What's Happening With St. Paul's
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Philippians 3:20-21
Sunday, April 21, 10:00am
UConn Study Bag Assembly
This Sunday, arrive early to worship and help us fill study bags. To take part in this St. Paul's tradition, you can write notes of encouragement and assemble finals-week care packages for UConn students. We're hoping to fill 300 bags to distribute on-campus and to our ministry partners in Cru and AIA.
10:30am
Worship Service
Pastor Ryan will be continuing our series The Gospel of Matthew: The Sermon on the Mount with Jesus's teaching on Anger (Matthew 5:21-26)
Watch last week's worship service on our Facebook Page or listen and share the message through our podcast. We will continue to provide the livestream so that out-of-town folks will have a way to join the service.
Wednesday, May 1, 7:15-8:15pm
Youth Bible Study
Pastor Ryan is leading a Bible Study, the first Wednesday of every month, 7:15-8:15pm. This class is open to anyone in 7th-12th grade. Bring your Bible, if you have one, and a friend.
Wednesday, May 8, 7:30-8:30pm
What We Believe: A Class for Youth (7-12 Grade)
This class will run once-a-month for one year. In each class, Pastor Ryan will teach and lead a discussion about one line of the Apostles' Creed, an ancient affirmation of our faith. After the final class, the students will be given an opportunity to affirm the creed for themselves at a special service at St. Paul's (whether or not they participate will be entirely up to them). If you are interested in registering or finding out more information, email ryan@stpaulswired.org.
Sunday, May 12, 9:00am
Mother's Day Breakfast
We are excited to announce that we will be hosting a St. Paul's Mother's Day Breakfast this year to celebrate and honor not only the mothers, but all the incredible women in our church family. Ladies, you won't have to lift a finger...because the men will be serving breakfast to you "a la carte" style. We'll have fluffy pancakes, scrambled eggs, thick-cut bacon, and breakfast sausage. We'll also have some gluten-free & dairy-free pancakes for anyone with those allergies.
If anyone would like to bring any sweets or drinks for the snack table, please feel free to do so!
The breakfast will start at 9:00am sharp on Sunday, May 12th, which is 3 weeks from now, so put it on your calendars! We hope you'll come and give us the chance to serve you and show our appreciation for you.
If you have any questions, or if one or two gentlemen would like to help cook the food, please approach Sam or Keith after service, or get in touch with us at keith@stpaulswired.org.
St. Paul's - The Core
Do you want to invite our church to an event you are hosting or think others would be interested in? Or have a prayer request you would like our community to be praying for? Do you have a need that you think others can help with? If so, join our Facebook community group - The Core. If you're not on Facebook, but would like to have something posted, email keith@stpaulswired.org. Let us know if you have a prayer request or a personal need, or check in to see how you can be a blessing to someone in our immediate community.
Volunteer at St. Paul's
Thank you so much to everyone who attended our volunteer fair and signed up for one of our volunteer teams last month. Be on the lookout for an email from our new worship planning site - worshipplanning.com. Once you receive an initial email, please log in or start an account, and mark the Sundays you are unavailable to serve. More details will follow soon. If you weren't able to make the fair, but would like more info on our volunteer teams, email keith@stpaulswired.org to get plugged in.
Coming soon...
The Chosen Viewing and Discussion Group - Season 4
Job Opportunity
Little Lights Christian Learning Center in Willimantic is accepting applications from people who want to work in Daycare and share the love of Jesus with children. Little Lights serves children aged 6 weeks to 5 years with occasional care for school-aged children up to 11 years old. Scheduling can be flexible, we have both full and part time employees, and have worked with student schedules. Applicants should love children and be physically able to do the work associated with infant care. No experience or expertise required, we can train people. If you or anyone you know could be interested please pass this information along. For more information, or to apply, please contact Abby Miller by email at littlelightsclc@hotmail.com or by phone at 860-456-4628.
Clifton Strengths Finder
Interested in discovering your strengths? The CliftonStrengths assessment is a great tool to help you discern how God has equipped you to be a "minister." We're willing to pay for you to take the CliftonStrengths test assessment as long as you meet with the pastoral staff afterward to discuss your results! Email Pastor Ryan if you are interested.
Small Groups
Are you in the New Haven shoreline area? Several people
who attend St. Paul's from a further-than-average distance are
interested in starting a small group in this area. If you are
interested, email Pastor Ryan (ryan@stpaulswired.org).
At St. Paul's we value providing opportunities for connection in small groups.
Small groups are places where honest discussion about faith can take
place, where we can encourage and pray for one another, and where
friendships can be cultivated. If you are interested in joining a small
group, please contact Pastor Ryan.
An Offer of Free Professional Counseling | "ART" Therapy
If you would like to try meeting with a professional Christian counselor, the church is offering to pay for three sessions through Regeneration Therapy. Their staff's mission is to meet the emotional, spiritual, and mental health needs of individuals, couples, and families by fostering healing, hope and transformation. Please contact Pastor Ryan if you are interested.
