ADVENT STUDY:
All are welcome for a one-night devotion and study about Advent on Wednesday, December 11th from 6 to 8 p.m. Dinner (provided) fellowship, & devotions together as we prepare for Christ to be born! Childcare provided.
CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR GUIDESTONE’S KIDS:
Ohio Guidestone has asked Rockport to help bring a smile to a child this Christmas. In mid-December, Guidestone social workers shop for their clients from items donated by corporations and local churches. You can help by selecting a Gift Tag from the Christmas tree in the back of the sanctuary. Unwrapped gifts should be brought to church with the gift tag and placed under the tree any time before December 10th. If you would like someone to shop for you, just note on your check “Guidestone Christmas Shopping”. All donated gifts will be delivered to Guidestone in time for their shopping day and will end up in the hands of a deserving child. Thanks for your help. Questions: Diana Leitch, 440-749-5980.
CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR OUR STAFF:
Our Staff does such a wonderful job throughout the year. On Sunday, December 15th, we will be having a special collection to say “thank you” and “Merry Christmas” on behalf of Rockport Church. A special box will be placed in the back of the church. For those that attend on-line you can send your donation to the church office. Please designate on the payment Staff Appreciation. Thank you on behalf of the Staff Parish Relations Committee – Beverly Cavanah, Debbie Bryant, Dan Newman, Juanita Pariano, Dave Stephan. Lynn Wilkenson and Jim Leitch
We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 1:3
2025 PLEDGE UPDATE:
To date, we have received 44 pledges totaling $127,530. Thank you to those who have already pledged. Your financial commitment to Rockport is greatly appreciated. You may still mail in your pledge card, email, or call the church with your pledge, or fill out a pledge card available in the narthex. Thank you
COMPLIMENTARY DINNER & MOVIE EVENT –
Planning Meeting, after Church, Sunday Dec 15.
Dear Rockport Church, Thanks to the success of The Chosen, we are thrilled to announce plans for a Complimentary Dinner and Movie event to be held on one Saturday and one Monday in January, February, and March 2025.
We’re asking for your prayers, input, and support as we prepare for these events. If you’d like to get involved or share ideas, please join us for a meeting on Sunday, December 15th, immediately after church in [Room with the computer screen on the wall]. Everyone is welcome! We look forward to praying and working together to make these events a blessing for all.
DON’T FORGET YOUR PLEDGE!
As we approach the end of the year, don’t forget your commitment to Rockport. If you are unsure of where you are with your pledge, please call the church office. Please remember all money received goes toward operating budget, as well as, paying our apportionments!
Thank you, The Finance Committee
CHAT & CHEW! Lunch & Chat Adult Discussion Group!
Come and join us! Bring your lunch and enjoy your food AND a great discussion! We will explore various topics in the church and Bible. 12 to 2 p.m.!
Winter/Spring Dates:
December 16th - Christmas Chat
January & FEBRUARY - NO MEETING
March 17th - We will see you at noon!
April - NO MEETING (it is the day after Easter)
May 19th - We will see you at noon!
Summer Dates:
June - NO MEETING
July 21st - We will see you at noon!
August 18th - We will see you at noon!
BOTTLE CAPS!
The Youth Group are collecting bottle caps for a mission project. The plastic kind - for example, 2 liter and 16/20/24 oz bottles.
During these past weeks we have been asking you, the congregation, to collect bottle caps, and we are providing the boxes to collect them with to make it easier. (courtesy of Dave Stephan! THANK YOU!) You can grab one on your way out of the church on the Christian Ed table in the hallway…
We have been asking to collect these caps in order to create our own bench, fully from the caps we have collected. This bench will signify how recycling can be seen and the process. This bench will be placed in a chosen location on the church grounds. Along with these recycled caps, we will also accept donations to use towards the processing of the caps to the bench.
Through our collective efforts we will eventually have a product that can be enjoyed by everyone. You can find the acceptable caps and lids list posted on the table with the boxes, and also will be sent out in the Rockport updates. We will be collecting until JANUARY! Thank you!
The link for information…
https://www.greentreeplastics.com/abc-program/
COFFEE HOUR:
Please consider hosting coffee hour and sign-up on the bulletin board. Fellowship is so important to the life of the church and why not have a little snack at the same time!
