This Week in PNEC --- October 12, 2017 - October 20, 2017

TO CONTACT US OR TO REGISTER FOR EVENTS

431 Delaware Ave., Palmerton, PA18071; www.pnec.org website

610-826-3113; FAX 610-826-5464

 

          Bonnie Bates  [email protected]         Gilberto Garcia Rodriguez   [email protected]   

          Barbara Jennings   [email protected]         Patty Rehrig     [email protected]

 

IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO INCLUDE IN "THIS WEEK IN PNEC" PLEASE EMAIL IT TO   [email protected]
           
 
To keep updated with the
UCC's Disaster Response
and resources, please go to
  

MARK YOUR CALENDARS... 

2018 PNEC Annual Meeting will be Saturday, April 14

at Union UCC, Neffs, PA
Keynoter:  Rev. Michael Piazza
Friends,
 
As you know PNEC and PSEC formed PNEC logo
a transition team to begin discussions about how we might work together. A Vision for this work was approved at the April 2017 Annual Meeting. A new team to help us move forward has been formed. It is called the Joint Conference Vision and Development Team. As a part of our work we want to gather information from as many constituencies in the church as possible. Click Here for a survey.  Please copy the survey and distribute it widely to your congregation. It will be helpful to us to have the completed survey forwarded to us by the end of October. We will be happy to report back on our findings after our November 2017 meeting.  We value your input and thank you for taking the time to share your views with us.
 - Rev. Dr. Bonnie Bates
Conference Minister
 
The Penn Northeast Conference
Board of Directors
Invites Everyone to
Meet and Greet
the Rev. Dr. Bonnie L. Bates
Our Newly Appointed Conference Minister
 
Sunday October 22, 2017
Christ UCC, 459 Main St, Conyngham
3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
 
Please join us for conversations and light refreshments.
 
  PNEC Disaster Ministries
Update 10.11.17
to see the
FULL UPDATE , please click here
 
                    PNEC MINISTRY DAY
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Faith UCC, Center Valley
9AM - 3PM
Guest Speaker:  Lee Barrett
Lee Barrett is the Mary B. and Henry P. Stager Professor of Theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary where he has taught since September 1993.
Please click here for registration flyer
 
announcements
ANNOUNCEMENTS &
CLERGY CONNECTIONS

December 3 - INSTALLATION - 3PM - Rev. Russell Campbell will be installed as pastor of Zion's Stone of West Penn Twp., 45 Cemetery Rd., New Ringgold
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Millie Carr (surviving spouse of Rev. Joe Carr) fell last week and fractured her pubic ramus. It's stable and weight-bearing, but she's in rehab at Phoebe. She's in Trexler 111A. Her direct dial is (610) 794-5704.  We are not completely sure how long it'll be before she's back in the Terrace, but she's been doing well so far.

Rev. Dr. Laurene Bowers was elected as pastor of Christ UCC, Bethlehem.  She will begin on or about January 1, 2018.
 
Children's Sermon
for Oct. 15(based on Mt. 22:1-14) 
Items needed:  bathing suit; winter coat.  Ask which a person would wear if they were going into a swimming pool.  Which would a person wear if they were going to the North Pole. But it wouldn't be right to wear this coat,  if you were going into  a pool.  And it wouldn't be right to wear this bathing suit, if you were going to the North Pole.  In today's Bible reading, Jesus says being a believer is kind of like wearing the right clothes.  Just like I wouldn't wear a coat to go into the pool, I wouldn't want to go to God "wrapped up" in selfishness, meanness, or lying.  Kindness, caring, and honesty are what I want to "put on" to meet God.
- Rev. David Quinn
 
