Advent experiences along the journey to Christmas for all ages!

Self-Guided Interactive Advent Journey
begins December 4th

On Friday, December 4, from 6 to 9 PM and on Saturday, December 5, from 9 AM to 3 PM, we will once again offer a special interactive devotional journey around our sanctuary.  Each individual or family will be able to travel between stations to discover a deeper meaning to the Advent season and to the coming of Christ.

This is a self-guided event and provides reflective times, creative experiences and interactive devotional moments as we explore symbols, people, and spiritual practices that help us deepen our relationship to Emmanuel, God with us! 

Come any time within the scheduled time periods and an Advent docent will help you begin your journey.  A special gift is given to each individual or family completing the journey.

A Tabletop Journey through Advent

for kids, youth, adults and seniors together! 

Take the hope of the coming Messiah, add a splash of Advent color, throw in some texture, an interactive study of God’s Word, and a spiritual discipline journey, and you have a new way to experience and prepare for the true reason for Christmas.  This is an every-age experience! We look for families with children age 3 and up as well as adults and youth from our congregation to join together in this tabletop journey through Advent.

We will explore the Isaiah 11:1 passage “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.”  

Each week we will interact with this verse in a deeper way as we literally “take a journey” through centering, sharing, connecting, listening, wondering, applying and blessing. 

Week 1: Stumps    

Week 2: Roots   

Week 3: Shoots   

Week 4: Branches and Fruit

Carolyn Leah, Director of Children and Family Ministries, developed the concept for this original class as part of her Christian Education certification process in the Presbyterian Church (USA).  It is a joint educational effort with Adult Discipleship at Beulah.  She has been assisted by church member Ruth Ann Ritter, who created the fabric art journey mats that we will use each week with the course. 

For more information about our Christmas schedule, please check our December Beulah Life newsletter for all the exciting details. When viewing this blog from the Beulah website, consider switching to the original view synced from Blogger for improved formatting and additional links.

Beulah Youth summer mission trip 2015: Pittsburgh Project

Our team of nine youth and six leaders attended the Pittsburgh Project alongside two hundred other Christians to do work in and around the Pittsburgh area. The week was filled with service, making new friends and, most important, JESUS! The days began with eating breakfast together, morning devotions and preparation for our work sites that day. All day would be spent at our worksites on projects ranging in difficulty from painting to putting siding on the side of a three-story house. At about 4:00, groups began returning to the housing area to spend time together. The night continued with dinner, worship, group discussion and then bed time. During the week, our church group also got to have a night on the town where we enjoyed dinner and each other’s company.

Service and worship were the two biggest parts of our week at the Pittsburgh Project. Our groups served homeowners with their hands by doing construction on their houses. We also served by building relationships with the homeowners, walking their dogs, helping them with everyday things and by talking to them about God. Our teens and leaders were spread out among four different worksites. Some of the projects we got to experience were painting, installing windows, hanging siding and building retention walls.

The second important part of our trip involved worship. Every morning our day started with prayer and devotions and ended with a time of singing, prayer and a speaker. The speaker chose to focus on the Lord’s Prayer and focused on a different part every night. A special time of worship occurred on Wednesday night, when all the homeowners being served could come and worship with us. This was very moving because everyone could see what was going on in other work groups.

The group of youth we took were amazing and they all had great experiences on the trip. The youth bonded in their work groups, bonded as a church group and grew in their faith. On a night where the speaker talked about “forgiving those who sin against us” a majority of our group either recommitted or accepted Christ into their life or had someone they wanted God’s help forgiving. It was great to see that the youth’s faith had been impacted in such a large way that they were willing to make a large commitment! Out of everyone I talked to, the ENTIRE group was excited to go into this trip and just as excited leaving; they have already asked Alex to go back!

 

All in all this was an amazing trip for everyone.  There were leaps of faith taken, friendships formed, and projects completed.  ASK any of the youth about their trip and they will all have some type of great story to share!

 

See more pictures on our youth group Facebook page "Beulah Pres Youth Group".


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Exceptional Summer Camp!

EXCEPTIONAL SUMMER CAMP FOR YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Summer's Exceptional Two Weeks




Soccer skill building

Our first year of our two-week sports oriented day camp for individuals with special needs is complete!  Although, only a few weeks before, we were not sure we were going to have anyone sign up!  We have learned a lot about connecting with families, agencies and individuals with special needs.  Despite all of the hurdles, we had 5 campers join us for the two weeks!  

Scavenger Hunt team!

With a fantastic group of Head Counselors (who are also with us for Summer’s Best two Weeks), four amazing Occupational Therapy students from St. Francis University, several of our own fabulous Beulah youth and the Beulah summer interns!  As a team, we helped our five campers have an exciting two weeks learning soccer, badminton, basketball, golf, hockey, archery, tumbling and more.  We played kickball, dodgeball, bocce, shuffleboard and four square. 





Indoor Archery!