A few weeks ago, Sara Spooner told us about “Accelerated Resolution Therapy” or “ART." Fritz Maurer, who started ReGeneration therapy and who preached several times at St. Paul's in the past, offers ART. Some of you may be interested in using this type of therapy for the three free sessions. Despite the name it is NOT drawing therapy- but it is a type of therapy that can be done within an hour or so of focused attention. It consists of a person focusing on a past traumatic memory, event or experience, in their mind while Fritz will have you use your eye movements to follow his hand- similar to how you would go to an eye doctor for an eye exam. He will direct your attention while helping you incrementally desensitize your body and your emotions that have been attached to the memory or event. You will still keep the memory and the facts, but by the end of the session, you will lose the pain of the memory. This type of therapy helps move the memory from a heightened response in
your brain to a healed response when you think back on it.
In order to do this type of therapy you have to be ready for three things:
1. Ready to let go of the pain of the memory
2. Capable of eye movements
3. Ready to face the memory/pain of the trauma because you do revisit the memory throughout the therapy session as you become desensitized to it.
It might sound too good to be true, but feel free to ask Sara Spooner, who works with ReGeneration Therapy, any questions you may have. Although she can’t work with any of you individually due to the conflict of interest, she is also certified to do ART and can answer any further questions you may have about what to expect if you were interested and wanted to try this type of therapy.
Are you interested in finding a way to get more involved?
Would you like to help find ways to incorporate art into our worship services? Are you interested in teaching our children? Would you like to help manage our media? Do you have an idea for outreach? Would you like to participate in a small group Bible study? Would you like to become a member? Email ryan@stpaulswired.org.
Need prayer?
There are several ways you can receive prayer for something going on in your life. Fill out an online connection card, or contact our prayer team at prayer@stpaulswired.org. Our prayer team meets 10:00-11:30am on Tuesdays. If you would like "in-person" prayer (via Zoom) during this time, the team wold be happy to pray with you. If this time doesn't work for you, let us know, and we'll find another convenient time.
Are you interested in helping to mobilize our church to help share the message and love of Christ to our community and the world? If so, contact keith@stpaulswired.org about joining our Outreach Team.
Amirah Inc.
We are reaching out with a special request. This year, we are increasing our expectations for Move for Amirah. Since 2020, we've raised a combined $150,000 with the help of 1,838 movers. This year, we hope to raise $70,000 in 2024 alone!
To do that, we're asking businesses and non-profits to support our incredible movers by way of sponsorship. Sponsor's logos will appear on our social media pages, Move for Amirah t-shirts, our website, and will be included in communications to Amirah's 5,000+ person list-serve community (variously, according to sponsorship level).
If you work for a company that engages in philanthropic giving, own your own company, or represent a church or a non-profit and you'd like to sponsor or find out more info, please let us know. If you're unsure if your organization might be a good fit to sponsor, please reach out to mdistefano@amirahinc.org to find out.
Appalachian Service Project - June 22-29:
One
of our members, Pamela Leggett, has been participating with the Church
of Christ Congregational in Newington for over 15 years in their Summer
missions trip with the Appalachian Service Project. ASP is a ministry
that travels to the poorest counties in the US, located in Virginia,
West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. We repair homes to make them
warmer, safer, and drier. But the most important aspect is the
relationship building between the teens and adults who are on the trip,
and the families and towns that we serve.
If you are a teen (having
finished 9th grade) or an adult that feels called to volunteer, we would
love to hear from you! Our 2024 trip will be June 22 - 29. You don't
have to have any construction experience to participate, but we are
always looking for people with skills to help lead small work groups.
For more info on ASP: Visit asphome.org Questions? Email pamela@pamelaspatterns.com. Register here.
Ministry Update from Jon and Ruth
ACTS OF GRACE: Ministry update from Grace Lauber
The Cavagnet Courant
Ladies of the (Pioneer) Valley
News from the MACC Food Pantry:
Compassion International
Compassion International is a child-advocacy ministry pairing compassionate people with children living in extreme poverty to release the children from spiritual, economic, social, and physical poverty. Please be praying for the child St. Paul's sponsors, Angeles. We have sponsored Angeles since October 15, 2015. She is from Peru and will be 14 on April 19. For more info email Stephen Oldham, our liaison with Angeles.
Visit Compassion's site for more info on sponsoring your own child.
John and Diane Vampatella's Athletes in Action Update
Volunteer Opportunity at the Covenant Food Kitchen:
WAIM's looking for Mentors
* Gladys France is currently at Woodlake's rehab center in Tolland (26 Shenipsit Lake Rd, 06084). Please pray for her recovery and consider sending her a card to encourage her and lift her spirits. The facility she is in allows visitors throughout the normal day hours. If you would like to visit, you can call to coordinate a time with her at (860) 872-2999.
There is a public folder of files that provides access to minutes, policies, and other documents from the board and membership meetings.
If you missed our January 28 membership meeting, the following members were voted in for an upcoming 2 year term: Ola Aladelokun, Chris Crosby, Pamela Leggett, Leah Muller, Andrea Redfern, and Sara Spooner. Meeting minutes, candidate bios, and other info from the meeting can be found in the 24.01.28 Membership Meeting Folder.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to the board at anytime - board@stpaulswired.org.
