With a unanimous vote, Asbury’s Church Council has approved a merger with Salem UMC of Allentown PA. The merger is set to go into effect on June 1, 2021.
Thank you to all who assisted with this endeavor, and welcome to our new members from Salem!
Asbury’s leadership held a webinar on Sunday, March 7, to share information on the upcoming merger with Salem UMC (Allentown). The replay of this webinar can be viewed below; and a link to the slide presentation as a PDF follows.
As previewed in worship this morning, here’s a video interview with Connie Miller, who shares the full story of Asbury’s Barrels of Love ministry with Liberia, on it’s 20th anniversary. Praise God for this wonderful ministry; and pray for our friends in Liberia. Learn about the March book drive at asburylv.org/bookdrive.
Asbury’s leadership announces a merger with Salem UMC of Allentown, officially approved by Asbury’s Church Council on May 5, 2021. The merger is set to go into effect June 1, 2021.
“Salem UMC has done amazing things to be the hands and feet of Christ in Center City Allentown,” says Pastor Eric, and notes that some of their financial resources will be set aside for use for ministry in Center City Allentown.
Salem UMC previously met on Linden Street in Allentown. Their first service was held in 1817 but the Salem Church was officially established in 1838.
| Clothing from Barrels of Love was distributed to children at the Kennedy Early Learning Daycare in Liberia |
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A project to provide clean drinking water for a town in Bong County, Liberia has gotten underway thanks to your donations and the leadership of Asbury in Mission |
Asbury’s Barrels of Love ministry was started with a book drive by Connie Miller and her daughter Devin 20 years ago! At that time, the end of the civil war in Liberia was in sight and Dr. Chris Hena (who was stationed in Kazakhstan at that time) requested children’s books to replace those destroyed during the war. Several thousand books were collected in that first Barrels of Love shipment.
In March we’ll be conducting a 20th anniversary children’s book drive for Bête Gbanee School in Paynesville and the Dominic Hena School in Kakata. Please gather new or gently used children’s books (no textbooks please). Look to your children for titles they particularly enjoy(ed). Deliver them to the upper parking lot at Asbury on Sunday, March 14 and March 21 between 9 AM and 10:30 AM.
Thank you for sharing the gift of reading with these Liberian children and helping Asbury celebrate 20 years of the Barrels of Love ministry.
The replay of today’s Church Council update meeting is available to watch below.
Slides from the meeting:
Asbury in Mission‘s Barrels of Love were today’s featured story in the United Methodist News! Read the article, “Wheelchairs provide freedom for 50 Liberians,” at https://www.umnews.org/en/news/wheelchairs-provide-freedom-for-50-liberians.
Church Council is announcing an extension to the suspension of in-person worship services based upon the elevated level of cases of COVID-19 in Lehigh County. The decision included consultation with leadership at Lehigh Valley Health Network. Church Council will continue to evaluate this decision on a two-week basis.
JANUARY 14, 2021 UPDATE:
All teachers and staff have been signed up for! Thanks for your support!
ORIGINAL MESSAGE
Thanks in part to your tremendous response to the notes of encouragement for educators and staff at our partner school, Luis E. Ramos Elementary School, Asbury in Mission (AIM) is asking for Asbury members to help show our support for educators and staff at Parkway Manor Elementary.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Parkland elementary schools have been offering in-person and online classes with frequent shutdowns when a student tests positive. Teachers are really stressed attempting to teach this year—particularly those involved with younger ages and those teaching students with learning disabilities.
Sign up to write a personal, hand-written note of encouragement to one or two teachers or staff members!
Sign up now by adding your name to this Google Sheet. Please write a note to that person ASAP (due date is January 15)!
Put the teacher/staff member’s name on outside of the envelope, leave the envelope unsealed and place it in the container outside Asbury’s top entrance before January 15. • AIM will add a $5 gift card to Wawa and seal the envelope for delivery to Parkway Manor.
Not sure what to say? While you’re encouraged to make it your own, if you have writer’s block, here are a few phrases/ideas to help you get started:
• I want you to know that you are seen and you are valued. You may not be listed as essential workers. But you are essential.
• As a former teacher, I know all the work that goes into teaching under typical circumstances. Teaching during this coronavirus pandemic is so far from typical. It’s literally nothing school systems have ever done before.
