If you know someone who would like to receive updates from us but currently is not, please encourage them to add their email address to our distribution list by signing up at www.bit.ly/newsfromfpc

While we are not gathering in person in this season, there are many opportunities to connect online with the Fourth Church community and one another.

You will find these online opportunities posted on the church calendar, which is easily accessible from the “Calendar” button of our website (in the upper left corner). Included among them are—

For information about whom to contact for an event’s Zoom details, simply click on the down “arrow” to the right of the event name in the calendar.

Beginning this Sunday, in addition to making our online worship service available via our worship channel at www.bit.ly/FPCworship, we will also be sharing the service via Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/fourthchurch) and—for those who use smart TVs or TV streaming devices—via our YouTube channel (www.bit.ly/fpcvideos) at 11:00 a.m.

For those who do not have Internet access, we are also making our worship service available to listen to via the phone. If you know of someone for whom this audio opportunity would be welcome, please encourage them to call 888.916.9166 (toll-free) at the time of the service.

Shannon J. Kershner preaching

The worship bulletin will be available to download and print in advance

Livestreamed from the Sanctuary at www.bit.ly/FPCworship

This Sunday we will begin a six-week sermon series: “To What End? Being Church in These Days.” This series invites us to explore the Six Great Ends of the Church, a set of statements crafted in the early twentieth century to define and guide the life and work of the Presbyterian church—who we are and what we are called to do.

The First Great End, our focus for this week, is “The Proclamation of the Gospel for the Salvation of Humankind.”

If our 11:00 worship time does not fit your schedule, the service will be available for viewing throughout the week at www.bit.ly/FPCworship.

You can also subscribe to our worship and sermon podcasts available via iTunes and Spotify and sign up to receive the weekly sermon by email.

This Sunday our Coffee Hour will be a virtual version of our annual “Get Connected” Sunday time of fellowship!

Following worship we hope you will join us via Zoom for this opportunity to connect online with one another and with various groups from around the church.

Join us in learning about a variety of opportunities, including online small groups and adult education courses via Zoom—including two classes beginning Sunday, September 20: “Foundations of Faith” Bible study led by the pastors and a four-week class on “The Great Divide: A Look at Inequity within Chicago Public Schools.”

The Zoom details for our “Get Connected” Coffee Hour follow, including a phone dial-in option as well.

Following the postlude

Also accessible at www.bit.ly/fpcfellowship

(the link is also posted on our website: www.fourthchurch.org)

Meeting ID: 963 5583 1751

Passcode: 631276

Phone: Call 1 (312) 626-6799

and enter Meeting ID 963 5583 1751#

Our fall online Sunday School kicks off this Sunday!

Children are invited to join us via Zoom each Sunday from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.

From 9:30 to 10:00 a.m. there will be stories and songs for 1- and 2-year-olds as well as Cherub Choir (3-year-olds through grade 1) and Children’s Choir (grades 2–5).

Then from 10:00 to 10:25 a.m. there will be Children’s Chapel, with singing, lessons, and worship.

From 10:25 to 10:50 a.m. there will be Sunday School breakout groups by age and grade, with Bible stories, discussion, crafts, and activities, and from 10:50 to 11:00 a.m. all ages will be back together for closing prayers and a hymn.

Parents who are not on the email list to receive the Zoom details for these Sunday School opportunities and for other children and family activities are encouraged to contact Matt Helms to add their name!

Also kicking off via Zoom this weekend are our weekly Sunday youth activities.

For the Zoom details or more information about these gatherings, please email Katie Patterson.

A wide variety of online classes—from exercise to foreign language, art, and even tap dancing—as well as an assortment of online lectures and virtual tours is in store for adults sixty and over this autumn as the Center for Life and Learning launches another program year with a multitude of opportunities.

Those who are interested can register here for the CLL Autumn Membership, which begins this coming Monday, or, to learn more, contact Susan Quaintance.

September is the last month to submit names of Fourth Church members you think are good candidates for the offices of Elder, Deacon, or Trustee or for Nominating Committee or Chicago Lights Board member.

The Nominating Committee will begin reviewing those names at the end of this month, as they work to prepare a recommended slate of leaders to begin terms in 2021.

In the coming days please take a moment to think of Fourth Church members who have demonstrated gifts for leadership and a commitment to the life and ministry of this congregation.

Then add their names—self-nominations are welcome—to the Leadership Candidate Form online at www.bit.ly/nominating2020.

On behalf of the Nominating Committee, thank you for your help!

Thank you to all whose generous contributions have enabled Fourth Church Meals Ministry to continue providing bag lunches to our hungry neighbors over these past months of the pandemic!

We are currently in need of additional donations to support this ministry, which serves lunches three days a week in addition to Sunday Night Supper and Monday Night Supper. In particular we need salty and sweet snacks—especially fruit snacks (gummy packs) or applesauce pouches—as well as fruit-juice boxes or 10-oz. plastic bottles of juice.

While we are unable to accept donations dropped off by individuals, we welcome deliveries direct from distributors, which you can place using our lists of preferred items with Amazon, Target, Walmart, or Costco. You can also make a financial gift online, designating it to Meals Ministry.

For more information about supporting the work of Meals Ministry, click here or contact Mike Usiak.

Are you or someone you know interested in becoming members of Fourth Church?

If so, we invite you to join us for an online Inquirers’ Class next Sunday, September 20 at 9:00 a.m. via Zoom.

You can register here for that one-session class.

For additional information about Fourth Church membership, please contact Joe Morrow.

Our online Friday Noonday classical series continues this week with Keith Buncke, principal bassoon of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and pianist Mio Nakamura performing works by Brahms and Larsen as well as Lowell Mason’s “Nearer, My God, to Thee.”

These online concerts are streamed each Friday at 12:10 p.m. at www.bit.ly/fpcprograms, where they are also available to enjoy throughout the week.

Following worship on Sunday, September 27 we will have a virtual congregational meeting online at www.bit.ly/fpcprograms.

During the meeting, we will ratify the Session’s action in May to dissolve the pastoral relationship between Fourth Church and Vicky Curtiss, who retired on May 31.

We will also receive and act on the recommendation to elect Joe Morrow as Associate Pastor for Evangelism and Community Engagement.

This recommendation comes from the Associate Pastor Nominating Committee (APNC) elected in 2019 for the purpose of identifying and recommending a candidate for that newly defined Associate Pastor position.

That APNC—Ken Gaines; Elizabeth Hurley; Jared Light; Brian Satre, chair; Linnea Schramm; Kashane Taylor; and Jessica Wang—conducted a national search, reviewed applications, identified final candidates, and, after conversations with the final candidates, unanimously recommend Joe Morrow for this role.

We hope that you will join us online on September 27 as we take these important actions as part of our shared ministry together!

12:15 p.m.

Online at www.bit.ly/fpcprograms

To listen to the meeting, dial 888.916.9166

Are you looking for healthy ways to cope with the stresses and anxiety, anger and frustration, grief and uncertainty that so many of us are experiencing?

The staff of our Replogle Center for Counseling and Well-Being is available to offer suggestions and support through phone appointments or teletherapy, whether for just a few sessions or on an ongoing basis.

To set up a time to talk or for more information about how the Center can be a resource for you, call the Center at 312.787.2729, ext. 2260.

Our Stephen Ministers are also available to be God’s listening presence during this season when many of us are struggling to sort things out.

If you would like to be in phone contact with one of our Stephen Ministers, who are trained in providing emotional and spiritual care, please leave a confidential message at 312.573.3365.

Additionally, if you would like to talk to a pastor, please call the church (312.787.4570) and your request will be forwarded to someone on the pastoral staff.