News

11:45 AM SUNDAY, APRIL 30 IN FELLOWSHIP HALL • $10 PER PERSON • TICKETS AVAILABLE THROUGH APRIL 23

Get on board for a tropical three-course lunch served by our kid’s fellowship! It’s for anyone who considers themselves a senior. You’ll enjoy fresh greens and fruit, chicken kebabs over rice, and assorted pastries for dessert — plus the chance to fellowship around the table with Derry Church friends. Purchase tickets in the Narthex on April 2, 16 & 23, or call the church office (717-533-9667). 

8 AM-5 PM SATURDAY, APR 29 IN GRANTVILLE

Many hands needed – skilled and unskilled – to build a handicapped ramp at a home in Grantville. Lunch provided. Contact Pete Feil for more information and to sign up.

• It’s time to start collecting items for the hygiene bags for the Domestic Violence Center in Harrisburg. Items needed are wide-tooth combs, washcloths, disposable razors, tissue packets, toothbrushes, sample or travel sizes of toothpastes, lotions, shampoos, soaps, and deodorants. These can be left in the PW basket in the mission closet in the atrium library.
• Sign up to model your bridal dresses for the Lasses and Lassies Banquet program on May 6! If you’d like to model your own bridal dress (or your mother’s or grandmother’s), or if you’d be willing to lend dresses for someone else to model, contact Jeanette Weaver by April 2.

Cash Flow – Operating Fund as of 2/28/23:

Note: Many of the church’s annual expenses are backloaded, so it’s not unusual to find expenses under budget at the beginning of the year. And we are not paying an Associate Pastor’s salary, although that is included in the 2023 budget.

Bring your coins for the Alliance for Children Everywhere (ACE) Change 4 Children on Sunday, March 19. ACE helps Zambian moms and caregivers to raise SAFE kids, grow STRONG families, and build sustainable communities. In 2020, they launched ACE Transition Partners to guide institutions toward family-based care for thousands of children in Africa and beyond. Based on ACE experience, the consulting team provides services to organizations during the transition, with custom plans tailored to the specific institutional, social, and political contexts in which the ACE partners work.

Bring your change in zip-closed bags, remembering to bag any foreign coins separately. Check that the bag is free of paper clips, pins, batteries, buttons — anything that is not legal tender — as these clog the coin sorting machine.  

Change 4 Children for ACE is collected quarterly at Derry Church. The next offering will be received on Sunday, June 18.

As of Tuesday, April 11, evening worship services will begin at 6 pm.

START TIMES: 3 PM FRI MAR 24 & 8 AM SAT MAR 25 

Join the Gardeners Of Derry (G.O.D. SQUAD) and Building & Ground Committee to prepare the church grounds for the growing season. Bring your rakes, shovels, gloves, pickup trucks and leaf blowers along with a lot of energy as we tidy up in time for Easter Sunday.

7 PM FRIDAY, APRIL 21 IN THE SANCTUARY • FREE WILL OFFERING • AN ARTS ALIVE EVENT

The African Children’s Choir melts the hearts of audiences with their charming smiles, beautiful voices and lively African songs and dances. The “Just As I Am” tour combines traditional hymns with African cultural sounds and a stunning visual story of God’s faithfulness.

A free-will offering is taken at the performance to support African Children’s Choir programs, such as education, care and relief and development programs.

Music for Life (the parent organization for the African Children’s Choir) works in seven African countries such as, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa. MFL has educated over 52,000 children and impacted the lives of over 100,000 people through its relief and development programs during its history. By focusing on providing education, MFL’s purpose is to help Africa’s most vulnerable children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow.

The African Children’s Choir has had the privilege to perform before presidents, heads of state and most recently the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II, for her diamond jubilee. The Choir has also had the honor of singing alongside artists such as, Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Keith Urban, Mariah Carey, Michael W. Smith, and other inspirational performers.

It’s time to start collecting items for the hygiene bags for the Domestic Violence Center in Harrisburg. Bags are being sewn and the goal is to deliver them by early summer. Items needed are wide-tooth combs, washcloths, disposable razors, tissue packets, toothbrushes, sample or travel sizes of toothpastes, lotions, shampoos, soaps, and deodorants.  These can be left in the PW basket in the mission closet in the atrium library.

10 AM TUESDAYS, APR 11 – MAY 30 • 8:30 AM TUESDAYS, JUNE- SEPT AT ROYAL OAKS GOLF COURSE, LEBANON

All skill levels welcome. If you have an interest in playing, please contact Ken Pearl or Dave Szczesny.

6:30 PM SATURDAY, MAR 18 IN ROOM 7

This presentation of “Engage: Stories” centers on the theme “I was wrong.” Each storyteller will share about a time they realized they acted wrong, thought wrong, or believed wrong and how that realization changed them.

• Andy Frieberg will share his desire to be different from others in his educational choices and how he learned that sometimes it’s okay not to be different.
• Andy Phillips will share about how he realized he was wrong to anchor his faith in the certitude of his belief system (the “what I believed”) rather than trusting in the God in whom he believed.
• Elizabeth Gawron will talk about the beginning pages of her journal from 2017 that speaks to marriage, motherhood and how wrong she was about her future. 
• Sandy Ballard will share she thought God had abandoned her to suffer at a big law firm.
• Charlie Koch will share about a time when work kept him from being where he needed to be.

Please join us for this special evening of storytelling, community, and questions.

6-8 PM MONDAY, APR 3 IN FELLOWSHIP HALL

Children in grades 2 and older and their parents/guardians are invited to learn more about the sacrament of communion in preparation for the children’s participation in Maundy Thursday worship at 7 pm Apr 6. Kid-friendly dinner included, child care available. Contact ME Steelman to register.