United In God s Love 150th Year As we usher in a new year we think about beginnings and we reflect on days of old. Our church will be doing a lot of this as 2016 marks our 150th year in ministry to the service of Jesus the Christ. What an amazing thing to say that we have served generation after generation here in Downers Grove, as much a part of the town as its founding families, (some of whom were church members). As we celebrate all God has done in this faith family it is also a time to continue to pray and seek God in how we are the church here and now. As we usher in the new year there will be several large scale efforts that the church will be undertaking to continue to try and live into our mission and ministry. The first is the addition of a second worship service. The planning and publicity for this service begin in January with the service to begin just after Easter in April of 2016. The service will be unique in that it will be a coffee house worship service held in our two way street coffee house. It will be midweek on Wednesday evenings from 6:15pm to 7pm. The service is aimed at bringing people into a worship experience who do not currently attend church, have never been in a church, or who cannot attend due to Sunday morning work constraints. Please pray for our new worship service so that as we prepare God would bless our endeavors so that this service speaks to people whom we are currently not reaching. The second is that our mission ministry will continue to work at developing a prison ministry partnership which we hope to get in full swing in the 2016 year. First Congregational United Church of Christ in this January 2016 Pilgrim edition: page 1/2 From The Desk of Pastor Scott page 3 Tip For the Holiday Recycling page 3 Caring for Creation Resolutions page 4 Happy Anniversary First Congregational United Church Of Christ page 5 Something New and Exciting in the Air/ Jan Baker page 6 Proposed Constitution and By-Law Amendments page 7 Ladies of the Morning & Evening FCLC PFLAG Blood Drive page 8 PADS Book Clubs Annual Meeting 2016 New Member s 2016 Save the Date page 9 Two Way Street Coffee House
Get Connected! Page 02 From the desk of Pastor Scott continued Third, we will continue our ecumenical bi-weekly webstream program called CrossWalk. Crosswalk, found on uccfn.org, is a radio show that speaks to the challenges of living as a Christian disciple in everyday life and explores issues that are at the forefront of our day to day living. Gina Rossetti hosts the show, with in house guest Pastor Scott. Each show also features two area clergy from different faith traditions from Roman Catholic, to Fundamentalist, to Episcopalian, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and everything in between. It will also feature in 2016 interfaith guests- Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and others. We hope that you ll tune in early in the New Year, or check out our past shows online. We are continuing our commitment to engage in issues of justice as well and are working to partner with Latino and African American congregations in Chicago as race relations, particularly as they relate to our criminal justice system and its impact their communities. We will seek to offer many opportunities to learn, to partner and to act in the new year. The 150th has many wonderful things throughout the year planned; including a February Winterfest that will include a church open house and pancake breakfast, a summer concert in Fishel Park this May that will include our fellow Downers Grove churches, guest preachers from our Association, and the President of the United Church of Christ-Rev. John Dorhaurer, and much more. In February we will also host a Beyond 150 mini retreat with elected church leaders and any church members who would like to attend. I will discuss some of the data of what the trends are affecting mainline Christian churches like ours today. We will assess how we are doing in terms of ministering to the members we have (with feedback from all involved) and who we are not reaching or ministering to as well as we could. We will look at specific programs and ministries of the church, have some time to brainstorm for new ideas and add enhancements to ministries and programs that are currently strengths of the church. Then we will share specific action plans that coordinate our ministries for shared vision and purpose. MCB, Moderators and Pastor Scott will meet on February 2nd, the regular joint ministry meeting, for all committee members to discuss current ministries and ministries moving into the future. In addition, we will seek to create a new online church directory. We ask your help the weeks leading up to Easter and then post Easter to respond to invitations week by week to come and have your picture taken in room 502. We will then post the pictures and all pertinent shared information to the members secured section of the website so that every church member can have an easier time looking up others in the church, remember names of familiar faces that you are too embarrassed to ask, and to have a system where we can add our newest members as we go. In this way our directory will not go out of date within the year.mcb, Moderators and Pastor Scott will meet on February 2 nd the regular joint ministry meeting for all committee members to discuss current ministries and ministries moving into the future.
