CONTENTS
Church Community News
1. God in the Movies
2. Position Opening for Pastor of Children and Youth
Getting Connected: Opportunities to Live, Learn, and Grow With Cedar Ridge
3. Barn Friday Night
4. Welcome Lunch
5. Perspectives on Sexual Orientation
6. Prayer Practice
7. The Journey
8. Third Annual Kickball Tournament and Potluck Lunch
Getting Involved: Meeting Needs In Our Church, Community, and World
9. What’s New on the Farm
10. Getting Involved in Children’s Ministry
11. Cedar Ridge Workdays
12. Serving Our Neighbors
13. Support Guatemalan Students – Send a Book!
PostScript
-
Contact Information
CHURCH COMMUNITY NEWS
1. God in the Movies
This month we begin an annual five week series called "God in the Movies". Each week we examine a film and look at spiritual themes and ways in which God can speak to us through this art form. This is a great opportunity to get together with your small group or friends to watch one or more of the movies and to discuss their impact on us. See the list of movies below:
- June 6: The Blind Side
- June 13: The Soloist
- June 20: Screenwriting
- June 27: Avatar
- July 4: John Adams: Miniseries
2. Position Opening for Pastor of Children and Youth
At the end of June Leigh-Ellen Curl, who has served as coordinator of children’s ministry on a part-time basis for the past three years, will be stepping down from her staff role. Thank you Leigh-Ellen for all you have done! After prayerful discussion among our leadership, we have decided to hire a new full-time Pastor to lead Children's Ministry as well as oversee Middle School and High School. Please see our website for details of the role description and application process. Let’s all especially pray for this process, for the right person to fill the role and for the younger people in our community. Please contact Matthew Dyer for further details.
GETTING CONNECTED: OPPORTUNITIES TO LIVE, LEARN, AND GROW WITH CEDAR RIDGE
3. Barn Friday Night
All students 8th grade and above are invited to come to the Barn at Cedar Ridge on Friday, June 4, 7 to 10PM. Enjoy some music, a bonfire, and bring a few bucks for the snacks that will be for sale. As always, feel free to bring along a friend. For information please contact Steve Mather.
4. Welcome Lunch
If you recently began attending Cedar Ridge, you are invited to the Welcome Luncheon on Sunday, June 6, at 12:30PM in Room 202 for a brief introduction to Cedar Ridge and Q&A. For more information, contact Matthew Dyer.
5. Perspectives on Sexual Orientation
Come and join us on Monday, June 7, from 7 to 9PM in the auditorium for an evening of listening to a panel of people sharing their stories representing a variety of experiences and perspectives related to homosexuality. This is not designed for debate or challenging others, but rather an opportunity for listening to and learning from one another in an atmosphere of love and acceptance. There will be time for discussion and Q&A with the panel members. Everyone is welcome.
6. Prayer Practice
Each third Thursday evening a small group gathers together to explore ways that help heighten our awareness of the presence of God and embrace deeper peace to carry into our daily lives. Through times of discussion, silence, guided meditation and deep breathing we center our minds, hearts and bodies on the still, small voice of the Divine within. Thursday, June 17, from 7 to 9PM is the next prayer practice in the 1st floor of the barn. All are welcome; no registration or prior experience required. No food or childcare. Contact Patsy Fratanduono for more information.
7. The Journey
We are offering an opportunity to attend a Journey seminar for anyone who is interested in becoming a member of Cedar Ridge. This three hour group time is a chance to get to know the pastors and discuss our vision and values together while considering a more serious commitment to following Jesus at Cedar Ridge. This abbreviated Journey seminar is Saturday, June 26, 9:30AM-12:30PM. RSVP required by June 20. No childcare provided. Contact Patsy Fratanduono to register or for more information.
8. Third Annual Cedar Ridge Kickball Tournament and Potluck Lunch
Children, teenagers, grown-ups - it's time! Gather your team. Run your conditioning drills. Study the game film. It's all for the glory of winning the Third Annual Cedar Ridge Kickball Tournament. Past teams have included Furious Monkeys, Green Farmers and Kick the Bucket. Which team will be crowned champions this time? What team will you join?
We'll gather on Sunday, June 27 for a leisurely potluck lunch at 12:30PM and begin the tournament at 1PM. Teams are required to have 10-15 players per team, with at least two players under the age of 12. We hope everyone will participate either as a player or a spectator during this fun opportunity for our whole community to enjoy an afternoon together. Sign up any Sunday in June at the table near the entrance or email Steve Mather by June 20.
GETTING INVOLVED: MEETING NEEDS IN OUR CHURCH, COMMUNITY, AND WORLD
9. What’s New on the Farm
Sunday, June 6, from 12:30-2:30PM, you are invited to the church-wide Farm Orientation; we will make it clear and simple for everyone to get involved on the farm. We will tour the farm, the farm shed, go over equipment, tools and share our distribution recipients plus enjoy lunch together outside on the farm if weather permits. It will be a fun day to visit the farm and build your confidence on how to be a farmer.
So much wonderful produce is planted on the farm!! We have already harvested more than 100 quarts of strawberries and still have a few more weeks to harvest them! Radishes and spinach have also been harvested for distribution. Our summer crops are a nice variety: tomatoes, zucchini, squash, snow peas, beans, cabbage, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumbers, peppers, onions, potatoes, carrots, asparagus, lettuce... all too small right now but will need harvesting soon enough.
