Good Shepherd Church

A HUGE thank you to everyone who came out and made our parish-wide picnic a great time!

with Ridgewood United Methodist Church and Pleasant Hills Church

A HUGE Thank You to everyone who came out yesterday and made July's Family Fun Night a whole lot of fun!!! The water activities and grilling made for a perfect summer evening!!!

Family Fun Night is a free event, open to the community, on the 3rd Monday of every month. We have dinner, games, activities, and more!

Join us tomorrow for July's Family Fun Night!!! From 5:30pm to 8pm we'll have food, games, and more for kids and their families. This is a FREE event and all are welcome.

Weather permitting, we will be grilling outside and have water games so bring your swimsuits. (We do have a rain plan too!)

Today is the day! Stop by between 10am-2pm at the Forestwood Ave entrance to drop off your non-perishable and canned goods items!

Stop by tomorrow between 10am-2pm with your non-perishable food items to donate at Good Shepherd Church 5930 State Rd. We will have folks out on the lawn to collect your donations. Thank you in advance for your support ❤️

Stop by tomorrow between 10am-2pm with your non-perishable food items to donate at Good Shepherd Church 5930 State Rd. We will have folks out on the lawn to collect your donations. Thank you in advance for your support ❤️

Sunday's the day!!! Join us, along with Ridgewood United Methodist Church and Pleasant Hills Church, as we come together to kick off our new Cooperative Parish with a worship service and lunch!!!

Service will begin at 10:30am at Overlook Venue, followed by lunch and a time of fellowship. The venue is indoors, air-conditioned, and fully accessible. All are welcome and we will have an activity area and bags for our kids.

We hope y'all will join us!

Happy Father's Day to all our fathers and father figures!!! We love and appreciate all you do!!!

Here's this year's Father's Day video to honor each and every one of you:

Father's Day Tribute 2024

A little reminder that THIS Sunday (16th) is the last day to bring in summer toys and activities for the ~30 kids and youth at Ohio Guidestone.

Help make their summer a little extra fun by donating sports equipment, board games, arts and crafts materials, and more!

Mark your calendars for June's Family Fun Night with Good Shepherd. Join us for food, games, and activities from 5:30pm to 8pm on Monday, June 17th.

Weather permitting, we will be outside and enjoying yard games, grilling, and more.

This is open to friends and the community!

Mark your calendars for our Cooperative Parish Kick-Off on Sunday, July 7th!

A HUGE Thank You to everyone who helped with and/or joined us for this month's Family Fun Night last night!!!

A tribute to the mothers and mother figures in our lives!

Good Shepherd UMC, Parma Mother's Day Video 2024 A tribute to the mothers and mother figures in our lives!

Good Shepherd family,

Once again, we've asked for you to submit photos of the moms and mother-figures in your life as we prepare to celebrate Mother's Day on Sunday. We have pictures from previous years, but, if you would like to submit a new or updated photo or you have a loved one who has become a mother, grandmother, or even great grandmother this last year and would like them included, please send photos our way. You can email or text me your photos (send contact information below).

Thank you for your help in this ask,

Rev. Stephanie

A lot is happening around the church this week and we'd love for you to join us!

Monday - Family Fun Night
Tuesday - A Friend's House Memory Cafe & Across the Ages
Wednesday - Grandparenting Matters Small Group
Sunday - Mission Trip Information Meeting

Calling all liturgists or people who might be interested in being a liturgist during Sunday worship,

We will be holding a short training THIS Sunday (14th) after service and Sunday, May 5th at 9:45am to go over all things liturgist. If you are interested in learning about this role, if you would like to be a part of our liturgist rotation, or if you are already a liturgist, we ask that you join us for one of these trainings. If you would like to participate in worship in this way but cannot make these trainings, please reach out to me and we will find a time to train you.

Happy Easter from your Good Shepherd family! May you be filled with the hope of this day!

Holy Week continues tonight as we walk together through this heartbreaking day in which Jesus gave over his life. Join us as we remember through the sharing of the Passion story.

Holy Week continues tonight as we gather around the table and in worship, remembering the Last Supper. All are invited!

Join us for Holy Week at Good Shepherd:

Palm Sunday
Worship with Palm Procession - Sunday, March 24th at 10:30am

Maundy Thursday
Community Potluck Dinner - Thursday, March 28th @ 6pm
Worship with Communion - Thursday, March 28th @ 7:30pm

Good Friday
Tenebrae Worship Service - Friday, March 29th @ 7pm

Easter Sunday
Breakfast Fellowship - Sunday, March 31st @ 9:30am
Worship - Sunday, March 31st @ 10:30am

All worship services are in-person at Good Shepherd (5930 State Road, Parma 44134) and online at https://cleveland.online.church/ )

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped make our Family Fun Night EASTER Celebration a great time for our kiddos and families alike!

