The Red Brick Church in Stillman Valley

Transcription

1 FEBRUARY 2017 NEWSLETTER CHURCH PHONE CHURCH FAX CHURCH ADDRESS TIME OF SERVICES Worship Service 9:00 and 10:30 am Sunday School 9:00 and 10:30 am Congregational Christian Church The Red Brick Church in Stillman Valley (Evangelical, Independent) 207 W. Roosevelt Road, PO Box 370 Stillman Valley, Illinois Stepping Into the Current There is a meeting for all elected leaders on 2/7, 6:30-8:30 at church. Our goal will be to orient everyone to the coming year. If you can t make it, we ll find a way to otherwise get you up to speed. Beginning a new year of leadership is stepping into the current of the moving river that is our church. A new slate of leaders join a work in process. Orienting everyone can be a challenging process. We re taking many steps to get people up to speed. One of the ways we have worked over the years to keep people on the same page is to use vision points we review and refine in an ongoing way. Here is a quick summary of 11 areas where our church is striving to get better. Our goal is to be or grow in these areas. 1. A listening church that hears first from God in his Word and then from the wider body of Christ. This means means we need to be reading and visiting other churches. 2. A communicating church that improves in not being soiled but rather different groups and committees communicating with one another. 3. A church that develops leaders. This is what we re working to do with our orientation meetings. 4. A worshiping church that combines hymns, contemporary Christian music, confessional statements, and prayer as we passionately engage with God. 5. A Missions-minded church with a passion for reaching lost people both locally and around the world with the good news of Christ. 6. A commitment to raising up a new generation of Christians who continue in the faith after high school. Nothing is more important than working hard to raise our children to follow Christ. We are working on this in an ongoing way and have made great strides in our curriculum. 7. A current constitution and a strong-evangelical doctrinal statement. Our constitution desperately needs updating. We ve recognized this for many years but have been forced to focus on other areas first. 8. A shared vision for giving sacrificially of our time, talents, and treasure. Our church must be committed to giving in proportion to what God has entrusted to us. Each of our church members should keep in mind the p s : priority: give to the local church first; percentage: give in proportion to what God has entrusted - - if you cannot give 10%, then identify the percentage you can give to your local church; progressively: make it a goal to increase what you give to the Lord s work as God blesses and allows. 9. Meaningful membership and maintained rolls. Our church is congregational in its government. This means the congregation is formally involved in our decision-making. Hence, it is imperative that the church and members be mutually committed to one another and that we be people of our word in following through on our membership commitments. 10. A name that reflects our identity. Both the words congregational and Christian communicate doctrinal identities that are not ours. Certainly we are congregational in our form of church government. But we are not denominationally Congregational or United Church of Christ. The denominational identity of Congregational communicates theological liberalism to many people. 11. Equipment and Facilities with which we can minister and share life (fellowship / koinonia) together in ways that are consistent with our time and place. Our church has recognized for some time that we are out of space. We desperately need more parking. We need foyer and fellowship space as well.

2 FEBRUARY USHERS Talk to members of the Deacon Board if you would be interested in helping with the ushering on Sunday mornings. FEBRUARY GREETERS February 5 th - Dave and Pat Ewald February 12 th - Marc and Sheri Romine February 19 th - Boy and Girl Scouts February 26 th - Roland and Lonna Nelson March 5 th - Terrell and Terri Carby FEBRUARY NURSERY February 5 th 9:00 am Jaime Wrasse, Justine Loyo, Barb Hale 10:30 am Eric and Kendra Booker February 12 th 9:00 am Stacy Coester, Ryan Roberts, Amy Michalek 10:30 am Betts Carby, Jeanne Baker February 19 th 9:00 am Tom and Ashley Stahl, Tessa Baker 10:30 am Donna Arnold, Tania VanBriesen February 26 th 9:00 am Mandy Poliska, Chelsea Colon, Crystal Dunseth 10:30 am Terrell and Terri Carby March 5 th 9:00 am Stacy Coester, Joanna Easley, Susan Cahill 10:30 am Shannon and Lee Hickey SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS... SS Superintendent: Brooke Adams Our average weekly Sunday School Attendance for the past two years during the month of January is listed below: January 2016: 87 January 2017: 88 Our average weekly Sunday School Offerings for the past two years during the month of January are listed below: January 2016: $35.00 January 2017: $17.38 WORSHIP SERVICE REPORT Our average attendance at Worship Services for the past three months is listed below: November Average: 277 Dec. 4 th, 11 th, 18 th Average: 270 Christmas Eve 4:00 pm Attendance: 207 Christmas Day 9:00 am Attendance: 93 January Average: 233 CHAIRMAN OF BOARDS/COMMITTEES All Boards and Committees will be meeting in February to elect new officers and chairmen. Chairmen of all committees and phone numbers will be printed in the March 2017 Newsletter. Parents of children under the age of 5 years old are invited and encouraged to use our nursery during the 9:00 & 10:30 worship service. Children in kindergarten and older are asked to attend the worship services, unless their parents are helping in the nursery. Free sermon CD s are available for all nursery volunteers. March Newsletter Articles are due in the church office by Tuesday, February 28th

