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…
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…
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…
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…
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…