Dear Friends:
One of the true tragedies of our world, ESPECIALLY in the United States of America in the 21st century, is that there are ANY (much less MANY) children who have no place to go, whose families are in the midst of less-than-ideal situations, and who are left to think that no one cares about them or their families.
THIS SUNDAY, MAY 13, 2018, we will be collecting a special offering over and above our regular giving to help support the ministries of the Louisiana Methodist Children's & Family Services, of which their most well-known ministries are the three Louisiana Methodist Children's Homes (Ruston, Sulphur, Greater New Orleans.) FUMC-DeRidder has a long history of working with these fine people, including at times a member of their Board of Directors coming from our congregation as well as providing a place for their counseling services to come meet with clientele in our area as needed and regularly supporting various special offerings over the years. Please prayerfully consider supporting this fine ministry - we will have special offering envelopes in each bulletin for your convenience. You may find out more about the work of the LMCFS ministries by visiting lmch.org.
Another tragedy concerning children in our world is the number of children who do not know of the love of God in Christ, who have no church home, or feel they have no where to turn for a message of hope, peace, joy, and love. NEXT SUNDAY, MAY 20, 2018, we will be collecting a special offering to supplement the funds budgeted for our annual Vacation Bible School. This special offering, now an annual tradition of our congregation, raises right around $3000, which is right at half of what a week of VBS costs. We are unique amongst many churches in that NO CHILD OR FAMILY IS EXPECTED TO PAY A DIME of the costs for the week - this is our gift to the children and their families of our area, not for what we get out of it, but as giving to others as God has so graciously given to us. You may find out more about this year's VBS by visiting fumcderidder.org/vbs .
Thank you in advance for your kind and generous supoprt of each of these special offerings so that children may know of God's deep and abiding love for them.
Grace and Peace,
- Lamar
