from the pastor's study
FROM THE PASTOR'S STUDY/SUPPORTING OUR CHURCH FAMILY
Winston Churchill once said "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." And Jesus, when talking with his disciples one day said "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back." (Luke 6:38) If you know me well, you know that I rarely speak about money, although Jesus and the Old and New Testament actually speak about it quite a bit in regards to tithing and giving to God. and how giving to God is a form of our Ministry and gratitude to the God who always gives us his all.
So, I do want to take a few moments to thank everyone who financially supports the ministries of our church. As you can see as you read through this newsletter, our church is active in growing our faith, worshipping, and learning together, helping to feed and nourish our bodies and our souls, providing a safe place for our children to
discover their faith and see it put into action, and reaching out to our community through many different mission outreach programs.
We thank you for providing your time and your money to help this all happen! As you know, besides people's offerings given to the church, we also have monthly dinners from September through May that help us have the resources to fund our many ministries and outreach programs that happen, and we thank you for supporting those dinners with your time, your cakes, your money, and your prayers.
As we look over our budget each month at our Council meetings, it would be great if we could bring in about $500 to $700 more a month. We thank God that we have some money invested that the interest helps us meet our needs and reach out with our ministry programs and we have the generous support of those who tithe and give offerings. If you could prayerfully consider giving $5 or $10 or $20 or more dollars a
month, it would be greatly appreciated and the money put to very good use.
There are a few different ways to give financially to the church each week or each month. You can continue to write a check; you can drop cash into the offering plate; you can go to our website and click on the QR code - this is also in the bulletin each week; or you can set up, with your own bank, to have money automatically given to the church each week or month. So many choices we have these days! : )
However you choose to donate toward our church family and the ministries we take part in, know that God is smiling, the community is touched by our love, and we will continue to work together so that we may grow in our faith together and we may help others see the love of God working in their lives. May God bless us all. and may we always remember that "It is more blessed to give than to receive," (Acts 20:35)
because as the Grinch would say, giving helps our hearts grow three sizes!
Newsletter
KNIT AND STITCH
The Knit and Stitch group meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 pm in Pilgrim Hall. Last month there were interested women working on unfinished projects as well as one beginning a new project. Crocheting, quilting, counted cross stitch and knitting were the crafts of the evening along with interesting conversation on a variety of topics. We do not solve many problems but it is good to hear the views of others.
All those interested are cordially invited to join us.
COMMUNITY CUPBOARD
Our Cupboard continues to provide non-perishable food and cleaning and hygiene products. Items that cannot be obtained through government programs such as cleaning and hygiene products are always in demand. The Cupboard is generally checked on a daily basis and is available to those in need 24/7.
Periodically we find items in Cupboard contributed by others. It is a pleasant surprise to find the gray container filled with items not placed by us. Thank you to those who have made these contributions.
Your help, appropriate items or monetary donations, is appreciated and can be left on the tables at the south end of the room. Thank you for your support of this special outreach project.
FACE BOOK PAGE AND WEBPAGE
For more information on all that we do together as a church, please continue to check out our Facebook page at FirstCongregationalUCCRootstown and our Website at www.rootstownucc.org.
SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICES/SUNDAY SCHOOL/FELLOWSHIP TIME
Our weekly worship services are each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. We are both in person and we also live stream on our Facebook page. You don't have to be a member of Facebook in order to join in the services, just enter our Facebook post and join in! Ourpast services are also on our page and you can watch them there and you can also watch them on YouTube - just enter our church's name in the search bar and you can
find us there.
Sunday School for the children is also on Sunday's at 10:30 meeting in the upstairs Sunday School rooms, and sometimes we can be found in the kitchen. One of our outreach ministries we did this year was to bake and frost about 120 cookies that wegave to our AA group to let them know we were thinking of them and cared about them. We have various adults who volunteer their time and we thank them all for that!
Following worship and Sunday School we have a fellowship time in Pilgrim Hall with cookies, beverages, and lots of talking, sharing, laughter and fun together!
GRADUATE AND SUNDAY SCHOOL RECOGNITION SUNDAY and PENTECOST
Sunday, May 28th we will celebrate our Graduates and our Sunday School children during our 10:30 worship service as well as the Pentecost - the birthday of the Christian Church. We will have a Power Point presentation for the graduates, certificates and gifts for the Sunday School children. Then during the fellowship time, we will have a cake for the graduates and cupcakes and bubbles to celebrate Pentecost. Congratulations Brooklynne Skidmore, Elijah Edgington and Kaley Heckert! May God bless you all!
THIRD GRADERS' BIBLE PRESENTATIONS
On Sunday, June 4th during worship, our third graders will receive their bibles. Hope you can join us!
MEMORIAL DAY PARADE
The Rootstown Memorial Day Parade is on Monday, May 29th at 10:00 a.m. We are having a float in the parade so if you would like to help decorate and/or ride in the parade please let Becky Skidmore know. Thanks!
SERVICE FOR RUSSELL GIRTON
Saturday, June 3rd at 11:00 a.m. will be a graveside service for Russell Girton at Homeland Cemetery followed by a luncheon at the VFW Post 1055, 6000 New Milford Rd., Ravenna.
