Thanksgiving Service Project with and for Kids!

As we start the Thanksgiving Season, I just wanted to invite you to join our ECV Children in giving much needed Baby Items to young families in need!

Next Sunday, our children will be putting together “Blessing Babies Kits” for Life Haven, a local temporary shelter that provides a safe and nurturing environment for homeless pregnant women and women with young children.

The kits will contain items newborn babies need – and that some new mothers have difficulty affording. If you would like to donate something, you can bring something from the list below:

• Fitted crib sheet
• Crib blanket
• Baby bath soap
• Baby lotion
• Pacifier
• Baby brush & comb
• Washcloth
• Diapers & wipes

We’ll collect the items NEXT Sunday, November 23. If you want to send extra items, that’s fine too. I hope you can join us in helping young families this Thanksgiving!

Because You Only Turn One Once

THIS SUNDAY (11/9)
180 Colony Road
right after the service

you are all invited to a very special party celebrating
Elm City Vineyard's 1st Birthday!!! wooohoooooo!!!

the partay is this sunday 11.9.08 immediately after our worship gathering.
it'll be held at 180 colony... back to our roots.

no need to bring anything. just come as you are.
we'll have lots of food.... even cake.
yes, cake.

Prayer for Audrey - TONIGHT (11/3)

Quick echo from the email list:

There will be a prayer / info session for Audrey Lin (soon to be ECV's first missionary) tonight at the Fitzgeralds'.

60 Allene Drive
Hamden CT

7-8pm.

Prayer Ministry Training This Sunday

Sunday, November 2
6:15 (immediately following service) until 8.30
132 Temple Street, 2nd Floor, Love146 Offices
Dinner and childcare will be provided

You may have heard that prayer is a vital part of the vision for ECV. But what are those folks lingering at the side of the church doing? What does it mean that they have been "trained" to pray? You may have a desire to
pray for others, but aren't sure how to start.

This Sunday, November 2, we will be meeting to discuss some basics of praying for others. Kathy and I will present a helpful model that has been used by Vineyard churches for praying for others, tell stories, and answer questions. This is one step in being "trained" to pray.

Come if you have never thought of yourself as a pray-er, and want to learn more. Come if you have been praying for folks for a long time and want to further engage. Both new folks and the more experienced can benefit from this class.

Please RSVP to Michelle Kennedy, so that we can make sure we have adequate food and childcare providers. (mlskenn...@gmail.com)

Following Jesus at the Elm City Vineyard

On Sundays these days we're taking some time to revisit who it is we believe God has called us to be as a church--how it is that we can follow Jesus courageously--as expressed in our vision statement:

The Elm City Vineyard Church exists to call all people to revolutionary lives of action through Spirit-empowered communities that love and obey Jesus in all things.

We're going to start at the end of our statement and work backwards, because we really feel like the core of who we're to be is captured in the concepts of loving and obeying Jesus in all things. Anyway, these talks are important enough to our identity as a church that we're going to post them online so that even if you have to miss a Sunday, you can stay part of the conversation. 

So, here you go (these should play in QuickTime or iTunes, both free downloads from Apple):

10/19: Following Jesus Courageously (Matt Croasmun)

10/26: Loving Jesus in All Things (Caleb Maskell)

11/2: Obeying Jesus in All Things (Matt Croasmun)

11/9: Spirit-Empowered Communities I (Matt Croasmun)

11/16: Spirit Empowered Communities II (Todd Kennedy)

11/23: Revolutionary Lives of Action I (Tom Sharp)

11/30: Revolutionary Lives of Action II (Andy Saperstein)

ECV 101 for All

So, ECV 101 was a big success. Thanks to all those who came out and those who helped make it happen.

We circulated a couple of handouts at the meeting that seemed worth making available to anyone. The first was a combined Vineyard Statement of Faith and Values document (you can find the statement of faith in all its original glory (with lots of Bible citations) here.) The second was a basic ECV values doc that I think we first circulated last fall. If you're a document-type person, perhaps those will be helpful to you in figuring out where we feel like God is leading this church.

(Anyone else have U2's "I will Follow" stuck in their head?)

This Sunday: ECV 101

This Sunday, October 19th, immediately after the service, we'll be having our very first

ECV 101

If you're interested in learning more about the church, looking for ways to get involved and connected, and hanging out together with fabulous food and friends, old and new...

Please join us this Sunday at the Blums':
532 Norton Pkwy, New Haven, CT (map)

Please RSVP by TOMORROW, Saturday the 18th to Grace Blum or to the info@elmcity address over in the sidebar.