Middle High and Senior High youth groups are back from winter break! For January 26: Middle High meets at 4:30 PM and Senior High meets at 6:45 PM. Be nice to your youth leaders - they will be extra-tired from leading the Confirmation Class Retreat earlier in the weekend. Youth Choir rehearsal is at 6:00 pm. Questions? Contact Micah Smartt.

All young people from preschool through high school are invited to attend Sunday School at St. Paul's. A list of classroom locations is posted in the Narthex, and information packets are available at the Visitors’ Center desk and in the church office. 

For Sunday, January 26:

• Sunday School for all students age 2 through grade 5 will begin in their classrooms at 10:30 a.m.

• Sunday School classes for youth in grades 6-12 will resume February 2, 2020.

• Nursery care for infants and toddlers is available during both services all year.

Please visit our CHILDREN's page http://stpaulsk.org/community/children for more details and other useful information!

Make sure you have the right date for our women's book group! On January 26, at 12:00 noon in Room 109, we will be discussing A House in the Sky, a memoir by Amanda Lindhout. As a child, Amanda Lindhout escaped a violent household by paging through issues of National Geographic and imagining herself visiting its exotic locales. Aspiring to understand the world and live a significant life, she backpacked through Latin America and Southeast Asia, then on to the Middle East where she carved out a career as a television reporter. Then, in August 2008, she traveled to Somalia, “the most dangerous place on earth.” On her fourth day, she was abducted by a group of masked men along a dusty road. Held hostage for 460 days, Amanda survived on memories of every lush detail of the world she experienced before captivity, and on strategy, fortitude, and hope. Her compassion became the key to her survival.

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Human trafficking is “modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial act” (It is not the same as human smuggling, which is moving people across borders illegally.) Human trafficking happens in Montgomery County. Victims can be forced to work with little or no pay in factories, fields, as maids, domestic workers, nannies, or in illegal sex trades. While it can happen to anyone, those in vulnerable situations are particularly at risk. Human trafficking is considered a hidden crime as victims rarely come forward because of language barriers and fear. Please stop by the Visitor Desk in the Narthex throughout January for a blue ribbon to show recognition of this problem and pick up information about human trafficking and the reporting hot line (1-888-373-7888). You can visit https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/tools to learn more. 

All are welcome on Saturday, February 1. Serving hours are 8:00-10:30 a.m. in Heavener Hall, and we offer pancakes, eggs, sausage, ham, fruit, and other dishes. Instead of a fixed price, we request a goodwill donation. All proceeds are donated to charities that work to aid those throughout our region and the world. Read more at our Pancake Breakfast page!

The Hunger Ministry's monthly Communion Collect normally takes place the first Sunday of the month. The next day for collection and sorting is February 2 following each worship service, with distribution and dinner on February 3 at 7:30 pm in the Fellowship Hall. Nonperishable food items are still welcome in the bins in the Narthex at any time. Grocery store gift cards ($20 value each, Safeway or Giant) and monetary donations are also welcome. Please read more at our Hunger Ministry page!

Folks in the (roughly) 20s-to-40s age range and their families will be packing Smart Sacks on February 9 at 11:45 AM in the MPR. We'll also enjoy lunch - main course and activities for kiddos provided, sign up to bring a dish to share at http://evite.me/MpCkCXzZgy. This is a great service project the whole family can do. For Montgomery County school children receiving free or reduced meals, Smart Sacks bridges the weekend gap, providing nutritious food for students and their families on Saturday and Sunday. Read more about the Smart Sacks program here: https://www.mannafood.org/programs/smart-sacks/

Next meeting: February 11 at 11:30 in the Fellowship Hall. By long tradition, this community group for older adults meets on the second Tuesday of the month, October-May with a "field trip" in June. Come to the Fellowship Hall and bring a dish to share for lunch, stay for short updates about members and club business, and then enjoy entertainment from local professional singers, musicians, or actors. Come be with us as we make our golden years our great years!

The UMM is hosting a free breakfast for all St. Paul’s men. The breakfast will be Saturday, February 15 at 8:00 AM. We will be serving up fine food, great fellowship, and prayer opportunities, and will be done by 9:30. We look forward to seeing you there. Sign up in the church office, and please bring a friend.

Please sign up on the flower chart in the main office to sponsor the flowers that grace our Sanctuary each Sunday. Dates for March 2020 are open! The yellow forms on the bulletin board beside the chart will allow you to provide information so your dedication in honor, memory, or celebration appears in the worship bulletin. The cost is $65 and you may take flowers with you or have them delivered to those who need some extra cheer.  

Still Wednesday is open to all who feel called to a sacred space of quiet, peace, and reflection. This casual, meditative worship experience meets weekly in the Sanctuary or Octagon room at St. Paul’s, 7:00-8:00 PM each Wednesday. For more information, visit the Still Wednesday page.

