Ayden United Methodist Church

Ayden UMC will celebrate communion during a special service at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 24. In addition to communion, the service will include special music and scripture readings. All are welcome to this special gathering in honor of Jesus’ birth.

For more information, contact the church office at 252-746-6524, ext. 1.

The November-December 2013 issue of the AUMC newsletter is here! To view a PDF of the newsletter, click here.

To sign up for an electronic copy of the newsletter, send an e-mail to events@aydenumc.org or use the sign up link in the top right corner of the page.

Once again, it is time for the members of Ayden UMC to start filling boxes for Operation Christmas Child. We will have a special dedication of the boxes on Sunday, Nov. 24 during the 11 a.m. service, so all boxes should be dropped off in the sanctuary before then.

As always, our hope is for “one more that last year!” and our goal in 2013 is 106 boxes. We have GO boxes again this year, which can be picked up in the Hall of History. These boxes are easy to assemble and do not need to be wrapped.

Boxes can be filled with toys, school supplies, hygiene items, hard candy, gum, etc. For more information on how to pack your box, pick up a brochure in the Hall of History or in the Stroud Building.

Each box should also include a $7 donation to cover shipping costs. The $7 can be placed in the box or paid online (see the informational brochure for more details).

AUMC has participated in this ministry for 15 years and to date has sent 957 boxes filled with hopes and prayers that each finds their way to the child who needs them most.

Questions? Contact Donna Harris at 746-2297 or Camilla Godwin at 746-6979.

Do we worship idols? The answer may surprise you.

During the month of November, our church will hear about God’s generosity and our response as we experience our stewardship program, first: putting GOD first in living and giving, developed by author and pastor Mike Slaughter of Ginghamsburg Church. There will be opportunities in worship and in a large group Sunday School program.

We are planning now for the number of participants in the large group Sunday School gathering. If you or your Sunday School class would like to participate, please sign up in the Narthex.

We are made in God’s image and are meant to be creators of life and hope, not the consumers of our culture’s shiny gods. We have the ability to change the world and create a legacy that will live forever in the lives of generations to follow. That legacy starts when each of us takes the hard steps of financial discipline and fulfilling the call to generosity that God has placed in all of us.

The goal of this stewardship program is not to make you feel guilty, nor is it to say that you have to be exactly like this or that person. The goal is for all of us to ask questions of ourselves and be open to the possibility that God will lead us in new directions in our lives.

During the four-week program, we’ll be challenged in a number of different ways. We’ll be asked to look for the idols in our own lives (hint: most of them aren’t animals made of gold) and name the ways these idols enslave us, holding us back from living in the true freedom that God desires for us.

We’ll be challenged to consider the place that money, work and debt have in our own lives. What are our common understandings of these and might the witness of Scripture lead us to some different understandings?

We’ll be challenged to ask ourselves what it means for us to be faithful, to save and to give. How do we balance all the competing interests in our lives? What priorities does God want us to have?

Finally, we’ll be challenged to give with our hearts, not out of obligation or a sense of duty and not just when we think the recipient deserves our gift. Instead, we’ll be challenged to give the way God gives—freely, fully, with no favorites or expectations of repayment.

It is our prayer that, at the end of these four weeks, we will have begun to grow into the individuals and the church that God knows we can be. Please join us in first: putting GOD first in living and giving.