There’s been a whirlwind of activities going on at the church and if you ever have the opportunity to stop by during the week, you’ll see exactly what I mean. I want to highlight of few of these happenings, particularly those that were named as high priority in the survey completed earlier this year by the congregation.
On August 2, the church sponsored a very successful block party in conjunction with the National Night Out. There were around 70 who attended, including a great turnout from our church members. We had a bounce house, which was quite popular, hot dogs and a pot luck supper, including ice cream. A number of neighborhood moms and kids came and especially enjoyed the crafts activities. I personally was most impressed with how we welcomed them and really seemed to be present to them.
The Christian Education Team has had some important discussion around strengthening our children’s education program. The kids will be using the Shine curriculum this year, which incorporates a lot of fun activities into the learning of Bible stories. We will be looking for teachers to commit to time with the children each Sunday morning. In addition, the Team and Council are exploring options for hiring a Family Ministries Director who would not only be present on Sunday mornings, but also provide family resources, reach out to children in the community, and offer extra activities during the week for kids.
The History Team has set up a display of photos in the Café. Stop in and take a look. It’s fun to see how we all looked years ago. In addition, Ginny and Mike have begun interviews with some of our senior members, recording oral histories of our church, families and the local community. Eventually these will be made into a longer edited video which we’ll all be able to enjoy.
Plans are in the works for our annual church picnic, for the Trick or Treat and Eat event, for repairing and repainting parts of our church building, for arts and crafts gatherings, and for the excellent Sunday School class that Mike leads every week before worship. Come join us for lively discussion and learning.
An online calendar will now be available to view on our website. This will be in addition to our regular calendar outside the office where we mark our scheduled events. The online calendar will allow us to see what’s scheduled even when away from the church.
If you have ideas for activities or events you’d like to see happening here, please talk to one of our committee or team chairs, or to Joyce Swank. She’s here to encourage you and help you with organizing and planning. She’ll point you in the right direction, so your event can be as successful as possible.
Let’s keep moving forward, being Beloved Community to each other and being Jesus to those around us.
The Vision Team
Mary Ann Crist, Lori Radimachir, Glenn Lytle, Chris Reed