Breckenr idge UMC & Fai rmount UMC Vol . 4 , Issue 7

B r e c k e n r i d g e U n i t e d M e t h o d i s t C h u r c h 9 1 0 M a i n S t r e e t B r e c k e n r i d g e , M N 5 6 5 2 0 ( 2 1 8 ) 6 4 3 - 5 1 5 8 — ( 2 1 8 ) 6 4 3 - 3 1 2 8 E - m a i l : b r e c k u m c @ g m a i l . c o m

F a i r m o u n t U n i t e d M e t h o d i s t C h u r c h P O B O X 1 0 8 F a i r m o u n t N D 5 8 0 3 0 ( 7 0 1 ) 4 7 4 - 5 7 1 6 P a s t o r ’ s c e l l ( 6 0 5 ) 3 5 9 - 9 4 8 0

February 2017

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Pastor’s Page 2

Fairmount UMC 3

Breckenridge UMC 4

Breckenridge UMW 5

Breckenridge – Team News & Youth

6 & 7

Pray for the World 8

The Informer

B R E C K E N R I D G E & F A I R M O U N T

The Cross and Flame is a regis-tered trademark and the use is supervised by the General Council on Finance and Administration of The United Methodist Church. Permission to use the Cross and Flame must be obtained from the General Council on Finance and Administration of The United Methodist Church: Legal Depart-ment, GCFA, Post Office Box 340029, Nashville, TN 37203-0029 Phone: 615-369-2334 Fax: 866-246-2516

Special Points of Interest

Financial Info page 6

Meals on Wheels page 6

Youth Subs for Food Pantry—page 7

Pray for the World— back page

LENTEN STUDY

We will be offering a new program here at the Breckenridge church entitled, “Wednesday Alive” beginning on March 8th.

The meal will be served from 6:00—6:30 p.m. (Free-will offering) and classes for children, youth and adults will run from 6:40—7:45 p.m.

Please call the office (643-5158) if you are interest-ed in this study so we can have enough books available.

FIVE MARKS OF A METHODIST

- class schedule (Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m.) February 1 - No Class this evening

February 8 - 3rd Mark: Gives Thanks

February 15 - 4th Mark: Prays Constantly

February 22 - 5th Mark: Loves Others

Sermon Series For February

February 5 Salt and Light and Righteousness Abounding

February 12 This, Not That

February 19 And Now for Your Reward

February 26 Shine!

Page 2

From the Pastor’s Perspective —Mark Gronseth

Vol . 4 , Issue 7

From the Pastor’s Desk – February 2017

Do you have dreams for your life? Do you find yourself wondering where am I going in this life? Perhaps you are finding that what you thought was important in life is no longer that important. As Christians, we at times find ourselves thinking back to prior times, thinking about how great it was then. Maybe we should instead take a page out of the playbook of God and see how we can find ways to make our dream(s) become a reality. That possibility could become a reality for each one of us, if we have the right tools and inspiration to dream big. What I’m saying is that churches in general are struggling for direction and guidance. I want to challenge you to join with me in a new journey of faith. It will mean change-it will mean stepping out of the comfort zone that we like to stay in. What I’m talking about is two –pronged. One for the Breckenridge congregation and the other for the Fairmount congregation. Here‘s what is happening – I pray that you will jump on board too! For too long, the Sunday morning Sunday School has been dwindling in numbers. It is a reality that for many families the weekend means out of town trips to attend a sporting event or some other activity related to their children. As many of us know, if you continue to do the same thing year after year, you can’t expect new results. In response we have decided to try a new Christian Education model for our churches. In Breckenridge we are starting a mid-week pro-gram called, “Wednesday Alive”. This will be an opportunity for all ages to fellowship and learn together. The first six week session will begin March 8

th at 6:00 p.m. with a meal followed by a

study on the book by pastor Mike Slaughter entitled, “Dare to Dream”. At Fairmount, we have put in place a Sunday Evening Fellowship for youth and adults. The children gather in the lower level of the church for a fun time of learning meanwhile the adults have begun a study of the Gospel of John. After the 5:00 p.m. education time, we gather in the Fellowship Hall for a meal and a wonderful time of fellowship. The evening is concluded by 6:45 p.m. In both locations, we are seeking to make Jesus real to as many persons as possible. If you know of someone whose is looking for fellowship, fun and food, please extend an invitation to them.

Pastor Mark

The Informer Page 3

Prayer Concerns

Fairmount UMC Congregation: Carol Nelson, Eleanor Hardie, Jerry & Karen Knoell & Marcy (Marianne Van Oort’s brother-in-law and sister-in-law); Janice Poverud (cancer); Donna Miller (recovering from back surgery); Greg Kiele (Tim Campbell’s brother-in-law); Stephen Campbell, Lorraine Stiles.

