Children were always excited to take part in the activities such as Sunday school retreats, Junior Bible Quiz (JBQ) tournaments, dramas, skits and group dances. Sunday School children also had the opportunity to visit the orphanages and share their love. Over a period of time, as the children have grown along with UECF, youth ministry has emerged prominently to help equip the youth with the necessary tools from God’s Word and to lay the right foundation for the rest of life.
11. BIBLE STUDY:
Group Bible study has been conducted on the second Friday of every month from 8:00 to 9:30 PM. Initially, members used to gather at their homes for group Bible Studies. Later, they started gathering at Church premises, as the location is more convenient. Lay persons had a wonderful opportunity to lead the study on all the Books of Old Testament and New Testament. The Bible studies were also based on the pre-selected topics.
During the COVID19 pandemic, the Bible Studies were conducted online via Zoom on Fridays. Sis. Santha Mondithoka & Bro. Sudhakar Mondithoka, Bro. Ranganadh Bomidi and Dr. Ratna Bomidi, Bro. Madhav Bellamkonda and Bro. Sai Krishna Gomatam led the Bible studies virtually, and these helped people remotely login, enrich and enjoy the discussions on various topics.
12. HOME PRAYER MEETINGS:
Lenten Cottage Prayer meetings: Lenten Cottage prayer meetings take place on Fridays for six weeks during the Lent season. Congregation members always volunteered to open their homes to have Lenten cottage prayer meetings. Honorary pastors, guest preachers and lay people have led the Lenten devotions.
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Some of the members fast during the lent meditation time and generally these meetings end with fellowship meal. During this season, members express their love by contributing the canned food to the community food banks.
For the last few years, Pastor David Ravinder has been using the series of Ray Vander Laan’s video series for leading Lenten meetings. People of all ages so enthusiastically participated in the quizzes via Zoom.
Praying for the sick: UECF congregation, as one body shared not only the joys and butalso sorrows of the other members. Families fast and pray whenever someone in the congregation is sick.
Prayer Fellowships: In the recent past, Women’s Prayer Fellowship has started to bring women into more intimate relationship with God. These meetings take place on the fourth Friday of every month. Similarly, Men’s Prayer Fellowship also started and meets every last Friday of the month.
13. CHRISTMAS CAROLING:
Christmas caroling has been a wonderful opportunity both for the adults and kids to actively participate and enjoy the Christmas season. UECF has been following the door-to-door Christmas caroling tradition during this season. A special initiative was under taken in 2002 by visiting 36 homes. This number has been increasing year after year. Generally, caroling starts in the first week of December. Carolers sing in different languages and share the joy through music and dance. Families show their hospitality by welcoming the carolers and offer cheerfully. God has been faithful in guiding the carolers in the snowy season and protecting them from the chilly winter winds.
14. SPECIAL FESTIVALS & CELEBRATIONS:
CHRISTMAS: UECF has been celebrating Christmas every year on 25th December with gladness and joy. The Christmas gatherings have been increasing progressively. Many families and friends not only from USA but also from Canada and India joined the UECF Worship Services. Christmas celebrations included spirit filled messages, Holy Communion, special music, children’s special programs and conclude with Christmas banquets. In the recent years, UECF Christmas celebrations have been covered by Indian TV news channels.
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WATCH NIGHT SERVICE:
UECF’s first watch night service started in the year 2002. Seventy seven people including children gathered at United Methodist Church, Union on 31st night of 2002 to welcome the New Year in God’s presence. The following year, a combined watch night service was celebrated along with the multi-ethnic congregation from International Family Church of New Jersey (IFCNJ) congregation lead by Rev. Ashish Bhatnagar.
It has been a blessing to start every New Year with prayer and Holy Communion. Watch Night service includes testimony time, candle lighting, special music and a New Year message. God’s Promise Cards, Bible reading Planners and New Year calendars were distributed during Watch Night service every year.
GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE:
In the past, UECF joined the similar congregations and participated in Good Friday Meditation services. As per the growing needs, UECF started their Good Friday meditation Service in the year 2007. Along with the pastors, lay Christians also led the meditation on each of the seven words spoken by Jesus on the cross.
EASTER SUNRISE SERVICE:
In the initial years, it was a practice for the UECF to join Pastor Ravinder’s United Methodist church congregation every year for Easter Sunrise service. This facilitated UECF to have an opportunity to participate and rejoice in the combined Easter Sunrise Services at the United Methodist Church at Berkeley Heights and also at Community United Methodist Church, Roselle. However, this practice was discontinued in 2009 and UECF started celebrating Easter sunrise services in the local church.
