Our Covenant Connections

Transcription

1 Our Covenant Connections August, 2017 As the school year draws nearer, I am beginning to get more and more excited about re-launching our Backpack Program! This is an awesome ministry that our church has done for seven years, and year eight promises to be very exciting. If you aren t familiar with the program, our church partners with Clarendon Elementary School to provide food (every weekend during the school year!) for families with financial needs. Over the last three years, I have seen this as one of our churches greatest ministries as we all pull together and share our time and resources to tangibly bless people whose kids go to school right across the street! In the years that we have done the program we have had as many as 16 families in one year, to as few as three families this last year. As the school year draws near, the leaders of the backpack team and I have had opportunities to sit down and talk about the future of the program. We were also fortunate enough to talk to the principal at Clarendon to understand the needs of the students there. The principal reinforced with us what a valuable program it is, and she offered to help us continue to get word out to the families in the school about it. Because of this assistance in getting the word out, the leaders of the Backpack Team and I are fully expecting to see a large increase in the numbers of families receiving backpacks this school year. We would like to invite you to think and pray about how you can contribute to the Backpack Program in the school year. We will continue to need people to donate food for the backpacks (or donate money to the program if you are unable to buy the food). We will also need volunteers to deliver and pick-up the backpacks. Depending on the number of families signed up, we may need additional volunteers to help with other aspects of the program. I am very excited to be able to continue this unique and powerful ministry in our community. As the Lord promised Abraham I will bless you and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Gen. 12:2-3). In our church, we are truly blessed to be a blessing. 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 Birthdays and Anniversaries 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 August Birthdays Mary Anne Dable... 8/8 Bonnie Geiser... 8/9 Cory Ballard... 8/9 Betty Martens... 8/10 Frank Rappold... 8/10 Robert Perkins... 8/11 Lowell Burt... 8/13 Joan Stoecker... 8/19 Ashley Clark... 8/21 Isabelle Grace Clark... 8/25 Bruce Zalud... 8/27 Dorothy Chapman... 8/28 Ronald Webber... 8/29 August Wedding Anniversaries Jim & Florrie Schuett... 8/1 Russ & Janine Coley... 8/5 Scott & Jennifer Rowntree... 8/15 Wil & Shirley Manion... 8/21 Allen & Linda Haeger... 8/25 TJ & Erin Tritz... 8/28 Larry & Chris Litwin... 8/31 If you would like your birthday or wedding anniversary to be included here, please drop a note to the office. Please change the address for Scott & Claire Albrecht to: 1800 Manor Ct Waukesha, WI Servant Schedule Date Refresh. Ushers Nursery Liturgist 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 September Newsletter are due in the office by Friday, August 25 Sunday School 8/6 Picnic Group 3 Diane W 8/13 Group 1 Janine C Linda G 8/20 Group 2 Janine C 8/27 Women s Fellowship Group 3 Janine C Claire A 9/3 Group 1 Diane W Joanne H 7/28/17 Income Expenses Over (Short) Offering 65, , (1,912.78) Other 3, Income Total 69, , , /9 7/16 7/23 Attendance 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 Parking Help is needed! If you can help with this important fundraiser please see the sign-up sheet in the foyer. In July we made $1, Thank you!

