On the church calendar are many opportunities to connect online (or, where noted, in person) with the Fourth Church community and one another. 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 (which is easily accessible from the “Calendar” button in the upper left corner of our website).

For information about additional opportunities, keep reading!

The worship bulletin will be available to download and print on Friday

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

in Buchanan Chapel

The worship bulletin will be available to download and print on Friday

For those choosing to worship with us in person, wearing masks fully covering nose and mouth is required of everyone on the Fourth Church campus, regardless of vaccination status. Those who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 are also required to practice social distancing.

The front section of the Sanctuary is for those required to or choosing to practice social distancing, with seating by households. The remainder of the Sanctuary is open seating, with masks required wherever one sits.

We are not checking vaccination status, but anyone coming on site certifies by doing so that (a) they do not currently have COVID-19; (b) they are not experiencing COVID symptoms; (c) they have no reason to quarantine; and (d) they will practice social distancing if they are not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Doors open a half hour before each service, and there is no congregational singing.

Read about all of the guidelines that are in place for in-person worship—as well as information about continued online opportunities—at www.fourthchurch.org/reopening

The service is also available online any time afterwards on YouTube.

For those who do not have Internet access, we also make our worship services 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.

Our Sunday services are available for viewing following the conclusion of worship and throughout the week at www.bit.ly/fpcvideos.

Worship and sermon podcasts are available via iTunes and Spotify, and you can sign up to receive the text of the weekly sermon by email.

If you would like to connect with five to seven other people via Zoom for a time of fellowship, relationship building, and spiritual formation, our next round of Zoom Small Groups will begin the week of October 11 and will meet weekly for six weeks.

To sign up to participate or find out more about our small-group opportunities, please email Simon Crow.

You can identify additional ways to connect with others through Fourth Church by attending our “Reconnect, Renew, and Reawaken” Zoom gatherings, which highlight different areas of opportunity at the church.

If you are interested in learning more about opportunities to get involved in the following areas—or connecting with others who are—please join us online for as many of these Zoom information-and-connection gatherings as you like.

For more information, contact Simon Crow.

Thursday, September 23 (tonight!)

5:30 p.m. via Zoom

Tuesday, September 28

5:30 p.m. via Zoom

Thursday, September 30

5:30 p.m. via Zoom

Tuesday, October 5

5:30 p.m. via Zoom

Thursday, October 7

5:30 p.m. via Zoom

What does it mean for members to serve in leadership roles within the congregation? Why is it important for all of us to consider whether we know individuals who have gifts to share as an Elder, Deacon, or Trustee or member of the Nominating Committee or Chicago Lights Board?

In the short video below, the Nominating Committee invites you to both reflect on congregational leadership and complete a candidate recommendation form (www.bit.ly/nominating2022) by next Thursday, September 30.

We hope you will join us this Friday at 12:10 p.m. when our Organist John Sherer presents the Friday Noonday concert.

Those who would like to be with us in person are invited to do so, noting that all individuals are required to wear masks indoors for the entirety of their time on the Fourth Church campus.

For those who would prefer to join us online, we are also livestreaming the Friday concerts via www.bit.ly/fpcprograms, YouTube (www.bit.ly/fpcvideos), and Facebook, where they are also available to enjoy throughout the week.

12:10 p.m.

Featuring organist John Sherer

In conjunction with the policy for Fourth Church and Chicago Lights staff, effective October 15, 2021, all Fourth Church volunteers serving in person must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

If you are volunteering this fall please send a copy of your vaccination certification to vaxproof@fourthchurch.org by October 15.

Your information will be received directly by our Human Resources Department and kept confidential, only being used to confirm your ability to volunteer with the church. Please direct questions to Robert Crouch.

Starting October 10 Meals Ministry will resume offering limited indoor dining—in addition to the continued to-go option—for Sunday Night Supper.

To make this happen, we will need additional assistance serving guests on Sundays. Can you help?

You can sign up to volunteer on Sundays or for other Meals Ministry programs using VOMO, our Volunteer Ministry sign-up platform. All volunteers will need to be fully vaccinated by October 15 to be able to participate. 

Do you have time one evening a week to mentor a student through Chicago Lights Tutoring? For the fall term, which kicks off on October 12, Tutoring will take place online from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

If you would like to be a tutor or learn more about this mentoring opportunity, please fill out the Tutoring Volunteer Application or contact Program Coordinator Mark Dennison.

All women are invited to an online program this evening by Susan Pieters from Between Friends, an agency providing domestic violence prevention programing and direct service. As we look to October and Domestic Violence Awareness Month, join us in learning about Between Friends programming, domestic violence prevalence and dynamics, how to help, and the impact of COVID on domestic violence.

Thursday, September 23 (tonight!)

6:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, email Simon Crow

Cornerstones—a fellowship group of those fifty and over—meets via Zoom next Friday, October 1 when Rocky Supinger will moderate a panel of high school students discussing “How Has the COVID Pandemic Impacted Your High School Experience?”

5:30 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/cornerstones1021

To follow up on our spring classes with artist Gerald Griffin, Mr. Griffin has invited members of Fourth Church to visit the Gerald Griffin gallery in the Chatham neighborhood on Sunday, October 3 from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.

Mr. Griffin, a popular lecturer at Fourth Church and painter of The Ascension, which hangs in our Commons, will talk with us about his art, the healing power of creativity, and the importance of art in the neighborhood.

Individuals are responsible for providing their own transportation. Those who would like to carpool from the church are asked to email Lewis Hamer by Wednesday, September 29.

12:00–2:00 p.m.

Gerald Griffin Gallery (8237 S. Princeton)

This new online Bible study, led by Lucy and Tom Forster-Smith, will bring small group Bible study to members’ homes via Zoom.

As we examine themes and events in Genesis, reading assignments will precede each session to make discussions more lively and the learning more meaningful.

This course requires preregistration (contact Lewis Hamer), with participants strongly encouraged to attend the entire series.

7:00–8:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, email Lewis Hamer

A forum for examining the ethical and social issues facing Christians today, the First Tuesday Book Club continues its autumn conversations in October with online discussion about Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren on Tuesday, October 5 at 7:00 p.m. For Zoom details, email Lewis Hamer.

Meeting on the second Tuesday of the month, Books by Women invites all women to join them for online discussion whenever their schedules allow and the books are of interest to them. In October the topic of conversation will be A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf on Tuesday, October 12 at 6:00 p.m. For Zoom details, email Simon Crow.

For one-to-one spiritual and emotional support through life challenges, we encourage you to consider being paired with a Stephen Minister. To learn more about this resource, contact David Handley, Interim Minister for Caring Ministries, or leave a confidential message for a Stephen Minister at 312.573.3365.

To set up a time to talk or for more information about how the staff of the Replogle Center for Counseling and Well-Being can be a resource for you, call the Center at 312.787.2729, ext. 2260.

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.

If you know someone who would like to receive email 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