The following will give you a small taste of the life of the UPC, Flanders family:
Musical Groups
UPC has a wide variety of musical groups that lead in worship at least once a month, including UPC ARISE! contemporary worship band, Chancel Adult Choir, a children’s Little Ringers Bell Choir, Adult Bell Choir and an periodic additional instrumentalists. Duets, Trios, and the occasional Barbershop Quartet make appearances as well.
Seasonal Emphases
We highlight the various seasons of the church year in several ways: our annual Advent Wreath making the first Sunday in Advent; and candlelight services Christmas Eve. A Christmas Youth Pageant is often held the Sunday before Christmas.
UPC is an active participant in the Annual Community Inter-faith Thanksgiving Service held the Monday of Thanksgiving week.
We begin Lent with a community Ash Wednesday service with other local congregations; Holy Week begins with our annual Seder Dinner, a re-telling of the ancient Exodus story and including a delicious full-course lamb dinner. A Maundy Thursday Service of readings and songs points us to the holy weekend that is to come.
Annual Highlights
Annual highlights of our church calendar include a Stewardship Brunch in November, a Super Sub Sale on Super Bowl Sunday sponsored by our youth, annual church picnics in June and September; our annual Apple Festival Fundraiser and Community Festival in late September; our Passover Seder Meal on Palm Sunday to kick off Holy Week; Confirmation Sunday in early June; outdoor services in our backyard Pavilion in July and August; Men’s and Women’s Retreats in February and May, respectively.
Spiritual Formation and Nurture
In addition to our weekly rotation-style Sunday School classes, we hold a large and energetic Vacation Bible School for the community in early August; the Jesus’ Café meets seasonally after worship over coffee for adult faith conversations; youth activities for 4th grade and up include regular outings and hang-out/conversation time in our Youth Garage. Currently a weekly Men’s Group meets on Thursday evenings, and hopes to provide some fun activities for men to meet and talk together.
Mission Opportunities
UPC is involved in our neighborhoods and beyond. In addition to participating in local projects, we send a large group to Appalachia each year through the Appalachian Service Project to work on homes. Several of our members travel regularly to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Kenya to extend the reach of Christ. Our Board of Deacons is active in providing concrete material assistance to local residents as needs are made known to them.
REGARDLESS OF YOUR INTERESTS, THERE IS A PLACE FOR YOU HERE AT UPC!
