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 this summer, 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.

Lucy Forster-Smith preaching

Worship bulletin to download and print in advance

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

If our 11:00 worship time does not fit your schedule, the service will be available for viewing throughout the week.

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.

Next up on our Friday Noonday concert schedule is an annual audience favorite: cabaret duo Beckie Menzie and Tom Michael this Friday, August 14. Be sure to tune in for their fun and lively performance!

Our 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.

Please join us in welcoming the newest members of the Fourth Church family, whom we recognized in our online service this past Sunday. They were received into membership at the July 26 Zoom meeting with Session.

Karl Ahlm

Warren Arnold

Holly Golcher

Valerie Hobbs

Briana Lee

Virginia Lloyd

William Lloyd

Eric Wu

If you are interested in learning about becoming a member of Fourth Church, please contact Joe Morrow.

If you missed joining us for the first of our experimental virtual Coffee Hours last week, you will have another opportunity to gather with us online this Sunday.

Once again we will be having Coffee Hour via Zoom after worship, following the postlude (around 12:00 p.m.).

This week the Deacons will be our hosts for this time of virtual fellowship.

We hope you will mark your calendar and make note of the Zoom details. We look forward to seeing you in online Coffee Hour this weekend!

Following the postlude on Sunday, August 16

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

Meeting ID: 963 5583 1751

Passcode: 631276

Phone: +13126266799,,96355831751# US (Chicago)

In a time of great divisiveness and isolation, it’s vitally important to get to know each other and strengthen our connections.

So we invite you to join us and our Chicago Sinai neighbors for a Zoom conversation in which we will make new friends and deepen the bonds we already have.

We will gather online on August 19 to for this time of sharing our stories of life and faith in trying times. We hope you will join us!

via Zoom

Preregistration is required. Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email with the Zoom details. For additional information, please contact Anne Ellis.

You are invited to an online Town Hall Meeting next Sunday, August 23 at 12:15 p.m., a time when staff and lay leaders will talk about our plans for the fall and the recent decisions made by the Session and Board of Trustees for our life together for the foreseeable future.

There will be time for questions and answers at the town hall. There will also be opportunity to hear more about the ways in which we will continue to serve those in need and build connections with one another—just one example of which is the online Coffee Hours with which we are experimenting again this Sunday!

So plan to join us for the virtual town hall!

Online at www.bit.ly/fpcprograms

Did you know that by the end of September the Nominating Committee needs to receive approximately 200 names of Fourth Church members—individuals that you and others recommend serve in the role of Elder, Deacon, Trustee, or Nominating Committee or Chicago Lights Board member beginning in spring 2021?

So if you haven’t done so already, 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 to help the Nominating Committee with their efforts to present a slate of 2021 candidates to the congregation at our February Annual Meeting.

Our “What We’re Doing” in 2020 video series continued last week with a celebration of this year’s virtual Chicago Lights Summer Day.

If you missed it, you can watch it here. And keep your eye on your inbox for the next feature in this series!

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?

Our Stephen Ministers are 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.

The staff of our Replogle Center for Counseling and Well-Being is also 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.

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.

August 8, 2020