This past October, St. Paul’s pastors and lay leaders learned that Rev. Ulysses S. A. Heavener (St. Paul’s pastor 1922-1928 and 1935-1938) delivered a prayer to open a meeting of the Ku Klux Klan in October 1925 at the Kensington Town Hall held to organize a klan in Kensington, according to a Washington Post article from that time. In subsequent research, St. Paul’s leaders have uncovered no other references to Rev. Heavener in connection to the organization. At its November meeting Church Council voted to change the name Heavener Hall to Fellowship Hall. (The photo to the right shows the Fellowship Hall space in 1958 when it was the Sanctuary, prior to the construction of our current worship space.) Signage will be adjusted to reflect this name change in the new year.

Our Tuesday morning activities meet weekly. Prayer Lift will gather each Tuesday at 10:00 am in the DuVall Chapel to lift up the prayer requests of the St. Paul’s community. Bible Study sessions led by Rev. Kate Mackereth Fulton will be held on Tuesdays at 10:45 am in the Library each week except for days when Friendship Club is gathering. All are welcome!

All youth in grade 7 or above who have not been confirmed are invited to join the 2020 Confirmation Class. Confirmation is a semester-long commitment with regular classes, participation in worship, and a weekend retreat. The sign-up deadline has passed. If you are interested in finding out about the possibility of last-minute additions, please contact Meg Baker, Director of Christian Education (mbaker [at] stpaulsk.org, 301-933-7933 ext. 104).

Spread the love of St. Paul's by delivering flowers to those who are in need of a little extra cheer. A sign-up sheet is available in the church office. Flower Delivery people collect a bunch of flowers from the Sanctuary following the 10:30 a.m. worship service, then use a map and card provided to stop by the home of a church member or friend. It's an easy, family-friendly way to minister to our faith community. Please contact the church office or Ginny Hagberg if you have any questions.

Saying hello to old friends and assisting new visitors is a vital part of making St. Paul’s warm and welcoming for all.  Each Sunday, our greeters and those who serve at our Visitors’ Center desk do this good work.  It’s time to refresh our pool of volunteers!  Without your help, the Visitors’ Center would sit vacant and the Narthex would be less inviting.  Laura Tribble coordinates the Visitors’ Center and Debbie Zechar manages the schedule of greeters.  Every Sunday counts, so please contact Laura or Debbie if you might be able to help share the warmth of St. Paul’s.   

The Biblical Archaeology Forum, usually hosted at the Bender JCC in Rockville MD, offers a monthly presentation that brings together historians, archaeologists, and biblical scholars to look at intriguing questions and broaden our understanding of the biblical world. 

Go to our Adult Education Page to lean more about upcoming lectures, to find the full schedule for 2019-2020, and to access links to other Biblical Archaeology Forum resources.

Would you like to brighten someone’s day? One way is to simply pick up a card at the Visitor’s Desk. The cards are already addressed and have a stamp. You can either sign your name or write a note. Please remove the insert inside before sealing the envelope and mailing. The insert can be recycled if you would like to leave it on the Visitor’s Desk. Thank you so much for helping with this cheerful and uplifting ministry!

All are welcome to gather in the Octagon for refreshments and conversation after worship. The goodies we enjoy each week are provided by friends who sign up to bake or buy treats (nut-free please). Every Sunday, we need at least two adult volunteers to serve as hosts after the 10:30 a.m. service. The set-up host arrives about an hour before worship to plug in the coffee urn and set out cups, sugar, cream, snacks, etc., and stays after briefly to clean up when coffee hour is finished. Helping to set up and serve coffee is a great way to feel like a part of our church community. If you have questions or would like to learn more, please contact Dupeh Ochieng. We can also help pair novice hosts with experienced hosts to help you learn the ropes. Sign up sheets are available in the Octagon during Sunday fellowship time, and in the Octagon kitchen during the week.

We are welcoming new Lay Readers (to read the scripture) and Communion Stewards (to help serve communion) who would like to assist in the first worship service, 9:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings. There are dates available throughout the summer! To sign up online, simply add your name and email address to the sign-up sheet found here: goo.gl/Xz5T79. If you have questions, please contact the church office or Rev. Kate Mackereth Fulton (kfulton [at] stpaulsk.org).

Special Church Conference was held Sunday, October 13 at 12:00 noon in the Sanctuary. District Superintendent Rev. Gerry Green presided. Members who were present voted by ballot on whether or not to begin the Reconciling process. 

The vote was 205 to 22 in favor of beginning the process. 

Click here to read the Frequently Asked Questions handout, which provides answers to questions raised during this process.

Please visit our Way Forward page stpaulsk.org/community/the-way-forward for more information. 

We also have downloadable documents and other resources available to help members and friends learn about what happened at the global United Methodist Church's special general conference held February 2019 and new UMC "Traditional Plan" rules restricting LGBTQ+ participation, and St. Paul's efforts to find our Way Forward, including video recordings of the Reconciling Info Session (Sept. 22) and Samoan Circle Panel (Sept. 29). 

If our Heritage Sunday celebration in April sparked your interest, you can purchase a copy of The Spirit of Methodism in Kensington, 1885-2007 for $10.00. Contact the church office or Jack Lipscomb of the St. Paul's History Committee. The St. Paul's history book is an award-winning trove of information about our church from its founding to recent years, and is full of historical photos and interesting stories recounting everything from musical performances at the White House to cream pies being thrown at a former pastor.