Congregational News and Updates (Page 2)
Women’s Fellowship Fall Activities
Please join us at one or all of these upcoming activities! A casual lunch at Kros on the Common in Templeton! Plan to meet at the church at 11:30 on September 12th so we can carpool to the restaurant. We will enjoy lunch and talk about future plans. Bring your ideas for activities. A Westminster Firefighter and Police Detective will offer a Be Aware program on Sunday, September 24th at 3:30 pm. Bring a friend to learn about how to…
GGM Annual Awareness
Living Presence, Right Now In September, the Generous Giving Ministry will be increasing our annual awareness of what generous giving is for this church and collecting pledges. This year’s theme is Living Presence, Right Now. We invite EVERYONE to join us at worship in September and early October to hear more about how we show up, be present and attend to the financial and spiritual needs as a congregation. Here we are. In the present. The past can inform us, and we…
Church Yard Sale
If you missed the town-wide yard sale, and you have anything you’d like to donate, the Welcoming Committee will be having a yard sale during the Westminster Cracker Festival on Saturday, October 21st from 10 AM—3 PM. We are looking for anyone in the community that would like to participate. Refreshments will be available!! Proceeds will go to The First Congregational Church of Westminster and 5% of proceeds will go to the Westminster Food Pantry. Please email [email protected] if you would…
Adopt A Bill
As another way to raise funds for the church, the Trustees are suggesting that some people might want to Adopt a Bill to ease the strain on the church budget. The idea would be that you would select a bill and reimburse the church for that item. Below are a few suggestions.
Summertime!
Summertime! How do you spend it generously? What comes to mind when you think about summer? Here’s a little summer playlist we put together that spans the decades and musical genres! Regardless of the decade of music or genre you enjoy to give you those warm and sunny summer feelings, it can be a time of the year for the church when it’s people may be less connected to the church. Church school is out, people go on vacations or out…
Proportional Giving
……SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT! Our church is a member of the United Church of Christ (UCC), which has several geographic divisions or conferences. Our conference is the Southern New England Conference of the UCC (SNEUCC). In 2017 the SNEUCC passed the following: “Proportional Giving (PG) replaces a Local Church’s giving to Conference and National UCC through Membership Dues and OCWM Basic Support. Instead, the church’s PG contributions are based on its historic giving level in relation to its Total…
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…
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…