Looking for ways to connect with the Fourth Church community and one another? On the church calendar you will find many opportunities to do so online (or, where noted, in person). 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).

The worship bulletin is available to download and print

In person and streamed from the Sanctuary on our YouTube channel: www.bit.ly/fpcvideos

in Buchanan Chapel

The worship bulletin is available to download and print

We are delighted that this Sunday the new Fourth Church Gospel Choir, directed by Bryan Johnson, will be joining us in worship leadership for the first time.

The choir will be singing the Introit from the lower chancel area, since gospel music is about more than text and pitches: it’s also about seeing the expression in people’s faces. It is about listening for the elements of improvisation as well and engaging with the congregational response, such as clapping—so all are welcome to sing and clap along!

If you are interested in joining the Gospel Choir, please contact John Sherer.

Fourth Church Day School is currently accepting applications for fall enrollment in our half-day preschool programs.

For more information and an application, please contact Director Kathy Hager (312.640.2579).

If you would like to submit a prayer request to our Morning Prayer or Deacon Prayer Ministries, please email caringministries@fourthchurch.org

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 would like to alert pastoral staff to emerging pastoral care needs, please email caringministries@fourthchurch.org; however if the situation is an emergency or requires immediate attention, please call the church at 312.787.4570 to be connected to the Minister on Call.

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 Jeff Doane, Parish Associate for Caring Ministries and Spiritual Formation, 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.

The memorial service for Mary Simmons, whose January 30 death was previously announced, will be held this Saturday, March 26 at 2:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary. The service will also be livestreamed at www.bit.ly/fpcservices

In Lent we embrace the faith journey by reflecting upon and deepening our relationship with God and acting upon our Christian beliefs. In doing so, we invite you to join with others in using the variety of resources and opportunities available from Fourth Church.

A Sacred Pause time of meditation is hosted virtually by our Replogle Center for Counseling and Well-Being on Tuesdays (7:45 a.m.) and Saturdays (8:30 a.m.) at facebook.com/reploglecenterforcounselingandwellbeing

Another opportunity for meditation is offered on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, when the Buchanan Chapel labyrinth is available to walk between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. For details, email Rocky Supinger.

On Wednesdays we gather to pray together for members of Fourth Church and the community as well as those in need.

Morning Prayer via Zoom takes place at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesdays; in-person Morning Prayer is held in Buchanan Chapel on Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m. For Zoom details, email Rocky Supinger.

Offered as a resource for personal meditation and prayer, our daily Lenten devotions are written by Fourth Church members and staff.

If you would like to receive them in your inbox each day during Lent, simply sign up at www.bit.ly/fpcdevotions or email devotions@fourthchurch.org.

Men’s Bible Study meets online on Tuesdays at 7:30 a.m., and Horizons Bible Study for women will host two online sessions on Wednesday, April 13, one at 12:00 p.m. and one at 6:30 p.m. For Zoom links or more information about either Bible study, email Simon Crow.

Each week during Lent we are offering for your midweek reflection a new video in our Lenten “Rhythm and Word” series. You can find these fifteen-minute worship experiences on our YouTube channel (www.bit.ly/fpcvideos).

As Shannon Kershner wrote in her congregational email at the end of February, “until you hear otherwise, please assume that we will keep doing what we are doing now—masks required, restricted campus access and hours, etc. I thank you for your patience.”

The wide range of programs, activities, and participants that are part of our Fourth Church and Chicago Lights community make how we move forward around masking complex, particularly given the number of vulnerable populations we serve—from preschoolers to older adults to those with insufficient access to health care—and given the range of staff and volunteers who work with them.

So while we have not yet lifted our mask mandate, know that we are hard at work determining what our life together will look like when we do! Please do watch our website and our email newsletter for all the latest updates on this.

In the Sanctuary, the front section is for those required to or choosing to practice social distancing. The remainder of the Sanctuary is open seating. Seating for Jazz at Four is all socially distanced.

We continue to require that everyone on the Fourth Church campus wear a mask, fully covering the nose and mouth, at all times. Anyone not wearing a mask fully covering their nose and mouth will be asked to leave, as we know that some people make the decision to worship with us in person—or participate in adult education classes—based on the knowledge that everyone will be fully masked. This is but one of the ways we continue to live out our commitment to value the health and safety of all.

Since everyone is masked throughout the service, the congregation is invited to sing.

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.

Our Sunday morning worship service is livestreamed at 10:00 a.m. (Central) via our YouTube channel (www.bit.ly/fpcvideos)

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

For those who do not have Internet access, we also make our livestreamed 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 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