Do you have an announcement for the Newsletter? Submit your announcement to the office by noon on Thursday. Announcements received after the deadline will be printed the following week. Announcements run between 1-3 weeks.
Our Local Mennonite Schools
Bethany Christian Schools
Bethany Christian High School will present
Pride and Prejudice, November 22-24. This fun and fast-paced romantic comedy follows Elizabeth Bennett and her family and friends as they journey through life and love together in 18th century England. Tickets are on sale now ($12 for adults and $8 for students) and can be
reserved online or purchased by calling the office, 534-2567.
Goshen College
The Goshen College Theater Department will present the family-friendly romantic comedy play “Almost, Maine” on November 23 at 7:30 p.m. and November 24 at 2:30 p.m. in Goshen College’s Umble Center. Tickets are $10 general admission, $5 students/seniors/GC employees. Tickets can be purchased in advance through the Goshen College Box Office by contacting (574) 535-7566 or
online. Tickets can also be purchased at the Umble Center box office one hour before the show. Berkey attender
Alex Miller is doing costuming for the production.
Katie Rogers, a White House correspondent for The New York Times and an Elkhart native, will present a Yoder Public Affairs lecture titled “Covering the White House in an Age of Misinformation, Mistruths and Mistrust” on Monday, November 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Goshen College’s Umble Center. This lecture is free and open to the public.
Goshen College will again present
A Festival of Carols, the annual Christmas music extravaganza and one of the most highly-anticipated concerts of the year, on December 6 and 7 at 7:30 p.m., and December 8 at 4:00 p.m. The concert will feature performances by the Goshen College Choirs, Goshen College Symphony Orchestra and special guests, interspersed with audience singing and readings. Tickets are $16 and can be purchased
online or through the Goshen College Box Office.
Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS)
Try out the Anabaptist Prayer App for Advent. Let Jesus’ words pervade your day through morning and evening prayer services with a distinctive Anabaptist flavor. The free, easy-to-navigate Anabaptist Prayer App covers Advent through Pentecost as well as Ordinary Time and is available for iPhone or Android.
The AMBS Bookstore is offering special discounts to shoppers — both online and in store — just in time for your Christmas shopping. From November 29 to December 2, enjoy 15 percent off all books (excludes bargain/clearance books) and 10 percent off other merchandise such as apparel, chocolate, coffee and more.
Shop the AMBS bookstore online. Use the promo codes BlackFridayBooks and BlackFridayMerch at checkout to receive your discount.
Our Mennonite Institutions (local events)
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
Get involved with something big—record-breaking big! Help touch the lives of people in need while celebrating MCC's 100th anniversary. MCC is attempting to collect 6,500 comforters to deliver to people affected by conflict and disaster around the world. They need your help to reach the goal by January 18.
Read how you can get involved.
Our Mennonite Institutions (at large)
Mennonite Church USA
"Waiting and Wondering," this year’s
Advent At Home booklet for families and people of all ages, is available now.
Mennonite Creation Care
Participants at Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis, Minn., created an "eco tree" to challenge themselves to focus on the human impact on their region. During the yearlong theme, pews contained blank leaves where people recorded caring actions they took.
Read more.
Mennonite World Conference
The image of Dirk Willems reaching back to rescue his pursuer from the ice is iconic for Anabaptists. But just as powerful are more recent – and more diverse – stories of Anabaptists who live out peace and reconciliation in ordinary but sacrificial ways as they follow Jesus today.
Read more.
Community Announcements
Vesper Chorale Concert
Come Ye Thankful People - A Concert for Thanksgiving will be November 23, 2019 7:30 p.m. at Kern Road Mennonite Church in South Bend and on November 24, 3:00 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Middlebury. Vesper Chorale will explore the themes of the Thanksgiving season celebrating the iconic holiday with traditional American music.
Learn more and purchase tickets.
Goshen Community Chorale Concert
The fall performance of the Goshen Community Chorale will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday evening, November 24, at the First Presbyterian Church on Lincoln Avenue in Goshen. The theme for this event is “English Cathedral Music,” for which the Chorale will be accompanied by organ and brass. Music by Purcell, Holst, Vaughan Williams and several others will be featured. The program will also include madrigals of Morley and Gibbons. There is no cost, but a free-will collection will be taken.
