From Memorial Day to Labor Day, we feature a Summer Sunday School for kids under 10. Can you spare just one hour this summer to lead a class? Click here to go to the sign up sheet.

Sunday School Details for June 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 –

• All children will begin in the Sanctuary. Following the Young People's Message, children ages 2-10 will be dismissed to their Summer Sunday School classrooms with their teachers.

• Nursery care is available for younger children during each worship service.

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

The Annual Church Picnic will be Sunday, June 16. Join your St. Paul’s friends after the 10:30 AM worship service across the street in Reinhardt Park. There will be lunch catered by Mission Barbeque, an ice cream truck, a bouncy house, and face painting. All food and activities are free but we need some able-bodied helpers to make it work! Volunteers are asked to come early to help set up tables, chairs, and tents, keep an eye on kids in the bouncy house, and clean up afterwards. Email Erin in the office at stpaulsunited@stpaulsk.org or call 301-933-7933 by June 13 to let us know what YOU can do to keep our picnic going strong, and look for coordinator Susie Snell to direct set-up and clean-up on the morning of the 16th!

Would you like to sing in the adult choir but worry about the weeknight rehearsal commitment? Then relax and join us for June Choir! Just come to Room 211 (Choir Room) on June 2, 9, 23, & 30 at 9:30 a.m.. We rehearse together before the 10:30 a.m. worship service and sing music specifically chosen by Director of Music Tom Pedersen to be meaningful and accessible to this pick-up choir. To participate in the Bluegrass Choir that will sing on Church Picnic Sunday (June 16), plan to attend a special rehearsal on Saturday, June 15. Please contact Tom at tpedersen@stpaulsk.org with any questions.

Join us for End-of-Year Celebrations! Saturday, June 15. Middle High will travel to SkyZone for high-jumping fun and Senior High will have a cookout and Color Battle in the parking lot (like a color run, but without all the running!).  $10 covers the activity, food, and a new SPY t-shirt!  Go to our Youth page for dates and more information about activities, retreats, and trips. 

Readers in the (roughly) 20s-to-40s age range will meet Monday, June 17, 7:30-9:00 PM at the home of Jim & Rachel King. Contact Rachel King at reking30@gmail.com for directions and other info! We will discuss Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston. The center of this poignant, powerful story is Oluale Kossula, also known as Cudjo Lewis, the last survivor of the last vessel to carry kidnapped Africans into a life of bondage in the United States. From 1927 to 1931, Hurston interviewed the man who was then in his eighties and captured his unique voice as he recounted memories from his childhood in Africa, the attack by female warriors who slaughtered his townspeople, the horrors of being held in a barracoon for selection by American slavers, the experience of the Middle Passage packed as “cargo” aboard a ship, and the years he spent in slavery in the United States. Hurston, a storyteller and anthropologist who died in 1960, refused to edit out his vernacular dialect and the manuscript remained unpublished until 2018.

Summer Sunday School in 2019 runs from May 26 (Memorial Day weekend) through September 2 (Labor Day weekend) and we are looking for adults who can volunteer their time for one or more Sundays. At least two adult volunteers are needed each week. All materials – curriculum, suggested activities, and snacks – will be provided. Youth helpers are also welcome and encouraged to participate. Please consider serving our church community in this way! Sign up in the church office or online at https://tinyurl.com/y68848pm. Thank you!

Join us in the Sanctuary or Octagon at 7:00 p.m. each Wednesdays. Bring your desire for stillness and God’s loving and eternal presence to this weekly offering of reflection, silence, and prayer. Each week will have a different focus or form of moving closer to the divine. For more information, visit the Still Wednesday page.

Tuesday, June 4 will be the last session for the 2018-2019 Prayer Lift and Bible Study groups, then we take a summer break. During the regular programming year (September through May), our Prayer Lift gathers each Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. in the DuVall Chapel to lift up the prayer requests of the St. Paul's community, and Bible Study sessions are held on Tuesday mornings at 10:45 a.m. in the Cleveland Library. 

Thinking about becoming a member or just want to learn more about life at St. Paul’s? Our next Pie with the Pastors is scheduled for July 6. Please RSVP by contacting the church office (stpaulsunited@stpaulsk.org, 301-933-7933) no later than the Thursday before. Plan to join the pastors at 10:00 a.m. in Room 109 for homemade pie and relaxing conversation about the Christian faith and this church we call home. Childcare is available upon request.

Our popular Community Pancake Breakfast is on break for the rest of the summer but we'll return in September! Pancake breakfasts are held on the first Saturday of the month, September through June. Serving hours are 8:00-10:30 a.m. and we offer pancakes, eggs, sausage, ham, fruit, and other dishes. 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 regular monthly Communion Collect will be on Sunday, July 7 with volunteers needed for food sorting after worship. Distribution night is Monday, July 8. Nonperishable food items are welcome in the bins in the Narthex at any time! Grocery store gift cards and monetary donations are also welcome. Donations receipts are available in the church office. Thank you for helping provide food for hungry families throughout the 20895 ZIP code area. Please read more at our Hunger Ministry page!

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 (laura_tribble@hotmail.com) and Debbie Zechar (dszechar@mac.com) 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.   

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@stpaulsk.org).

The Baltimore-Washington Conference of the UMC runs summer camps through Retreat and Camping Ministries at Camp Manidokan in the mountains, and West River Center near the bay. From June 23 through August 9, there are mini-camps, sleep-away camps, and numerous themed camp adventures from Sailing Camp to Horseback Camp, from Grandparent & Me Camp to American Sign Language Camp. Pick up a brochure in the church office or go to http://www.bwccampsandretreats.com/manidokan/summer-camp/ or http://www.bwccampsandretreats.com/westriver/ for details about this summer’s programming. “Campership” financial aid is available through St. Paul’s; please contact Rev. Snell to discuss this confidentially.

Many thanks to all who are participating in Processing Groups during this important discernment period! All groups are completely full at this time so we are unable to add additional participants to this phase of our work together. Facilitator training sessions have been completed and final rosters have been disseminated. If you signed up to participate, you should be hearing from your group facilitator shortly to determine your first meeting date. Please visit stpaulsk.org/community/the-way-forward for general updates. There are many resources available to help members and friends learn about what happened at the global United Methodist Church's special general conference held in February, called to address issues of human sexuality and new rules governing LGBTQ+ participation. 

Taste and Sing will NOT meet during the summer months. We look forward to returning in the fall with more opportunities to share music, prayer, and lunch while we learn the stories behind the songs we love. 

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.

All are welcome to gather in the Octagon for refreshments and conversation after worship. Helping to set up and serve coffee is a great way to feel like a part of our church community. 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 to clean up when coffee hour is finished. If you have questions or would like to learn more, please contact Dupeh Ochieng at dupehpalmer@gmail.com or call 240-418-1379. Sign up sheets are available in the Octagon during Sunday fellowship time, and in the Octagon kitchen during the week.

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 2018-2019, and to access links to other Biblical Archaeology Forum resources.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief is at work in the U.S. assisting those affected by natural disasters, from hurricanes on the east coast to devastating fires out west. You can help support the work of UMCOR’s early response teams, disaster coordinators, and local churches. Checks should be made payable to St. Paul’s UMC with “UMCOR” on the memo line. To read more about UMCOR, visit https://tinyurl.com/ycgfn3kz for Current Disaster Response news.

Are you smarter than a 7th grader? 77 members of the St Paul's community took the online, anonymous quiz on The Sacraments. As part of their Confirmation Class journey, Rev. Snell challenges the confirmation students to take this quiz each year. Click here to read the results, in detail, with notes from Rev. Snell.

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.