Nursing Home/Assisted Living: No one at this time.

(… and Jesus also said to pray for our enemies.)

Fairmount umc news

Worship Time

Sunday Worship at 9 a.m.

February 5 Becky Wik 6 Brittany Kaehler 7 Troy Rydell 8 Al Braun

11 Rhianna Kurtz 15 Marcia Krause 25 Roger Nelson denotes Wedding Anniver-

sary

Every Tuesday,

at 11:30 a.m.

Breckenridge UMC

Strength and Conditioning class at Breckenridge UMC. This class will be di-rected by Bruce Amundson, Physical Ther-apist at Sanford Clinic in Wahpeton. Open to any age. Class will be 1 hour in length Wednesday mornings. Bruce plans to make the class fun and it can keep you in shape! Contact Pastor Mark if you are in-terested.

FAIRMOUNT NEWS

A new ministry has begun at Fairmount UMC and it is happening on Sunday evenings from 5:00 to 6:45 p.m. We begin our evening with a Bible Study (currently studying the Gospel of John) and Sunday School for the chil-dren followed by a community meal. This is open to all ages and you are invited to come and join us!!

PRAYER CONCERNS THIS WEEK

Breckenridge UMC Congregation: Rita Bengtson; Jean Char-trand; Pam Facey; Renee Gilberg, Barb Hietkamp; Denise Ma-lingen; Betty Osborn; Mary Lou Schimmel, Don Taylor, Jack Thompson.

Our Friends: Carter Casey (BHS high school student, cancer); Delores Dohman (moved to St. Francis Home); Susan Fritsche

(Sandy Klindt’s twin sister); Hannah Henry (Curt & Darlene Anderson’s great-niece); Dean La-Jesse (healing from broken neck); Roger Johnson; Etta Maack (Joel’s mother); Gayle Olson (Sharon Olson’s sister-in-law; cancer); Larry Ott (Janel’s uncle, cancer); Mary Lou Schimmel’s father; Vicki Steinwand (Hulda’s daughter-in-law).

Our Members receiving care: at St. Francis Home—Delores Dohman, Betty Osborn; at Twin Town Villa - Darlene Church.; at Veterans’ Home in Fergus Falls—Lyle Stanbra.

NOTE: Please contact the Church Office or Pastor to inform them of all emergencies, hos-pitalizations, illnesses, births or special prayer requests of any kind. Thank you.

February 1 Logan Bruce 11 Gary Burhans 11 Laurie Hanson 11 Carly Beyer 14 Marie Prochnow 15 Betti Reuther 17 Eileen Boelke 20 Bob Ruediger 22 Dean/Kim Jirak* 23 Tommy Hiedeman 24 Corey Kratcha 26 James/Richelle Barvels* *denotes Wedding Anniversary

OUR SYMPATHIES to the Family of Jordan Malingen up-on his death, Wednesday, Jan-uary 4, 2017. His funeral was held on Tuesday, January 10 at the Breckenridge United Meth-odist Church with Pastor Mark Gronseth officiating.

“Our Daily Bread” a daily de-votional help from Our Daily Bread in Grand Rapids, MI is available at both Fairmount and Breckenridge churches. The devotional come’s in a 3 month format and is an additional source for your daily study.

Page 4

Breckenridge Prayers, Concerns, Celebrations

Vol . 4 , Issue 7

The Informer

NO FEBRUARY MEETING. . . Breckenridge United Methodist Women will NOT meet this month. Please contact Sharon Olson, president, in regard to any business which must be taken care of before the March 1st meeting.

Page 5

BRECKENRIDGE - U .M.W. NEWS FOR ALL ! - Lola Patnoude, publ ic ity

ELECTED LEADERSHIP... Pastor Mark Gronseth installed the UMW officers, committees & coordinators during the worship ser-vice on January 8. They are: Sharon Olson, presi-dent; Lola Patnoude, vice president; Phyllis Hiedeman, secretary; Artis Martinson, treasurer; Mary Boldingh & Linda Thulen, nominations; Janice Johnson & Nancy Hoogland, membership, nurture, & outreach; Rose Ella Matejcek, memorials & flow-ers; Lola Patnoude, publicity; Hulda Steinwand, his-torian; and Carlene Thimjon & Linda Thulen, events coordinators (receptions, showers, anniversaries, meals, other).

VISITATION… Lois Ruediger and Annabel Petersen will visit shut-in’s and deliver magazines this month (the Mar-Apr issue of large-print Upper Room & the Mar-May is-sue of Mature Years). A list of those to visit and/or those wishing to receive the magazines is in the church office. THANK YOU, Lois & Annabel!

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER … Breckenridge United Methodist Church will be among several local churches participating in the Wahpeton-Breckenridge observance set for Friday, March 3 at Bethel Lutheran Church in Wahpeton. A planning meeting was held Janu-ary 27.