GOOGLE DRIVE REMINDER:
October 2024 Church financials can be found here.
Go to the Rockport All Church Information folder, Financial Reports folder, 2024 Financials folder, or get a hard copy in the church office.
REMINDER:
Office hours are Monday-Thursday 8:00 - 2:00pm and Fridays from 8:00 - 1:00pm.
Rev. Don's office hours are Tuesday and Thursdays from 11:00 - 1:00pm
DISTRICT NEWS: www.eocumc.com/northernwaters
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EOC Mission Partners Christmas Wish Lists
We asked East Ohio Conference Advance Special ministry partners to provide a list of needs the people they serve have this Christmas season. Might you and your church family be able to help fulfill some of these Christmas wishes? Doing so will be life-changing for you and for those whom you support with your generosity. There are a wide range of items on the Christmas wish lists from soap, pillows, onesies, paper towels, and toiletries to soccer balls, gift cards, educational opportunities, and summer camp tuition.
Please keep in your prayers this Christmas season, each of these organizations, their volunteers, and the people they serve. All Advances can also receive monetary donations through their respective Conference funds.
View the mission partners’ Christmas wish lists.
Learn about and support EOC Advance Specials.
CONFERENCE NEWS: https://www.eocumc.com
Ohio is the Center of the
Missional Movement in the World
I am the fruit of Ohio mission. I never thought of my own faith journey being related to Ohio. I grew up a Korean Methodist. When I was 16 years old, I first met Jesus through Rev. Sung Chan Kim, a local preacher who was building a church next to my family’s home.
He changed my heart in a strange and warm way and my course has been set since then. I had to take a strong stand as an early Christian to challenge my family’s long, long Buddhist-Confucian tradition. But Methodism was strong in me and that Methodism came to Korea from Ohio.
Mary Scranton and her son William Scranton arrived in Korea from Ohio in 1885 with the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were the first missionaries to the country, which was a poor and darkened place under Japanese colonial power. Mary was a 52-year-old widow with a servant’s heart. There were circuit riders in her ancestry, and she was a person devoted to God. She was also committed to educating women. William Scranton was a 29-year-old doctor who had finished medical school in New York and practiced in Cleveland. When he became very sick, he prayed to God and said that if God healed him, he would dedicate his life to the mission of the Church.
Mary and William became a significant foundation of Korean Methodism. They were supported in their ministry by Euclid Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in Cleveland. That church merged with Epworth Memorial Church in 1919 to become Epworth-Euclid Methodist Church. The church was called Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church in 2010 when the congregation merged with First United Methodist Church to form University Circle United Methodist Church. I am claiming that church as sacred ground.
Mary Scranton founded Ewha University, the largest women’s university in the world which has raised many global leaders. The epitaph on her grave in Missionary Cemetery in Seoul reads: "Today, the education of women in freedom, love, and peace bears fruit in this land, because Mrs. Scranton sowed the seeds in the garden of Ewha School."
William Scranton was a man of Jesus who lived with the Koreans. He participated in their lives and culture and opened hospitals for the poor and the abandoned everywhere. I have deep respect for his spirituality and devotion and his nurturing of leaders who are committed to the cause of independence and liberation.
The mother and son team from Cleveland also planted several churches in Korea and instilled an amazing scriptural heritage. Now the Korean Church has become the largest mission-sending country in the world.
I have been nourished by what Mary and William Scranton began. From 1979-1982, right before coming to the United States, I was the associate pastor of Eastgate Church, which is Scranton-planted. What a wonderful gift to now serve as bishop of the Ohio Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church.
Life is full of mystery. So, when I say rise-up sisters and brothers, all my siblings, it means I am saying rise-up with that vision that Ohio missions is such an amazing influence on worldwide Christianity. Ohio is the center of the missional movement in the world.
My humble prayer is serving Ohio, deepening our spiritual roots and the passion and love for Jesus’ gospel begun so many years ago. I have so much pride and love for The United Methodist Church in Ohio.
Let us commit again to missionary passion and leave the walls of our church buildings to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in the world.
View the archive of Bishop Jung's Soul Food messages on the East Ohio Conference website.
