Welcome to a faith filled church practicing a religion filled with grace
Searching for a place where you'll feel loved, inspired, and challenged? Then H.U.M.C. may be for you. Come check us out!
One Church- Two Services
Our Church
A church can be an intimidating place. We want you to know you're welcome here. Hospitality is a big thing for us. We want to to assist you with any questions you may have.
I want to personally invite you to come experience God's presence at Hartford UMC. Our goal is to impact the world we live in by making disciples. We do that by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Come and be a part of life at Hartford United Methodist Church.
In Jesus name, Pastor Doug
On-Line Service on YouTube
I you do feel comfortable with in person services yet, please join us Sunday morning on Facebook at The Bridge at Hartford UMC.
10:00 A.M. service
The 10:00 a.m. service is an indoor, in-person worship service in the sanctuary. Also it is live streamed on our Facebook page.
Gifts and Giving
Your support and contributions will enable us to further our mission as a church.
You can give through PayPal below,
Venmo ( www.venmo.com/u/TheBridgeat-HartfordUMC ),
Give+ app on your phone,
Square (https://square.link/u/1i9QaxSk )
or your bill pay at your financial institution
January Sermon Scriptures
How Great is God's Love - January 23rd
Where do you Find Comfort? January 16th
Where do you Find Comfort? January 16th
3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
(1 John 3:1-10)
Where do you Find Comfort? January 16th
Where do you Find Comfort? January 16th
Where do you Find Comfort? January 16th
Praise to the God of All Comfort
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
(2 Corinthians 1: 3-11)
Be Doers of the Word- January 9th
New Year - New Beginning January 2
New Year - New Beginning January 2
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
James 1:19-25
New Year - New Beginning January 2
New Year - New Beginning January 2
New Year - New Beginning January 2
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
(Isaiah 43:18-19)
Missions
Our Church Missions
Our church is mission minded. We have been involved with Cooperative Food Pantry, The Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen, and recently we have taken on the mission of the Weekend Backpacks for our local elementary students.
Cooperating Ministries
The Cooperating Ministries Food Pantry is made up several churches in the area that works together to provide food for those in need. It is housed here at Hartford United Methodist Church. They distribute food every Thursday from 4 pm - 7 p.m. They are able to provide the food because they get generous donations from many people in our town, the Pokagon Fund has awarded them grants, The Four Winds Casino also helps out at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, Catholic Charities also donates food to the food pantry, along with many of our local farms will give produce and fresh fruit when they are able to. They have been lucky to get donations from Burnett packing and the local Harding's store as well.
Backpack Mission
The Backpack Mission project is in need of funding. If you can help we would appreciate it. The Backpack Mission was developed and created because many of our teachers and administrators saw that some of our children did not have enough food in their homes on the weekends when school was not in session. We have a group of volunteers that pack up the bags and deliver them to the school on Friday so that the students can take them home on Friday. They provide food for breakfast and either lunch or supper for those two days. We have been extremely blessed by those who support this program: The Pokagon Fund, The Hartford Foundation for a Quality Education, Burnett Packing, The Hartford United Methodist Church Mission Team, and local individuals who contribute money so that we can purchase what we need through Feed America. We have also received help through feed the children on occasion as well.
Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen
We have been involved with the Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen for years. Our church provides a meal down at the kitchen on the 5th Sunday of the month. This means we serve the kitchen 4-5 times per year depending on the calendar. During the pandemic we had to resort to sack lunches but prior we would provide a full course hot meal with all of the fixings. Our team looks forward to getting back to preparing meals down at the Soup Kitchen once the pandemic restrictions are lifted.
Photo Gallery
Even on a cold snowday from school are teams are hard at work filling backpacks for the students at school.
This is Team 1 filling backpacks on their snow day on 1.6.22 Without our three teams we would be lost and these backpacks would not be filled.
