News and Announcements
Special Thanks
• To Savannah Anderson, Doug McManus, Kerry O'Brien, and Tom Roehrig for agreeing to become a part of the Reopening Committee, and to Brett Dimmer, Mike Spalding and Phil Stepanski, for continuing their involvement. Pastor Scott is also a part of the Committee.
• To Jeanne Mantsch, our Moderator, Kathy Bretl, our Treasurer, and Jason Jacque, our Stewardship Committee Chair, for joining Pastor Scott and Lorraine Halls, our Financial Administrator, in attending a virtual webinar hosted by the Wisconsin Conference UCC on "What’s Next: Best Practices for Financial Sustainability".
• 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
PASTOR SCOTT'S FIRST MONTH
Our new pastor, Rev. Dr. Scott McLeod, has enjoyed a full first month here at our church. Between conducting online worship services, unloading many books in his new office, starting the Confirmation program, meeting with staff and Council - one of his priorities is getting out and meeting our members and friends. Pastor Scott has delivered cookies (baked by the Fellowship Team) to over two dozen homes in the last few weeks, and hopes to visit everyone in the coming months. Scott invites you to call or email anytime, his new email address is pastorscott@portucc.org.
If you have a chance, check out the two newspaper articles on Pastor Scott's transition:
Ozaukee Press - FCC welcomes new pastor on Jan. 1
Elkhorn Independent -
Pastor takes a leap of faith
WINTER CONGREGATIONAL MEETING - SUMMARY
Our annual Winter Congregational Meeting was held on January 31 via Zoom. Thank you to everyone who attended. Jeanne Mantsch, our Church Moderator, prepared a Meeting Summary for those who were not able to be in attendance. There was a majority vote to approve the 2021 Church Budget. If you would like a copy of the 2021 Budget, please email Lorraine Halls, our Financial Administrator, at lorraine@portucc.org.
THANK YOU FROM THE STEWARDSHIP COMMITEE
The Stewardship Committee would like to wholeheartedly thank everyone who responded to our Stewardship Campaign. There were 115 individuals and families who were able to generously contribute to the Stewardship Campaign. Our 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!
"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!
