The First Congregational Church in Stoneham THE MEETINGHOUSE MESSENGER September 2018 United Church of Christ Upcoming Events: Sept. 9 Rally Sunday and Concession Stand Lunch! Sept. 30 Bible Sunday Oct. 20 Marvelous Movies Music Fundraiser Dinner Theater Oct. 28 Golden Age Sunday We are an open and affirming congregation of the United Church of Christ
Messenger Deadline The deadline for the October Messenger is September 17 th. Please leave all submissions in the Messenger box in the office, or email them to the church office at firstchurchstonehamma@gmail.com. Thanks! The First Congregational Church in Stoneham 1 Church Street Stoneham, MA 02180 781-438-0097 (fax) 781-438-0238 First Church is on TV! Couldn t get the service this week? Loved the sermon so much you want to hear it again? First Church services are rebroadcast all week! The schedule and channels are as follows: Comcast users: Channel 9 Verizon users: Channel 34 RCN users: Channel 3 Mondays @ 6:30 pm Tuesdays @10:30 am Thursdays @ 2:00 pm Sundays @ 11:30 am Come Worship with us! Sundays, 10:00 am Staff of the Church Rev. Henry Schoenfield, Interim Minister Rev. Nina Swift, Pastoral Intern Joyce Simpson, Music Director Leonard Levine, Sexton Sara Thompson, Church Secretary and Messenger Editor Heidi Bilbo, Sunday School Superintendent Lynn Haddad, Treasurer Notes from Joyce Greetings! Choir will resume at 9 AM on Sept. 9 th. Anyone who likes to sing is invited to join us. We could use some extra voices so please come down and join the fun! September If you would like to be added to the Birthday List, please email the church office. 1 Donald Wall 2 AJ Catalano 3 Keith Nelson 5 Jan Barry 7 Molly Sawicki 11 Matt Palmer 20 Hugh Matthews 28 Lynn Haddad 29 Adam Chanley Please note the Community Dinner Steering Committee Meeting will take place at 6:30pm, Tuesday, September 18 th in the Parlor. Please be aware that new flooring is being installed on the lower level of the building. A large section under the sanctuary will be out of service the week of Sept 10-15.
Books & Chocolate Books & Chocolate will begin again on Monday, September 17 at 7:30 pm in the church parlor. We will be choosing our book selections for the year soon and will announce the one for September via e-mail and Sunday bulletin at the beginning of September. Please feel free to join the group, new members are always welcome! FREE Health Fair for Seniors Free Health Fair is being held on Thursday, September 13th from 10:00am -12:00pm at Reading Pleasant Street Center, 49 Pleasant Street, in Reading. Free health screenings, health resource information, and give-a-ways. Sponsored by Hallmark Health VNA and Hospice and the Town of Reading Elder Services. Flu clinic will also take place at the same time sponsored by Reading Public Health Department. Flu shots are free with a Medicare Card. For more information call 781-338-7902. Dear First Congregational Church, I wanted to express my gratitude for awarding me the scholarship. I genuinely appreciate the award as it will provide great assistance in my upcoming academic endeavor. Thank you as well for the Amazon gift card! Regards, Ryan Nolan Food Pantry News Here is our list of Items of the Week for the month of September. Please remember to pick up these items when you are grocery shopping. Please do your part to help stock our pantry for those in need in our church community and in Stoneham and the neighboring communities. Laundry Detergent Baked Beans Canned Raviolis/Beefaroni Italian Wedding Soup Ketchup & Mayonnaise Items may be left in the colorful crates outside the Sanctuary. Craft Group The Craft Group will be starting up again in September on Tuesdays from 9:30 until noon. Tea and pastry will be served. Anyone who has the morning free is welcome to join us, no particular craft skills are necessary. The dates are Sept. 4, 11, 18, and 25. Be sure to look for our booth on Central Street by the Purpose School entrance during Stoneham Town Day on September15th.