• This isn’t what you signed up for, and yet you’re doing it anyway. You’re putting together distance learning plans. You’re adapting your teaching in the blink of an eye.
• I know you miss your students, the classroom community, and the culture you cultivated. I know how much your students mean to you—how they become “your kids” year after year—and how much you love seeing them light up when they learn something new.
• Even though it may not feel like it sometimes, you’re teaching. Right now your kids are learning social-emotional skills that no curriculum could account for.
• You’re the first teachers to tackle a challenge like the one we’re facing now. Years from now, 2020 will be remembered as the year we all learned how to live life at a distance from each other and continue to function as a society.
• Pause a moment and realize that what you’re doing matters. It matters not just for the students you have in your classes today, but also for the future. You’re part of large-scale systemic change and are making history.
• For now, it’s OK to cry together, too. (Or on your own.) If you’d all known that goodbye would be the last for the year, maybe you would have hugged a little longer or high-fived more often. It’s OK to grieve those hugs and high-fives.
• Teachers, parents can’t replace you. You are essential. Take care of yourself. Be well. Try your best. And thank you for being there.
• The #1 factor in the success of our children is having quality teachers who care about them! Thank you for being there!
• From the sidelines, know that our community is cheering you on as you make the very best of a challenging situation in the classroom this year. Thank you for all that you give to our children, families, and community! You’ve got this!
• During this time of much uncertainty, your passion for teaching and your creativity to make learning dynamic and fun for our children is nothing short of amazing! Keep doing what you love, and spread your light to everyone you work with! You are an inspiration to me!
• Thank you so very much for serving our community as a teacher! With much uncertainty ahead, know that you are deeply admired and appreciated for your work with our children. Thank you for all that you do! We believe in you.
• “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” – Proverbs 22:6
• “Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.” Deuteronomy 32:2
• “Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.”-Proverbs 4:13
• Sign your note with your name “and your friends at Asbury Church”
| Christmas 2020 |
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Missed last night’s “Quiet Christmas” worship service? Watch it now at asburylv.org/QuietChristmas!
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!…
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.”
– Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)
The words of the ancient prophet echo to us in these challenging days, as the whole world waited in darkness for the birth of our Savior. Today, more than ever, we cling to the promise that God has, is, and will do a “new thing” as Jesus comes onto the scene. Though we may be feeling broken and weary of the pandemic, we continue to trust that God is at work bringing peace, light, and hope!
As we hang on to that amazing hope, we communicate the following difficult decisions, which were made after much deliberation at the December 2 Church Council meeting:
• All in-person worship services are suspended effective December 6 and continuing through January 31. This suspension includes in-person Christmas Eve worship.
• Asbury’s preschool will begin an early Christmas break on December 18.
• The building will still be available for streaming worship preparation and recording. The online-only service will continue to be streamed at 10:30 AM.
• The scheduled final Bazaar pickup on December 12 remains on as planned.
• Our commitment to provide a meeting spot for Alcoholics Anonymous remains, and they will continue to meet on-site with additional precautions.
These decisions were not made lightly and included consultation with a leader in a local healthcare system. Additionally, our Bishop, Rev. Peggy Johnson, has encouraged all churches in the Conference to hold online services rather than in-person services.
Please be encouraged that these are temporary measures, taken for everyone’s safety and physical well-being. During this suspension period, Church Council has committed to regularly review the COVID-19 infection trends and will reevaluate when to safely resume in-person worship.
We still have some great events coming up as we prepare to celebrate the coming of our Savior and King! Watch for more information to be announced about:
• A no-contact outdoor “Drive-thru Nativity” being planned for Saturday, December 19.
• A streaming Christmas Eve service, which will be announced this Sunday in worship and in communications to follow.
The Asbury leadership asks for your continued prayers for wisdom and for suggestions for how we can continue to stay connected and support one another through this difficult time. We are all looking forward with great hope to the time when we can gather in person again.
