DECEMBER 2023

We are so grateful for all God has done in and through Neighborhood Church in 2023 and look forward to you seeing all the details in the Annual Report at the end of January. For now here are a few things that happened in December:

Neighborhood Kids
Leader: Karin Sauder, [email protected]
A safe place for children to meet Jesus, know Jesus & learn to share Jesus.

It has been a really fun Christmas season in Neighborhood Kids! We took a break from our regular curriculum for special lessons, where we learned the true meaning of Christmas, as well as the history of many Christmas and holiday traditions.  Our Christmas Eve was amazing! For our morning service, we had a Joy to the World parade with jingle bells! And then for the evening candlelight service, we performed our pageant to a packed house, and sang Away in a Manger with the worship team and congregation. After that, we joined Miss Bonnie in the café to make Christmas snow globes, and eat lots of Christmas cookies. We are looking forward to a lot of fun learning who God is and what he has done for us in 2024.  All kids are welcome and loved at Neighborhood Kids! Happy New Year! 

Neighborhood Youth
Leader: Tim Allen, [email protected]
A place for teens to meet Jesus, know Jesus & be encouraged to share Jesus.

This December, Neighborhood Church reflected on advent: hope, peace, joy & love. Student leaders, Honna Trinkl and Landon Neely, lead the conversation for joy and love before the Christmas party that they also planned. They did a great job and the students had fun with a Secret Santa gift exchange, cookie decorating contest and karaoke! The group took a break the following two weeks to allow for everyone to enjoy the holidays with friends and family. We’re looking forward to all that God has in store for Neighborhood Youth in 2024!


Worship & Production Team
Leader: Mel Neely, [email protected]
We are a diverse community of followers of Jesus Christ, empowered by His Spirit with one heart and one mind to invite and lead in declaring His worth.

The Neighborhood Church Worship & Production team continues to lift high the name of Jesus through our in person and online services. This month Mel Neely and Adaora led worship during our Sunday services along with our dedicated team of instrumentalists and vocalists. We introduced two new to Neighborhood Church songs this Advent season…”Glory (Let There Be Peace)” and “Love Has a Name”. Check out recordings of both songs at the links below…

https://youtu.be/QW4c6DcxgGc?si=JaidYdUNuTsMVr-6

https://youtu.be/d2S3aJIf9w8?si=Od35e0xegdE8x1BD

The Worship & Production team also led worship on Christmas Eve for three services. It was a beautiful morning and evening of celebrating Emmaunel, God is with us!

On Thursday evenings the team continued to engaged with material focusing on the Advent sermon series. These times were led by Mel and we read from the book, The Dawning of Indestructible Joy by John Piper. We shared praises and prayer requests, praying for each other and over Neighborhood Church.

Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes!
Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals.
Let everything that breathes sing praises to the LORD ! Praise the LORD !
Psalm 150: 4-6

Our Worship & Production team continues to serve faithfully week in and out. Jeff Geraci has expressed his desire to transition out of the team leadership position in 2024 but will remain an active part of the team. Please pray for Mel and Jeff as we seek the Lord and take the next steps for Worship Production team leadership. We are thankful to have a truly multigenerational team with middle school, high school and adult volunteers working together to make our Sunday services in person and online possible. We are routinely using click tracks at our Thursday practices and on Sunday mornings.

BECAUSE of God’s faithfulness, our Worship Team is living on mission as a multi-ethnic, multigenerational team being transformed by Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit and inviting the Neighborhood Church family to be launched on mission with them!