Welcome! Please click on our logo to be re-directed to our new website. Thank you!

2010-08-20T07:34:00.001-04:00

We have a new webpage. Please click here to go to that page.

We have some great news!!!

2010-08-09T09:24:00.000-04:00

Beginning Sunday, September 5th

We will meet at 10:00 a.m.

Fellowship time immediately following the morning service!

We're now meeting in the large room

at Temple Shalom

so we have an amazing space

in which to worship!!!

Throughout the rest of August, we will continue to meet at our usual 5:00 p.m. worship time in the large room at Temple Shalom!!!

Sumertime is Here!

2010-06-14T11:38:00.000-04:00

Summertime is here and we are having a great time at Open Circle at The Villages MCC. The fellowship is great and we are continuing in our "Summer of Blessings"! Want to meet some new folks, come out and enjoy this circle of friends...there is plenty of room and plenty of love to go around...We're waiting for you and we want to say hello! Looking forward to seeing you there this Sunday at 5:00...

God Is So Good!

2010-05-17T02:48:00.000-04:00

Thank you to all of you who made last night so wonderful. We continue to welcome new people every week--isn't it amazing how God is spreading the Good News through Open Circle? We are witnesses to the grace and acceptance that God offers to each of us. Thank you for being such a wonderful part of everything that is happening among us. Got ideas, please share them by emailing Rev. Carol here. Blessings on all of you for the upcoming week!

The move is upon us...

2010-05-10T02:50:00.000-04:00

I cannot begin to tell you how exciting it is for us to be moving to a larger space at Temple Shalom. We now have room to grow and make the wonderful love we share for each other and God available to more and more people. Please reach out and bring your friends. If you are new to Open Circle, let us know what we can do to help you feel at home. We'd love to see you this week for our first worship service at the Temple and our Buffet Reception immediately following. We're looking forward to a great time! Blessings...Rev. Carol

Our worship is growing...

2010-04-19T10:44:00.000-04:00

We had a great time in worship last night and then many of us went to Tierra del Sol for dining and dancing as a group...Rev. Carol and Terri want to thank everyone for their thoughts and warm wishes on our anniversary! We had a great time!

We are continuing to make final plans for our move to Temple Shalom on May 16th. We really need the space and that is wonderful news--

In the meantime, we continue to have great worship and fellowship in the office of our wonderful friend, Peggy Garvin. So, come on out and experience a very special place full of very special people. This week, Shirley Dasher-Strader, our clergy intern, will be preaching...you won't want to miss her words--she has a great heart!

Easter was extra-special this year!

2010-04-05T16:35:00.000-04:00

It was our very first Easter and it was wonderful! Thank you to Lynne and Jessie for their hard work and for hosting the first part of our progressive dinner. Thank you to Sally and Dottie for hosting dessert--it was all great! What a good time we had. Special fellowship and visitors and newcomers to our service made for an exciting day! God is richly blessing Open Circle at The Villages. As an MCC Church Plant, we are moving forward and forming a congregation...come be a part of this exciting journey--all our welcome, bring your friends regardless of their previous faith experiences or their walk of life--we welcome everyone. Blessings! Rev. Carol

EASTER CELEBRATION--IT'S NOT TOO LATE--PLEASE JOIN US

2010-03-29T14:40:00.000-04:00

WE ARE HAVING OUR FIRST ANNUAL EASTER PROGRESSIVE DINNER!!!

Everyone is invited to come and to bring guests who would like to share our joy with our new Open Circle spiritual family! Our celebration will begin Sunday afternoon, April 4th, EASTER, at 2PM, with beverages and appetizers, followed by a sumptuous dinner at 3PM. (This of course includes the clean-up detail afterward.)

At 5 p.m we will have a special Easter Worship at Garvin Financial Group where we are currently meeting... PLEASE KNOW THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRESSIVE DINNER TO COME TO THE SERVICE--WE WELCOME YOU TO PARTICIPATE IN WHATEVER WAY WORKS FOR YOU!

After all this excitement we will then depart for Sally and Dottie's for our dessert and coffee to end a beautiful day of both celebration and fellowship. What mix could be better! And to share this with those still undecided about joining our Open Circle could only make it a richer and more rewarding experience!

PLEASE LET OUR ORGANIZER AND HOST FOR DINNER KNOW ASAP IF YOU ARE COMING--Please click here to email Lynne and let her know how many are coming and what you are bringing. Questions, feel free to email me (click here) for more information. Looking forward to seeing you...Rev. Carol

Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter is Upon Us!

2010-03-26T09:02:00.001-04:00

We have so much to be grateful for at Open Circle...we are growing in number, but, more importantly, we are growing as a family who enjoys spending time together in worship and fellowship. I am excited to see how our Easter Progressive Dinner turns out...I know it will be great fun and surrounding our Easter worship with fellowship opportunities was a great idea. Thank you, Lynne! If you have not yet heard the details of our Easter plans: Easter Dinner at Lynne Mc's starting at 2 (eat at 3)--then worship at Open Circle at 5 and then dessert at Sally and Dottie's. If you would like to know more, please email me. Looking forward to Spring at Open Circle!!! Rev. Carol

We had a great time last night in worship!

2010-03-08T08:16:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our visitors and guests. We hope you enjoyed your evening at Open Worship--we loved having you. We are continuing to grow and reach new folks--thanks to all our members who are reaching out and inviting others. Thank you to Barb Plenz for special music. Watch for some exciting news about fellowship opportunities. Thank you to Lynne who has agreed to organize some of these events. Our informal Advisory Board met last week to begin to discuss some planning for Open Circle. We will post the minutes from those meetings so that all can have access to them. Again, thank you to all of you who have stepped forward to provide leadership along the way on our journey. Blessings! Rev. Carol

Wow! It's March 1st...