UPCOMING DATES  calendar

OCTOBER 
16 - 2-4PM - GTW Scholarship Fund Team - Conf. Office
17 - 11:45AM - Blue Mountain AMC Clergy - Schleicher's Family Restaurant, 6937, Rt. 309, New Tripoli
18 - 9AM - Ordained Church & Ministry Committee - Conf. Office
18 - 5PM - Annual Meeting Planning Committee - Conf. Office
19 - (8:30 Registration) 9AM to 3PM - Ministry Day - Faith UCC, Center Valley - Guest Speaker: Lee Barrett
19 - 3:30 - 6PM - Joint Conference Vision and Development Team - Faith UCC, 5992 Route 378, Center Valley (this meeting will follow PNEC Ministry Day)
22 - 3-5PM - Meet & Greet with Conference Minister, Bonnie Bates - Christ UCC, 459 S. Main St., Conyngham
23 - 5PM - Nominating Committee - Conference Office
23-24 - Authorized Ministry in the 21st Century (AM 21) - Clarion Hotel, Essington, PA (Philadelphia area) - designed to offer on-going opportunities for discernment, learning and feedback on the Manual on Ministry
24 - 9:30AM - Ordaining MID Committee - Conference Office
24 - 9-11:30AM - Joint Conflict Resource Team - NE PA Synod

                      FOR THE FULL LIST OF DATES...
Town Hall Meeting   
 
The Joint Conference Visioning and Development Team (JCVDT) invites everyone...clergy, lay leaders, and church members to a town hall meeting on:
Thursday, November 16 from 6:30-8:00 pm.
Zion UCC, 2nd & Iron Sts., Lehighton
 
The JCVDT is the team of people from northeast and southeast Pennsylvania who have been working together to develop a vision for a new Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. We invite you to be a part of this conversation to learn the work we have been up to, and we would love to receive your input into this process. We value your input and insights into discerning what it means to be the body of Christ and function as a conference in eastern Pennsylvania. Everyone is invited and we welcome you to join us!
 
- Rev. Joanne P. Marchetto
 
 
The Lehigh Conference of Churches has developed this interfaith statement and it is our aim to get congregations throughout the Lehigh Valley to support this initiative. The Conference is planning a public signing event on November 19th.  Building up to that date we hope to have a long list of individuals and  faith communities who see respect and partnership as the best way forward for our community. 
 
 
Dear Friends,  
     In light of the ongoing efforts by the pa conference of churches
current administration to place bans on travel and limit the number of refugees that enter our country, I am sharing an ecumenical declaration put out earlier this year by the National Council of Churches. It is called "Protecting Welcome, Restoring Hope," and can be found at http://nationalcouncilofchurches.us/ecumenical-declaration-protecting-welcome-restoring-hope/
     I am asking that you consider sharing this with your congregations, as it includes a list of ten things that people of faith can do in response to these actions. 
    Thanks for your consideration.
 
Peace,
Sandy
The Rev. Sandra L. Strauss, Director of Advocacy and Ecumenical Outreach, Pennsylvania Council of Churches, 900 S. Arlington Avenue, Suite 211A, Harrisburg, PA 17109-5024
717.545.4761; Fax 717.545.4765       Cell 717.350.0165
 

 

Are YOU interested in serving on the

UCC Council for Climate Justice???
 
The UCC Environmental Justice Minister, is searching for someone in Penn Northeast Conference to serve on the UCC Council for Climate Justice. Currently, 33 conferences are represented on this relatively new council that has the purpose of raising awareness about climate issues and bringing people together for action. We have monthly video calls at 1 pm on the first Wednesday of the month that typically take the form of a webinar. More about the group can be found here:
 
Rev. Brooks Berndt
                             Minister for Environmental Justice
 
CROSSROADS
Crossroads Lay Leadership at Moravian Theol. Seminary, Bethlehem will hold an Info Session on Saturday, October 21 at 10 am.  Come and learn about the program and about our Late Fall course - Road Hazards: Congregational Ethics and Decision Making.  For more info on either contact Dr. Jill Peters, [email protected]
- Dr. Jill Peters
Missional Leadership Developer
Moravian Theological Seminary
 
IN SEARCH OF...

 

For the complete list of churches who are searching for organists, choir directors sextons, pianist, etc., etc., and also churches who are giving away items, please CLICK HERE
 
What's Happening in Our Churches
 
(PLEASE NOTE:  We love advertising the "happenings" in our churches, however the list is getting too long for this publication.)
 
FOR THE COMPLETE LISTING of
"What's Happening in Our Churches"

CLICK HERE