World Day of Prayer is a worldwide ecumenical movement of Christian women of many tradi-tions who come together to observe a common day of prayer and action each year on the first Friday in March.

COOKBOOKS… A few “A Taste of Tradition” cookbooks remain and prices have been reduced. Please keep them in mind whenever a gift is needed! They contain a variety of recipes from present and past members/friends of the church.

These cookbooks were the first project cele-brating our church’s quasquicentennial (125 year anniversary) in 2012. They are a UMW project.

BULLETIN BOARD NEWS… Special Mission Recognition—The complete up-dated list of honorees, 1965—2016, will be posted on the Fellowship Hall bulletin board this month (pink paper).

Church Officers for 2017—A complete list of everyone submitted by the Nominations Team (also on pink paper) is also on the Fellowship Hall bulletin board.

Note—If you have items for the board, please submit them to Ricki or Lola. (Exception: Pray-er Shawl thank you’s.) THANKS.

R e c o r d o f S e r v i n g U P D A T E

As of January 30, Group ONE (Mary Boldingh, Pamela Facey, Phyllis Hiedeman, Corinne Ji-rak, and Lola Patnoude) is responsible for serv-ing the next function.

Group TWO & others served after Jordan Ma-lingen’s funeral on January 10. THANK YOU to Artis Martinson, Rose Ella Matejcek, Hulda Steinwand, Mary Boldingh, Pat Fuchs, Janice Johnson, Lois Ruediger, Wendy Ruediger, Jeanne Osborn, Terry Boldingh & Gordon Mar-tinson.

Page 6

B r e c ke n r i dg e u m c —

Vol . 4 , Issue 7

Income thru Jan. 30, 2017 Beginning balance $ 11,859.20 Income to date $ 4,532.15 Donations to date $ 10,376.25 Journal Entry $ 00.00 Transfers to Savings -$ 975.00 Transfers from Savings $ 0.00 Expenses through January 30 -$ 14,348.35 Cash Balance, 01/30/17 $ 11,444.25 Weekly Giving & Attendance for January

Attendance Offering Jan. 1 37 $ 1,286.00 Jan. 8 60 $ 7,193.13 Jan. 15 51 $ 2,399.37 Jan. 22 70 $ 1,981.90 Jan. 29 58 $ 823.00

2016 Final Balances Income thru Dec 31, 2016 Beginning balance $ 22,283.91 Income to date $ 30,088.82 Donations to date $ 114,116.20 Journal Entry $ 00.00 Transfers to Savings -$ 13,529.60 Transfers from Savings $ 51,369.35 Expenses through Dec. 31 -$ 192,469.48 Cash Balance, 12/31/16 $ 11,859.20

F I N A N C E T E A M :

Year to date:

General Fund Income 2017 $12,069.37

General Fund Expenses 2017 -$12,599.34

$ (529.97)

The 2017 Budget is not balanced yet but will be revisited in March.

DONATIONS FOR 2016:

Food Pantry 1213 items = 1164 pounds & $23.96 Haiti = $50 Ruby’s Pantry = $61

Backpack = $3525 End Hunger = $78.12

Salvation Army = $139

Compassion Int’l = $419

TRUST FUND: The UMC Trust Fund Team met in late December and dedicated $2000.00 of 2015 earnings to the 2017 Christian Service commitment. The feeling of the team is that this will be a “Good Faith” - “Pay It Forward” gift.

We have wonderful volun-teers that delivered Meals on Wheels the week of January 2 –6. [Amy

Church & Nate Green; Ron & Carlene Thimjon; Kent & Annette Loken; Janel Sayler, Paul & Linda Thulen].

At our "Charge Confer-ence" it was decided that our congregation would continuously contribute to the Richland-Wilkin food shelf. We need your help. Please bring food

items as often as possible. There is a list of "most needed" items enclosed. A contain-er is located at the back of the Sanctuary for you to place your items. Lois Ruediger will co-ordinate the delivery of the food. Thank you.

- Ron Thimjon

Feb. 5, 2017 —Sponsored by Rita Bengtson in honor of all family. Feb. 19, 2017—Sponsored by .

The Informer Page 7

SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS FOR EVERYONE & ALL AGES!!!

We are finishing up our studying on Making Good Choices with the story of Jonah and the whale. There will be no Sunday School on February 19th because of President's Day.

Wednesdays Alive will be beginning on March 8th. Please be on the lookout for a survey coming out to all families about your child's attendance.

VBS will be with Evergreen again this year. Our theme will be Maker Fun Factory. We are planning for the week of July 24-27th.

Please contact Sarah Kratcha at 640-3738 or sarah.kratcha@hotmail.com or Ricki Barvels at 643-5158 if you have any questions. Thanks in advance!!