Get Connected! Page 03 Caring for Creation Resolutions Somehow the very act of writing down a New Year s Resolution makes it real. And actually revealing it publicly makes it almost impossible to ignore. So, we the members of Caring for Creation, reveal to you our own resolutions for 2016. The sustainability of our Earth is at risk; we know if enough of us work together, one by one we can make a difference. The alternative is unthinkable. If our resolutions encourage you to do the same, please write one or two of your own. Send them to judi.davenport@aol.com Caring for Creation will publish some of yours here throughout 2016 to help reinforce your commitment and to give others ideas of what they can do to help sustain our Earth. Then, join us on Sunday, January 3rd when our church receives the honor of an Earth Flag from the DuPage County Board to commemorate our church s progress in implementing sustainability initiatives. Have some cake and sign the tablecloth in Fellowship Hall with your resolution(s) to do something new in 2016 to help sustain our Earth. Caring for Creation 2016 Resolutions: I resolve to ride my bike to and from the train station for work one day a week in the spring and summer. I resolve to better insulate our attic-tom Eisenhart. We resolve to have a group of neighbors sit in on a Scarce home energy audit program. We ll continue our new composting practices. We won t vote for anyone who doesn t take the care of the earth seriously. I (Scott) hope to get that green resolution before our churches at the spring Association meeting. I (Robin) will resolve to have less of a lawn and more of a garden. Scott and Robin Oberle We plan to schedule an energy audit on our house during 2016 and work to patch up any deficiencies. We plan to support only green candidates for public office, We will continue replacing incandescent and CFL light bulbs with LED s, We pledge to use our garbage disposal less-bill and Barb Hammack. I will add insulation to our attic space-len Clark. I will eat beef no more than three meals a week-judi Davenport. I will reduce my driving mileage by 10% a week-jan Hessler. We will start composting this year. We're going to get a green energy audit of our house. Kristin will continue to be a vegetarian, and Dave and Noah will continue to consume only a limited amount of meat-dave Keavney and Kristin Cotts. To consistently search out products from companies who are trying to make a difference and be more responsible to our environment. My most recent find is socks from PACT. PACT uses; Non GMO Organic cotton-family run farms, Non toxic ingredients-sweatshop free factory, Renewable energy-wind powered factory, I am looking for more companies like PACT-Pam Toleikis. I'm going to change all of our bulbs to more energy efficient alternatives and use fewer plastics in the house. Colleen Schwarz My resolution is to find a place that will recycle textiles such as worn out clothing & linens that are no longer usable, and therefore can t be donated to a charity such as Goodwill, Purple Heart, etc. Laurel Carlson We resolve to: * support candidates running for office with platforms and priorities that address climate change both nationally and globally * convert the rest of our lights bulbs (including our Christmas ones) to LEDs and * walk/bike/carpool to church whenever feasible to help reduce our carbon footprint. Sandy and Rich Toleikis
Get Connected! Page 04 HAPPY ANNIVERSARY FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST This year marks our 150 th Anniversary as a church here in Downers Grove. We have been working hard to create a year-long celebration of our history and our commitment to Downers Grove and the greater world community. First, we will kick off the New Year at our Annual Meeting on January 24 with a special video, created by Len Potter. Next, on Saturday, February 13, we will continue our tradition of opening our doors during the Downers Grove Ice Festival with the Men s Fellowship Pancake Breakfast and we will also have an Open House and warming center sponsored by First Congregational Learning Center and the Ministry of Christian Education. For history buffs, we will have docents to discuss our rich history and provide a tour of the church. On March 4, our CYA group will host a Trivia Game Night, complete with prizes. Funds raised that night will be donated to the Chicago Night Ministry. On Confirmation Sunday, May 15, we are having a reunion of ALL