Vacation Bible Camp Planning Meeting

VBC Planning Meeting --May 26th @ 6:00pm
at Hope.Gate.Way.

Last year we had our first Vacation Bible Camp here at Hope.Gate.Way. it was an awesome time for neighborhood kids and volunteers alike. This year we are planning on another week of fun, scheduled for July 26th-30th, and we need lots of volunteers to make it a sucess.

We have jobs large and small -- front-and-center or behind-the-scenes -- before, during or after the week. Some jobs might include, leading games, making snacks, leading music, teaching Bible Stories, helping decorate Hope.Gate.Way, and more. If you're interested in helping we will find a job that suits you!

Let Allen, Sara, or Erica know if you are interested, and we hope to see you all at the planning meeting.

Parkside Block Party!!

Parkside Neighborhood Block Party
Saturday, June 5th -- 11:30am-2:00pm

on Sherman Street, near Sacred Heart -- St. Dominic Catholic Church

Friends from New Light will be teaming up with other local churches and organizations again this summer for 2 exciting block parties in the Parkside Neighborhood. Festivities are to include food, live music, games, children's activities, a summer clothing give-away, and a bounce house.

We need everyone's help to make this block party a huge success. Volunteer jobs are big and small, and include; set up, staffing the bounce house, helping with food, helping with an art project, face painting, taking pictures, and more. Contact Erica to sign up to volunteer.

Also, if you have summer clothes that are in decent shape that you are no longer using, please donate them to our neighbors who need them.

Community Meals Coming to Hope.Gate.Way.

Beginning next week working in collaboration with the Wayside Soup Kitchen we will begin serving community meals at Hope.Gate.Way. twice a week.

We will be offering dinner every Thursday at 5:30pm and lunch every Tuesday at 12:00pm.

It is our hope that these meals will attract people from our neighborhood who need companionship as much as they need a hot meal.

Interested in helping out? Contact Erica for more information.

Supper Bowl Sunday Photos

Our first Supper Bowl Sunday event was a HUGE sucess. Check out the photos below and be sure to stay tunes as we plan another, similar event for mid-October!

First Friday Art Walk

Pattern & Path
A Printmaking Investigation by
Rachel E. Church

Friday, September 4th
5:00-8:00pm (during the First Friday Art Walk)

At Hope.Gate.Way.
185 High Street

Stop by to see Rachel's work, enjoy some snacks and help welcome guests who will be visiting Hope.Gate.Way.

The First Friday Art Walk is a free self-guided tour of local art galleries, art studios, museums, and alternative art venues of the first Friday of every month from 5-8pm. We will be hosting a different exhibit each month during the art walk! Come check it out!!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

New Light will be headed to the Portland Sea Dogs game on August 4th at 7:00pm at Hadlock Field.

We have 10 tickets that were exchanged from the last game (that got rained out).

but it might be a sellout based on all the canceled games this season. Let Sara know:

1. if you are planning to come

2. if you have your own ticket

3. if you are bringing friends we should get tickets for

It is going to be a great time. So if you can join us, please do. And bring a friend. This is a great event to bring some of your circles together...New Light and whatever other circles you move in day to day.

Supper Bowl Sunday

Our first Supper Bowl Sunday potluck block party next weekend-Sunday, July 26th from 5:00-7:30pm. This supper will take place on Sherman Street between State Street and Mellen Street.

Some fun we have planned-

• Not one but 2 LIVE BANDS (the Lomax, and The Common Senses)
• Tons of food (including some excellent pizza from Leonardo's)
• Face Painting!
• Lemonade
• A community art project sponsored by Spiral Arts
• Meeting new neighbors
• Dancing in the street!
  

We still need lots of help to make this event a success. We are hoping that most people from NewLight will be able to volunteer the day of the event, and also, bring a dish to share with our neighbors. If you have not yet signed up please do so by contacting Erica or calling 899-2435. Many different jobs are available, from photography, set up, greeters, trash, lemonade making and more!

Hope to see you all there!

Walking In Their Shoes Exhibit

Opening Reception
Friday, May 15 3:00 - 7:00 pm
at Hope.Gate.Way.
185 High Street Portland, ME

An art exhibit to honor May as Domestic Violence Awareness Month-Local High School students created art from shoes to raise awareness of domestic violence.