Hartford Public Schools High School School did their stuff the bus campaign on November 18th
Several students were on hand to help bring in all that they collected
The students from the National Honor Society and Student Council were the ones in charge
The students were excited about the amount of food they had collected
Dave Janicki, the high school principal, explained that the students really enjoy helping out the community.
The students were allowed to be out of school because they are in the National Honor Society.
Even the head of transportation for the school was here to help bring everything in.
Not only food was given but even baby diapers were given as a donation.
It took the students several trips to get everything out of the bus and the pickup that was loaded down
The volunteers of the food pantry started to sort all of the can goods
The Students food drive was a great success
The Hartford Public High School did a great job collecting food for the Food Pantry
And they should lead us to our next destination.
The group walking to our last spot.
Watching out for us as we each speak as we feel led.
A good time by our group as we walked from the church to the fire department, police department and the school.
Our group at the school praying for the school employees.
Pastor Doug leading us a prayer at the school.
Even Pumpkin joined us for the walk.
Janet getting the drinks ready for this afternoon
Lisa Buddemeier and Maxine Melvin dishing up the beans
Lisa still dishing up the beans
Myra cutting the cakes.
Ready for outdoor dining.
More out door dining
Silent Auction items
More silent auction items
More silent auction items
More silent auction items
even more silent auction items.
The Church's flowers along the drive away.
The Church's flowers in the spring of 2021
Spring flowers
The flowers on the corner of the driveway.
Karen Williams cleaning the Memory garden
The flowers we planted last November in Memory of those who passed are coming up just in time for Palm Sunday & Easter.
What a wonderful tradition and honor to those who have been here before us.
This way their memory will be with us every time we see the flowers in bloom.
When they are in full bloom they will be gorgeous. Thank you again to Becky and Larry Woodley for planting these lasting memories.
Food Truck came for a visit on March 4, 2021
We served over 166 families
That means we gave out 9316 pounds of food
We are very grateful for Feed America and for all of the volunteers that helped to make this a successful give away.
The winter clothing drive for the last two weeks was a great success.
Pastor Stephanie, Nick McGlothin, and Brittany Vanlandingham delivered the coats and winter gear to the Gospel Mission
Packing the cars with the winter took some skill.
With the donations that came in we were able to purchase even more items
We appreciate Miller Thermometer for their help in supplying these materials.
The Backpack Mission received a $2,700 grant from the Pokagon Fund.
Cooperating Ministries gave out over 230 boxes of food on December 17th.
And hopefully every year afterwards the memory of our love ones will continue to bloom for us to enjoy. The bulbs were planted in memory of the following people: Jim Brummit; Jean Walker; Bob Kling; Genevieve Conklin; Shirley Anchor; Richard"Dick"Smith; Bonna Vanderlyn; Helen Norden. Also other's that passed Matthew Efting, The mother of Dan Fitch
So Larry and Becky Woodley took the morning and planted them in our memory garden.
They worked with the Catholic Services, Hartford Lions Club
Also Hartford Hardings
and the Pokagon Fund.
They had people lined up starting at 1:30 and went until
7:00 p.m. Thursday night.
We continue to supply food to families of our youth at Redwood Elementary School for the weekend.
Instead of cut carnations for All Saint's Day it was decided that we plant bulbs in memory of those who passed this past year.
So in the spring we will have a constant memory of those who passed.
All Saint's day - Nov 1st -
Social Distancing but a good service.
Pastor Stephanie on Nov. 1st
Preparing for the Food Pantry distribution on October 29th.
The last few weeks we have had between 60-75 families each week.
The Cooperating ministries team had to restock after last weeks distribution.
Unloading the truck so that we can get ready for this week's distribution.
Oct. 28th the last tailgate get together with Joanne Evans as the host.
Even though it was a typical fall day for Michigan the spirits of these church family members were happy.
It was great how everyone chips in and brings the snacks and enjoys each others company.
It will be great when they can worship together this Sunday Nov. 1st inside for the first time.
The group gathered together for coffee and conversation.
It was a pleasant morning for everyone to enjoy a few minutes together.