Sarah Kratcha, SS Coordinator

Breckenridge YOUTH NEWS - Here’s the schedule for February:

Date Food provided by: Activity:

02/01/17 XXXXXXX No Meeting

02/04/17 Make Subs at 1 pm at the church, deliver on Sunday Feb 5

Friends: if you did or did not purchase a Sub we will have a Soup Bowl at the door after church for monetary donations to the Food Pantry—any amount or any spare change would be great!!

02/08/17 Stacee Manock Make Valentine cookies

02/15/17 Carly Beyer Freedom Ride Bible Study

02/22/17 Joanna Etzler Ash Wednesday Planning

Breckenridge UMC has

partnered with Planet Green

Recycle to run an E-Waste

Recycling Fundraiser! This fundraiser is a great opportunity for us to raise funds and at the

same time help the environment.

How can YOU help?

To help support us, bring in any of the items listed below to the church. There is a small, blue plastic tub in the entry way marked for your donations.

Items to bring in: inkjet cartridges, cell phones & pagers, iPads/Tablets/eBook Read-ers, iPods, MP3 Players, calculators

A Social Club for adults

offering peer support, activities, and FUN!

Don’t suffer alone! AP4F is there for you

in times of isolation, depression, or other

symptoms of mental illness.

For more information and a schedule of activities, contact AP4F:

ap4f@hotmail.com or call (218) 517-0623

Available to residents of Wilkin County

A Place For Friends

United Methodist Church 910 Main Street Breckenridge , MN 56520

The Informer February 2017 Volume 4 Issue 7

Phone: 218-643-5158 or 218-643-3128 Pastor’s E-mail: markgronseth@gmail.com E-mail: breckumc@gmail.com

Check out our Website!! Breckumc.org

Office hours: Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 12 noon 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of this congregation is to pro-claim the love of God and to unite into a faith relationship with Jesus Christ, glorifying God by reaching out to peo-ple, both physically and spiritually, to develop a Community of Believ-ers, reaching out to all with Christian spiritual nurture. - Adopted 1988

PRAYER FOR THE WORLD—Somalia

Pop: 9.4 million Capital: Mogadishu (1.5 mill0, Somaliland: Hargeisa (324,000), Puntland: Garoowe.

Christians: 31,000. Evangelical Christians 4,300.

Largest Religion: Muslim Fastest Growing Religion: Muslim

Largest Ethnic Groups: Northern Somali (74.45, with 4 major clan fami-lies), Southern Somali (20.4%, of 1 major clan).

Official Language: Somali, Arabic (though few speak it).

All Languages 15.

Economy: Two-thirds of Somalis herd livestock, but face problems of over-grazing and land becoming a desert. Some agriculture in south and north-west. The already weak economy was devastated by the ruin of civil wars. Most of the population depend on aid and remittances from relatives abroad.

Politics: United as a single country in 1960 after independence from Britain (north) and Italy (south). War with Ethiopia and conflicts between warlords brought down the country. No viable government from 1991 until 2012. Somaliland (northwest) declared independence in 1991, but remains unrecognized. Puntland (northeast) set up its own government in 1998. Parliament and elected president installed in 2012.

Africa’s most failed state may finally experience some stability. So-malia now ahs a parliament and recognized national leaders after 20 years without an effective central government. The militant Islamist group Al-Shabab (linked to Al-Qaeda) no longer controls the south, and the chaos appears less now. Pray that Somalia’s rulers might learn from the past, govern for the good of the people, and respect human rights and religious freedom.

The economic, social, and physical health of the nation is in terrible state after years of war and neglect. Around 500,000 people died from famines (1992, 2010-2012), and as many more from violence. Decades of chaos provided a cover for smugglers, bandits, pirates, and terrorists. The dangerous environment and strict enforcement of Islam prevent most aid work. Pray for protection and effective ministry for aid work-ers, many of whom are Christian. Most Somali women suffer female genital mutilation. Many endure rape, then divorce and abandonment by their husbands. Traffickers smuggle children out of Somalia and ex-ploit or abandon them. Somalia has the lowest health budget of any nation and the highest infant mortality rate. Ask God to show mercy to the peoples of Somalia.

Somaliland and Puntland. These 2 safer and more stable regions could help restore the south. Almost no Christians live in these northern regions. Pray that the peace in the north may move southward, and that peace will create open doors for the gospel!

Praise God for the Somali Church that grows amidst great tribulation. Missions work from 1897 to 1974 resulted in several hundred followers of Christ. The Somali Church went underground from 1991. Many be-lievers fled the country. More and more Somali Christians die as mar-tyrs, but the Somali Church refuses to disappear! Possibly 4,000 Chris-tians live in Somalia, who meet in secret, but others follow Jesus alone. Pray for perseverance, for protection, for discipleship, and fellowship.