3 This month s Council meeting continued our leadership learning with an exercise on leading through conflict using Matthew 18:15-17 and Ephesians 4:24-27, The lesson taught us ways to get through disagreements using Biblical principles. We have received a bid for updating the light fixtures in Koeffler Hall in the amount of $1900. The bid includes replacing the current fixtures (since replacement parts are no longer available resulting in almost half of the lights not working) and the labor for the work. The Council approved the bid and it will be paid for from surplus held in the reserve account. Jean Broker, Jim Schuett, Deb Maske, Sue Roberts, Rae-Ellen Preuss and Prakash Matthew will be the Consecration Sunday team. Consecration Sunday will be October 1. We have been contacted by the Boy Scout troop asking if there were any projects around the church that would be suitable for an Eagle Scout project. There are people on track to become Eagle Scouts for at least the next three years. If you have any ideas for projects, please contact any member of the Council. The Nominating Committee will begin its work soon. If you have any suggestions on people to be nominated for next year, please contact any member of the Committee (Tom Roberts, Bonnie Geiser or Diane Williams). We will be nominating a Moderator-elect, Treasurer, and three directors. Diane Williams, Moderator THANK YOU, THANK YOU everyone for helping us reach 500 bottles of water for National Night Out to be held on Tuesday, August 1 st at Field Park. Times for NNO are from 5:30 to 8 p.m. We have a team of about 11 of us who will be helping Kevin hand out the water. If anyone else would like to join us, you are welcome to do so! And speaking of bottled water, we re going to ask you to keep the water coming! We talked with Charles Sagay when he was here and asked what else we might do to help the Mission School of Hope. He told us they would like to buy some land and build a poultry farm and a fishery to help become even more self-sustaining and help with adding meat to the children s diet. The budget for the land is $20,000. We re not looking to raise the entire $20,000, but we d like to help as much as we can. Therefore, we ll sell any bottled water you bring in at both the August and September Maxwell Street Days. We will then look at other ideas after that to continue our fundraising for them for a time. If you would care to donate toward this project, you can write a check to FCC or give cash and just mark it for the Mission School of Hope. Thank you! We do have funds that come in on a regular basis that are specifically for the school, and we use those funds to sponsor a child and help pay one of the nursing salaries. We re looking into the possibility of sponsoring another child with some of those funds also. Disbursements this past month: $500 Sent to Love, Inc. in Burlington to help with flood relief efforts there. $200 To Kenneth Mathew to help fund his trip to New York through REACH Mission Trips, which involves a week-long mission of service to lowincome communities. Linda Garasimowicz Women s Fellowship Luncheon in June

4 Charles Sagay and Benjamin Upcoming FCC Fellowship Events Mark your Calendars: Sunday, August 6 - Church Picnic (After worship) Bring a dish to pass. Brats, hot dogs, buns, condiments and fellowship activities provided. Sunday, Sept Hopefest in Field Park 12:30 pm Sunday, October 1st - Consecration Sunday (dinner after worship) Hayride / Bonfire 2-5 pm at Rowntree farms Sunday, November 5 - Celebration of Music 2 pm Saturday, December 2 - Midnight Magic Parade Party at the Himebauch's home (100 Oakland Ave.) Bring canned goods for the food pantry. Time to be announced. A Note from the Treasurer If you are looking for ways to support your church, increase your charitable deductions for tax purposes, or just give more because God has called you to, you might consider a "designated gift" to the church. A designated gift means you restrict your donation to a specific church program or purpose. On your church offering envelope, you can indicate the amount of your designated gift to a specific program or purpose in addition to your church offering. You can also send your designated gift to the church office or contribute online via fccweb.net. The following church programs rely solely on designated gifts: Missions ~ You can contact Linda Garasimowicz to find out their latest project. Mission School of Hope founded by Charles Sagay for the marginalized Baka people in Cameroon, Africa. Ogouamsak, our adopted Baka child. The Snackpack Program which provides a weekly backpack filled with food for families in need at Clarendon Grade School. Donations purchase backpacks, food, and special holiday gifts for the family. Friends In Need (FIN) which provides help for anyone in need be it shelter, food, or a bus ticket home. A designated gift to our Energy Loan would help the church pay it off faster. A Line of Credit was converted to a loan in 2009 to pay for new energy efficient windows and boilers. Monthly payments are included in the Budget amounting to $7020 paid per year. We still owe over $43,000. Getting out from under this debt as soon as possible would save the church interest money. The best way to support ongoing church ministries like Youth Sunday School, Nursery, and Music, to name a few, is to be sure to keep up with the offering that you pledged at stewardship time. All church ministries that need financial support are provided for in our Budget which relies on offerings from our membership. This month we will be gearing up for our annual Consecration Sunday. Soon letters will be coming to you asking you to consider how God is calling you to use the blessings you have received from Him. From our total pledges, which will be revealed on Consecration Sunday October 1st, our 2018 Budget will be developed. Together we pray, together we worship, and together we support the church. Your Treasurer and Sister in Christ, Jean L Brocker

5 231 ROBERTS DRIVE MUKWONAGO, WISCONSIN «Final_Merge Mailing_Labels» «Address» «City», «State» «Zip» «Newsletter_Delivery_Preference» Sunday August, 2017 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday :00 Men's Breakfast 6:00-8:30 National Night Out Saturday 6 7 Pastor's Day Off :30 Church Council 6:30 Quilters 11:00 Church Picnic Judi Out of the Office Pastor's Day Off Maxwell Street Days 6:30 Scouts 6:30 Missions 20 Maxwell Street Days Articles Due 26 6:30 Scouts Cmte. 1:00 Linden Service Pastor Kevin Out of the Office Pastor Kevin Out of the Office