Rev Wayne and many others enjoyed the time to just chat and reconnect over some yummy snacks.
Our hostess(Joanna Evans) finally taking a break to enjoy some food and conversation.
Our hostess - Joanne Evans
Pam Ward making her selection of homemade snacks by Joanne and Bernice Lightner.
Bernice Rudell and Bernice Lightner enjoying some of the shade
Even the guys enjoyed the break and able to talk with each other.
Pastor Stephanie continues to do her roll of serving others -- but now it is snacks and coffee.
It is great to see people and just catch up with each other.
Moon Flowers in our memory garden.
August 2nd - service
The team figuring out the spacing to bring us in to ADA requuirements.
The finished project looks great.
These gentlemen had it stripped in no time.
new stripping going down.
parking by the west side now has been updated to be ADA compliant
These new four spaces give us more choices for parking for those with disabilities.
Four more handicapped parking spaces in the back by the new ramp.
Black top was redone on July 29 & 30, 2020
Back ramp for easier access to the church and alternative to the steps.
The Electric fireplace gives it a warmer feeling.
With new accents a few pieces of new furniture to bring it together. ( Also paid for with grant money)
A new paint job for the room and hallway -- volunteer labor and using the grant money that we had.
Updated the Social hall using some of our grant money.
Pastor Stephanie accompanying Nick and singing for the service on July 19th.
Nick leading the singing for the service
July 19th - outdoor service
June 28th 7 pm
June 28th 7 pm service
June 28th 7 pm service
Some of the volunteers that worked the food pantry and Feed America Food truck on June 18th
Workers - getting all of the food together as the cars pulled through
Workers planning the process
Ready to distribute the food
Assigning the duties
The crew in full swing-- as cars pull through
Pastor Stephanie and Nick on June 14th Sunday 7 pm Service
June 14th - Worship service
A great turn out for the 7 pm service
It was a beautiful evening
People were happy to be back at service.
What wonderful music -- and sermon
It was a great time
God's beauty
What a change --with a lot of hard work.
Lois and Wayne beautifying the front of the church
Lois and Wayne removing the weeds before making it new again.
Social Hall has been cleaned and waxed
Nursery was cleaned and waxed
Halls were cleaned in preparation of hopefully reopening soon.
Jeff Anchor and Justin Cardenas and crew worked hard to clean our floors.
The Weekend Backpack Project is still serving our community.
Each week we have volunteers who are here on Sunday taking in donations at 12:00 .
The food provides meal for the two days on the weekend for breakfast and supper.
The food is ordered from feed America from monetary donations from you.
Also on Sunday they pack roughly 120-140 bags of food for our school families.
The food is then transported to the school-- again by volunteers on Thursday morning.
we would like to thank these people for their support:
Businesses: Burnette Foods Inc., Richter Insurance, Kellogg Hardware, Mann Metal, L.E. Barber Inc. (Benton Harbor, MI), Pokagon Fund (Pokagon Grant)
Associations: Hartford Foundation for Quality Education(Grant) , Lions Club, United Methodist Church - Greater Southwest Conference (Engage Grant)
Public Institutions: Hartford Public School/Redwood Elementary
Other: Congregational Kitchen (Allegan, Mi).
Pastor Stephanie helping with the food give away on the 21st.
CM food pantry and Feed America Truck give away.
CM food pantry give away
CM food Pantry give away
CM Food Pantry give away on June 21st-- The feed America truck was here as well.
Feed America June 21st Cooperating Ministry Food Pantry give away
Gardening in the prayer garden
Gardening in the prayer garden
Our children in Junior church
Boy Scouts collect food every Tuesday night from 6:30- 7:30 p.m.
Our youth in Junior Church.
Our Backpack Mission when we first started. We are now up to 140 families per week.
The high school students collected food for Cooperating Ministries Food Pantry back in November 2019.
This is the stain glass in our sanctuary that was brought over from the original church.
Feed America Truck was here on April 30, 2020
We gave food out from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
They fed 153 families.