This project is collaboration among JMG, Family Crisis Services, and SPIRAL Arts

The exhibit will be at Hope.Gate.Way for a few weeks, and will be open during the first Friday Art Walk on June 5th. Swing by when you have a chance and check it out!

Open House at Hope.Gate.Way.

Thursday, May 7th from 3:00-7:00pm

Now that we have a great home base for ministry at 185 High Street, it's time to welcome our neighbors in to build relationships and think about ways to be in partnership with others in the neighborhood.

We are hosting a Neighborhood Open House at Hope.Gate.Way. and specifically inviting our neighbors in Parkside, and leaders of organizations in the neighborhood, but everyone is welcome!

We need your help! We are asking members of Chestnut and New Light to bring tasty treats to share with our guests, and to be present the day of the open house to welcome our neighbors!

Vacation Bible Camp Informational Meeting

New Light will be hosting a week of Vacation Bible Camp this summer (August 3-7) for the kids in our neighborhood.

This project will be in collaboration with our friends at Thornton Heights United Methodist Church in South Portland, who have agreed to share their expertise, their materials, and some of their people to help make our event a success!

But we need YOUR help! Many volunteers will be needed the week of the Camp doing many different things including music, games, crafts, theatre, snacks, and much more!!

Interested in helping out with this exciting kids ministry? Come to the informational meeting Monday, May 4th, at 7pm at Hope.Gate.Way. Some people from Thornton Heights will join us to answer any questions, and show us some cool things that are being planned! Coming to the meeting is not necessarily committing to the project, just finding out what is involved, though we think you'll be so excited it'll be hard to say no!

Earth Day Happenings

This week offers many great ways to celebrate Earth Day!

On Sunday, during our regular worship time (6:00pm) we will share in the Festival of God's Creation. We invite you to bring along a symbol of God's Creation, or a symbol of a means of caring for the earth. For example: a bowl of water, a stone, a leaf, a plant,a piece of fruit, a recycling bin...whatever you can think of! We will be using these items to create our worship space on Sunday!

Vacation Station:
Tuesday, April 21 from 9:30am-12:00 @Hope.Gate.Way.(185 High St.)

We will host a children's activity day, for children in kindergarten through 5th grade. There will be crafts, snacks, games, and music all with an Earth Day theme. Talk to Sara, or post a message here if you are interested in volunteering, or if you know some kids who might enjoy this!

Earth Day Community Potluck & Movie:
Wednesday. April 22 @ 5:30pm @Hope.Gate.Way. (185 High St.)

Bring a main dish, side dish, salad or dessert to share. After we eat, we'll watch the movie "Flow" an award winning documentary about the world water crisis.This is going to be a great community event, so be sure to invite your friends, neighbors, co-workers, grocers, dentists, etc. to come along with you!!

Empty Bowl Supper

Let's get a group together and help support this great cause.

When? This Saturday, April 4th at 5pm

Where? Sacred Heart-St. Dominic's Parish (on the corner of Mellen and Sherman St.'s)

What? Empty Bowl Supper -- $10 for soup, bread, and a bowl to take home as a reminder of hunger and those who cannot fill there bowl.

Why? Fundraiser for Haiti -- help pay teachers' salaries, feed school children, and provide materials for a sewing coop in Haiti.

Hope to see you there!

An apple for the teacher

Big Congratulations to Carlie, who's part of our Monday night LIFE Group. She's student teaching, and she got her first apple from a student this week! It's looking a little green from this angle, and maybe not perfectly symmetrical, but it's pretty clear that in Carlie's eyes, this is a precious gift.

We love you as much as your students, Carlie! No -- more! And we're all praying for you and cheering you on as you tackle this big, intense, stressful project...

LIFE Groups

This week in our LIFE Groups we're spending some time thinking about what LIFE Groups are all about. Hey, if you're going to be in one, you might as well know what you're getting yourself into, right?

So here's the acronym and a little description for each. (Quick disclaimer: We didn't make up the acronym originally, but we've been using it for a while and we can't remember now where we stole it from. If it was from you, well, we hope you don't mind, and let us know so we can give you props.)

Okay, so here it is:

Live in Community
Living in community means that we share life together, celebrating with one another in times of joy, supporting one another in the challenges of life, and sharing resources – all while considering the needs of the larger community.

