Posts by First Congregational Church Of Westminster, MA (Page 3)
Special Worship Services in May and June
In the next eight weeks, our congregation will have many reasons to celebrate and give thanks. Below are highlights: Growing our Faith with Debbie Gline Allen in the Pulpit—May 21 Debbie Gline Allen serves as a Minister of Faith Formation on the Conference’s Faith Formation Ministry Team. She also serves as the administrator of the SNEUCC Faith Formation Leadership Program. Debbie is joining us in worship at the request of our Deacons, Christian Education Team, and Pastor Stacey. Her leadership this Sunday…
Multi-Language Speakers Needed
Creative Assistance and Multi-Language Speakers Needed for Pentecost Pastor Stacey is seeking individuals with two different skillsets—the ability to speak another language and/or creative inclination. She is working on a special plan for Pentecost Sunday to celebrate that miraculous moment when the wind blew; the Holy Spirit descended as a dove; and all of the people could understand each other, even though they continued speaking in a variety of languages. Assistance with this service will range from the translation of components of the service…
Building and AED Updates
From the Trustees and Safe Church Committee… BUILDING UPDATE Safe Church and the Trustees have been working to update procedures and ensure safety aspects of our church building are in order. In recent weeks, the emergency button system was tested, the building inspected by the fire department and the kitchen by the health department, and the AED was serviced. AED The AED is now in working order. The Trustees have contracted a service provider for the device to ensure that it…
Have You Considered Teaching Church School?
Christian Education hopes to recruit four additional teachers for Church School. This will allow for a rotation to be established for our main teachers so that everyone has a couple of Sundays each month to be in worship. We will be running a “training” for those interested in how to use the curriculum and engage children and youth in a one-room classroom model at their age levels. Maybe you are interested in helping but would prefer not to be a lead teacher.…
Christian Ed
Recommended Resources for Families These resources were written by Rev. Sarah Griffith Lund the Senior Pastor at First Congregational United Church of Christ (Indianapolis, Indiana) and Minister for Disabilities and Mental Health Justice for the National United Church of Christ. Through vivid and powerful storytelling, Blessed Youth: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness with Children and Teens will remove the barriers of stigma and shame associated with mental illness in children and teens. Readers will know they are not alone and be…
Worship Live Streaming
The Deacons and Pastor Stacey have been discussing the merits of returning to providing our worship services online through YouTube and/or Facebook. We are hoping there are a couple of volunteers in the church willing to learn about how to do this and help us make it happen on Sunday mornings. We have learned that live-streaming reduces the necessary work after worship, though adds a bit of coordination for our staff before. Pastor Stacey is able to teach anyone who…
OUR FATHER’S HOUSE CLOSES
As you may have heard, Our Father’s House will no longer be providing services and shelters for the unhoused people in our communities. This is due to a change in funding. Our Church has supported Our Father’s House through monetary donations as well as donations of various supplies. These donations were always greatly appreciated. Since the shelter has closed the Women’s Fellowship will no longer be collecting your donations. The donation container in Fellowship Hall will be removed. Thank you…
From The Pastor’s Pen
Friends, As we are stepping into the Transitional work of this Interim time, I will be sharing a series of articles on the directions, trends, and concerns facing churches today. The following is one such article. Blessings on your exploration and thank you for having me beside you in your journey of becoming. 7-Things to do When a Church is in Decline… by Ron Edmondson ON February 12, 2020 1. Evaluate What is going wrong? Why are fewer people attending and…
Transition Team
What is a Transition Team? Why are we using one? A few years ago, as the formerly three Conferences initiated ministry as one, the National UCC released a new profile to be used in Congregations. This new profile is structured to be a self-assessment of the church and to correlate with the work typically taken on during Transition Periods in congregations and traditionally led by Intentional Interims. The goal of the Congregational Profile in being designed for self-assessment is that…
Worship Live Streaming
The Deacons and Pastor Stacey have been discussing the merits of returning to providing our worship services online through YouTube and/or Facebook. We are hoping there are a couple of volunteers in the church willing to learn about how to do this and help us make it happen on Sunday mornings. We have learned that live-streaming reduces the necessary work after worship, though adds a bit of coordination for our staff before. Pastor Stacey is able to teach anyone who…
Seeking: Honest Questions For Deeper Faith
Lent begins on February 22 with Ash Wednesday. This year’s lectionary for Lent offers us many stories of Jesus encountering people who are seeking: Nicodemus comes to him in the veil of night, he approaches a Samaritan woman at a well, he heals a man born without sight. In these stories, each person is seeking a new beginning, a different life, a deeper faith. What unfolds is an exchange filled with questions and exploration. Often, an unveiling occurs—assumptions are disrupted,…
Thank You From Christian Outreach
A message from the Christian Outreach Committee Thank you all for your response, to our annual giving tree toy drive! This year we again used the ease of Amazon to our advantage and easily met the needs of some children who can use a little extra joy this holiday season. The Christian Outreach Committee again partnered with the Community Healthlink residential recovery homes where children are going through the reunification process with their mothers. We had 12 children from 3…
From The Pastor’s Pen
I’ve been thinking about house blessings as Epiphany approaches and at the same time also imagining the coming year as a house—a space in time that is opening itself to all of us. How will we inhabit the coming year? How will we enter it with mindfulness and with intention? How will we move through the rooms of the coming months in a way that brings blessing to this world? I also have been pondering what it is to carry…
Pastor Stacey Is A Clergy coach
(…though not yet certified) When our congregation signed a covenant with Pastor Stacey for her leadership during this transitional period, we celebrated her receipt of a grant through the Lilly Foundation and the efforts of the Southern New England Conference to be trained as a clergy coach. Just before Thanksgiving she completed the first level of her training and next week will finish her Mentor Coaching and will have achieved the status of Associate Coach. She will be moving on…
The Joy of Giving
The Christian Outreach Committee is beginning to think about the holiday season and the mittens in past years we have hung on The Giving Tree in the Narthex. There will be no tree this year as you enter the church, but that doesn’t take away the feelings we have for giving to others. This year we have decided to again support the Residential reunification homes run by Community Healthlink whom we worked with last year. These three homes, two in…
Advent Devotionals
Advent Devotionals Two Advent Devotionals are available as you enter the Sanctuary and near the office. One for families with conversations laid out to have around the dinner table and activities that help children and youth understand the story of Christ’s birth in expanding ways. The second is tailored to adults with a single devotion for each week of Advent and a variety of questions that can be explored as you progress through Advent. These devotionals connect with the Advent…
From The Pastor’s Pen
When I close my eyes in prayer and allow myself the possibility of looking within, to consider the wonder of God’s magnificent all-encompassing love, the darkness I experience is beautiful and inviting. It is a space of deep healing. In summer months, I volunteer for a program that I loved deeply as a teen and still love today for the power of transformation it serves as a catalyst of in people who dare to say yes to a week on…