3 FINANCIAL REPORT Through January 31, 2017 Total Approved 2017 Budget = $411,383 Divided by 52 weeks/year = $7,912/week Budget Giving through Jan $39,560 Actual Giving through Jan $37,535 Budget Giving vs. Actual Giving... $-2,025 Actual Expenses through 1/31/17... $25,381 IN CASE OF BAD WEATHER... We will cancel AWANA if there is NO school that day or if school is let out early due to bad weather. If the Meridian School District 223 should cancel evening activities, AWANA will also be cancelled. Updated cancellation messages will be left on the church office answering machine ( ) and our AWANA Commanders will send out an and post it also on our Facebook page. If the church office does not have your address, please be sure to your address to the office at the following address: cccoffice1@comcast.net LADIES BIBLE STUDIES Both of our Ladies Bible Studies are doing the Jen Wilkin study entitled, Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds. We all know it s important to study God s Word. But sometimes it s hard to know where to start. What s more, a lack of time, emotionally driven approaches, and past frustrations can erode our resolve to keep growing in our knowledge of Scripture. How can we, as Christian women, keep our focus and sustain our passion when reading the Bible? Offering a clear and concise plan to help women go deeper in their study of Scripture, this book will equip you to engage God s Word in a way that trains your mind and transforms your heart. Workbooks are $8 each and can be purchased at either study. Mom s & More The Friday morning Moms and More Bible Study Group is meeting from 9:00 to 10:30 am in the Adult SS Classroom. Childcare is provided. If you have any questions about the Friday study, please contact Amy Michalek. Please note: Mom s & More will not be meeting on Friday, February 10th. The address for Pastor Chris is: cdbrauns@gmail.com The address for Pastor Tim is: timothymichalek@gmail.com We will be ing out announcements, news articles, coming events, etc., so don t miss out!! Be sure we have your address. Women of the Word (Women s Evening Bible Study) Our Tuesday evening study meets from 7:00 to 8:30 pm in the Adult SS Classroom. Please contact Jamie Brauns if you have any questions about the Tuesday evening study.

4 SUMMER CHURCH CAMP Parents are reminded to be sure and preregister their child / children for Summer camp this summer! Both Camp Forest Springs and Camp Timberlee are registering! CFS has a $25 early bird discount if you register before March 10 th and Camp Timberlee has a $55 discount if you register before March 22 nd! The CE Board offers $100 scholarship for summer church camp and both camps also have scholarships available. SCOUT SUNDAY All Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts are invited to participate in our Scout Sunday Celebration on Sunday, February 19 th. Scouts will be greeters at both services on that Sunday. Please dress in uniform and arrive no later than 8:40 am. After greeting, scouts will go directly to their Sunday School classes. If you have any questions contact Stacy Jones at AWANA DONATES TO ROCKFORD PREGNANCY CENTER We LOVE to Choose Life! For the month of February in honor of the sanctity of life, AWANA is spreading the message, We Choose Life through the fun they are having at AWANA on Feb 8 th Baby Night. They are also accepting the following donations for Rockford s Pregnancy Care Center during the month of February. We invite our church family to participate in donating the following items: Receiving blankets, hooded towels, wash cloths, baby nail clippers, thermometers, baby shampoo & lotion, disposable diapers, baby wipes, pacifiers, powdered formula, bottles, onesie packages, diaper pins & cloth diapers and newborn socks. AWANA NEWS... Gospel is Everything! January raced right by us with only 3 weeks of club and one of those cancelled due to weather. Racing is a good word picture though because by our next newsletter we'll have pictures of our Annual Grand Prix Derby, Saturday Feb 18th - 3pm! If you haven't come to one of these, you must! It's high-tech from the track to the timer which scores times down to 10 thousandths of a sec (and hundred thousands up to a tie!) (.00005). We even have instant replay. As fun as the derby is, even more promising than our winners that day is the promise that we WILL share the gospel. The goal of the founder of this event was to connect moms and dads with kids and share the gospel -- the good news! But as Pastor Chris says the good news implies that we have to know what the bad news is. Pray that we would share in a fresh way the reality of both the bad and the good news -- the gospel of Christ! Thank you for your continued prayers for all involved in AWANA. SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS... Happy Valentine s Day! We continue to be blessed with faithful students, parents and teachers. During praise and worship time, Pre- K through 5 th grades are beginning to practice a song for Palm Sunday and for a Mother s Day performance. If you would be willing to serve occasionally in children s ministry, we are in need of a few volunteers for Children s Church (10:30 service) and 1-2 volunteers to assist during Sunday School (9:00 service). Please contact Brooke Adams at God bless, Brooke Adams, SS Superintendent MEN S STUDY The Winter/Spring Men s Study will begin on Thursday, February 16 th at 6:30 pm. We will choose topics of study together at our first meeting.