2010-03-01T10:05:00.000-05:00

March is here and the weather (today!) is beautiful. What a wonderful time to get active in Open Circle Worship or come back if you've been away. It was great to see so many of you at Open Circle last evening! We are in out Lenten Sermon Series, studying spiritual disciplines that will enrich our faith walk during Lent and beyond. Yesterday, we spoke about prayer and you can find that sermon by clicking here. Next week we will be looking at Forgiveness (a challenging topic for all of us). I hope you will find time this week to join us for worship at Open Circle. We are growing and beginning to make plans for the future. Come, be a part of creating a 'new thing'. Blessings! Rev. Carol

Welcome to Folks from Leesburg and beyond...

2010-02-19T15:41:00.000-05:00

We know that several of you will have received our newsletter from one of our friends in Orlando. We're glad that you are interested and hope that you will join us for worship this Sunday evening at 5:00 p.m. We meet in the lobby of Garvin Financial Group while we are looking for larger space. Detailed directions are found towards the bottom of this webpage. If you need assistance with the directions, please email me, or call me at 352-753-0260. Welcome to Open Circle!

Thank you Peggy and Wendy!

2010-02-15T18:48:00.000-05:00

Thank you Peggy and Wendy for opening your space to us and for all your work in getting things ready. We had a great time and had more new members. For those of you who have not yet joined us, we hope you will use Lent as a time for preparation for Easter and come and worship with us. See the top of the blog for directions to our new location. Come on out and check out Open Circle Worship.

Thank you to Genette and Noreen for hosting the first weeks of Open Circle...

2010-02-08T17:12:00.000-05:00

Dear Genette and Noreen: Thank you so much for being our gracious hosts as we gathered for our first steps towards our call to establish an MCC here in The Villages. You made us feel welcome and comfortable. Thank you for the significant roles you continue to play as we move forward. Thank you for holding onto the dream of an MCC in The Villages until now. Open Circle will always remember. Your friends at Open Circle

We're making new friends each week!

2010-01-25T18:16:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our mailing list to all those who added their names at the Rainbow Family Business Expo! We had a great time getting to know more of the Family and sharing about Open Circle. We are continuing to meet in the home of Genette and Noreen and looking for a larger place to meet as we go along. We hope that you will continue to spread the word about Open Circle and bring your friends on Sunday night at 5 p.m. We will meet again for worship and communion this week. Bring your voice and your enthusiasm. We're having a great time singing and worshipping together.

Thank you to Rev. Elder Lillie Brock

2010-01-18T10:00:00.001-05:00

We had such a wonderful time last night, getting to know one another and fellowshipping with Rev. Elder Lillie Brock. We are so grateful for all she had to share with us and for who she is. Her enthusiasm for what we are doing was contagious. We are continuing weekly worship gatherings and home that you will invite others to come along with you. We have plenty of room and will move to a larger space as attendance grows. Don't forget to stop by our table at the Rainbow Family and Friends Business and Services Expo this Saturday. We will be there spreading the news about Open Circle and inviting our "family and friends" to join us for worship and for planning for the growth of an MCC Church in TV. Our first worship service showed us just how special our group really is! Thank you for being a part of such a wonderful adventure. See you next week! Rev. Carol

What a great first meeting we had!!!

2010-01-05T07:01:00.002-05:00

Thank you to Genette and Noreen for inviting us into their home on January 3rd. We had over 30 folks in attendance and the spirit and energy were wonderful. We are well on our way to establishing an MCC Congregation in The Villages. We have moved our meeting time to 5:00 p.m. particularly in the Winter when it gets dark early and outside activities come to an end sooner. Our next meeting will be on Sunday, January 17th at 5:00 p.m. again at Noreen and Genette's unless we secure a meeting place before then. We will have a very special guest: Rev. Elder Lillie Brock, our MCC Regional Elder will be joining us to learn about what we want to do and to share with us some of what MCC is doing around the world. For those of you unfamiliar with MCC churches, our Regional Elder is elected by the delegates from all the churches at conferences. They are responsible for many aspects of the leadership of the denomination and are spiritual and pastoral resources to all the MCC churches in their region. This is a very special opportunity and God has blessed us by sending Rev. Elder Lillie to us so early in our journey. We hope that you will come and be a part of this very special gathering as we will worship, share communion, and fellowship.

First Meeting of Open Circle--Meet and Greet on January 4th

2009-12-23T15:18:00.001-05:00

Announcement from Genette Heinz and Noreen Cherry:

Our Villages Rainbow Family has been blessed by Rev. Carol Chambers-Rawling's desire to minister to "family" in The Villages. Carol is presently one of the pastors at Joy MCC in Orlando, and she and her partner, Terri Rawlings, are moving to the Village of Springdale in The Villages in April. Therefore, we are going to have a greet and meet gathering at the home of Genette Heinz and Noreen Cherry to discuss such a ministry. Our goal is to have everyone meet Carol and Terri, along with Shirley & Jenn Dasher-Strader. Shirley is a clergy in training and wants to use this opportunity to complete her field training. A feasibility study has been completed and will be presented to UFMCC in the hopes that we will plant an MCC church here in The Villages in the near future. We will begin meeting for worship early in the New Year. The name we have chosen for our services is Open Circle, and we would love to have all those interested come and be a part of that circle.

Jan. 3, 2010
6:00 p.m.
1431 Duncan Drive
Village of Virginia Trace
Light beverages will be served
Bring a snack to share if you want
R.S.V.P. by Jan. 1, 2010
Email or phone 750-1313