The Communicator ~ January 2022
Church Life
Ministry is about life in Christ which affects everything we do.
Sing and Ring in the New Year!
Membership Exploration Class
Please consider making a joyful noise. Anyone and everyone is
Interested in learning more about Sardis?
welcome to join! Contact Kaitlyn Davros with questions.
Come join us at our Membership Exploration
Sanctuary Choir ‐ January 6, 7:30 p.m. Alpha Ringers ‐ January 12, 10 a.m. Coventry Ringers ‐ January 12, 7:30 p.m. Childrenʹs Choir ‐ stay tuned for exciting information beginning in February
class on Sunday, January 9 at 10 a.m. in the Dining Room. Questions?
Contact
Katie
Harrington
(Katie.harrington@sardis.org). Hope to see you there!
Youth Bells and Choir ‐ January 9, 4:00 p.m. bells; 5:15 p.m. choir
January Friendship Connection Come learn everything you want to know about Reverend Allysen Schaaf, our new associate pastor, at the January 18, 11:00 a.m. meeting of the Friendship Connection. She will tell us all about herself, her family and her faith journey. There will be time for questions. Make lunch reservations by Thursday January 13 @ 5:00 p.m. Please no te the new deadline date and time.
Help Us Bring Joy to our Homebound Members Do you ever wonder what happens to the beautiful flowers that grace the front of our Sanctuary each Sunday? Are they simply discarded or do they live on? Thanks to a team of dedicated volunteers the flowers live on. Immediately after the church service, the arrangements are broken down into four bouquet vases and delivered by another team of volunteers to our homebound members. We are seeking volunteers to spend fifteen minutes or so after the church once a month to break down the arrangements. This is an opportunity to bring joy and smiles to the faces of Sardis members who are homebound or have ill health and unable to attend church. If you are interested, email sheiladuyck@gmail.com.
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The Communicator ~ January 2022
Ministry is about life in Christ which affects everything we do.
Church Life
Contemporary Worship Reimagining and Music Opportunities The new Reimagining Team will gather starting in January 2022 to help create a vision for our Contemporary Worship service at Sardis. This vision will influence our decisions moving forward about music, technology, leadership, space, creative Worship elements, and more. Email Rev. Allysen Schaaf (allysen.schaaf@sardis.org) if you are interested in being a part of this team. All ages are welcome. If you don’t want to serve on the revision team but would like to share your thoughts about our Contemporary worship service, please set up a time to talk with Allysen. Do you enjoy singing or playing an instrument? Starting in the new year we will be looking for more musi‐ cians and singers to help lead our music at the 9:00 a.m. contemporary service. Volunteers can lead regularly or only periodically depending on their availability. All ages are welcome. Do you have a friend in the community who might be interested in joining us to make a joyful noise to the Lord? Invite them! Please email Allysen for more
January Stewardship Update
Tim Alba
It’s January. Hard to believe a new year has started. Many people make New Year’s resolutions, others aren’t quite so formal but do think about goals or maybe how they want to do some things differently. I have been thinking about my plans for this new year, and these 3 words are still ringing in my mind: Reconnect, Reimagine and Reach. Turning the page on a calendar is such a simple task. Yet, it can be symbolic of a second chance, something that we always have available to us through the love and grace of Jesus Christ. For 2022, I am trying to challenge myself to Reconnect with our church community and reconnect with long‐time friends who have been impacted by the pandemic or feel distanced by the social divides that have ripped some families and relationships apart. I want to Reimagine how I can serve with and through our Sardis community, but also in my own neighborhood. That leads me to Reach; sometimes a smile is enough to reconnect and reimagine, but often a hand is required. For me, reaching means teaching Sunday School, volunteering for community service, taking meals to shut‐ins, calling the member, the friend, that I haven’t seen for the last year. It means sharing with my neighbors and friends the value that Sardis brings to my family’s lives. It means restocking our neighborhood food boxes so others can have a good meal. I need to make sure my stewardship pledge was received and work to exceed that commitment. Not just with dollars, but with actions. These are my goals for this year. In the words of one of our high school youth in 2022, I need to “pray with my feet moving.”
How will you Reconnect, Reimagine and Reach for 2022?
The Communicator ~ January 2022
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Church Life
Ministry is about life in Christ which affects everything we do.
Sardis Angel Tree THANK YOU! Thanks to everyone who helped us have a successful Angel Tree again this year. So many people helped to make this Christmas brighter for our Rama friends. We processed over 135 angels from 76 different families. We were able to provide gifts for all our angels and gift cards for 10 of our neediest families.
“What a great day it is when Sardis Presbyterian Church shows up. We are so blessed at Rama to have you as a partner. Your willingness to support us with both feet on the ground and support for staff and students. Planting Seeds of Hope is a blessing and the embodiment of how we as Christians can change the world ‐ one student, one teacher, one classroom at a time.” Sue Long Rama Road Teacher
Session Highlights can be found at www.sardis.org/publications.