Pathways Retreat
You are invited for
Advent Visio Divina at Pathways Retreat (309 1/2 Hackett Rd, Goshen). Facilitated by artist and spiritual director, Sylvie Gudin, this spiritual practice of praying with our eyes invites us to notice, connect, discern, and respond, to be surprised and transformed by God who is never limited or tied to any image, but yet speaks through them. Wednesdays, November 27, December 4, 11, 18, 8:00-8:30 a.m.
Learn more.
First Friday at The Window
The First Friday meal at The Window on December 6 is hosted by Faith Mennonite church, 4:30 - 7:00 p.m. The menu includes two Salvadoran bean & cheese pupusas, cabbage salad & salsa, Central American rice pudding, juice or water. The suggested donation is $9. All proceeds benefit The Window and its programs.
Classifieds
Have something to sell, rent or lend? Want to buy or borrow something? Looking for a job or wanting to volunteer? This is the place to have it be known!
Rhyme & Reason Ministry, Inc in South Bend, an agency that provides services to those with disabilities, is having a Christmas Tree Raffle as a fundraiser. Tickets are $10 each and the trees are 6 ft fresh cut evergreens with lights included. The drawing will take place on Friday, December 6, and twenty trees will be given away. You need not be present to win and delivery is available. See
Sherry Wenger for details.
Yoder Insurance (A Division of Hummel Group) in Shipshewana, IN is looking to expand with a full-time Personal Risk Advisor. Personal Risk Advisors are responsible for helping clients manage their risk through the use of insurance strategies.
Learn more.
Berkey Announcements
We need a few new offering counters. This is one of the easiest jobs in the church. 1) It takes very little of your time. 2) You never have to go to a committee meeting. 3) You can avoid potentially awkward conversations during the coffee break. If you're interested, contact Missy Kauffman Schrock.
Did you capture some great photos at the retreat? If you would like to share them with the congregation, you may post them on the Getting-to-Know board in the Fellowship Hall. Blue tape is available to mount your photo. You will find the tape on the shelf under the mailboxes. Alternatively, email your photos to Jenny Hooley in the office. She will print and post them for you.
Our last tenant at 2610 Berkey Avenue will be moving out of the house Saturday, November 23. There are several appliances and other items that need to be cleaned before we rent to new tenants. We are scheduling a work time on Monday, November 25, 8:30 a.m. to get it ready for new tenants. 
The Barahonas are hosting a meal at Berkey for anyone who doesn't have plans for Thanksgiving. It will be a low-key potluck style and anyone is welcome. If you know of people in your places of employment, neighborhoods, friend circles, etc, who do not have Thanksgiving plans, invite them! We will gather around 5:00 p.m. 
Missing the Goods? Find their new address and other contact information on the 
If a decision is made to cancel church because of severe weather, we will inform you via email, by posting on the closings section of the WNDU website, and by an announcement on Facebook. In general, we will try to make a decision no later than 8:15 a.m.
The office will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, November 28. On Friday, November 29, the pastors will be available by phone but will not be in the office. Jenny Hooley, Communications & Office Manager, will be in the office with reduced hours. If you plan to stop by the church, you may wish to call before coming.
Head on over to our Facebook page for a photographic collection of our early history -- complete with difficult to recognize building features, incredible hairstyles and clothing, and who knows what else we will dig up! Play along and see if you can spot anybody you know, and don't forget to like our page if you haven't already!
Do you have an announcement for the Newsletter? Submit your announcement to the office by noon on Thursday. Announcements received after the deadline will be printed the following week. Announcements run between 1-3 weeks.
Sunday School Classes will not meet on December 1, 22, and 29.
Children's program during Worship, December 15.
The church retreat, November 15- 17, was a fun and meaningful time for us. We played, laughed, ate meals, and worshiped together. We give a special thanks to Vanessa Adcock, Patrick Buller, and Naomi Kern who planned the event.
Berkey owns a Church Video License (CVLI) to show select movies in church. If you plan to show a video or movie, 
We will have communion and will welcome Mike & Heidi McHugh and Bob & Mag Richer Smith as members.
