Small Groups

At Berwyn, we recognize the importance of small groups in building relationships within a congregation and sharing life with a community of Christians. These groups are open to anyone, whether they are members of Berwyn UMC or not. We invite those interested to come and participate.




Book Club
The BUMC Book Club meets at 7:30 pm in homes of the members. Each attendee is responsible for reading the book (obtain by purchasing or borrowing from the library) and for contacting the host/hostess for that month. The host/hostess will have the meeting at his/her house and will supply a dessert and beverage. The leader opens the discussion with author information and questions about the book. Everyone is invited to join at anytime throughout the year. If you have questions, please contact Marge Smink at 610-613-9797.
Click Here for the Book Club's Schedule


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Supper Club
Over sixty adults, singles and couples from the church, meet about once a month in groups of 8 to 10 people and enjoy some fun activity of their choosing. It's great, informal fellowship to get to know those we nod to at church but with whom we never really get acquainted. Each group meets for four months and then switches to form a new group....

It doesnt even have to be supper. Try brunch or lunch, or a picnic. Go downtown to ride a duck, or wander through Longwood Gardens or toe tap to a string band. Sing along with an Irish tenor waiter at Victor's Restaurant or, on a cold winter night, enjoy a bowl of homemade chili and apple pie. It's up to each group to plan the activities....

Would you like to join in this fun activity and get better acquainted with people in the church? Anyone who has not participated in the past, please call Sally Robie at 610-644-6631. She coordinates the small groups and there is a place for you....

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United Methodist Women - Lydia Cirlce
Lydia Circle is our United Methodist Women's Group that seeks to know God and experience freedom as whole persons in Jesus Christ: to develop a creative supportive fellowship and to expand concepts of mission through participation in the global ministries of the church. Lydia Circle meets regularly throughout the year.

All women of the church were invited to our opening meeting , Sunday September 9th. We began in the Parlor with a Salad Dinner (potluck style). 

If you have any questions about the United Methodist Women or the Lydia Circle, please do not hesitate to ask. More information can be attained by calling the church office or Amy Dwyer at (610) 789-8118 or Perthenia@mac.com. Click for more information about the United Methodist Women.

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Wednesday Bible Study
Wednesday mornings at 11:30 am in the parlor. Bring bag lunches so that we may have table fellowship afterwards.

Study Topic: Paul’s Epistle to Titus followed in the New Year by a study from Malachi led by Pastor Phil Poncé.

Bible Study Schedule, 2006-2007

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Drug and Alcohol Recovery Team (DART)
The Drug and Alcohol Recovery Team is a support ministry that exists to provide education with focus on prevention, early intervention, referral assistance and support for recovery in a confidential, accepting and healing environment.  DART provides support for recovering addicts and facilitates awareness of drug and alcohol abuse and the under-lying issues that are the contributing factors to this disease.

Contacts:

Disciple Bible Study
The DISCIPLE Bible Study program is designed to develop a ministering community nourished by disciplined reading of the scriptures. Disciple Bible Study will meet on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of every month at 7:15 PM in the Library.

This Fall, the program titled "Remember Who You Are" is the third study of the DISCIPLE program. It answers the questions of the Prophets and Paul: What are life's priorities? What are society's priorities? What does God require of God's people? "Remember Who You Are" follows the familiar format of daily Scripture reading and group discussions. It follows the model of the covenant group of Jesus and the Twelve.

New members are always welcome. Pastor Poncé, Nancy Atchison, Jennie Scudder-Levin, and Elaine Parvin will be teaching.

Disciple Schedule, 2006-2007
Contact: Nancy Atcheson or Elaine Parvin

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Widow and Widowers Group
The Widows and Widowers Group meets monthly for a time of fellowship and conversation during a meal at PattyMac's Cafe in Berwyn:

Pastor Poncé begins the meeting with a short devotion and prayer. The group meets monthly, on the first Monday of each month:

 

Contact Pat White at
610-644-8786 for more information.

Pattymac's Cafe
814 Lancaster Ave,
Berwyn, PA
(610) 644-8275
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Church And Society
The Church and Society Task Force is open to all. It's purpose is to find ways to help each member of the congregation find their voice in these issues that mean the most to them. We encourage members of the congregation interested in issues of social justice to join us.

