May 7th, 2015
 Faith News
 
 

 May 10th,2015
9:30am Worship
 

God's Love

Scripture Reading for this Sunday:
Romans 5:1-11


 

Dear Members and Friends,

Here are just a few things I would like to draw your attention to in this first week in May…

1) Whatever happened to Bright Start? Many of you are probably wondering why you haven’t seen signs of Bright Start Learning Center in the building yet. I assure you they are still very excited to make their new home in our facility. Currently, however, they are still working with the city of Hillsboro to get the proper permits in place to make it possible. The contract that we entered into with Bright Start states that our arrangement will begin on April 1st or at the completion of the permitting process, whichever is later. We have been in regular contact with the owners of Bright Start and we will keep you updated as things unfold.

2) Whodunnit? WE DID! The Murder at Mike’s Mystery Dinner Theater event was, by every metric I can think of, a huge success! As a community building event it was a blast… the audiences at both performances enjoyed an entertaining and humorous melodrama, a delicious diner style meal, and they took full advantage of all the opportunities to join in the fun by playing games and investigating clues to solve the mystery! As a bonding experience for our youth and their parents it was amazing… youth and adults from three churches worked hard together and got to know one another as friends, brothers and sisters in the body of Christ! As a fundraiser the event exceeded all expectations… combining all the proceeds from the dinner, the auction, and the raffle, we netted roughly $8,000.00 to help make it affordable for the families from all three churches to send our youth to Detroit for the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering: Rise Up Together. Thank you to everyone who came and supported our youth in so many ways! Thank you to Sena Wilmoth for overseeing this event and to Kenny Jackson for directing the play. Thank you to all the young people who participated, whether as cast, crew or servers, and to all the parents and adults who poured all kinds of time, energy and resources into making this event a reality. Thank you to all who contributed auction items and baskets for the raffle. Thank you also to the people of Mission of the Atonement and First Immanuel Lutheran Church for their collaboration in this project.

3) Annual Congregational Meeting Coming Up Be sure to mark your calendars for June 7th, 2015. On that Sunday we will hold our annual Congregational Meeting following worship. In addition to reflecting back on the year together, we will elect a new slate of Church Council members and vote to approve our operating budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year. The process is not complete without the voice and vote of every member of the congregation. Information about the new council nominees and the proposed budget will be available to the congregation in the next couple of weeks. I hope to see you all there!

4) Congregational Vitality When we look back over the last couple of years and see the ways that we are moving forward in growing together as a community and reaching out to our surrounding communities we hope you will agree that it has been a good and healthy trajectory. And now we have an opportunity to participate in a new project out of the ELCA that will help us take a snapshot of where we are now and help us to determine how best to continue on this path. It’s called the Congregational Vitality Assessment (CVA). The CVA is a tool to assist congregational leadership to identify areas of strength and areas of opportunity with the hope of becoming a more vital congregation. This assessment or survey gathers information, offers analysis, and provides a foundation for missional planning. All we are asking each person to do is to fill out a one-page form and turn it in. We will offer this assessment tool in paper form (providing time during worship on Sunday, May 31st to fill it out) and as an online survey (we will provide everyone with an internet link). After all the surveys have been submitted, we will receive the analysis within a month. This will be a great tool to assist our new council as they engage the congregation in the late summer/early fall about how best to move forward from here.

5) 2015 Annual Assembly of the Oregon Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Some 346 individuals, including 289 authorized Voting Members from Oregon Synod ministries, along with guests, synod staff, Synod Council members and visitors, gathered at the Sunriver Resort April 24-26 for our annual Oregon Synod Assembly. Gathering under the theme Tree of Life: The Root, The Fruit, The Scar, Assembly participants enjoyed worship, Bible Study, conversations and business sessions. Highlights included:

  • • Pastor Scott Dunfee shared stories of his time serving as a military chaplain in Afghanistan. The ways in which God’s grace was communicated to the men and women serving our country through Pastor Dunfee and his ability to reach out to Muslim chaplains in the spirit of friendship, collaboration and ecumenism were truly awe inspiring.
  •  
  • • A resolution to create a task force for the purpose of seeking ways to be more welcoming and inclusive to the deaf population in our synod passed unanimously. I was moved by the stories of deaf voting members who recounted how it felt to be fully welcomed into a faith community after years of feeling separate and ignored.
  •  
  • • I was nominated and elected to serve on the Oregon Synod Council. I see this as an opportunity to learn more about how to bring different individuals and congregations together to better carry out mission and ministry together and to bring our unique voice to the table, sharing what we as a congregation have learned about what it means to be church in Oregon in the 21st century with our brothers and sisters around the state.
  •  

6) Correction! In the letter I wrote that accompanied your quarterly giving statements I stated that “…April saw the highest giving amount of the entire year...” I mistyped. It should have read, “…March saw the highest giving amount of the entire year...” I apologize for the mistake.

God’s peace,
Pastor David




 

FAITH CONVERSATIONS
for ALL AGES



You are welcome to join us this Sunday

after worship at 10:45am


                                      ANIMATE FAITH:

April 12: God ....................
facilitators Beth Habecker & Steve Delamarter
April 19: Jesus ...................................................... facilitator Chris Moore
April 26: Salvation ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.......,,facilitator Anke Brandstater
LAST WEEK:  Cross ..............................facilitator Stuart Holland

THIS WEEK: Bible ....... facilitator Pastor David
NEXT WEEK:  Religion..........................facilitator Larry Wade
MAY 24th: NO FAITH CONVERSATIONS..........(Memorial Day Weekend)
MAY 31st: Church .................................. facilitator Rhonda Eppelsheimer



                
We have found a home for one of the file cabinets - we are still looking for a "forever" home for the last two.  If you are in need of a file cabinet in good condition and are interested in taking one (or two of them) home, please call the church office and let us know when you might be able to come and pick them up.
 
               Service and Missions Team
                 Barrel of the Month
                           Continues through May

The Service and Missions Team has been collecting gently used or new books for elementary age children and will continue the Book Drive through May. We are currently reaching out to Title 1 schools in the area that will need these resources for their students to have summer reading.

Please help us reach our goal of 500 books!

So it is with children who learn to read fluently and well: They begin to take flight into whole new worlds as effortlessly as young birds take to the sky. —William James




We are a group of women who are eager to build new friendships with other women in our church, strengthen the friendships we already have, and to serve God, each other, and our community.



WINGS (Women In God's Service) News:

You are welcome to join other ladies on Saturday, May 16th, 10:00am - 12 Noon to learn the art of card making.  Kris Hoggard and Hallie Lockie will lead this session as we come together to create cards to give to friends and loved ones in care facilities.!

Join us on May 28th for BUNCO before it takes a hiatus through the summer.




Pencil in Saturday, June 6th on your calendar for a Nature Walk / Picnic.  Stay tuned for further information.

(As always, friends are welcome at any WINGS events.  Questions?  Please call Kris Hoggard - 503-936-6735.)


The Open Spirit Gallery is now accepting applications for the church community summer art show during the months of June and July! All art forms are encouraged.

Please contact Patrice Cameron at
(503) 452-3629 or ladypatrice5@gmail.com
      
.
NOW APPEARING



 
American Red Cross Blood Drive -
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015


Yes, ChristChurch is holding another Red Cross Blood Drive!  If you gave blood before you are encouraged to sign up and donate again. If you did not or have not, please consider donating to this worthy cause. We are hoping for 40-60 people, so help us get the word out by asking friends, neighbors, co-workers, family members to sign up. Help is needed passing out flyers, contacting people, making appointments, baking cookies for the day of the drive, as well as other items.

If you would like to help out the before the drive or on the day of the drive, please call the church office.

To sign-up on line, Log onto redcross.org or facebook.com/RedCrossBlood, click on Donate Blood and then type in the zip code of ChristChurch - 97124, to bring you to the listing of organizations having blood drives. Scroll down till you find ChristChurch, pick a time that fits for you and sign-up - it's that easy.

Honoring Spiritual Needs and Gifts:
From Inertia to Collaborative Action
by Providers and Congregations

A North American Free Webinar Series: January – June, 2015
1:00 - 2:00 P.M. Central Standard Time

These webinars are free, but registration required:
http://faithanddisability.org/webinar/

 

 Monday, June 29, 2015
Best practices and resources for moving from inclusion to belonging as contributing, valued members of faith communities.

Sponsored by the Collaborative on Faith and Disability and the Religion and Spirituality Division of the AAIDD, in partnership with the Autism Society of America, Parent to Parent, and the Bethesda Institute

For more information and registration, go to: www.faithanddisability.org/webinar

  
 
Are you missing a black and silver scarf, a blue Nike hat or a child's pink sweater?  Those are some items we currently have in our Lost and Found box (sitting on the coat rack in the entry way). Stop by before or after worship and check to see if there is anything in there that may belong to you.

 

 
 
WE have updated our WEB site!

The new web site is up and running!
Be sure to go www.comchristchurch.org a and check it out.
Wander around and let us know what you think.

             AND... if working on the interwebs is something you enjoy doing...

             AND... if you have a little extra time on your hands...

             AND... if you are interested in helping keep the web site updated and engaging...

         ... please contact Pastor David and learn how you can help!

An Easy Way to Give
Do you use search engines like Google or Bing to search for things on the Internet? Do you shop online or dine out on occasion? Then why not try Goodsearch? Search online and benefit Community of ChristChurch at the same time! Click here to learn more.