Vacation Bible Blast 2018 The Rolling River Rampage, Vacation Bible Blast, was a huge success. Although the weather was extremely hot and humid we had a blast. We had 22 campers (ages 6 mo 5 th graders), 21 tweens/teens (6th 12th graders) and 16 adults (4 of these adults are 18 years old or over and have recently graduated from high school or are currently in college). I love the fact that our volunteers are returning year after year to help support this program. Some changed vacation or work commitments plans just to be here! We greatly appreciate the donations we received from Stop & Shop, Walgreens, Walmart, Farmland, Honey Dew Donuts, Daily Scoop, Friendly s and our families at First Congregational Church in Stoneham. These donations help us with food and supply costs. Thank you to everyone who helped with our program, we couldn t have pulled it together without your help. Everyone participated in a lively discussion of where we have traveled to for VBB throughout the last 23 years or so. We discovered we have been to lots of places: camping, the desert, ballooning, cooking, space, the bottom of the ocean, ranching and more. We took a poll of where we would like to go next year, someplace we haven t been, and it was suggested on a safari or a jungle exploration. So, CE will explore the opportunities of programs available to us for next year and try to make this theme happen. Look for our program again next year during the summer, probably August 2018. Sincerely, Donna Wall, VBB Director
A wonderful time was had by all at Vacation Bible Blast 2018! Music, Science, Recreation, Arts & Crafts, Story Time, Snack and our famous Opening & Closing sessions were all interactive, a positive learning experience and most importantly FUN for all who participated. Look for information about VBB 2019 late winter/early spring and save the dates for next year!
Treasurer s 2017-2018 Financial Wrap-Up I am happy to report that we wrapped up the 2017-2018 fiscal year in much better financial shape than projected at annual meeting. We closed the fiscal year with a Net Income of $6,518.93. Though contribution income was $6,600 less than budgeted, income from other sources exceeded the budget by $45,000. The bulk of the additional income was derived from Purpose School tuition and building user fees. Additionally, total expenses were $5,200 less than allowed for in the 2017-2018 budget. I had originally projected that we would need to withdraw up to $24,750 from Permanent Funds income to ensure the year ended with a balanced budget (the budget allowed for up to $44,925). The only income taken from Permanent Funds was $7,500 from the Lister Fund for several building maintenance projects. Income not taken from Permanent Funds remains invested, and hopefully increasing, for future use. If you would like to receive a PDF version of the final 2017-2018 Profit & Loss statement, please send an email to Lynn Haddad at fccosfinancial@gmail.com. Lynn Haddad YOGA AT FIRST CHURCH First Church s Yoga Class meets every Wednesday at 2:30 pm. The class is offered by certified Yoga instructor and former Purpose School teacher Judy Bousquin. No experience is required for this beginners class, open to Purpose School staff, and members and friends of First Church. Stretching, improving balance and strengthening are the focus. The cost is $8.00 per class. For questions or more information call the church office at 781-438-0097.
CHURCH FAIR This year there is a new spin on the Holiday fair and we are looking for assistance from each and every board and committee in the church. We would like to request that each committee make up a basket for our Arts & Crafts Holiday Fair. Families, individuals or other groups could also participate and help out. You could come up with a theme or call me and we can discuss making up a basket or donating money for a basket that I can put together with the theme of your choice. The baskets will be part of our yearly raffle which is always enjoyed and helps to raise funds for the church. We are still looking for any other donations as well. Deadline is Oct 15th. Thank you! Kathy Bergstrom
Greetings Everyone! Marvelous Movie Melodies DINNER THEATER will take place on October 20 th at 6 PM in Fellowship Hall. This is the cantata singers annual fundraiser. We have a fabulous show planned, along with a delicious dinner for your enjoyment. Tickets will continue to be sold at coffee hours and in the church office during the week. Please join us!! Cantata rehearsals begin Sept. 20 at 7 PM in the music room. Last cantata we were so happy to gain a few more voices and I would love to have more!! Join us! We do practice hard but we have loads of fun!! In Christ, Joyce We have lots of empty Sundays on our Coffee Hour sign-up sheet! Please remember to sign up your committee, group or family to host one this fall. The sheet is outside the kitchen door in Fellowship Hall.