We took two field trips – one to Frick Park and one to Camp Crestfield in Slippery Rock for horseback riding, archery and canoeing.  Although we battled the rainy weather, our campers made significant strides in mastering the sports!  We all agreed that God intended us to have only 5 campers this year to spend time with them, to get our feet wet with this program and to understand what adaptations need to be made next year and for a larger group.  The word is out now and spreading so look out for 2016!



Scavenger hunt items collected on the team hat

 

Our campers  had a wonderful time engaged in sports and games activities at Beulah.  We made it to the park and the church garden and lawn many days until the rainy drizzle and cool temps sent us back to the church for lunch and more fun in the afternoon.



Shuffleboard in Fellowship Hall

Tin punch art

Check out more photos on Facebook


 




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July Movie Nights are Coming!

On August 2nd at 9:45 a.m. we will have a combined Adult/Youth Sunday school on the topic "C.S. Lewis and the Imagination."  Edith Humphrey of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary is the presenter.

In preparation for this special summer intergenerational class we have scheduled two movie nights.

The first will be Wednesday July 15, 2015 at 7:00 pm.  The movie will be Shadowlands, a biopic of C. S. Lewis directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Anthony Hopkins.  

The second movie is scheduled for Wednesday evening July 29, 2015 at 7:00 pm, and will be The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, perhaps C.S. Lewis' most famous story.

Kids can bring a pillow, sleeping bag or blanket to lie on, some movie chairs and pillows and plenty of snacks will be provided.  No official cost for the night, just a free will offering.  Let us know if you will be coming by signing up in fellowship hall or by using the contact form on our website 

Dr. Edith Humphrey is the William F. Orr Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  She is the author of seven books and numerous articles on the literary and rhetorical study of the Bible. An active member of the Orthodox Church (attending St. George’s Antiochian Church, Oakland), she retains strong ties with friends in various denominations, and is a well-known and popular speaker. She and her husband, Chris, have three grown daughters and are expecting their tenth grandchild this summer.

Staff Spotlight - Carolyn Leah

Like the proverbial bunny, Carolyn Leah is an energizer and whizzes by, but she is staunchly focused on everything she does! You know her as the enthusiastic head of Beulah’s children’s ministries, but she does much more!  Her creativity races with ideas to give people new faith experiences and a connection with prayer.

No matter what question asked Carolyn, the same thread of thought runs through her answers. Whatever her commitment, she wants “intentional impact.” She makes the difference in meaning and purpose.  While personally connecting with families, she takes pride in encouraging parents to be Christian educators within their family unit at home. 

One of her goals is for children to have a meaningful involvement in and comprehension of what worship means so that they do not feel like outsiders. With joy in her heart, she finds immense satisfaction in guiding children through their formative years and aiding families in discovering how faith connects God to their lives.  Realistically, she feels the sadness when too many come and go through our church before there is time to change their lives.

“Worship is important.  A big issue today,” she claims, “is in young families where there may not be anyone to form or help shape their Christian walk.  That’s why Beulah’s program with Faith Friends is so important. Faith should not be an after thought.”

In five years as Director of Children’s and Family Ministries, Carolyn has engaged all age groups. She favors experiences where people interact together, and she loves to create events.  Vacation Bible School, Sports Camp, Sunday school, Lenten Spirituality Center are only some of her involvements.   Another passion is striving for inter generational ministry.  She says, “Young people need to see faith role models.  We don’t mix generations enough in our churches.” 

That’s one reason she has organized and headed the enlightening all-church Women’s Mini-Retreats for the past two years, and has taken the lead in forming Beulah's Faith Friends mentoring ministry.

“While honoring the past,” she continues, “We need to be looking to the future in a different way.  Tradition is important, but holding onto tradition for the sake of tradition is not always the best idea. We need to adapt and change.”  For instance, she cites new challenges presented in electronic resourcing.  She emphasizes, “Connecting with families via electronic media is not a wave of the future anymore.  It is imminent!  We must be open to the potential and possibilities of reaching people with innovations as soon as they become available.”

Personally, she has a marketing degree and her vast experience includes Christian education on many levels. She finds delight with two grown children, Andrew and Jillian.  In leisure moments, she enjoys traveling, cooking and hiking. On her bucket list is a desire to hike more national parks and to visit France where her great grandparents were born. She also spends time developing recreational projects at a senior housing community.

Two years ago, Carolyn was diagnosed with breast cancer and a wellness plan took her through 17 chemotherapy/herceptin treatments, 33 radiation treatments, along with numerous tests. She is now cancer free!  Being self-sufficient, but with a sense of hope and faith, she never felt she was alone. She learned to accept help, prayers and encouragement, for she reflects, “I could not put a stop on the Holy Spirit leading others.”  Her gratitude extends to Beulah’s people who unselfishly embraced her through deeds of kindness as she faced this serious health issue.

As a ministry “planter of seeds,” her mission is personified in a favorite scripture from Luke 8:15 when Jesus speaks the parable about seeds of faith maturing: “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”

Carolyn is a beloved angel “bunny” in Beulah’s halls,  who keeps going and going because she is energized by God’s Spirit!

From an article by Kitty Paladin for the Beulah Life Newsletter