confirmands of the church. If you know someone who was confirmed here, please tell them to put this event on their calendar. June 12, we will have an outstanding concert featuring our choir, Guided Path, and choirs from many of our neighboring churches. Stay for a picnic dinner and fellowship after the concert. Honoring one of the cornerstones of our church, the reach out in mission work, we will have an event we are calling A Day of Service. Instead of attending a church service on August 28, everyone in the congregation is invited to be out in the community, doing some work of service. You will learn more about this exciting event, sponsored by the Ministry of Christian Mission around May of 2016. And what is a Celebration without a party? We will be celebrating the anniversary with a BIG party on Saturday, September 17, 2016. Stay tuned for more on this as the year progresses. The Worship Service to celebrate our anniversary will be Sunday, September 18, 2016, with many special guests. Please be sure to get the word out to old friends of the church that we would love to have them come to help us celebrate. After the actual anniversary, we are not done! Our Caring for Creation Team will be sponsoring a 5k race to help raise funds for efforts to improve the church s environmental footprint. Throughout the year, we will be highlighting special events that occurred over our 150 year history, hearing from people of our church and how this church has affected their spiritual journey, have guest preachers, and participate in parades and festivals to ask people to help us celebrate the 150 years this church has impacted the community. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to let us know. Reach out to Linda Schranz at 630-464-0426 or email Lsmedia52@gmail.com or speak with Pastor Scott.
Page 05 SOMETHING NEW AND EXCITING IS IN THE AIR! Jan Barker Beginning this January, I am starting Kid s Church here at First Congregational! On January 31st we will have our first kid s worship service in the chapel. It will follow the Conversation with the Children and end when worship service lets out. All children ages 3 years 6th grade can attend and friends are welcome too! This worship service will replace regular Sunday school on that day. I am planning to have Kid s Church every Sunday in the summer. Our special R2D2 robot will be collecting the offering so please send your child with change (coins) so that R2D2 can gather it in his unique way! Children will learn praise songs with movement and hear Bible stories through skits, puppets, storytelling, etc. We will have a weekly scripture reading and prayer time. On some weeks we will play games or do arts and crafts projects. I am hoping that all of the children will love Kid s Church and that it will become a permanent part of our programming. Please tell your children about this exciting new event and encourage them to bring a friend! Advent was a fun time for all of our children. The Junior Fellowship made their Santa boxes for children who visit Hope s Front Door. In December, we decorated the tree for PADS and brought toys for the children. Our Sunday school children rehearsed for our Christmas show which was performed on December 20th. This month our Junior Fellowship will enjoy bowling at Lucky Strike in Yorktown. Our spring musical will be announced in early January and Maria and I will begin rehearsals soon thereafter. Sunday school classes will resume on Sunday, January 3rd. We are awaiting the kit for our Vacation Bible School! This year we are doing: Surf Shack Catch the Wave of God s Amazing Love! With a surf type theme we have tons of cool ideas. If you are interested in volunteering for the week of VBS, please contact Jan Barker. Our VBS dates are: June 13th June 17th. Watch for donation lists this spring as it helps so much when we receive donations for our arts and crafts and snacks. In our attempt to keep our church and our church children as safe as possible, I will be closing the crash doors on the second floor immediately following the Conversation with the Children. Anyone arriving at church after the worship service begins will have to enter either the front doors or the west doors until worship service is over. I will be sitting in the west entrance if a parent needs to enter the hallway for their child. I hope you all understand that I take the responsibility of your child s safety very seriously. Thank you. And Happy New Year!
