craft materials for us to take and use with the children, to praying diligently before, during and after the trip.

Personally, I feel as though it's the right time for Peoples to venture a bit further than our comfort zone and share our love of God in this way. I hope you'll agree and join us on Sunday to hear more.

In Christian Love and Service,

Betsy Morrison

Ephesians at SMCC

Pastor Jamie will be leading a Bible study at the Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) on the book of Ephesians. Any folks from church are welcome to join up too! Please contact Jamie for more information.

Take the E100 Challenge!

Many people want to read the Bible regularly. The problem is most get bogged down with traditional through-the-Bible reading plans so they just give up. E100 is a carefully selected list of short Bible passages--50 from the Old Testament and 50 from the New Testament, and can easily be read in 10 minutes or less. The E100 Challenge is simple, achievable and creates a contagious enthusiasm for reading the Bible. We recommend EVERYONE take part in this challenge, either as individuals, with a prayer partner or two, or in a small group. Beginning in February... more information will be coming soon! Find out more at www.e100challenge.com

New Phone Contacts for Pastors

There is a new and easier way to reach your pastors by phone. (207)-619-1509 is the new number to reach the pastors. This number has it's own voice mail set up to foward calls and voice mails to one or both pastors depending on who is on call. This is the best way to get a quicker response, though there are obviously some times we cannot answer.

Each of us will then have our own phone. You will be able to call the pastors individually, though according to our current policy, we will screen calls during our family times and get back when our schedule allows unless it is an emergency. Jamie's number is 799-6814 and Gwyneth's number is 409-5530.

Roughly, our current schedule is as follows: Pastor Gwyneth on call Monday mornings, Tuesday afternoons, and Wednesdays. Pastor Jamie on call Monday afternoons, Tuesday mornings and Thursdays. Fridays are covered by the preaching pastor that week. During the school year, Saturday is our day off. You know where to find us on Sunday!


As another note, the church office phone, 799-1413, continues to be out-of-service, and this is currently forwarded to one of our cell phones. Trustees will continue to work on this in the coming weeks and will hopefully be resolved soon.
Our emails will remain unchanged. Pastor Gwyneth AND Pastor Jamie: thearrisons at peoplesumc.com Pastor Gwyneth: gwyneth at peoplesumc.com Pastor Jamie: jamie at peoplesumc.com


If you have any questions about these new contacts please let us know. Thank you for your patience with these changes, and we do hope that this will eventually create paths for smoother communication.