COMMUNITY GROUPS THAT MEET AT OUR CHURCH:
GIRL SCOUT TROOP
The Girl Scout troop that meets monthly at our church will be helping to wash windows and weed the flower beds in June. It's one of the ways we give to the community by providing them a space to meet in and one way they give back to the church. : )
AA WEEKLY MEETINGS
A local AA group meets at our church in Pilgrim Hall each Monday at 7:30 p.m. This is an open lead meeting and all are welcome to attend. Another way we give to our community through this much needed support group. Thanks for adding them to your prayers as God works through this group with a healing touch to help change lives.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Our local Historical Society meets at our church for monthly meetings. If you would like to become involved, check out their Face Book page and consider becoming a member!
LIONS CLUB
The local Rootstown Lions Club meets at our church on the first and third Monday of each month. This group works hard at making a difference in our community and we help by providing them a space to meet. Thanks for helping to support all of our community groups by helping to support the church's general fund.
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
Our VBS this year, Rocky Railway, will be held on July 17th through the 21st from 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. We will have loads of fun singing, learning about Jesus, awesome games, creative crafts and yummy snacks. We will have a list of items needed on our website soon. Thanks for your support both financially and with your time! All children age 3 through 12 are welcome and older youth are encouraged to be helpers.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY APOSTLES BUILD
In 2019 and 2020 we took part, along with nine other churches to build a home through Habitat for Humanity's Apostles build for a family in Atwater. Once again we are taking part with other churches to build a home for a family on Summit Street in Ravenna.
Our next build date will be on Saturday, July 8th. We will be working with the Rootstown Methodist Church that day. Lunch will be provided for us. All ages 16 and over are welcome to help out. Don't worry about never having built anything ever before - there is always a job for everyone no matter what skill level. This is such an
amazing ministry to take part in as you see the homes grow and the people who never thought they would be able to own a home are able to move into a safe place to live and grow. To find out more about Habitat for Humanity, check out their webpage at habitatofportage.org.
We will be having a fund raiser in the fall to help support this ministry. If you would like to give toward this mission of the church, just earmark Habitat for Humanity in the memo of your check or in your giving. Thank you!
OUTDOOR SERVICE
The outdoor service will be August 17, 2023 at 11:00 am. We will meet at Gracie Field at the pavilion in the back of the park. Chicken and drinks will be provided. Please bring a dish to share and your table setting.
BIBLE STUDY
Our Lenten Bible study this year used Adam Hamilton's book "The Walk: five essen-tial practices of the Christian Life". It is a great study about growing in our Christian faith, so even if you couldn't take part in the study, I encourage you to pick up a book and read it on your own or with friends and family.
In the book, Adam talks about the need for group and individual worship and prayer, the need to study the scriptures, the healthy benefits of serving others in God's name, the call to give generously as it opens our heart to gratitude, and the need to share our faith with others. Adam suggests that we pray five times a day; read at least 5 verses ofscripture each day; serve others through your church and pursue five acts of kindness
every week; perform five acts of extraordinary generosity towards others each month; and a goal of sharing your faith with five people this year, or at the very least, invite them to church with you.
And one way our Bible Study group took part in this challenge was to make 120 cup-cakes that we gave to the Center of Hope for their lunch one day. We hope we will con-tinue to work on these goals and by sharing them with you, we hope these will become your goals also!
Stayed tuned for the announcements of when our next bible study will take place, using the Chosen.
LOVE R-TOWN
Our church along with Rootstown Methodist Church, Passion Community Church, and Community Bible Church work together on various mission projects during the year. One is the Christmas Store that takes place in December. We receive names of families from the school counselors that need a helping hand to provide Christmas gifts for their children and we help provide those gifts.
We also work together on the Apostles Build for Habitat for Humanity of Portage County, along with other area churches in building homes for those who otherwise couldn't afford to own a home.
And we work together from October - April with Bridge Builders, an after-school program for Rootstown children grades Kindergarten through 5th grade. From 2:40 – 5:00 p.m. each Wednesday we provide a snack, a Bible lesson, crafts, games, fun learning adventures and singing. It's an awesome way to show the community that our Churches work together to care for our children and families.
PET PARADE/BLESSING/JUDGING September 17th at 1:30
Pre-pandemic we had a fun afternoon community event where people brought their pets to the church's front lawn and we had a Pet blessing along with fun categories for judging such as best belly rubs, cutest smile, spiffiest outfit, etc. and a parade around the church's yard!
We're planning another event for this fall on Sunday, September 17th at 1:30 p.m. We will have some awnings set up with some of the area rescue places so they can hand out information about themselves. All pets are welcome! We will once again ask our township trustees to be our judges for the different prizes, we'll have dog and cat treats, a time for the blessing of the pets, and a parade around our front lawn. The cost for each pet is only $5.00 with all profits going to a local pet charity. Please invite your family and friends - the more the merrier! And if you know of any pet rescue services in the area and would like to invite them, please let Becky Skidmore or Pastor Susan know.