To All Members of First Church, The Transition Team is getting close to completing the process of a current church profile. The next step is to assemble a search committee to do the work of identifying desirable candidates for the position of permanent pastor. Our by-laws call for a 13 person committee, 11 active and 2 alternates. With that in mind we ask that over the next few weeks everyone carefully and prayerfully consider two or three members of our congregation they would like to nominate to serve on the committee. Let s try to look beyond just those who immediately come to mind. For example, is there someone you see attending on a regular basis who, though quiet, you feel would have a positive impact on the process? Is there someone you know who cannot regularly attend, but is still truly committed to the church? If you yourself have an interest, let it be known to someone else that you d like to be nominated. Those nominated would be approached to see if they are willing to serve. The congregation approves the committee by vote at a special business meeting. The end desire is to have a committee that represents our total membership. This is an important time for us. Thank you all for your thoughtful consideration. Kathleen Daly, Moderator VBB crew watches the last supper It is a long standing tradition at First Church to honor the elders in our midst on Golden Age Sunday. We will celebrate the 143 nd Anniversary of this special event on Sunday, October 28 th 2018, honoring those who are 80 and over. Please call Sara in the Church Office to add your name or the name of a friend or family member (with permission, please.)
TRUSTEES CORNER The Trustees want to update the congregation with some items that have gone on this summer or are coming up shortly. As Rev. Henry has been on vacation, for this month the Pastor s Corner will be the Trustees Corner! Following is a list of updates: AT&T project is in full swing and progressing on time. The new A2A bathroom is running into a scheduling issue, but we will have more updates as they become available. Attic storage improvements Eagle project by John Murphy is completed and will help with Purpose School and church storage organization. Attic venting and fire extinguisher placement is in process. We hope everyone is enjoying the new to us chairs, upgraded from the metal folding chairs. There are now 200 of them in use around the building. The lower level A2A bathroom is back in service after having the toilet replaced. There are new fire pull boxes around the building, as the old ones were no longer serviceable. The lower level rest rooms have been painted with a fresh new coat! The heat/air condition pumps that were installed in the Youth Community Room and the Parlor this spring are fully functioning and were a lifesaver for this summer s VBB and other programs. The women s bathroom sinks will be updated with new faucets due to the old ones wearing out over time. The choir room upgrades are in process and should be completed shortly. Also please keep in mind that the new flooring that will be part of the choir room/food pantry/hallway/classroom upgrades will be taking place the week of September 10 15. Quotes for the chapel window replacement should be coming in soon. Placement of the Gullette memorial bench should happen early this fall. Quotes for building exterior painting will be collected for future planning. Planning and logistics of kitchen facelift are in the beginning stages. Purpose School entrance foyer repairs, upgrade and awning are being worked out. Church main doors repair work is being scheduled. Chancel stairs banister is in the works. Office security layout is in progress. This beautiful Meetinghouse is a busy place! Stay tuned for more information on various projects as they progress!
Vacation Bible Blast 2018 ~The Meetinghouse Messenger September 2018~ The First Congregational Church 1 Church Street Stoneham, MA 02180 Telephone: 781-438-0097 Fax: 781-438-0238 E-mail:firstchurchstonehamma@gmail.com Website: www.firstchurchstoneham.org Office Hours: Mon-Fri. 8:30 a.m. 2:30 p.m. Sunday Worship: 10:00 AM Staff of the Church Rev. Henry Schoenfield, Interim Minister Joyce Simpson, Music Director Rev. Nina Swift, Pastoral Intern Leonard Levine, Sexton Sara Thompson, Church Secretary and Messenger Editor Heidi Bilbo, Sunday School Superintendent Lynn Haddad, Treasurer