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Latest information from Barrington Congregational Church, UCC
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If you missed any previous emails, they are being posted to our website
at this link for easy access. Some of the things that are
NEW in this email:
- Bulletin, Hymn Sheet, and Announcements for May 10th live-stream worship service
- Baccalaureate Sunday for High School Graduates
- Graduate information sought for newsletter
- Applications open for KLF Scholarships
- Book Group info for May
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Church Office is CLOSED until further notice
All in-person worship, meetings and activities at church are suspended or postponed until further notice. However, some things are happening virtually.
Thurs, May 7
4:30 - 6 pm Happy Hour via Zoom
Fri, May 8
Dale on call for pastoral emergencies
Sat, May 9
Sun, May 10 Women of Faith Sunday
10:45 am Coffee Hour via Zoom
11:30 am - 1 pm Confirmation class via Zoom
Mon, May 11
11 am Lay Visitation meeting via Zoom
7 pm Membership Team meeting via Zoom
Tues, May 12
11 am Staff meeting via Zoom
1:30 pm Worship Technology Team meeting via Zoom
7 pm Church Council meeting via Zoom
Thurs, May 14
4:30 - 6 pm Happy Hour via Zoom
Fri, May 15
Linda on call for pastoral emergencies
Sat, May 16
Sun, May 17 'God is Good' Sunday
10:45 am Coffee Hour via Zoom
11:30 am - 1 pm Confirmation class via Zoom
4 pm CEYM meeting via Zoom
Please note that looking ahead, cancellations and suspensions of meetings may not yet be noted in the on-line calendar as we don't know what the future holds.
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We hope you can join us live, but if not, you can watch a recording later at the same links.
Resources for this week's worship service are at the following links:
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Dale and Linda include Prayers of the People during each Sunday's worship service. They invite you to email or text them prayers (to
dale@bccucc.org
or
linda@bccucc.org
), or leave a message on the church's answering machine (246-0111)
a
ny time prior to 9:00 AM on Sunday morning
so they can include them in the live stream. Please be sure if you are mentioning people, to confirm that they would be comfortable with being lifted up in public AND that you don’t include full names. Perhaps just mention first names. We want to be respectful of peoples’ privacy as we hold them in our prayers.
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We're moving forward at BCCUCC
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There's a place for you at BCCUCC......please come fill it
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Our church needs your help to support its ongoing ministries. There are a couple of ways for you to get involved in the upcoming church year (starting in July). If you are interested in any of these positions, please get in touch
by Sunday, May 17th
(contact info below).
CHURCH COUNCIL
, which is our governing body, has
2
open positions starting in July.
- Treasurer – The Treasurer is responsible for the care of the funds and financial records of the church and reporting the church’s financial activities and financial condition.
- Auditor – The Auditor is a member of the church who is a qualified accountant and does not hold any other elected office in the church. An annual audit of the financial records of the church is prepared by the Auditor.
In addition, we have three
MINISTRY TEAMS
that need your support also starting in July.
- We need 5 people to join the Membership Ministry Team which seeks to make individuals welcome in our church community. They welcome visitors, new members, and work with ministry teams to encourage member participation in ministry teams and church council.
- We need 3 people to join the Stewardship Ministry Team which encourages giving of one’s self to God’s work. They currently focus most of their work on planning and organizing for Consecration Sunday.
- We need 4 people to join the Finance Ministry Team which manages the financial affairs of the church including the annual budgeting.
If you are interested in working together in ministry with others at BCCUCC, please contact Elizabeth Azevedo (860-301-2915 or
eazevedo17@gmail.com
) or another member of the membership team - Liz White, Libardo DeLaTorre, or Wendy Forman -
by Sunday, May 17th.
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The clergy, church officers and ministry team leaders are reminded to submit their individual reports to the church office
by Monday, May 18th,
for inclusion in our church's 2020 Annual Report. The reports should cover the period from June 2019 – May 2020 and, if possible, also include any goals for the upcoming year. Reports should be emailed to Christine at
office@bccucc.org
or mailed in. If you have any questions, please contact Christine.
Our Annual Meeting is scheduled for after worship on Sunday, June 7th.
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If you read Dale's latest blog,
"We're still moving forward..." you'll know that, despite the pandemic, the church is still very busy. In particular, there are two major initiatives happening that you should know about. If you missed it last week, read his blog (at the link above) for details..
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Are you a graduating high school senior? Do you have one in your family?
If so, this announcement is for you! These are difficult times and they have really disrupted our graduating seniors’ lives. As a result, we really want to be sure to do something special for them in church. We will be hosting our annual
Baccalaureate Sunday
on June 7th to honor these students and their accomplishments. Of course we will be doing this virtually, so we need your help. If you know of a high school senior that is associated with BCCUCC we need you to RSVP to the church office
by Friday, May 22nd
(
office@bccucc.org
or 246-0111). Following that, Dale will reach out to you to gather all the necessary information to make this day as special one for our graduates. Thank you, and Congratulations!
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Graduation information needed for newsletter
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We like to recognize those in our church family who are graduating from high school, college, graduate school etc, by publishing the names and graduation information in our newsletter. If you or a family member is graduating this spring, please send the information to the church office at
office@bccucc.org
by Sunday, May 24th.
