News and Announcements
Special Thanks
• To the members of our Justice Team, David Franks, Jeanne Mantsch, Craig Modahl, Louise Mollinger and Don Niederfrank, along with Joshua Jacque, for reading excerpts from Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail that was included in a county-wide public virtual celebration of the life of Dr. King on Sunday afternoon, January 17.
• To Brett Dimmer for editing the Justice Team's readings so they could be included in the Martin Luther King, Jr. virtual event.
• To Jane Spalding for creating an Epiphany floral arrangement for the altar table.
• To Phil Stepanski and Tracy Bretl for changing our Sanctuary windows for Epiphany.
• To Peter Muehleis for putting the garbage bins at the curb each week.
• To Joe Mueller and Claude Zimmerman for conducting weekly walk-throughs of the church building and grounds.
Archives
January 20, 2021
January 13, 2021
January 6, 2021
December 30, 2020
December 22, 2020
November 1, 2020
October 21, 2020
October 14, 2020
A WARM WELCOME TO PASTOR SCOTT
We are thrilled to announce the arrival of our new settled pastor, Rev. Dr. Scott McLeod as of the first of the new year! Pastor Scott conducted his first virtual church service on Sunday, January 3. Pastor Scott and his wife, Laura, recorded a virtual Meet and Greet during the Call Week in September. If you haven't viewed it yet, it is a great way to start to get to know Pastor Scott. We encourage you to email Pastor Scott a welcome message, his new email address is pastorscott@portucc.org.
WINTER CONGREGATIONAL MEETING
Our annual Winter Congregational Meeting has been scheduled for Sunday morning, January 31, at 11:00 via Zoom. Our two main items of business are an end-of-the-year financial report and the approval of a 2021 Church Budget. The Church Council wants the church to know that the budget will reflect a shortfall larger than we have experienced at this point in previous years. Strategies to bring in more revenue will be presented and discussed. All members of the church are encouraged to attend. The Zoom link was emailed out. Please contact Amy Gilhooly, our Communications Director, if you need the link.
If you would like to preview a copy of the 2021 budget in advance of the meeting, please email Lorraine Halls, our Financial Administrator, at lorraine@portucc.org. Also, please be on the lookout for your 2020 Contribution Statement, the statements will be mailed by the month's end.
THANK YOU FROM THE STEWARDSHIP COMMITEE
The Stewardship Committee would like to wholeheartedly thank everyone who responded to our Stewardship Campaign. There were 107 individuals and families who were able to generously contribute to the Stewardship Campaign. Our incoming 2021 pledges total almost $150,000. Even though the campaign is complete, it is never too late to make a pledge, or increase your pledge! Please visit the Stewardship page for more information and forms.
OUR CONFIRMATION PROGRAM IS UNDERWAY
You might interested to know that Pastor Scott is conducting our Confirmation program for our current 8th graders, now through the end of May. The first meeting, an Orientation via Zoom, took place on Sunday evening, January 17 for the eight new Confirmands: Brady Calder, Gabe Chandler, Hope Gilhooly, Cash Mantsch, James Mitchell, Sam Pasten, Carter Schlehlein and Mya Ternes. Please be thinking of these individuals as they embark on their Confirmation journey!
PLEDGE ENVELOPES AVAILABLE FOR PICK UP
Those of you who have indicated that you would like to receive Pledge Envelopes can pick them up in the church. If you prefer, we can arrange to have them mailed or dropped off to you. Simply email Lorraine Halls, our Financial Administrator, at lorraine@portucc.org, to let her know.
OUR FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATOR
Lorraine Halls joined the Office Staff as our Financial Administrator this past fall. Lorraine is transitioning to this position after serving as Treasurer for almost four years. Lorraine can be contacted at lorraine@portucc.org.
"STAYING THE COURSE" - OUR STATUS
Our traditional in-person church services continue to be suspended at this time. First Congregational Church will continue to provide spiritual guidance and care. During this time, we welcome you to call or email if you have any pastoral needs or questions.
MAKING PLEDGE PAYMENTS
Since we are not currently conducting in-person church services, we wanted to let you know that you can drop off your pledge payments by using our mail slot to the right of our Webster Street entrance. Or you can simply mail it to the church. Thank you!