The Pilgrim 2016 New Year Edition n Page 06 The Church Cabinet proposes the following amendments to our Church Constitution and By-Laws for a congregational vote at the 150th Annual Meeting on January 31st, 2016. Please note that amendments to the Church Constitution and By-Laws require three-fourths affirmative vote of the members present, with a quorum of 100. 1 - Article II, Section 8, line 259 will be amended to allow for some members of Ministries to be appointed. This will permit a Ministry (e.g., the Ministry of the First Congregational Learning Center) to appoint some members (see below). 2 - Article V, Section 1, line 401: e) Ministry of Evangelism and Membership will be amended to the Ministry of Outreach and Membership. 3 - Article V, Section 2, line 422: The Operational Group: a) Quick Response Team, and subsequent Article VI (lines 464-524) outlining the Membership and Functions of the Quick Response Team for real estate and property bids, acquisitions, and purchases will be eliminated from the Constitution and By-Laws. Line 422 will read: There are currently no Operational Groups. 4 Article V, Section 3, line 427: Will be amended to permit the change referenced in #1, above. The following Operating Procedures will be amended by the Church Cabinet at the first Cabinet meeting in 2016 after the Annual Meeting, assuming these amendments to the Constitution and By-Laws pass with three-fourths vote at the meeting. As outlined in the Church Constitution, amendments to the Operating Procedures require a three-fourths affirmative vote by Cabinet members present at the meeting. 1 - Article I, Section 5, lines 643 and 645: Ministry of Evangelism and Membership will be amended to reflect the Ministry of Outreach and Membership. 2 - Article I, Section 6, following line 682: Ministry of the First Congregational Learning Center, the addition of item j), which will allow up to three (3) members of the Ministry of the First Congregational Learning Center, but never representing a majority, to be non-church members provided that they are a parent or legal guardian of a child or children currently enrolled at the First Congregational Learning Center. These members will be chosen by the First Congregational Learning Center Director and the Senior Minister to serve one-year, renewable terms. 3 - Article I, Section 7, line 698: Walk-In Ministry of Hope will be changed to Hope's Front Door. 4 - Article II, Section 8, lines 932-944: Operational Responsibilities for the Quick Response Team will be eliminated. 5 - Article IV, Section 1, following line 1011: Provisions are outlined in g) and h) for immediate action on the part of the Senior Minister and the Church Cabinet in the event of allegations of illegal or unethical activities conducted by the Senior Minister, additional Ministers, or any staff member. These provisions are consistent with our recently adopted Personnel Handbook. (Note that the final text of the revisions may not be completed immediately!)
The Pilgrim 2016 New Year Edition n Get Connected! Ladies of the Morning & Evening Women's Fellowship: All women are always welcome to any of our events. Invite a friend or new member. January Gatherings UCCDG News! We're going out for breakfast on Friday, January 8, 2016 at 9:30 am at the Citrus Diner, 844 Ogden Ave, Westmont, IL 60559, (630) 655-1840, www.citrusdiner.com. If you plan on coming, please email or call me. It is nice to have some idea of how big a table to get. Peggy Gutzke H-630/971-1382 peggy.gutzke@gmail.com Second, we'll stay at the church for Stitch and Chat in the Parlor Friday, January 22, from about 9:30-11:30 am You don't need to bring anything to stitch, but can just hang out and chat. This is a very casual gathering. Come if and when you can, even if for only a few minutes. If you have any questions contact Peggy Gutzke 630/971-1382 peggy.gutzke@gmail.com. First Congregational Learning Center Happy New Year! FCLC is getting ready for a fantastic 2016. Registration for the 2016/2017 preschool program will begin January 11th. We are excited to offer a summer program this year. Registration, information along with the calendars of activities will be available on February 1st. On an administrative note; we are currently seeking teacher qualified staff for our preschool and toddler classrooms. Please contact Kimberly Choate at kchoate@uccdg.org if you are interested or for more information. Prayer Concerns Page 07 The family of Pat Wagner, Karen Costanzi, Ann Mullen, Bob Orsula, Mary Moniger PFLAG Downers Grove PFLAG is a support and education network for parents, family, and friends of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender loved ones. PFLAG Downers Grove will meet Wednesday, January 13 at 7:00 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. All are welcome to attend. Check us out on Facebook at PFLAG Downers Grove, like and share us to spread the word. Also see us online at PFLAGdg.wix.com/PFLAGdg, or email us at PFLAGdg@gmail.com. Walk-ins are very welcome! However, if you would like to make an appointment for a specific time, please call Marilyn Jelinek (63O) 789-3999. Mark Your Calendar! You Can Make A Difference! Tuesday, January, 19, we will be having a Blood Drive from 3-7 p.m. This is a meaningful Congregational Care out reach program! Every pint of blood helps 3 people. It is important that you donate blood at the blood drives held at our church. Blood donated at a store front clinic does NOT count as a donation for our drives. Blood banks are low. Your donation is badly needed. Walk-ins are very welcome! However, if you would like to make an appointment for a specific time, please call Marilyn Jelinek (63O) 789-3999.