Our Church Family Our Sympathy: to the family of Tom Reeder; to the family of Wayne Docherty; to the family of Jane Boland and to Martha Surles on the death of her mother, Marjorie Walker.
Congratulations: to Deirdre & Buster Cox on the birth of their grandsons Jace & Tate Cox. Parents are Erica & Joe Cox.
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The Communicator ~ January 2022
Missions Ministry
The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.
Good News—You Can Be a Homework Helper at Rama Road! After over a year of no homework helping, the program will start up again in January. Homework Helpers work with a Rama Road Elementary School 1st or 2nd grade student after school, helping them complete their homework and improve their literacy and reading skills. Do you have time to serve on either (or both) Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m.? If so, or if you’d like more information, contact Pam Stirling at auferngoldens@gmail.com or 703.727.5763. Thank you for considering helping with this important ministry!
Spring Essential Basket Drive Mission Ministry is sponsoring the Spring Essential Baskets Drive for Families Forward Charlotte during the month of February. Sardis has generously supported this drive for the past two years. Our goal is to provide 30 families with cleaning “essentials” in order for these families to focus on other priorities. Items, monetary donations and Walmart gift cards may be dropped off in the Gathering Place any Sunday during February (9:00‐ 12:00). Checks can be made payable to Sardis Presbyterian Church with Essential Baskets in the memo line. Online donations on the church website can be made as of February 1. Monetary donations can be mailed to the church or placed in the offering as well.
Spring Essential Basket Items (Walmart) Full Swiffer Kit Disinfectant Wipes (4pack) Dawn Dish Paper Towels (2 pack) Windex
Bleach
Toilet paper Rubber Cleaning Laundry Detergent Gloves Tabs Scrubbing Sponges Toilet Cleaning Brush and Holder Toilet Cleaner (2 pack)
Microfiber Cloths
Hand Sanitizer Kleenex (4 pack) Liquid Hand
Baking Soda
Trash Bags
Dryer sheets
Walmart Gift Card
The Communicator ~ January 2022
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Youth ministry
“…set an example for the believers…” 1 Timothy 4:12.
Recap of 2021 The youth of Sardis had a chock‐full fall. Here are some of the recaps: Program on hunger, hiking at Anne Close Springs Greenway, video scavenger hunt and Golden Globe movie night, shopping at Target for the Angel Tree, canned good scavenger hunt, Optimist Hall outing, youth‐led Advent service, and youth White Elephant Christmas parties. We look forward to learning and fellowshipping with the youth of this church in 2022!
Youth Group will start back up on January 9, 2022. Here is the proposed calendar for January: January 2, 2022 ‐ NO YOUTH January 9, 2022 ‐ TBD January 16, 2022 ‐ NO YOUTH January 23, 2022 ‐ TBD January 30, 2022 ‐ TBD
Opportunities for 2022 ‐ Montreat Info Middle school youth: keep your eyes peeled for information coming in January for the Montreat Middle School Conference. The Middle School Conference is designed for youth who have completed fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth grade by summer 2021, and for their group leaders. The daily schedule includes keynote, worship, recreation, singing, small groups, and many other activities. The conference will be held at Maryville College, a PC(USA) affiliated private college, located in Maryville, TN, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville. https://montreat.org/events/msc‐22
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The Communicator ~ January 2022
“Let the little children come unto me.”
VBS registration will open January 17! We can’t wait to see your children at VBS July 11‐15, 2022!
Preschool/Kindergarten · Room 206 1st ‐ 3rd Grade · In Room 205 or on Zoom 4th ‐ 5th Grade · In Room 207 or on Zoom The Zoom links are in Sarah Dianne’s emails and sent out via Remind text each week! Join our Remind by texting @38ee4f to 81010.
As we prepare to reopen the nursery, we need YOUR help to make that a success! Please contact Sarah Dianne Jones (sarahdianne.jones@sardis.org) if you’d like to be included in nursery volunteer communications!
Sardis Weekday School Update The Sardis Weekday School is gearing up for 2022‐2023 school year registration. We will continue to offer classes for ages 1‐5 years old. All students must be the age of the class they are registering for by August 31, 2022. Registration will open on January 19 for all current families and Sardis Presbyterian Church members. Registration will then open on January 26 for the general public. All of our school forms and information for the 2022‐2023 school year can be found on our school website: sardisweekdayschool.org. You can also email us for a virtual tour or if you have any questions about the program. The Communicator ~ January 2022
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The Communicator Published monthly by Sardis Presbyterian Church 6100 Sardis Road Charlotte, NC 28270 www.sardis.org
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The Communicator ~ January 2022