Save an extra trip to the Cedar Ridge property and join us on Sundays for an hour after second service starting on June 13 when we will work together on the farm. Meet new people, learn farming skills by farm leaders, spend time in community and have more fun! Or host a farm party where you and a friend can share the time and date you plan to be at the farm. The first farm party will be starting during the day on a Wednesday in June; time to be announced; check our farm webpage often.
10. Getting Involved in Children’s Ministry
This summer children in preschool and elementary school will go through some interesting, fun and hands-on series Sunday mornings. It’s a great time for members of the church community to get involved in the spiritual development of the children in our community. These are some of the ways you, your family, and your discipleship group can consider getting involved.
How individuals can get involved:
- Sign up to help on occasional dates over the summer, as your schedule allows. You can sign up for the dates, service times, and age group you choose. On those days when you signed up to take part, you’ll assist one of our leaders with their group of children. This is a simple and easy step you can take to support our children as they grow and learn this summer. There are dates throughout the summer when we are in need of assistants.
- Become a leader in Children’s Ministry this summer. Leaders work with groups of children twice or more each month during one of the services, and invest themselves in building relationships with the children in their groups. Leaders guide their groups through hands-on, age appropriate activities on Sunday mornings. Our current leaders may or may not be parents, and many work in fields unrelated to children such as architecture, engineering, health care, and business. All our leaders are interested in spending regular and dedicated time with children, and getting to know the children in their groups well. This summer we are in need of leaders for our preschool groups and nursery throughout the summer, and for elementary groups in July and August.
Get involved as a family:
Serving with your spouse or children is rewarding, and gives you a chance to see each other in new and fun settings.
- Serving with your children: In order to be a regular leader in Children’s Ministry, a child must be at least 13 years old – but children of any age can serve alongside their parents. Some of the kids in our community are naturals when it comes to taking care of younger children, and they sincerely enjoy it. If this is true of your child, consider picking some times and dates this summer when you and your children can help out with a preschool or nursery group. You’ll enjoy serving together, and seeing some of your child’s natural strengths in action.
- Partnering with your spouse or significant other to serve children can be a fun way to spend time together, to help your community, and to get to know some new people.
Getting involved as a discipleship group:
There are a number of different ways that a discipleship group can get involved with Children’s Ministry this summer.
- Individuals could decide on some dates and service times here and there when they are available, and sign up on the board in the commons (or contact Leigh-Ellen Curl) before June 27. After June 27, you'd want to contact Matthew Dyer.
- Another option is for a group to pick one Sunday when the whole group (or many group members) are available, and sign the whole group up for that Sunday. People could pick their preferred service, and Leigh-Ellen would tell people where to go and how they would assist our leaders. We have need for this kind of help on July 4, July 11, July 18 especially, and also some dates in the latter half of August. You can contact Leigh-Ellen Curl by June 27 if you'd like to do this, or Matthew Dyer after June 27. We can help your group pick a date where there is a greater need for assistants.
- A third option is for the discipleship group to consider "adopting" a specific group of kids for a period of time. You'd select the date range (a month, six weeks, or for the duration of a series for example) and determine which one or two members of your group were available which Sundays during that date range. Leigh-Ellen would work with your group to get connected with a leader who will regularly need assistance over the summer. Is one of the people in your discipleship group a leader in Children’s Ministry? Consider serving them by lending a hand over the summer. Each week one or two people from the group would show up to help out (by assisting the regular leader). We have the most need for this kind of help with our 2&3 year old group during the 11AM service, and (depending on the dates) with a few of our other preschool groups. Contact Leigh-Ellen Curl by June 27 if this interests you, and she can work with your discipleship group to help you get plugged in. After June 27, please contact Matthew Dyer.
11. Cedar Ridge Workdays
Workdays are held every other Saturday. The next ones are scheduled on June 12 and June 26. We start at 8AM and work until noon. Please contact Kirk Hoffman or just come by Saturday morning.
12. Serving Our Neighbors
Cedar Ridge has been working with St. Camillus, a multi-cultural church with a large Hispanic community near Langley Park. St. Camillus serves the surrounding community through a completely volunteer run food bank and provides weekly emergency food assistance to between 100-250 families in need, many coming from Guatemala. You can help! There are two big ways you can be involved:
- helping to transport food donations mid-week - (time involved - approx. 1-2 hrs. per transport) and
- working with families to apply for food stamps - some Spanish needed; guidance on how to do this is provided (time involved - 2 hrs).
If you are interested in learning more about these opportunities, please contact Beth Hood at 202-744-0148. If you would like to learn more about St. Camillus, click here.
13. Support Guatemalan Students - Send a Book!
This July a group of local teachers will visit schools in Ipala as part of a mentoring program to enhance English language skills for Guatemalan teachers and students. In order to support this program with very practical resources, Cedar Ridge will be sending familiar children's books in Spanish with English with accompanying audio CDs and CD players to help schools in Guatemala. Books, accessible for purchase by individuals wishing to participate in this effort, will be available at the table in the commons on Sundays in June. For more information on book purchases for the trip, contact Dayna Kranker. For general info on the teacher mentoring program contact Vernon Archer or visit the Global Engagement area on our website.
POSTSCRIPT
Contact Information
Cedar Ridge Community Church
2410 Spencerville Road, Spencerville, MD 20868
Phone: 301-384-7444