5 FROM PASTOR TIM... Youth Update Our Winter Retreat combined with E- free Church of Mt. Morris, Rock Valley Bible Church, and Morning Star Church was amazing. We took 21 people from Red Brick to join over 60 people from the other churches for an extremely fun weekend of camp. The teens heard five sermons on Habits of Grace, and then broke out into small groups to discuss the sermon (Prayer, Worship, Time/Money, Evangelism, Word). The game highlight for many teens was playing broom-ball on the ice with real brooms. Lori and Abby Houston came as sponsors and did the food for the whole camp! You can see some movies for each day on YouTube by searching winter retreat 2017 Steve Brandon. You can also see the pictures on our FB page from January 16 th. We had several teens serve lunch at the Rockford Rescue Mission on Jan 21 st (pics on our FB page). We also learned/reviewed in Youth Group that God makes Bricks with the Building in mind. Thanks to Sophie Michalek for loaning her Duplos for an illustration. This month we look forward to Youth Group on February 5. JH meets right after church in the fellowship hall. The SH will gather for a Super Bowl Party at the Miller s home at 5:30. Loving on our Widows Project! The Youth Group will be visiting our widows on February 12 th after lunch around 12:45-1:30. If you are interested in helping visit or making cookies and cards on Feb 11 th from 6-8, please let Pastor Tim know or just come. Missions 2017 Mission s Trip We are gathering interest from our church family to take a SUMMER MISSION TRIP to Sheboygan, WI to help a reviving church update their facilities. Application is open for men, Senior High teens, and families that would like to go. We will be finalizing a date soon. Please contact Pastor Tim or Dave Bjorklund if you are interested in learning more about the trip. We will present the opportunity in more detail at the Men s Meeting on February 16 th. AWANA GRAND PRIX DERBRY START YOUR ENGINES! The annual AWANA Grand Prix Derby will be held on Saturday, February 18 th. Check in is 1:30 2:30 pm, with the racing beginning promptly at 3:00 pm in the church fellowship hall. We will run a double-elimination bracket with Cubbies/Sparks first and then T&Ters. We will have free popcorn, water, and juice boxes as refreshments. Trophies will be given out to 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd place for Speed AND Design for Cubbies/Sparks and T & T. Each clubber participating will receive a treat bag and $5 AWANA dollars. This is a fun, family event and the congregation is invited to come and cheer on their favorite race car!! Adult SS Class 10-week study of the book of Ephesians has started! 10:30 am Sunday School class taught by Eric Walker. Ephesians is a survival manual equipping believers to thrive in a world that hates the message of Jesus Christ. We've been lifted from the graveyard of sin and called to shout the Gospel into the darkened world. Encounter Ephesians, and get swept up into the story of Jesus.

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7 February 1 st - Shannon and Grace Hickey Jonnie Raber February 2 nd - Chad Smits February 5 th - Jake and Nick Schabacker February 6 th - Nick Colon February 9 th - Dean Pihl February 13 th - Kennedy Halsmer Katelynn Clinton February 14 th - Lisa McCoy February 15 th - Terrell Carby Don Wallin February 18 th - Linda Benton February 19 th - Brooke Adams February 21 st - Lucas Dobson February 22 nd - Janice Amundson February 23 rd - Lori Houston February 24 th - Verna Seymour February 25 th - Allison Spors February 26 th - Carol Brauer - Ophelia Mayberry - Cara Roberts February 28 th - Luci Raber - Karen Gerig - Elliette Colon March 1 st - Jaime Brauns - Christopher Brauns March 2 nd - Sydney Gatz February 1 st - Brad and Tessa Baker February 10 th - Tom and Paula Hufford

8 FEBRUARY 2017 AWANA SCHEDULE Feb. 1 st M and M Night Clubbers are reminded to bring their missionary banks with them to club on the 1 st. Wednesday, Feb. 8 th Baby Night We are going to encourage loving others, specifically mothers and babies,by donating items for care baskets to be made for the Rockford Pregnancy Center. Clubbers are asked to dress in pink or blue or even dress as a baby. Saturday, February 11 th Derby Cutout Clinic Get some help cutting out the design of your Grand Prix car by bringing the kit along with your design drawn out to our Pit Crew Experts on the 11 th from 9:00 11:00 am. Wednesday, February 15 th Pit Crew Nit and Valentines Clubbers can get their Derby Cars inspected and pre-checked in for the Grand Prix. Cars will be left with us this night and they will be kept safe and sound until the derby on the 18 th. In addition, clubbers are asked to wear red tonight in celebration of Valentine s Day. This is also our next Praise and Worship night, so parents come early and sing praises with your kids! Saturday, February 18 th - AWANA Grand Prix Today is our Grand Prix with races kicking off at 3:00 pm. The congregation is invited to attend! Wednesday, Feb. 22 nd Generation Night Raid your parents or grandparents closets for some generation clothing from a different time period. Clubbers can choose any time period they wish the 50 s, 60 s, 70 s, 80 s, or another! CONGREGATIONAL CHRISTIAN CHURCH PO Box 370 Stillman Valley, IL ** RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED **