Wednesday Nite Live Live is a POTLUCK this week, first Wednesday of the month!
Join the church next week! Union Church is a vital and growing family of faith, a home to those committed to the way of Christ’s sacrificial love and service. All who feel led to join will be received in joy! New members are received every second Sunday of a month. YOU are welcome here!
Rachel’s Departure: What to Expect, Part 2. Rev. Rachel’s last Sunday will be February 11 before she departs to pastor in Louisville. In the short term Church Council has directed that we hire a person to help Rev. Kent with pastoral care needs, and a person who will assist with Community Life and Faith Development details, each approximately 10 hrs per week.
Next, Church Council has formed a Long Range Planning Task Force. They’ll be helping design some ways we can pray and plan together about next steps, including how God is calling us to serve our community now, and best ways to do that. That’ll include thoughts about how to craft staffing to meet that need, as well as how to organize ourselves for that work.
Rev. Kent will also need our support. Not for himself alone, but also all of us supporting one another in loving and consistent ways: it’ll be a great help if we can be especially attentive to caring for our sick or sad friends, and it’ll help us all if you can be as diligent as possible about your volunteer positions, board assignments, and other service. We want to serve well, and we’ll need all hands doing their best work! Let’s make sure we are BEING the church, not just coming to church.
Sign up to Read Scripture or to Help Greet and Usher! Many hands make our worship meaningful. Worship board is actively seeking volunteers willing to read scripture, help share prayers, greet friends and guests, take up offering or serve communion. By using our electronic sign up system, http://signup.com/go/xkdVtB, you can pick a date that works for you and get reminders! You can also call the office and we’ll get you on the lists.
Spring Preachers… Think you’ve got a Gospel word in you that the congregation needs to hear? Would you like to be one of the congregational voices as we move into Lent and Easter helping us discern what God is calling and empowering Union Church to do now? We’d like to hear it! One Sunday a month through the spring Rev. Kent will help lay preachers bring the word. At this point we need 5, and all will be required to attend a practical training session, submit an outline of their ideas and work with the pastor on designing other worship elements. Contact Rev. Kent as soon as possible so we can evaluate and plan. No prior experience is necessary.
WNL needs you, you souper cook! Sign up to bring soup in February or March !
Stephen Ministry is recruiting for another training class. Stephen Ministry is a one-to-one lay caring ministry where trained and empowered lay caregivers- called Stephen Ministers- provide high-quality, confidential, accepting, compassionate care to people who are hurting. The training for new Stephen Ministers will start in mid-April and continue through the summer until late August or early September. Informational meetings about Stephen Ministry will be held at 12:30 PM after church on Sundays February 18th and 25th. There will be another informational meeting on Wednesday February 21st right after the Wednesday Night Live meal. You can pick up an application at one of the informational meetings, the church office, or contact Jeff From jeff.from@gmail.com. Interviews for applicants will be conducted in March.
Thank you for your prayerful consideration to becoming a Stephen Minister.
Congratulations and Great Thanks to Joan English, Office Administrator. February 1, 2018 marked 25 years of service to Union Church! When Joan came, she was part-time support to Rev. Charley Murray. An expression of our appreciation is being planned for later in the month.
Lent Begins February 14! Lent is the 46 days prior to Easter, celebrated by Christians since the 3rd century as a time of penitence, reflection, and service to others. The original 40 days of prayer and fasting representing the 40 days Christ prayed in the desert, was supplemented later with 6 Sundays that were mini-celebration days of Christ’s ministry. Lent begins this year on February 14 with a service of the church called “Ash Wednesday.” Plan to join us that Wednesday for a simple service to mark our prayer work during this holy period.
Visiting scholar in Berea College’s Religion Department to speak in Union Church sanctuary Feb. 15, 3 pm. Born in 1946, in Kakamas, Northern Cape, South Africa, Rev. Dr. Allan Aubrey Boesak is a theologian, humanitarian, prolific author and tireless advocate for social justice. Since gaining international acclaim for his doctoral dissertation, “Farewell to Innocence,” nearly four decades ago, Boesak has emerged as one of the world’s preeminent authorities on liberation theology. During the 1980s he worked alongside Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela to lead efforts against apartheid and promote reconciliation. Free and open to all.
Annual Reports due March 1. If you are the chairperson of a Board, please get your Annual Report to the office by March 1. Email is fine, no need to format it. If you’d like to see a couple of previous years’ reports to use as a guide, just email me and I’ll send to you . Thanks — Joan
The multi media ministry of Union Church is a vital function in the life of the congregation. Besides providing sound and video support for Sunday morning services as superstar volunteers, many other special events allow the technicians to earn money by working weddings, Berea College events, and even some of our own events.
Do you have an interest in multi media? After a year of Marty Hensley and myself, Jack Marshall, perfecting the new system, we are ready and willing to train whoever might be interested.
No prior experience is necessary! We will train you in everything you need to know about all of the multi media assets that are around our beloved Church. We hope to build 4 to 6 teams consisting of two people each. This is a great thing for families to participate in together, and can be taught to anyone between nine and 99 years old!
Email Jack Marshall at jack.a.marshall @gmail.com or text him at 859-200-2679 if you are interested.
Come hang out with the balcony crowd! It’s a lot of fun.
Have you seen the sign-in book we use to record new members’ joining dates and attendance at meetings? It’s been missing and we need it back! Maybe someone accidentally took it home or tucked it somewhere for safe keeping? It’s black padded leather, about 8 1/2 x 11.
In the community:
Liberty Place Valentine Party Feb. 14. Dodie Murphy and Chelsea Saylor are having a Valentine’s Day party for 108 women at Liberty Place, the women’s recovery center in Richmond. To donate cakes, cookies, brownies or candy, please call Dodie at 859-868-9622. Thank you!
Berea Home Village volunteer orientation. If you would like to become a volunteer to help our Berea Home Village members remain in their beloved Berea homes, this volunteer opportunity might be for you. We are offering a volunteer orientation on Thursday, February 22nd, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Saint Joseph Berea boardroom. Lunch will be provided. Katie Heckman, Executive Director, Berea Home Village 859-985-0099.
Save the Dates! July 16-20. Berea Leadership Experience will hold its camp for kids to learn skills of conflict resolution, media literacy, mindfulness, and appreciation of nature the week of July 16th -20th, 9 am – 2 pm for kids in incoming grades 2-8. We are also seeking sponsors for scholarships and other financial donations to make this camp possible for as many people as possible. Sponsorships are $60 to cover one student. Checks can be made or online donations can be designated to Union Church, memo line “Berea Leadership Experience.” Thank you!
There is currently an injunction barring executions in Kentucky. But the commonwealth has released a new execution protocol, which indicates it will try to ramp up efforts to conduct executions. There is a public comment period scheduled until Feb. 28. Address to Amy V. Barker, Asst. General Counsel, Justice & Public Safety Cabinet, 125 Holmes St., Frankfort, KY 40601 or justice.regscontact@ky.gov.
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