WELCOME TO ASHFORD
A church with a history and relevance to now. Join us in historic downtown on the corner of Harden Hill and Main. We'd love to meet you!
Ashford Memorial Methodist Church has an opening for our Senior Pastor position.
A NOTE FROM OUR PASTOR
“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.” Hebrew 10:22 (NIV)
Many of us may know the name Fanny Crosby. This introduces one of her Gospel songs in our hymnal, #572, Blessed Assurance. What most of us do not recall is that Fanny became blind from a disease at the age of six weeks; yet this small woman went on to write 8000 hymns which strengthened and cheered millions around the world and across the last 150 years. By the Grace of God, this blind woman wrote “Perfect submission, perfect delight, visions of rapture now burst on my sight.” Her immersion in the Scriptures comes through in so many of her phrases, as she could see with spiritual eyes: “Angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love.”
During this once in a lifetime Pandemic experience, may we “draw near to God” with the Blessed Assurance of Fanny Crosby. Disease has always caused fear and anxiety to rise up within us; however, we need not feel overwhelmed in our spirits, for we can turn to the same Scriptures which seem to “echo” in Fanny’s song: ”Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” (Psalm 25:4-5) Plagues have come and gone since before the Children of Israel left Egypt; yet we learn that diseases do not have the last word – the Grace of our God does.
David began his 25th Psalm “In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.;” so let us join David and Fanny singing with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith: “This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long.”
Grace and Peace
- Larry -
Lowrie J. Welton, Pastor
MUSIC AND WORSHIP
May 31st Worship
REV. DR. LOWRIE J. WELTON PRESIDING
Welcome and Invocation
Hymn: O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing
Apostle's Creed:
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen
Scripture Lesson: Acts 1:1-12 (NIV)
Meditation
Pastoral Prayer & Lord's Prayer
Anthem: Spirit Song (recording of choir)
Message: "What Every Christian Should Know about the Holy Spirit"
*Benediction
Benediction Response: Three-Fold Amen (recording of choir)
*Congregation standing, please, if able
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dear Ashford Family,
We will have our outdoor service at 9:00 a.m. Sunday, the 31st, at Oconee Well Drillers, 1331 Greensboro Hwy, Watkinsville. Please bring a chair or blanket and also feel free to bring a visor, hat, or umbrella to shield you from the sun! You are strongly encouraged to wear a mask when singing. Please remember the social distancing guidelines throughout the time you are there to protect our church members and pastor.
Flags will be set up throughout the lawn to mark seating. Families will remain together at their flag.
The service will be streamed through Facebook Live at Ashford's Facebook page, Ashford Memorial Methodist Church.
Our COVID-19 Response Committee has set up the following guidelines for safe outdoor services:
1. Bring your own chair or blanket and your own mask.
2. Flags will be set up throughout the lawn to mark areas for families to sit. Families will remain together at their flag. Children must remain with their family. Flags will be at a minimum of 6 feet apart but up to 12-20 feet apart to allow singing by the congregation.
3. Services will be abbreviated with no hand shaking, offering, or communion at this time.
4. Attendees are strongly encouraged to check their temperature at home. If your temperature is 99.5 F or above, you are exhibiting symptoms, or have traveled to high-risk areas, please plan to join us via Facebook Live.
5. The State of Georgia’s shelter in place for those at high risk remains in effect until June 13th. If you are 65+ years old and/or have underlying high risk medical conditions, please use our online Facebook live option to participate.
6. Hymns, ritual readings, and scripture reading will be emailed later this week. No bulletins will be available during our outdoor service. Please bring your phone or a printed copy of the information found in the upcoming email to use during our service.
7. Masks are optional at outdoor services but strongly encouraged during singing. We ask each member to do what is right for their family and to help protect our church members and pastor during this time.
The service will be streamed through Facebook Live at Ashford's Facebook page, Ashford Memorial Methodist Church.
As we take these small steps to worship together, more guidelines and information will be forthcoming as we move through different phases to ultimately return to our sanctuary.
You should not feel any pressure to join Ashford Methodist in our outdoor service. This is a personal decision for each member and family. Please continue to support each other and to pray for our church, our community, and for our leaders.
God bless,
Ann Evans
President
Board of Directors
Ashford Memorial Methodist Church
TITHES AND OFFERINGS
Ashford now has a PayPal account. If you choose to use PayPal, please use the donate button below.
As always, checks can be mailed to P. O. Box 344, Watkinsville, GA 30677.
PASTOR SEARCH COMMITTEE
We have had a good response to our advertising up to this point despite the COVID-19 pandemic, but we still need you all to spread the word. The ad is now running in the Oconee Enterprise in print and online for the next 3 weeks. The job remains posted on Facebook, our church's web page, and several "church job" websites. The COVID-19 shelter in place guidelines have forced us into somewhat of a holding pattern for a few weeks, but we have been communicating with applicants through email. Please consider re-posting the job ad on your Facebook pages and re-sending the job ad email since a month has passed. Please share with us names of any potential candidates. We would be thrilled to reach out to them. Please keep in your prayers that our committee and the candidates will receive God's guidance in this process.
SUNDAY NIGHT LADIES BIBLE STUDY
A new Women’s Bible study will begin on Sunday, May 17th. We will begin the Rhythms of Renewal study by Rebekah Lyons. Please purchase your book and study guide on Amazon. Our virtual meetings will be held on Zoom on Sunday afternoons until our church is able to open up again. The time will be announced at a later date. Please email Ellen Elder if you are interested. All ladies of the church are encouraged to participate. It has been so nice to “see” each other during our separation.
BOARD MEETING will be held on Wednesday, May 6th at 7:00 p.m. in the fellowship hall.
AMMY is doing games and activities via Zoom calls on Sundays at 5:30 p.m. There is also a running competition with daily challenges sent to the youth via the youth groupchat. Please email Julianne Blackburn if you would like more information.
MISSIONS
Ashford Memorial Methodist actively supports many local and international missions. You can view our recent and upcoming activities in our April Missions Newsletter.
Contact our missions coordinator to find out how you can help.
CONTACT US
1 South Main Street
P.O. Box 344
Watkinsville, Georgia 30677
Office (706) 769-6928
Fax (706) 769-0995
ashfordchurch@bellsouth.net
ashfordpastor@bellsouth.net
THE CHURCH OFFICE HOURS
8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Monday through Friday
© 2015 by Ashford Memorial Methodist Church