Thoughts and Musings from My Faith Journey
Via Sojourners:
Without community service, we would not have a strong quality of life. It’s important to the person who serves as well as the recipient. It’s the way in which we ourselves grow and develop.
—Dorothy Height,
a founding matriarch of the American civil rights movement
Amen. As a church, we’re not just helping the people we help, we’re helping ourselves.
Received from Pam Jones:
A sincere thank you to everyone who helped with my father’s (Burce Tovey) funeral dinner. The brisket was so tender and all of the food was absolutely delicious! The “After Church Dinner” was a great idea. How wonderful to get together for another meal and fellowship.
Your love and friendship is greatly appreciated.With Love,
Pam Jones
I’ve been meaning to share this for quite some time but I kept forgetting. It’s very relevant to the topic of my sermon for tomorrow, living together as a community that loves one another. It was adapted by the PPRC, and I share it with their permission, in response the a request from the annual conference to formulate “guidelines for handling grievances, concerns or conflicts:”
With the exception of issues of physical, mental and sexual abuse or harassment, we will encourage those with grievances, concerns or conflicts to approach the party that has offended them directly. If they fear approaching the offending party alone we will offer to accompany them. If they still fear approaching the offending party we will offer to relay the grievances, concerns or conflicts upon the condition that the name of the aggrieved party will also be shared. If this condition is refused then the grievance, concern or conflict shall be dropped.
The focus of the annual conference’s request was primarily for grievances, concerns or conflicts involving Jenny and I as pastors, but I think the principle holds for the entire congregation. If we all followed it, this guideline would do a great deal to foster love for one another in our life together as a congregation.
Because issues concerning Facebook’s privacy policies, and because we never seemed to get around to updating it, the First United Methodist Church Facebook page has been deleted.
Dear Members and Friends of First United Methodist Church,
We write this letter to update you on the current financial situation of your church and to ask you to prayerfully consider the possibility of increasing your giving. But, we want to begin by first thanking all of you for your contributions. You have made the many ministries of your church, such as the food pantry and Vacation Bible School possible and successful while also providing for the more mundane parts of our life together such as utility bills and salaries.
At the beginning of 2010, the church’s general operating fund stood at $7,152, but as of
the end of March, it had dropped roughly $10,000 to -$3,265. As a church, we have been in worse spots before. At the end of 2004, the general operating fund was -$23,056. So we have been in much worse situations, but we do not want to go there again.
To this end, the Finance Committee has been considering ways to cut spending. One relatively large expenditure, the salary for our secretary, Linda Beever, is already scheduled for a reduction when Linda retires from full-time to part-time in January 2011. That month, we will also see our apportionments drop approximately 10% due to a change in the apportionment formula (our apportionments also fell by 10% between 2009 and 2010). Other reductions have already been approved, while still others are being considered.
None of the budget reductions currently being considered can be taken lightly. For that reason we’re asking you to prayerfully consider the possibility of increasing your giving when you pray for your church.
Grace and Peace,
Kathy Wood, Finance Committee Chair
Dave Larimore, Church Council Chair
John and Jenny Collins, Pastors
P.S. You may have noticed that improvements continue to be made to the church building despite the fact that the general fund has dropped. It is important for you to know that these improvements come from restricted funds such as bequests and memorials that are not available for ongoing expenses.
Linda Beever, our church secretary, will be attending a funeral tomorrow at the Church of God and then helping with the funeral dinner. Please call the church office to make sure we’re open before making a trip down to the church.
Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
— Martin Luther King Jr.
Vacation Bible School 2010 is scheduled for July 12-16, 9 am to noon. Once again this year, we will offer VBS for kids entering grades K-6 in fall 2010. We will also have a nursery for children of VBS volunteers and for children who are a part of Coffeyville First UMC. At Galactic Blast VBS, cadets will gather together for opening and closing assemblies and then will go by classes to the various centers: Bible story, crafts, discovery time, music, recreation, and snacks. This year, we will be continuing our mission project we began earlier this year, by bringing offerings for the “Nothing But Nets” campaign to provide insecticide treated mosquito nets to help prevent the spread of Malaria.
How can you help? If you would like to volunteer to help, there are several opportunities. Prior to VBS, there is the opportunity to help create space-themed decorations, or to let us borrow space themed decorations that you already have. There are also opportunities during the week of VBS to help out as a volunteer in various areas. If you are not able to volunteer your time, but you would like to go beyond your regular giving and contribute financially with a designated offering, you are always welcome to do that. We will again be putting signs for VBS in yards to advertise the event. If you would be willing to have a sign in your yard let us know. Finally, we request your prayers for VBS. We hope and pray that VBS will be a wonderful week where the volunteers and the kids can experience God’s love and learn ways to follow Christ with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
If you would like to volunteer to help with VBS, please contact Pastor Jenny (jenny@revcollins.com) or the church office. Please spread the word about VBS to the children you know.
Not to belabor the point, but the church received a thank you letter from Mayor Alec Hendryx thanking us on behalf of the city and city commissioners for our work at Grace Park. I wanted to pass this information along to everyone who helped.
Last Sunday’s sermon is now online at: http://blog.coffeyvillefirstumc.org/podcasts.
You can also subscribe to our podcast through iTunes.
(iTunes is available as a free download.)
We’re compiling a list of this year’s graduates for The Announcement Insert and The Parish Visitor. Please contact Linda at linda@coffeyvillefirstumc.org or 620-251-3240.
A Service of Death and Resurrection for Chad Johnson will be held at 10 am on Monday, May 3, 2010 in the sanctuary.