"United Methodist Book of Discipline 1996, Section IV. General Board of Church and Society 1002. Purpose - The purpose of the board shall be to relate the gospel of Jesus Christ to the members of the Church and to the persons and structures of the communities and world in which they live. It shall seek to bring the whole of human life, activities, possessions, use of resources, and community and world relationships into conformity with the will of God. It shall show the members of the Church and the society that the reconciliation that God effected through Christ involves personal, social, and civic righteousness."

Get political!
Make a difference by writing your legislator.

Current Issues of Interest
Pennsylvania's Education Crisis: Children at Risk
Fair Trade practices, also, the UMCOR Fair Trade site
Global Climate Change

Movies that Make You Think
The Church and Society Task Force is hosting a series of movies that raise awareness of important social issues.
  • Saturday, January  12th: The Price of Sugar 

    This documentary profiles the courageous Father Christopher Hartley, a Spanish priest who travels to the Dominican Republic to stop a modern-day slavery operation. Thousands of Haitian men are forced to work in inhumane conditions to harvest sugar cane for obscenely rich sugar barons. Standing up in the face of multiple death threats, Father Hartley bravely teaches these dispossessed workers to stand up for themselves and improve their lives.

 

  • Saturday, February  9th: The Days of Wine and Roses 

    American Academy Award-winning film released in 1962 and directed by Blake Edwards. The movie was executive produced by Martin Manulis, with original music by Henry Mancini. The picture stars Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford, Jack Klugman, and others. The film tells of two everyday and seemingly normal Americans who succumb to alcoholism and how they deal with their problem.

 

 

 

  • Saturday, March 8th: Freedom Writers  

    True story and the diaries of real Long Beach, California teenagers. Set in and around Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California from 1994-1998, two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank stars as English teacher Erin Gruwell. At first, the children are very unfriendly to Gruwell, but she encourages them, and lets them write a diary. All of the diary entries in the film are true and all have been written by the children.

 

 

  • Saturday, April 12th: Power of Forgiveness 

    Stories about the Amish, the 9/11 tragedy, and peace-building in Northern Ireland, along with interviews with renowned Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel, best-selling authors Thomas Moore and Marianne Williamson, and others. It explores the role forgiveness holds in various faith traditions and examines how the scientific community is now measuring the physical and mental benefits of letting go of grief and resentment .

 

  • Saturday, May 10th: King Corn 

    Best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America’s most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat—and how we farm.

 

  • Saturday, June 14th: Amazing Grace 

    Ioan Gruffudd (Black Hawk Down) plays William Wilberforce, who, as a Member of Parliament, navigated the world of 18th Century backroom politics to end the slave trade in the British Empire. Albert Finney plays John Newton, a confidante of Wilberforce who inspires him to pursue a life of service to humanity. Benedict Cumberbatch is William Pitt the Younger, England's youngest ever Prime Minister at the age of 24, who encourages his friend Wilberforce to take up the fight to outlaw slavery and supports him in his struggles in Parliament.

 


If your have questions or interest, contact Amy Dwyer, Perthenia@mac.com

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Craft Group
Two BUMC Craft Groups meet weekly in the Arts Room (off church Lobby on south side, door nearest steps to long hall).
  • Monday at 10:00 a.m. - contact person is Helen Landeck
  • Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. - contact person is Judy Fisk
Anyone who is interested in doing crafts, who has ideas for crafts, or who would like to join the fun is welcome. Please come and join a group at any time. The crafters create items to sell primarily around holiday time (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter)

The crafters thank the many people who have supported their craft sales in the past. Recently these sales have enabled them to make the following donations:
  • $100 to the Appalachia Service Project for the biennial youth mission trip to Appalachia
  • $400 to the Domestic Violence Center of Chester County, located in West Chester
  • $1,000 to the New Day Building Program at BUMC
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Men's Fellowship
The Men's Fellowship group meets for breakfast at the church every 2nd Saturday of the month at 8:00 am. Breakfast is served and a speaker then usually gives a presentation. All boys and men of all ages are welcome.

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Prayer Shawl Ministry

The Prayer Shawl Ministry is an outreach ministry evolving from the Fine Arts Committee and the Prayer Chain.

Prayer shawls are made by the members of the group, dedicated, and given to individuals who need to feel surrounded by a sense of God's love and faithfulness.

Like the prayer chain, the prayer shawls carry the message of the importance of intercessory prayer to each of us.

At the meeting on November 20, Pastor Barbara Emery led the group in the dedication and consecration of 8 prayer shawls.

Those who have received these shawls have been uplifted and affirmed, as if given wings to fly above their troubles.

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