Get ready for the Story

Transcription

1 Our Covenant Connections September, 2017 Get ready for the Story We will be spending the next year walking through the whole story of the Bible. Watch for more info.! Pastor Kevin The year is over half over. It seems that time continues to fly. It is time to begin to look forward to the next years in the life of the church. The nominating committee is beginning to meet to come up with a slate of officers for the next year. Are you willing to serve? Please share that with the committee. Do you have an idea of someone who would be good as Moderator-elect, Treasurer or Director? Please share your thoughts with someone on the committee. The new structure is designed to empower the ministry teams. Directors are to be resources for the teams. They are not in charge of the teams, they are to help them do their work. This year several of the current Council members have decided not to run for another term. The thing that is encouraging is that they have made that decision not because being a Council member is too much work, but because they want to become more involved in the ministry teams. Abraham Lincoln said that members of Congress should serve a term or two and then go back to being a citizen. That is the reason that after serving a single term in Congress, he returned to Illinois and served as a citizen and lawyer until he was elected President. It may be that we will find people who, after serving a term as Director will choose to concentrate on the work of one or more ministry teams. Sharing the responsibilities of leadership is a good thing. Diane Williams 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-Diane Williams Moderator Elect-Rae-Ellen Preuss Treasurer-Jean Brocker Secretary-Joanne Himebauch Budget & Finance-Prakash Mathew Property & Grounds-Jim Schuett Worship-Tom Rowntree Congregational Care-Sue Roberts Missions-Deb Maske Christian Education-Linda Haeger Staff Organist/Choir Director - Marni Wiggins Office Admin. - Judi Weyer Pastor Kevin Clark Servant Schedule Date Refresh. Ushers Nursery Liturgist 9/3 Group 1 Diane W 9/10 Group 2 Diane W Prakash M 9/17 Group 3 9/24 10/1 Women s Fellowship Group 1 Consecration Sunday Group 2 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 October Newsletter are due in the office by Friday, Sept. 29 Sunday School 8/25/17 Income Expenses Over (Short) Offering 75, , , Other Income Total 79, , , /6 8/13 8/20 Attendance 57 76? Birthdays Kenneth Mathew... 9/1 Prakash Mathew... 9/3 Greg Garasimowicz... 9/4 Sue Roberts... 9/7 Andrea Urban... 9/13 Robert Bartholomew... 9/20 Rachael Wilson... 9/29 Wedding Anniversaries Carl & Bonnie Geiser... 9/1 Frank & Ruth Rappold... 9/5 Bruce & Sally Zalud... 9/11 Scott & Claire Albrecht... 9/17 If you would like your birthday or wedding anniversary to be included here, please drop a note to the office. CONTACT US 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 Maxwell Street Days Sept Please consider helping us park cars for this important fundraiser. Watch your for signup information. You can also use the following address to access our online signup sheet. Thank you!! Choir rehearsal begins on Tuesday September 5th at 6:30 pm.

3 Christmas Downsizing This month we passed a policy on weddings. The policy is: The pastor of First Congregational Church of Mukwonago, as well as the church, have total, absolute and complete discretion as to who they may marry. Pastor Kevin also told us that premarital counseling will be mandatory for couples wanting to get married by him. The Boy Scout troup has asked the church if we have any projects that we would like to have done as an Eagle Scout project. We have not given them any projects for this year. However, there will be candidates for Eagle Scout for the next couple of years, so if you have suggestions for projects, please share it with a member of the council. A committee will be looking at the possibility of constitutional changes at the fall meeting. If you have suggestions, please let Prakash Mathew, Kay Rowntree or Diane Williams know. Our congregational meeting to approve the budget and elect officers for the coming year will be after worship on November 5. This should be a short meeting, so it will not interfer with the Celebration of Music being held that afternoon. Bryan Rowntree will be sharing the message with us on August 27 while Pastor Kevin is on vacation. Rev. Lonnie Richardson will be sharing the message on October 1, Consecration Sunday. Jerry Eisner will be sharing a message on November 12, while Pastor Kevin shares the Consecration Sunday message with Rev. Richardson s church, Fox River Congregational. In addition, Pastor Kevin will be participating in two pulpit exchanges. On September 24 he will be switching with Rev. Nick Campbell of Plymouth Congregational in Kenosha and on Feb 11 with Pastor Joel Boyd from St. Jacobi in Richfield. Diane Williams, Moderator Do you have more Christmas Decorations that you could ever use, but can t stand the thought of throwing them out? I know I have enough for several houses, but throwing them out has resulted in storing the excess in boxes for several years. Now I have a solution. The Thrift Store for the Mukwonago Food Pantry will take them. When you donate items, if you donate them to the Food Pantry, they will be available free to families needing them. If you donate them to the Thrift Store, they will be available for sale. The Thrift Store is located in the MFP Resource Center 225 Lake St., Mukwonago. Vicinage Council Diane Williams We have been informed that Trinity Congregational Church in Adams is asking for a Vicinage Council on October 7 to advise them about their future. The Church is one of the original members of the NACCC, For more than 20 years, they have had a part-time minister, Richard Corning. Pastor Corning has not lived in the community, but commutes from his home in Columbia County. The Congregation of 25 is concerned about their future and they are wondering what they should do. They are concerned that they will not be able to find someone willing to serve on the part-time salary that they can afford. They are also considering selling their building, but continuing to meet in another location. They are asking for the counsel of their fellow congregations. If you are interested in attending the Council and sharing and supporting this congregation, please talk to Diane Williams. Diane Williams Please join us for our annual Salad Luncheon and White Elephant Sale on September 19th at 12:30 in the lounge. If you are visiting for the 1st time you only need to show up as we always have plenty to go around. Your company & fellowship are all that is required! Looking forward to seeing you there. Sue Roberts

