Our Covenant Connections January, 2019

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1 Our Covenant Connections January, 2019 A Plan for 2019 I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Saviour (sic.) of the world is communicated to us through this book. Abraham Lincoln The New Testament is the very best book that ever was or ever will be known in the world. Charles Dickens There is no book like the Bible. It is the trustworthy, true, eternal Word of God. It is a light to guide our path (Ps. 119:105), it is living and active and can discern the thoughts and intentions of our hearts (Hb. 4:12), it is inspired by God for teaching us, admonishing us, correcting us and training us in Godliness (2 Tm 3:16), and it can keep us from sinning (Ps. 119:11). There is nothing in all of creation like the Bible. God speaks to us through the Scriptures every day. Are we listening? Do you need healing? Read the Bible. Do you need encouragement? Read the Bible. Are you struggling with sin in your life? Read the Bible. Do you have a tough decision to make and you re not sure what to do? Read the Bible. Are you lonely, angry, depressed, hurting, grieving, or worn-out? Read the Bible it is God s comfort and peace for you. Are you stuck in sin, overcome by pride or envy? Are you selfish and self-obsessed? Read the Bible it will call out your sin and draw you to God. If I do nothing else in the entirety of my ministry in this church than guide one or two of you to a passionate love and fervor for reading the Bible, then I will consider my time here a success. Reading the Bible will literally change our lives. Prayer, devotionals, acts of service, worship, going to church and meditation are all wonderful ways of connecting with God but none of them will connect you with God like reading the Bible. Reading the Bible is the key to having a life-altering, soul-saving, heartchanging relationship with Jesus. Accept no substitutes. My goal for 2019 is to encourage and help you read the Bible for yourself. Many of you already read the Bible on a regular basis. You have experienced the power of the Word of God in your lives. If you have a consistent plan of reading Scripture, I want to encourage you to continue that plan. But if you do not have a plan, then I want to help you have guided time in God s Word. My preaching plan for 2019 is to preach section-by-section through Mark s Gospel. Period. We will cover every story, every verse and every word (some in more detail than others) and through this we will see the glory of God manifest in Jesus Christ. Why Mark? Because Mark is widely believed to be the first Gospel written, it is the eyewitness account of Peter, it is the shortest Gospel, and it (along with John) is the place I recommend any new Bible-readers start. Along with preaching, I will publish a weekly Bible-reading guide for Mark (with Scriptures and questions for the following Sunday). My hope is that you will read the Bible for yourself, that you will experience the power of God in your life through it, and you will draw nearer to God then ever before. I can t think of a better goal for Happy New Year! In Christ, Pastor Kevin Ministers: The People of the Church Pastor: Kevin Clark FCC associates with sister churches in the Wis. Congregational Association & National Association of Congregational Christian Churches

2 Church Council / Staff Moderator-Jim Schuett Moderator Elect-Prakash Mathew Treasurer-Linda Haeger Secretary-Joanne Himebauch Budget & Finance-Ryan Venema Property & Grounds-Bob Brandemuehl Worship-Jan Snavely Congregational Care-Cindy Wendlandt Missions-Diane Williams Christian Education-Pat Parr Staff Organist/Choir Director-Marni Wiggins Office Admin. - Judi Weyer Pastor Kevin Clark Date 1/6 1/13 1/20 1/27 2/3 Servant Schedule Front Porch Ushers Nursery Liturgist Buchmann Group 2 Paige Group 2 Lydia Prakash Sunday School Diane W Lydia M Wendlandt Group 3 Cherise Zach B Sara Women's Fellowship Group 1 Cherise Joanne H Jess & Cory Group 3 Cherise Claire A Notice: Photographs taken at church events are included in the newsletter, on our website and our Facebook page. If you would prefer not to have your photo posted to any of these forums, please contact the church office. Articles for the February Newsletter are due in the office by 8:00 am on Friday, Jan. 25 January Birthdays Reyna Taggart... 1/7 Wil Manion... 1/12 Pat Parr... 1/12 Connie Porter... 1/14 Warren Kufalk... 1/28 Please drop a note to the church office to have your birthday or anniversary included here. Help Needed The Communion Ministerial Team is looking for people interested in helping with communion. The Team sets up communion and serves the first Sunday of the month, each Sunday during Advent and Lent, and each month at the service at Linden Ridge. If interested in helping on the Team or have a question, please contact Janine Coley ( ) or jacoley@wi.rr.com. Janine Coley Offering Other Income Total Attendance Stewardship Income Expense 148, , , , , /16 12/ CONTACT US Over (Short) 32, , /24 (4:30) First Congregational Church of Mukwonago 231 Roberts Drive Mukwonago, WI Church Office office@fccweb.net Pastor Kevin Clark rev.kevinclark@gmail.com Marni Wiggins Organist/Choir Director... marnilynn@mac.com Prayer Chain... prayer@fccweb.net C.A.R.E. Ministry... care@fccweb.net 99

3 Why Church? Over the years, I ve heard comments such as: Why do you belong to a church? or I don t need the formal structure of a church. or I can worship God on my own. It is true that people don t necessarily need others to work with or to attend church with them. We can certainly do good works to the glory of God all on our own. However, when people work by themselves, they miss out on taking advantage of a very real force SYNERGY! In most cases when people work together as a group, they have the ability to accomplish more than working on an individual basis. Synergy might best be explained by using an example. The example I like to use is 20 Mule Team Borax - a product in the cleaning supplies section that has a picture on the box of mules pulling two wagons. When mining borax years ago, the wagoneers used 12 mules to pull one wagon out of the pit. Over the years it was found that by adding eight mules to the team for a total of 20 mules, the wagoneers could pull two large wagons of borax plus a water wagon out of the pit. Adding eight mules to the team more than doubled the pulling capacity. Does this apply to us? I believe that it does. Our efforts are enhanced by working together as a group (the church) and taking advantage of this Synergy making us more productive so we can accomplish more for the glory of God. Jim Schuett A Thank You from Pastor Andrew McHenry of Craig Memorial Congregational Church: Dear Friends THANK YOU so much for giving us $1,000 to rebuild our church after the tragic fire. We are pressing on in the Lord s work, and we are thankful for all the generosity we ve been shown! God Bless you, Pastor Andrew McHenry A Thank You from Nancy Loveland of Wycliffe Bible Translators: Dear members of First Congregational Church, Thank you so much for your recent gift to my Wycliffe Ministry! I really appreciate it. Nancy Loveland Baskets for the Hope Center The Missions Team put together two baskets to be auctioned off at the annual Hope Thanksgiving and Auction Dinner in November. One was a Tiffany Holiday Wine & Chocolate basket, and the other was a Wine & Pasta Basket. Each of them was auctioned off for $110, which brought in $220 for the Hope Center! Disbursements for December: Salvation Army, Waukesha $500 Samaritan s Purse -- $873 for shipping of the shoeboxes. Thank you for your help with the shipping costs this year! Linda Garasimowicz Thank you to everyone who baked goodies and to all for buying them. The bake sale was a huge success. Diane & Joanne did a wonderful job purchasing items to go in the children s gift bags and women s fellowship helped fill them with bible books, ornaments and candy canes! Please join us for stories of new n old and a time to share our thoughts, concerns & joys. Come join us as your schedule allows. We meet on the 3rd Tuesday at 12:30 in the lounge. Wishing you a Blessed New Year, Women s Fellowship. Sue Roberts Thank you to those that faithfully bring food every week or donate cash to the Backpack Program. For an extra special gift to our seven families, Janine and I decided to give each family a $40.00 Pick N Save gift card. This will give them the opportunity to pick out things that they would like for their special meal at this time of the year. God Bless You! Beth Petersen Thanks to the eleven people who read my last article as Moderator and the rest of the newsletter! They were given a small treat. Now as we go into 2019, I challenge the rest of you to read your newsletter. It s full of important information. Many people take the time to write articles so the congregation is informed of what s going on. The church newsletter is a vital source of that news! We want you to know what s happening in the church. Please, take time to read! Rae-Ellen Preuss

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7 231 ROBERTS DRIVE MUKWONAGO, WISCONSIN «Final_Merge Mailing_Labels» «Address» «City», «State» «Zip» January 2019 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 1 New Year's Day Saturday 6 7 Pastor's Day Off :00 Bible Study 6:30 Scouts 8:00 Men's Breakfast 5:00 Quilters 6:30 Choir 6:30 Council Pastor's Day Off :00 Bible Study 6:30 Scouts 10:00 Made With Love 12:30 Women's Fellow. 6:30 Choir 6:30 Scouts Cmte Pastor's Day Off Articles Due 26 9:00 Bible Study 10:00 Made With Love 6:30 Missions 10:00 Linden Grove 10:30 Family Led 1:00 Linden Ridge 6:30 Choir Pastor's Day Off :00 Bible Study 6:30 Scouts 10:00 Made With Love 6:30 Choir