Get Connected! UCCDG News! Page 08 BOOK CLUB Pastor Scotts house: January 18th at 7:00 pm book club at the Oberle s will be The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in an Age of Color Blindness by Michelle Alexander. As we begin a six week new year focus on race relations and faith in the new year. February s book will be This Changes Everything by Nancy Klein. JANUARY FCC BOOK CLUB: Our book for January is "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henriquez. We will meet at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, January 6, in the Chapel. Please consider joining us! We read a lot of different types of books, but always have lively and thoughtful discussions. All are welcome. Annual Meeting 2016 The annual meeting will be held on January 31st after church. Copies of the annual report and proposed constitutional revisions will go out January 10, 2016 by email. Hard copies will be available in the church office. New Member s 2016 Tuesday, January 12, 2016 Sunday, January 17, 2016 Thursday, January 21, 2016 New Member s Sunday Sunday, January 24, 2016 Save The Date On March 5th, As part of the 150th anniversary celebration, the community of young adults (cya) will be hosting a trivia night in fellowship hall. This is a fundraiser to benefit Chicago night ministry. There will be food, cash bar, raffle baskets, 50/50 raffle, and more! Come alone or with a team of 10! More information will be provided next month. For any questions, please contact LindaSchranzlsmedia52@gmail.com or Megan Lockettlockett.megan24@gmail.com
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Our Church Staff The Rev. Scott Oberle, Senior Pastor....pastorscott@uccdg.org Cathy Sanders, Minister of Pastoral Care and Visitation...casanders3@aol.com Jim Molina, Minister of Music and Media.....jimmolina@uccdg.org Rev. Jan Remer-Osborn Licensed Minister...npspc@msn.com Maria Carini, Assistant to the Minister of Music...mcarin1m@aol.com Dena Provenzano, Interim Director of Youth Ministries...dprovenzano@uccdg.org Jan Barker, Director of Children s Ministries...jbarker@uccdg.org Leslie McFarland, Administrative Secretary lmcfarland@uccdg.org Cliff Mazzone, Bookkeeper...bookkeeper@uccdg.org Carl Lorek, Custodian/Maintenance Supervisor.Carll@uccdg.org Kim Choate, Director, First Congregational Learning Center..kchoate@uccdg.org Radika Jungwirth, Admin. Asst, First Cong. Learning Center radikaj@uccdg.org Dave Humphreys, Two Way Street Coffee House.dave@twowaystreet.org Bill Hammack, A-V Specialist...bill@symbolix.com Len Potter, Broadcasting Ministries.lenp@potterpro.com The Rev. Dr. Robert D. Schieler, Pastor Emeritus T h e P i l gr i m 2 016 N e w Ye a r E d i t i o n First Congregational UCC * 1047 Curtiss Street * Downers Grove, IL 60515 Phone: (630) 968.0358 Email: office@uccdg.org Website: www.uccdg.org * Broadcast: www.uccbroadcastministry.org Other Communications: www.twitter.com/uccdg * www.facebook.com/uccdg FCC Learning Center: www.facebook.com/fdcdg