THANKSGIVING:
UECF celebrates Thanksgiving on the Sundays just before the fourth Thursday of November every year. In the year 2002, many local groups were invited for Thanksgiving service. Apart from UECF choir, other groups also presented special music. This trend continued as the years progressed. Families donate items for auction. The proceedings of the thanksgiving auctions are generally designated to a specific cause every year.
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CHILDREN’S CHRISTMAS: Children enjoy the special opportunity to celebrate Children Christmas in which they show their talents. Usually, children perform the Nativity play or Christmas pageants or Choreography during this time.
WOMEN’S CHRISTMAS:
During the Christmas season, women separately celebrate Women’s Christmas with sharing of word and also have some fun filled activities.
WOMEN’s RETREAT: Women’s retreat has been organized for the past few years both in-person and virtually. Sis. Ruth Jeremiah, Sis. Mercy Runjala, Sis. Santha Mondithoka shared the powerful messages and encouraged women folks.
MOTHER’S DAY: In the year 2003, Mother’s Day celebration got boosted by specially honoring the 19 mothers by their sons and daughters in a grand manner. This trend continued with much enthusiasm in the following years. Generally, the UECF men folk prepare a delicious meal in honor of the mothers.
FATHER’S DAY: Complementing Mother’s Day, Father’s Day also gets celebrated by honoring the dads on the third Sunday of June every year.
MINISTRY IN OTHER STATES
Apart from the regular activities, UECF joins the similar congregations and participates in the church anniversaries and other special events. Every year, UECF choir joins United Telugu Christian Fellowship of Virginia (UTCFVA) to lead worship at Annual Christian Family Conference in Virginia. Many a time, UECF choir sang at the churches in the neighboring states including New York, Connecticut and Delaware.
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15. SPECIAL MEETINGS:
REVIVAL MEETINGS:
A two-day Revival meeting was held in the year1998 marking the first Anniversary of UECF. Dr. Akbar Haqq, a distinguished evangelist was the guest speaker for these revival meetings. The local churches and UTCFNY participated in the meetings. During the year 2002, UECF supported and participated in the Revival meetings hosted by the Church of the Nazarene at which Rev. Dr. Joshua Daniel was the speaker.
3-Day Revival meetings were held from 28th - 30th October 2005. Rev. Naveen Balakrishnan, a faithful servant of God, delivered a series of powerful messages. This series included the inspiring topics such as Salvation, Supplication, Sanctification, Scripture and Sharing. Many of the fellow Christians from neighboring areas attended the meetings and were spiritually uplifted by the messages. The Revival meetings left such an impact on those who attended that some of them started reading the Bible regularly 4 chapters-a-day as suggested by Rev. Naveen Balakrishnan. Thereafter, revival meetings have been organized occasionally for spiritual refreshing and edification.
GOSPEL MEETINGS:
3-day special gospel meetings with Bro. Anil Kumar were conducted in the first week of June 2006. During these meetings, the sanctuary was packed with a large gathering of over 250 people. Crowds were drawn from not only New Jersey but also from the neighboring states. These meetings left enduring impressions in the minds of those who attended.
10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
UECF’s 10th Anniversary was celebrated in a grand manner from 26th to 28th of October 2007. Various churches and fellowships around the region have participated in these 3-day programs in which Rev. Naveen Balakrishnan and Rev. Solomon Raju Kunchanapalli delivered powerful messages. A group of singers from Maryland presented special music apart from local groups. Children performed special choreography. All the previous executive leaders and their families were honored with special recognition for their services.
To mark the 10-year milestone, a Souvenir was released by Rev. Samuel Schmitthenner, former President of Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC). The Souvenir contains congratulatory letters from various dignitaries including the local Senators, Congressmen, Mayor and eminent Servants of God.
15TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION:
UECF’s 15th Anniversary was celebrated on 1st &2nd December 2012. Dr. Ramesh Richard, a renowned spiritual philosopher was the keynote speaker of this celebration, and a souvenir was released on this occasion.
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20TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION: UECF celebrated 20 years of God’s goodness and faithfulness on 28th & 29th October, 2017. The theme for the celebration was “Rejoice”, chosen from 1 Thessalonians 5:16. Rev. Dr. Joe Madhu & Rev. Dr. Jessy Veena served as the keynote speakers.
25 SILVER JUBILEE CELEBRATION: UECF’s 25 th Anniversary is planned to be celebrated on 29 th & 30 th of October 2022 with Dr. Christopher Perumalla as the keynote speaker. The theme for the silver jubilee celebration is chosen as “To God be the glory”.
16. MARRIED COUPLES MEETINGS:
The Married Couples meetings are usually held on the 4th Saturday of every month in various homes that are pre-decided. Couples discuss and debate on various topics that are very practical and use the Bible as a guiding tool. Rev. Dr. David Ravinder & Mrs. Sarita Ravinder have been actively leading this ministry from the beginning. A coordinator takes care of these meetings by inviting and making potluck dinner arrangements. This group enjoys the beach picnics
occasionally.
17. MISSIONS & OUTREACH:
Missions and outreach have played a noble part in UECF’s work. In keeping with the greatest commission given by our Savior Jesus Christ – Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15), UECF has started actively distributing gospel tracts and Jesus DVDs on regular basis in the recent past. As part of local community support, UECF families visit old age homes on monthly basis and express their love towards the older adults.
As an evangelical Christian fellowship, UECF is committed to evangelism. Over the years, UECF has supported the gospel work and also helped and supported the poor and needy through numerous ministries in India and other countries. Whenever natural calamities occurred, UECF rose to the situation and contributed towards the relief efforts and helped the victims through the associated ministries.
18. SOCIAL & CULTURAL EVENTS:
UECF families actively participate in the following social and cultural events: India Independence Day Parade:
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In the year 2005, India Independence Day parade was organized for the first time in New
Jersey. UECF families took part in this secular event, which was held on14th August 2005. It
was a great experience to hold the UECF banner along with Tricolor flags and marching on
Oak Tree Road. This certainly helped UECF in spreading awareness in the neighborhood.
Subsequently, UECF has been actively participating in the India Independence Day parades
and leverage the occasion in distributing gospel tracts and Jesus DVDs. Some of the UECF’s
parade pictures were selected to be exhibited in the ‘Beyond Bollywood’ section of
Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History located in Washington DC.
UECF FAMILY PICNICS:
UECF annual family picnics are filled with lots of fun
and plenty of food along with the spiritual food. Families
and friends get together and enjoy the picnics
organized in famous Parks of New Jersey such as
Colonial Park, Johnson Park, Roosevelt Park and
Cheese Quake Park.
All age groups right from children to seniors take part
in number of activities like Bible quizzes, Bibliola (a popular UECF activity), play a variety of
games such as Tug of war, Strawberry catching, Egg throwing, musical chairs, water balloons
for children, dumb charades, Guess picture drawing, Cricket, Tennis and boat riding.
19. FELLOWSHIP TIME:
The fellowship time has been very helpful in bringing
cohesion among the congregation. UECF families have
always enjoyed hosting Fellowship hour after each
Sunday service with delicious Indian style home made
food while celebrating their birthdays and anniversaries.
Congregation volunteer to sign-up Fellowship hour
roaster, generally placed on the notice board or over
internet.
All the special occasions like Baby showers, graduation celebrations, Bridal showers, wedding
receptions and Thanksgiving services were always followed by fellowship meals.
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20. WEB SITE:
In the year 2001, Joshua (Phani) Pilli took the initiative to develop a web site for UECF and registered this as www.uecf.net. God has richly blessed this web ministry and UECF is well known all over the world through the web site. Members and others get periodic updates on the fellowship activities through the regular web postings. The video messages and songs are posted on regular basis. The pictorial account of the past events was also archived and made available on the web. The website is rich with messages, audio video songs, testimonies, children’s programs and many useful resources; and serves globally as a one- stop resource center. Website has been instrumental for the growth of UECF. It is wonderful to know many visitors have attended the UECF Sunday worship services and testified that they came to know about UECF through the Website. Some such visitors started attending regularly. Joshua Pilli’s never tiring efforts are fruitful in UECF’s web ministry.
21. TV MINISTRY:
Expanding their outreach programs, UECF has started broadcasting their programs using Aradana Telugu TV channel on a regular basis with specific time slots. The half-hour time slots are generally filled with sharing of the Word and the music by both adults and kids. This is a tremendous opportunity for UECF to reach out the unreached through media.
22. CONCLUSION:
During the 25 years of service, UECF has touched many lives. Some families have grown up along with UECF. Many have been blessed by this church in their walk of faith. Children were born, dedicated, baptized, confirmed, attended Sunday Schools, took part in youth programs, Bible studies and actively participated in all the events. There were many joyful celebrations like weddings and some solemn celebrations of the lives of those gone home ahead of us.
During the pandemic, many churches were impacted. But God’s hand is upon UECF and has blessed it further more. Like a church built on the solid rock, UECF continued steadfastly in carrying out its vision and mission both locally and globally for His glory!
As the theme for this silver jubilee year of celebration aptly chosen, ‘To God be the glory’!
To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. - Ephesians 3:21
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