4 Nancy Loveland from Wycliffe Bible Translators will be with us on September 10 to do a sermon and to let us know how things are going with her mission. We will be collecting a free will offering for her on that day. You can make your check out to FCC if you wish to donate. Thank you! Thank you also for the MANY bottles of water you have all donated! Have you ever seen so much water as is stacked up in our kitchen?! We used the first big bunch for National Night Out. We had a team of about eleven of us handing them out that night as we proudly wore our new FCC t- shirts. We had a great time! We sold some more of the water at our August Maxwell Street Days for the Mission School of Hope. We made $83.00 with this sale. We ll be doing this again during the September Maxwell Street Days. We have plenty of water to use for Hopefest which will be held in September. Thank you all for your donations! We have enough water now for the rest of our events! No need to bring in more water! Thank you so much! We will be sponsoring another child at Mission School of Hope. For several years now we have sponsored a boy named Ogouamzak (Alain), and also helping with the salary of one of the nurses, Olga. Alain is now in middle school and doing very well. Olga has moved on to be with her husband out of the area, so we are now helping with the salary of a lab technician by the name of Salinou. Our new child is a little girl named Audrey. She is a little sweetheart, born in the clinic. From the time she started walking, she came to school every day during lunch time to eat. The cooks included her plate in the daily meals and last academic year, she picked up an old armboard (like a chalkboard slate) and came to school when her mother left for the farm. It was only two weeks later that her mom realized Audrey had enrolled herself in school. She is now a full time pupil, and her best moments remain lunch hour. Is there anyone in the congregation who has a family member in the military? Would you like our church to write notes to them for Veteran s Day? If so, please let Missions know and we will hold a card writing party for them. Linda Garasimowicz Alain (Ogouamzak) Audrey Salinou

5 LEADERS WANTED The nominating team is looking for people who feel God s call to step into leadership at this church and become voting members of the church Council. Please pray about how God has gifted you and how He has called you to serve His church. Each position is a two-year commitment with monthly attendance at the church Council meeting. The following positions are open for 2018: Moderator-elect Becomes moderator in year two of the commitment Conducts Council and business meetings after becoming moderator Serves as the director of the Personnel Team Treasurer Signs checks for the church Understands and interprets the financial statement to the Council Takes the lead in preparing the church s annual budget Does NOT keep the church s financial records or statements of giving; also, is NOT responsible for counting weekly offering 2nd pair of adult hands needed weekly for Youth Sunday School Church Mutual, our church's insurance company, has been telling us for some time now that we really should have 2 adults working with our children at all times. We think that it is a good idea, because it is a good and safe practice, and because the Sunday school teachers could really use an extra pair of hands each week! Please consider volunteering at least one Sunday to help out in the Youth Sunday school. You will NOT need to prepare any lessons, just lend a helping hand. If all adults in church volunteer one Sunday, you would not need to volunteer more than once a year! Please look at your calendar and then sign up (for at least one week!) on the Communications table. Joanne Himebauch Director (3 openings) Maintains contact with their ministry teams Assures that each ministry team has the resources it needs Acts as a liaison for their teams to the Council Does NOT run any of the ministry teams under them To volunteer or make a suggestion, please talk to Tom Roberts, Bonnie Geiser or Diane Williams or the church office at office@fccweb.net. Calling All Men - We will be doing a one day Men's Retreat on September 30th at Timber-Lee Ministry Center. The cost is $5 per person, and it is open to men of all ages. Join us for a day of fun, comradery and growing in your faith. See Pastor Kevin for details or sign up at the communication table. FCC T-Shirts Want to order an FCC t-shirt? The cost is $10 for sizes S,M, L, and XL. 2XL is $12. Make checks payable to First Congregational Church, or pay with cash. You can give your money to Joanne Himebauch or leave it on Judi's desk. Please fill out the order form, which can be found on the Communications Table in the Narthex.

6 National Night Out August 1, 2017

7 Church Picnic August 6, 2017

8 More Church Picnic Photos!

9 231 ROBERTS DRIVE MUKWONAGO, WISCONSIN «Final_Merge Mailing_Labels» «Address» «City», «State» «Zip» «Newsletter_Delivery_Preference» September, 2017 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 1 2 Saturday 3 4 Pastor's Day Off Maxwell Street Days 9:00 Bible Study Labor Day 8:00 Men's Breakfast 10:00 Worship 10:00 Made With Love 11:00 Front Porch 6:30 Choir 10 Maxwell Streeet Days 11 Pastor's Day Off :00 Bible Study 6:30 Scouts 6:30 Choir 6:30 Church Council 10:00 Worship 6:30 Quilters 11:00 Front Porch Pastor's Day Off :00 Bible Study 10:00 Made With Love 6:30 Missions 10:00 Worship 12:30 Women's Fellow. 11:00 Front Porch 6:30 Choir 1:00 Linden Service 6:30 Scouts Cmte Pastor's Day Off Articles Due 30 9:00 Bible Study 6:30 Scouts 10:00 Made With Love Men's Retreat 10:00 Worship 6:30 Choir 11:00 Front Porch 12:30 HopeFest