Dear Asbury Friends,
If you are gathering with family and friends OR traveling to visit family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday, church leadership is requesting that you please refrain from attending in-person worship services for two weeks (14 days). In light of the increased COVID-19 infection rates locally and around the country, the church leadership recently met to consider how to move forward. At this time, we would like to continue to offer in-person worship services, but we are depending on our members to cooperate strictly with instructions and protocols to prevent infection. To that end, in keeping with recent PA state recommendations, we are asking that anyone traveling or visiting with family or friends outside of their immediate household, would refrain from attending in-person worship for two weeks. Also, please listen carefully and comply with the ushers’ instructions while at the service. Your safety and well-being is our top priority, and together we hope to be able to continue with our in-person worship experience. If you have any concerns for your health and safety, please consider worshiping with us online from home. Leadership will continue to monitor the risks the in-person gatherings pose in our effort to keep all our members safe and well.
Asbury’s Leadership
A note from Wendy Arbushites, coordinator of the Sleeping Mat Ministry.
The Sleeping Mat Ministry team would like to thank everyone for their donations of clean, used plastic grocery bags! An extra thank you to the people who flatten out their bags, to the people who sort theirs by color, and the people who do the folding as per the slideshow! These steps all save us time, so thank you to those of you who take those extra steps for us.
Since early March, we have created 22 sleeping mats for the homeless in the Lehigh Valley. With winter coming, we could use more help to create mats. We would love all of our neighbors in need to have a sleeping mat for the winter.
Each mat takes an estimated 500-700 grocery bags (an average trash bag stuffed tightly full), so it takes a lot of time to make a single sleeping mat. Every bag must be flattened out, folded, cut, strung together and crocheted. Carrying straps and ties must be created, then the mat must be measured, rolled, tied, and given a strap. None of the steps are difficult, but they do take time. Some team members specialize in one or more areas; others do it all.
We would like to clarify what we need to produce sleeping mats.
If you can follow these guidelines, you will help us to cut down on sorting time and on trash disposal. We appreciate you helping this ministry to care for our neighbors!
If you think you might be interested in helping, please contact Wendy Arbushites, coordinator.
Making a sleeping mat slideshow link:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XfdRqCAWgxHmDQVPKQ6luB1JATtKuRApEaNLoJVbHrc/edit#slide=id.p
Recently completed sleeping mats.
Our July delivery to the Lehigh Valley Health Network.
As part of his journey to becoming an Eagle Scout, Asbury member Matt Barraco has completed a bridge between the parking lot and playground.
View the letter of thanks from Asbury’s Trustees to Matt.
Asbury’s Church Council held a webinar on Sunday, August 30, to share updates on Asbury, including information on an in-person worship service beginning on Sunday, September 13 (registration details TBA), preschool reopening, and direction for small groups going into the fall. The replay of this webinar can be viewed below; and a link to the slide presentation as a PDF follows.
A project is underway to replace the bridge connecting the parking lot to the playground. Matt Barraco, an Asbury member, will be completing the project as he works towards the rank of Eagle Scout. If you would like to learn more about the project, including how you can provide financial support, view Matt’s video at asburylv.org/footbridge. For specific project details, the project plan is available at asburylv.org/footbridgeplan.
A note from Pastor Eric
As many of you know, Stephanie Cramer accepted a position as co-pastor, along with her husband, at Grace-St. Paul United Methodist Church in Jim Thorpe, PA. Therefore, Stephanie resigned her position as part-time Director of Youth Ministry at Asbury. I hope you join me in praying for Stephanie and her family during this transition.
Although we will miss Stephanie’s leadership with our youth, I am excited to announce that Pam Unrath will now take on a new role as the Director of Children/Youth ministry at Asbury. Pam has done a tremendous job in leading Asbury’s children’s ministry over the past 7 years and she is excited for this new opportunity to lead Asbury’s youth as well.
Since Pam will be the director of both children and youth ministry she will need more volunteers to work with our youth and children. In the coming weeks, Pam and Pastor Barbara will be evaluating both the youth and children’s programs and determining where help will be needed. If you are the parent of Asbury youth, please pray where you could assist.
Asbury’s Church Council held a webinar on Sunday, June 7, to share updates on Asbury, including the steps Asbury will take as Lehigh County moves into the “yellow” phase of reopening. The replay of this webinar can be viewed below; and a link to the slide presentation as a PDF follows.
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Church Council will be hosting a meeting via Zoom on Sunday, June 7, at 11:30 AM to share updates on Asbury. Registration for this meeting is REQUIRED. Register below to receive meeting access details via email.
UPDATED June 7, 2020 – Registration for this event is now closed.
