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Category Archives: Get Involved!

Coming Soon!

 

Please join us on Saturday, March 7 from 9:30 to 3:00 PM at Pender United Methodist Church for a powerful women’s retreat enabling you an opportunity to engage in corporate and individual worship and prayer.

The retreat is designed to bring women together for spiritual growth, personal reflection, and fellowship. The retreat Unshakable Faith will offer two powerful sermons, workshops, and a healing and anointment service that addresses, hope, healing, renewal, and overcoming doubt to stand firm in the midst of your trials.



Narcotics Anonymous, founded in 1953, is a “nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem.”

Similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, this will be part of Pender’s Recovery Ministry

Our vision is that one day every addict in the world has the chance to experience our message in their own language and culture and find the opportunity for a new way of life.

Needed:

  • Prayer Warriors … Pray for the support team. Pray for those fighting their addictions.
  • Support Team… Sign up to welcome and be available on a Monday evening.

Alpha Youth!

Unpack the basics of the Christian faith together. No pressure. No judgement. Just open conversation over some good food. That’s it. Come along, see what you think.

Adults, we need you!

  • Facilitator.
  • Assistant.
  • Meal prep.
  • Prayer leader.

This is a week-long hands-on mission trip for middle to high school teenagers that introduces the youth to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ through missional living, confronting issues of social justice, and completion of a hands-on project in Philippi, West Virginia.

Adult volunteers are also needed to assist and support the youth.

This year’s trip begins Saturday July 17, 2026


Get ready to turn your next summer VBS into an unforgettable adventure with Snowball Mountain Challenge VBS 2026!

Snowball Mountain Challenge invites kids to an exciting winter sports event where they become Challengers, gearing up for frosty games, snowy surprises, and hands-on lessons about resilience and faith. They will come to realize that with the strength God provides, they can share their gifts, be brave, give their all, pray, and hope.

Your kids will be guided daily by the energetic Activities Director and the lovable Ollie the Arctic Seal puppet, who is reporting on the events. Challengers aren’t just playing games. Using their Challenge Companion (the Bible), they learn to draw strength from their faith through powerful stories, while connecting the learnings to Bible Stories and Lift Lessons (Key Learnings). With a unique winter theme and solid theology at its core, Snowball Mountain Challenge VBS delivers joy and meaning in equal measure, teaching kids that “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13, NRSV).

Bring your church family together to experience Snowball Mountain Challenge. Your VBS program will be transformed into a mountaintop experience filled with laughter, life lessons, and lasting faith. As children face their challenges and discover their strength in God, you’ll hear them say, “Challenge accepted – with God I am strong.”

 

 

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Pender’s Mini Free Pantry

Pender’s Mini Food Pantry: A Small Space with a Big Mission

The Pender Mini Food Pantry is officially open and ready to serve our community! This little structure—built as an Eagle Scout Project by one of Pender’s Boy Scouts—is a beautiful example of service, compassion, and creativity.

At first glance, it looks a lot like a Little Free Library, but instead of books, it’s stocked with nonperishable food for anyone in need. It’s a simple yet powerful way to share kindness and nourishment in our neighborhood.

📍 Location:
You’ll find the pantry at 12301 Alder Woods Drive, Fairfax, VA 22033—coming from Route 50, it’s the second driveway on the left into Pender, right beside the sidewalk.

🥫 What’s Inside:
As of this writing, the pantry is filled with a wide variety of items, including:

  • Canned tuna, chicken, chili, and soup
  • Broth, vegetables, pumpkin, and apple sauce
  • Shelf-stable milk, peach slices, mandarin oranges, and individual fruit packs
  • Jello, pudding cups, mac and cheese servings, and mashed potatoes
  • Coffee, oatmeal, ketchup, gravy packets, and cooking oil

It’s truly a community effort—and every contribution helps keep it going.

💜 How to Help:
Anyone is welcome to take what they need or to donate food items to keep the pantry stocked. When you give, please remember our guiding principle:

Give with dignity. Donate items you’d feel comfortable using yourself.

✝️ A Reflection

In Matthew 14:19–20, Jesus blesses a few loaves and fishes and feeds thousands—reminding us that God multiplies our small acts of generosity into abundance for all.

The Pender Mini Food Pantry is one small basket among many, but together, we can feed both body and spirit in the name of Christ.

 
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Posted by on November 29, 2025 in food insecurity, Get Involved!, Pender UMC

 

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Veterans Day

honoring-heroes

The observance of Veterans Day, Nov. 11, began almost a century ago.

In the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Allied nations and Germany declared an armistice – a temporary cessation of hostilities – in World War I. Commemorated as Armistice Day the next year, Nov. 11 became a legal federal holiday in the United States in 1938. After World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became Veterans Day, a holiday dedicated to U.S. veterans of all wars.

Now is the perfect time for congregations to engage in ministry with active troops and the families left behind.

Click here for 20 ideas.

 

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Scouting for Food, Troop 1530

Pender’s Boy Scout Troop 1530
If anyone wants to donate food they can drop it off at the church parking lot next Saturday. We will be there from 9 – 10AM.
 
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Posted by on November 7, 2025 in Get Involved!, Pender UMC

 

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Food Insecurity: WegmansWednesday

 

It’s a #WegmansWednesday.

Did you know that anytime you shop at Wegmans thru November 29, you can participate in “Checkout Hunger” and your donations at checkout will benefit WFCM and the families we serve.

Thank you for being a #CaringConnection!

 
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Posted by on November 5, 2025 in food insecurity, Get Involved!, Pender UMC

 

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