 As a community of faith, we are accustomed to being able to gather with one another for fellowship! In this pandemic time, we have to look to new and different ways of staying connected. One opportunity for you is to join one of our new online Fellowship Hour Groups. We have four different groups starting in January--each has a different team of leaders and will have a different approach for the time, but all are meant to develop deep, supportive relationships with one another that will hopefully last well past the COVID-19 crisis. These groups will meet monthly from January through May, and then reassess the needs of the group. Limit 12 family groups (individuals, couples, or families) in each fellowship hour group. If the group is full, please contact Rev. Sandi (pastor@washparkumc.org) to express your interest. Some groups are going to start meeting early in January, so sign up today (see below)! Old Fashioned Variety Show Group Group Leaders: Jen Miklosi, John & Amy Drum We’re the old fashioned variety show of groups. We’ll be sharing some or all of the following next year: trivia, baking, cocktail-making, education, merriment and more. Most importantly, we hope that our time together uncovers new connections and reveals the warmth of this community. In January we’ll participate in an activity called Buy, Burn or Steal. As the months progress, we'll learn a little about cocktail history and the science of baking. We may engage in storytelling — you’ll never guess the ending! Meeting Time/Day: 4th Wednesday of the month at 7pm First Meeting: Jan. 27 Sign up Families on Zoom (FOZ) Group Group Leaders: Scott & Jaime Bromley, Graham & Katie Daugherty Our group's goal is to unite members of the church with kiddos (little or big) and provide a place to connect through games, activities, and discussion. We want to invite kids for portions of our gatherings by playing games they can participate in and by projects that can engage them such as making cards/letters for Nursing Homes, art projects, bingo, charades, etc. We are also hoping to provide times to gather after little kids are in bed so that we can talk about more adult topics and even play games with the grown-up members of the group! The time and day of the week may change as the group develops. Meeting Time/Day: 2nd Saturday of the month 4pm First Meeting: Jan. 9 Sign up Topic: TALENT SHOW! Chocolate Souffle for the Soul Group Leaders: Barry Nance & Tina Heinert, David Trickett During this time of pandemic and physically closed churches (and bakeries), we have been pondering ways to help connect folks at WPUMC. We would like to invite you all to be a part of a small virtual group that will look at deep and not-so-deep issues facing us all in our daily lives. We believe that faith is strongly connected with our bigger questions in life, and also think that talking among friends about both big and small things can be useful and also enjoyable. Our main purpose as a small group is to grow connections among us that help establish trust with empathy and respect; to find fresh ways to check in with our fellow WPUMC community members; to enable us to feel less isolated from meaningful conversations; and to develop new ways to speak of the big and little things for which we can be grateful. We hope you’ll join us! Meeting Time/Day: 1st Thursday of the month at 5:30pm First Meeting: Jan. 7 Sign up The Storytelling Fellowship Group |