Information needed is name of graduate, high school or college from which they’re graduating, what college or further education they will be attending, or what degree they are getting, and any future plans if appropriate.
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Kathleen Lynne Fodor Scholarships - applications available
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Two scholarships are awarded each year - one to a high school graduate going on to further education, and one to a student already in college. Graduating high school seniors and college students
who have been confirmed and are members of this church are eligible to apply.
Application deadline is Sunday, May 31st and the scholarship winners will be announced on Baccalaureate Sunday, June 7th. Applications forms are available
at this link, or at
www.bccucc.org under Get Involved > Information for Church Members.
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Opportunities to get together (virtually)
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After worship coffee hour on Sundays
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We host a Zoom coffee hour after church each Sunday
.
Beginning shortly after the ‘livestream’ worship ends,
around 10:45 am
, all are invited to log onto zoom and chat with your fellow church members and friends. We hope to see you there - but you'll have you bring your own coffee!
For security reasons the zoom information is not included in this version that goes on our website and Facebook page, but was included in the email version sent out.
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BCCUCC Happy Hour on Thursdays
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All are invited to stop by the BCCUCC virtual Happy Hour with Dale every Thursday anytime from 4:30 - 6 pm via Zoom. So grab your favorite beverage sit down with your computer, tablet or smartphone, and hang out with your church friends for a while. You’re welcome to drop by (virtually) for as long or short a time as you’d like – we miss you and hope you’ll join us!
For security reasons the zoom information is not included in this version that goes on our website and Facebook page, but was included in the email version sent out.
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The Book Group plans to meet virtually again this month via Zoom on
Tuesday, May 19th
at the earlier time of 9:30 am. They will talk about any books that they’ve recently read. For more information about the group contact Helen Schall at
helenschall@hotmail.com
or 245-4724. All are welcome to participate.
For security reasons the zoom information is not included in this version that goes on our website and Facebook page, but was included in the email version sent out.
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'Llama Pajama Time with Andrea'
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If you're not able to watch live, you can always watch a recording later on the
live-stream page of our website.
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New to Zoom? Here's what you need to know
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Zoom is pretty easy to set up and use. If you are using a tablet or smartphone (iPad or Android) there are apps to use. You should be able to find the app “Zoom” in your App Store.
If you are using your computer (ideally with a camera, like most laptops have) when you click on the link from your weekly church email, it will take you to a website and ask to install Zoom on your computer. Say “yes”. It is a very small and pretty quick download and install.
Once installed, whenever you click on a zoom link it will automatically launch zoom and log you into the meeting. If it doesn’t log you into the meeting automatically, you can manually type in the meeting ID into the Zoom app (on computer, smartphone, or tablet) and then the password, and it will take you to the meeting.
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Some of you have been hand delivering contributions to the office. While we appreciate your doing so, please do not enter the building, for your safety and for the safety of the limited staff that must work from the office. We encourage you to either mail your contributions to the church or leave them in the "church mailbox", located at the top of the steps leading to the office - on the wall on your left. The US mail and the church mailbox are checked daily by a staff member. Thank you.
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Stay connected with each other - and call the ministers if needed
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During this time of separation, we are all encouraged to keep in touch with each other. If there’s someone in the church you’d like to reach out to - maybe someone living alone - but you don’t have their contact information, please call the church office and leave a message (401 246-0111 x 101) or email
office@bccucc.org
Christine will then get their contact information to you.
If you’re in the hospital, a nursing home or rehab, or you’re simply staying home as required, but would like a visit with a minister, please don’t hesitate to call them and they’ll be happy to visit with you over the phone during this time of restrictions. Their numbers are Dale (401) 246-0111 x 103; Linda (401) 246-0111 x 104. Leave a message and they'll get back to you.
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Church Offering - please continue to give if you are able
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Thank you to those of you who have been mailing in your contributions to the church. If you are financially able to do so at this time, we encourage you to mail in your regular contributions or use online banking if that is available to you. This will allow our cash flow to remain stable and for the church to be able to pay its bills and meet payroll. We appreciate your efforts! If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our Financial Secretary, Pat Stoddard, at
pat@bccucc.org or 246-0111 x 102. Thank you.
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Ways to watch our live-streams
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We are doing our live-streams using Zoom and 'Facebook Live' and there are two places to watch it online:
- On the church’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/bccucc
- On the church's webpage www.bccucc.org at the 'BCCUCC live-stream' link from the home page, where the feed will be embedded.
For Facebook live, simply go to
www.facebook.com/bccucc
to watch. You don't need a Facebook account to see it. If you do have an account, search for the church's Facebook Page which is 'Barrington Congregational Church UCC'. If you 'Like' our page you should then get our news feeds, and also be able to comment on our posts and the live feeds.
If you're not able to watch live, you can watch a recording later, on the
live-stream page of our website.
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The office is closed but you can still reach us
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Following recommendations, the church office will be closed for the foreseeable future. However you can still be in touch with the ministers and staff. You can either send an email or leave a message on the answering machine at the person's extension. Both emails and voice mail messages will be checked regularly. Our contact information is:
As Dale said in a recent blog "
if you need support, strength, or help in these days, please don't wait for Linda, me, or someone else from the church to call you. Reach out to us. We're still here and we'll be there for you in the ways that we can!
"
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