ESUMC News­let­ter

Dear friends in Christ, 

Greetings and peace in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I pray that you and your loved ones are enjoying a blessed summer season. 

One of the highlights of the ESUMC community every summer is the celebration of Vacation Bible School (VBS). And this year was no different! During 21-25 July, eighteen children from our community joined together for a week of learning, games, spiritual growth, and fun fellowship in our church and neighborhood.

The theme of VBS 2025 was "Building God's Kingdom." Every day, our VBS volunteer leaders shared a reading and led a discussion of Scripture, and organized games and activities based on the daily theme related to Kingdom building. In worship on Sunday, Shelley offered a presentation about the week, our children sang and danced with spirit and joy, and a slideshow of the week was shown on the screen.

We give our great thanks to all who participated in VBS: to Shelley Brauneis and Noussi Zahraman for organizing the week; to Amelie Haslinger and Farah Zahraman for leading the musical program; to Diana Mangan, Doreen Ighama, Rania Zahraman, and Sathya Prabhe for teaching the Bible stories; to Audrey Scherer for helping to lead arts and crafts; to Deborah Koll-Petty, Heinz Koll, Jane Greiman, and Lilian Hunt for providing meals and snacks; and to all our children for helping to make the week a time of spirited joy! Please see the brief article below for more photos.

As we draw near to the end of the summer season, we are already looking forward to our annual congregational Barbecue and Hike in Grünbach on Saturday 13 September, and our celebration of our Harvest Festival on Sunday 19 October. Please save the dates, and read more about these events in the articles below.

I also share with you a new initiative taken by the UMC in Austria to explore the possibility of greater engagement with social media. On Saturday 27 September, representatives from across the UMC in Austria will gather in our church for a day-long visioning and planning session. The event will be led by Hadwig Soyoye-Rothschädel, a social media expert from the UMC congregation in Salzburg. For more information on this event, and to register to participate, please follow this link (in German): 
https://emk.at/de/veranstaltungen/2025/emk-goes-social-media-und-braucht-dich

Finally, as we look ahead to 2026, I am happy to announce that we are planning to hold a Confirmation course for youth aged 14 to 18. The course will begin in January 2026 and will culminate with the liturgy of Confirmation in worship on Pentecost Sunday, 24 May 2026. I invite the families of our youth in this age range who have not yet been corfirmed to speak with me as soon as possible. The exact schedule and format of the course will depend on the number and ages of youth who enroll in the course. Thank you for your support and participation!

I wish you all a blessed end to the summer season.

Yours in Christ, Pastor John