Invest in Growth
Investing in growth means that we are faithful to spiritual practices like prayer, meditation, worship, and spiritual reading, both individually and with others, in an intentional effort to grow deeper in our walk with Christ.

Find your Purpose
Finding our purpose means that we recognize that God has blessed each of us with unique gifts, and that as we discover and claim those gifts, and then discern where those gifts can best be utilized, we find our unique purpose in life.

Embrace God’s Mission
Embracing God’s mission means that we strive to be part of what God is doing in the world, aligning our efforts with God’s mission to offer hope where there is despair and light where there is darkness, for the transformation of the world.

LIFE Groups are the hub of New Light. They are the heartbeat, the center, the main thing, the focus of our community life. They build relationships, help people grow deeper in faith, and send people out to serve. As we continue to develop ministry, it will happen primarily through LIFE Groups. Even when we begin a weekly worship gathering, we expect LIFE Groups will be a primary entry point, and if someone comes first to a worship gathering, that's great, but we'll do whatever we can to get them hooked up with a LIFE Group as soon as possible.

So, what do you think? Want to be part of one now? We've got two LIFE Groups going (currently Monday & Thursday, but the Monday one may be switching to Tuesdays), and we expect to be multiplying to three sometime this fall. Feel free to get in touch if you want to learn more...

We welcome Paul Nixon

Gathering this Thursday, September 11
6:00 pm
Allen & Sara's house: 31 Sheffield Street, Portland

We are so glad to welcome Paul Nixon to Portland and to our New Light community! Paul is the coach with whom we are working as we develop this new community of faith. After his July visit was postponed due to severe thunderstorms in the D.C. area that interfered with air travel, at long last he's with us this week, Wednesday evening through Friday afternoon.

Paul is the pastor of Epicenter Church, a new United Methodist community of faith focused on serving the people who live in the urban expanse of greater Washington DC. Formerly the Director of Congregational Development for the Alabama-West Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church, Paul is the author of several books: Fling Open the Doors: Giving the Church Away to the Community (2002); Healing Spiritual Amnesia (2004); I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church (2007); and a fourth focusing on urban ministry, now in the works.

Prior to his move to D.C., Paul and his son lived for several years on the coast of northwest Florida, where Paul served first on the leadership team of the 4000-member Gulf Breeze United Methodist Church, and then as the founding pastor of Gulf Breeze Church’s east campus, the Community Life Center.

Here's what Paul says about his current ministry with Epicenter, an exciting new church start in the D.C. area: "We are a multi-site church with locations in Arlington, Washington and Silver Spring. We will be launching weekly worship services in Arlington and in Downtown DC beginning in the fall of 2008. We anticipate eventually joining the people from our various sites together monthly for a high-energy Epicenter Celebration, with an eclectic blend of music, other art forms, and faith sharing -- a spiritual Earthquake event, where God shakes us up and sends us out to live out God's dreams for the city."

Be sure to join us for a gathering of the New Light community this Thursday, September 11, at 6:00 pm, at Allen & Sara's house (31 Sheffield Street) where Paul will help us work through some questions and challenges as we continue to develop the ministry of New Light here in Portland. We'll have take-out food, great fellowship, good conversation, and plenty of laughter.

Potluck Dinner & Worship Gathering - Sunday, July 20

Our Potluck Dinner & Worship Gathering for the month of July is coming up Sunday, July 20, and we hope you're planning to be with us!

We'll meet at the Ewing-Merrills' house (31 Sheffield Street, Portland) at 4:15 pm and carpool to Shelly's house in Gray. Shelly has a big room in her finished basement that will be a great gathering place for food and fellowship. Shelly's got hamburgers and hot dogs for the grill all under control. Bring an appetizer, salad, side dish, or dessert to share!

After dinner, if the weather cooperates, we'll plan to have a big ol' campfire in Shelly's backyard, complete with marshmallows for roasting. (Rumor has it there will even be some graham crackers and chocolate, too -- which is pretty much a recipe made in heaven!)

Our monthly Potluck & Worship Gatherings are always a wonderful time to get together with the full New Light community. Come for the fun, and bring a friend along!

And while you're at it, mark your calendar for the August gathering, too: Sunday, August 24. We're thinking about a community trip to Old Orchard Beach or another fun summer gathering spot, for a little fun, a little food, and worship in the beauty of God's Creation. Stay tuned for more details about that one...