Event photos
Faith, Food, & Fun - April 21, 2024
Being together to celebrate Earth Day while learning, growing, having fun, and eating together was a huge blessing! Thank you to the Church and Society team for your partnership and leadership of pulling the event together. Thank you to all of the volunteers who stepped up to help in the various capacities. The body of Christ came together in amazing ways to learn how to care for and be good stewards of all God has created!!! All praise to God!
KinderTot - March 25, 2024
On March 25, we had fun with 18 of our KinderTot children as we learned about Holy Week and Easter. We had a little parade with our palms, sang some songs, played some games, found some eggs that led us to an active motion, decorated eggs, and created and ate our Empty tomb snack. What fun!
Companions Journeying Together - March 21, 2024
On Thursday, March 21, many ladies from Grace UMC gathered together to prepare Mother's Day kits for women in prison. The ladies put together 325 kits for the women's prison in Decatur. Marv Baldwin, the Executive Director, and Jana Minor, the founder and volunteer of Companions Journeying Together joined the team. They are very grateful for Grace UMC's partnership with them for this important ministry.
Easter Eggstravaganza - March 17, 2024
We had such an "eggciting" time at our Easter Eggstravaganza on Sunday, March 17. It truly was a Sunday Funday with our 39 children and youth and our ten leaders. We decorated eggs that spelled E, A, S, T, E, R. You would not believe how many words you can make with those letters! How many do you see? We learned the true meaning of Easter by learning more through each letter. We listened to the Easter Story as we took apart our nesting egg. We went on an egg hunt and met new friends and learned new scriptures. Each person got "egged" with filled Easter eggs and an invitation to Easter at Grace UMC and one a bag to "egg" a friend. We ended the day with our Empty Tomb donut snack.
Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) Feed the Need Mobile Pack - March 2-3, 2024
Eighty one volunteers from Grace United Methodist Church gathered the first weekend in March at the Dan and Ada Rice Center on the campus of Benedictine University to support the annual Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) Feed the Need Mobile Pack! Our thanks to all who gave so generously of their time to help pack a whopping 802,440 meals that will feed 2,198 children for an entire year! We were able to pray over the food and give thanks to organizations like FMSC who are working tirelessly to get this food to those most in need. They are sharing hope throughout the world and we are grateful to be able to be a small part of serving God's children one weekend a year. What a blessing! Plan to join us again next year! Learn more about FMSC by visiting their website at fmsc.org.
DoNut Forget to Pray - February 18, 2024
Thank you to all of our volunteers and families who were part of Growing in Faith Together on Sunday, February 18! We had so much fun learning to "DoNut Forget to Pray" during Lent. Each family brought home "Eggs with a Difference" to do during Holy Week and a Pray-Fast-Give folder with Lenten activities. We learned how to "Sprinkle" our life with prayer while we decorated donuts with our own "Sprinkles," we sang together reminding us all to "Let Us Pray," and we had a "Ball" with our Donut Ball.
If your family was unable to attend or you have a child/grandchild who would like the Eggs with a Difference or the Pray, Fast, Give activities, please contact Pastor Kim at kim.neace@peopleofgrace.org or Gaye Lynn at gayelynn.loufek@peopleofgrace.org.
Faith, Food, & Fun - January 28, 2024
What a great night we had at Faith, Food, and Fun on Saturday, January 28! We had a delicious meal cooked by our Hesed House cooking team and other volunteers. We raised around $2,000 toward Hesed House, and we learned about homelessness through different hands-on activities and a powerful video. We also learned how we can get involved in the ministry at Hesed House through Grace UMC. Thank you to Larry Hartman for his leadership, to Steve Strange for the brains behind the cooking, and to the whole Hesed House team who is so faithful each and every 2nd Tuesday. You can always make a donation to the ministry of Hesed House through the one time online giving at www.peopleofgrace.org/give and choosing "Hesed House" in the drop box, or writing a check written to Grace UMC with Hesed House in the memo line.
Get Inspired
Christmas ADVENTure - December 2, 2023
Thank you to all the families who came to the Christmas ADVENTure on December 2, 2023 at Grace United Methodist Church. It was fun to be with you to start the ADVENT season. What a beautiful day it was for everyone. Thanks to all the wonderful people who served that day and prior to the event. Everyone coming together using their gifts, time, and passion was a blessing to all!
Growing in Faith Together - November 19, 2023
Thank you to all of the families that came to Growing in Faith Together. What a blessing of time to all be together. We had around 80 people "Unwrapping the Joy of the Season." We look forward to our next one on February 18, 2024 as we prepare for Lent with "DoNut Day" - Do Not Forget to Pray.
Faith, Food, and Food - October 29, 2023
What a fun night we all had together at Faith, Food, and Fun on Sunday, October 29! We played games, ate a wonderful meal, sang together, and compared our faith as a body of Christ to football. Thank you to Coletta Hines-Newell and Laura Strain for sharing their gifts of leadership and organization. Thank you to Pastor Eric Blachford, Lynn Leitzen, and Pastor Cindy Marino for sharing their gifts of teaching and music while leading us in our faith component through an interactive lesson, music, and prayer. Thank you to all who served with their time and talents with behind the scenes prep, welcoming people, food prep, making cookies, serving food, cleaning dishes, helping with popcorn, and after game fun. And thank you to all who came to be in community with one another.
Prayer Walk Path Work - October 21, 2023
Many thanks to those who joined in the work of laying stones and spreading mulch on Friday, October 20 and Saturday, October 21! The Prayer Walk has been gifted (and fully funded) to Grace in memory of Les Pauls. Trustees have approved all the plans, and the groundbreaking is coming very soon!
Trunk or Treat - October 18, 2023
Thank you to EVERYONE who made Trunk or Treat a fantastic event for Grace and the community! Over 500 kids and adults walked through our parking lot for treats and fun.
Special thanks to all those who decorated their trunks and our community partners from the Naperville library, police department, and fire department who joined us!