Monday (18th) is this month's Family Fun Night and it's our family Easter celebration!

Join us for dinner, crafts, games, pictures with the Easter Bunny, time with live bunnies, and more!

The evening begins at 5:30pm and is FREE! Friends and family are invited so share the invitation and join us for this fun and meaningful night!

We're a little over a week away from our Lenten Dinner Theater event, "Were You There?"

Join us next Friday (March 22nd) and Saturday (March 23rd) as we partner with Pleasant Hills Church and Ridgewood United Methodist Church for this unique dinner theater experience this Lent. A four-course dinner, live music and a theatrical performance await guests starting at 6:00p.m. and running for approximately 2 hours.

Join us as we venture back around 2,000 years to the days following the passion. We will meet several people along the way as they tell their story of where they were during the events of Holy Week. As we report on the exclusive interviews with these persons we will work to uncover the truth about the events as they unfold through scripture and music.

Tickets are $30 and available at https://wereyouthere.org/

Get your tickets now

The announcement below was made by our SPRC Chair, Ken Skupski, during worship on Sunday, February 18th:

As chair of the SPRC, I have some information to share with the church regarding our pastor and the ministry here at Good Shepherd UMC.

In consultation with our District Superintendents, Rev. Angela Lewis and Rev. Bruce Hitchcock, who consult with both the churches and pastors of our district, effective July 1, 2024, Bishop Tracy Smith Malone intends to appoint the Rev Stephanie Scovell lead pastor of Ridgewood, Good Shepherd, and Pleasant Hills UMCs, and Pastor Allan Georgia Associate Pastor of this new co-operative parish. Please pray for all involved.

From the pastor:
Good Shepherd Family and Friends,

After SPRC’s announcement during worship about this creation of a new cooperative parish to include us, Ridgewood, and Pleasant Hills UMCs with myself serving as the Lead Pastor and Allan Georgia joining us as the full-time Associate Pastor, I wanted to take a moment to answer a few of the questions that have arisen.

I want to begin by addressing what this cooperative parish is not. This is not a merger. None of the three churches will be closing. Each church will continue to have Sunday worship, along with other ministries; we will, however, now be able to share ministry work between the three locations. This will actually allow us to do more and will allow us to spread both the costs and the gifts across the three locations. Given our current financial state and the ever-increasing tightness of our budget, this move to create this cooperative parish (along with the grant money to help carry it out) will allow us to not only continue to have me serve as pastor but actually bring on another team member.

Now, for what this is. The short explanation is this: Good Shepherd will come together with Ridgewood and Pleasant Hills UMCs to form a cooperative parish - 1 church in 3 locations (a bit like the Trinity). We will work together across the church locations to create a shared vision for the work of the church. We will have individual ministries at each location, but we will also have shared ministries - I envision regular gatherings of the whole parish (picnics, events, mission trips, service projects, maybe even worship together in the park when the weather is good).

There are still many pieces to figure out. There are examples of cooperative parishes in our conference and throughout the US that are thriving and I hope we take lessons from them about what did and didn’t work in their journey. I’m also excited because there is flexibility in making this parish into what is needed here and now. There is room for creativity, room for us to look at our gifts and graces, as well as our needs.

This cooperative parish will begin on July 1st. In the meantime, Allan and I will be meeting regularly and working with all 3 SPRCs and leadership members to begin to design this new thing. We want to hit the ground running when we begin.

At the same time, however, we want to give space for Ridgewood and Pleasant Hills UMCs to celebrate the ministry that Rev. Karen has done there and will continue to do there in the coming months and, come summer, say goodbye in a way that honors her and all that she has done.

By coming together in this new way, we will be able to extend our vision for the ministry that is possible. With financial and other support from the district and conference, we have the opportunity to maintain our unique identity as Good Shepherd while also bringing the gifts and passions of all 3 churches together in a way that I believe will make a larger impact in our lives and in the community we serve.

I’m excited about this opportunity to partner together. I can’t wait to see the impact we can have in both the local churches and in the community we serve as we bring the people, their gifts, and the identities of all three churches together as 1 church in 3 locations!

With love and excitement,
Rev. Stephanie Scovell,
Pastor Good Shepherd UMC

Good Shepherd's Youth Group will have their monthly meet-up THIS Sunday after worship.

Friends are welcome!