The Church Bell

Greetings from Greg………………..2

New Purchase Procedures

Noteworthy

Community Nursery School

Board of Church Life…….………...3

Christian Outreach

WB Food Pantry

Second Chance Thrift Shop

Pastoral Visits

Donelle Wright’s New Address..….4

Church School News

Thank You

Prayer and Praise……..…………...5

September Bell Deadline

Financial News

Homecoming Sunday

Adult Discussion Group…………….6

Letter from Gina Engel……………..7

Birthdays

Church Staff /Address….Back Page

JULY WORSHIP SCHEDULE 10:00 United Worship at Christ Lutheran Church

10:00 United Worship at First Congregational Church

THE CHURCH BELL JULY/AUGUST 2018

The First Congregational Church Newsletter

A Congregation of the United Church of Christ At 26 Central Street in West Boylston

online at www.fccwb.com

The Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth from his holy Word.”

- John Robinson, pastor to the Pilgrims

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and let anyone who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”

~ John 7:37-38 NRSV

The Church Bell 2

Greetings from Greg…….

On Friday and Saturday June 15th and 16th I represented First Congregational Church of West Boylston at the

Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ annual meeting in Springfield. This annual gather-

ing, the 219th, was historic in that the delegates were asked to decide whether the Massachusetts Conference

was willing to unite with the Connecticut and Rhode Island Conferences to create a new unified Tri-

Conference.

These three conferences, three of the oldest in the United Church of Christ, have all fallen upon hard

times. Membership, giving and participation are down in all three conferences (as they are in all denomina-

tions in America today). Coming together would allow us to share resources (which we already do) and, as

with many corporate mergers, allow us to consolidate three conference minister positions into one.

This coming together will not be a merger in the corporate sense. We were asked to vote to create a new non-

profit charitable corporation that would be made up on the three UCC conferences of southern New Eng-

land. Unlike in other mergers, all three conferences would keep control of their own endowments. To put it

simply, no money will be changing hands or going into a single pot.

What happens to the properties the conferences own will be decided at a later date, by those chosen to lead the

new conference. It was not up to us to vote that level of action. We were merely asked to approve, or not, the

merger.

The Massachusetts delegates voted, with only a few against, to approve the creation of the new confer-

ence. The Connecticut Conference approved it with 83% in favor and the Rhode Island delegates were also in

favor of the merger. Now that it has passed our three annual meetings the merger must be approved by a vote

of the entire denomination at the next General Synod around this time next year.

The new conference won’t actually become a living, breathing reality until 2021, but the wheels have already

begun to turn to make this a reality.

How will it affect us in West Boylston? It really won’t have much of an impact upon us. We will still have a

regional minister to turn to for guidance and assistance when necessary. We will still pay our association dues

to the Central Association. By 2021 our conference minister (who is currently the Rev. Don Remick) may not

be located in Framingham, but maybe the new Tri Conference minister will be located there. That detail is

unclear. The bottom line is that there is not much to fear from this change.

As a church with an interim pastor, you know that change happens, and we pray that this change will be for

the good of the church and the glory of God. We are reminded in Paul’s letter to the Romans that, “Hope does

not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been

given to us.”

So let us be a people of hope in terms of our local church, the wider church and even the world.

It is a pleasure to be with you in this time of change and I look forward to sharing in the work of the church

with you as we worship God, follow Jesus, serve others and love all - in Christ’s name.

Faithfully Yours,

Greg

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Greetings and Happy Summer! The BOCL, wants to thank all those who have so willingly answered our requests for help each month to server our church at our Sunday ser-vices. We would like to remind everyone that in the month of July we will be worshiping at Christ Lutheran Church and they will coordinate serv-ers there. In August we will return to the FCCWB to worship starting at 10:00 AM. Our coordinator for August is Allison Person. Please contact Allison by email at allison1960@aol.com or call (508) 829-0609. Our Board of Church Life appreciates everything you do to help us meet our responsibilities. Thank you! Matt Rogers 508-963-0275 mmrogers232@gmail.com

Noteworthy

Thank you all for your generous

support of our music ministry over the last year.

Looking ahead, we have several new, exciting things

planned for the 2018-2019 program year. On the

forefront is a concert series presented by our church.

There will be three concerts as part of this series

which will feature performances by our very own

Chancel Choir and Chancel Ringers alongside the

Anna Maria College Chorus, Seele Musicale Cham-

ber Ensemble, and First Baptist Worcester’s Chancel

and Handbell Choirs. If you would like more infor-

mation and/or would like to support this new series

in any way, you are encouraged to contact Kristjon at

(978) 235-6761 or kristjon.imperio@gmail.com.

On a personal note, you are all invited to a very spe-

cial concert this summer. Imperio in Stereo, a duo-

piano ensemble I share with my father, will be per-

forming at Worcester’s Mechanics Hall on Thursday,

August 9 at 7 PM. The program will include Saint-

Saens Carnival of the Animals (with organist Wil-

liam Ness), Finzi’s Eclogue, Excerpts from Holst’s

The Planets, and Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by

Haydn. Tickets are available at: https://

www.mechanicshall.org/tickets/imperio-in-stereo/

Thanks so much,

Kristjon

Thank you to Greg and George for coming to

the CNS graduation ceremony. We appreci-

ate the support of the Pastors. We also

thank Lisa over at the Senior Center for

rearranging her schedule to accommodate

graduation.

Heidi Pisano

Director

ATTENTION Board Chairs: NEW PRO-

CEDURES FOR PURCHASES

Church Council has approved the A&F proposal

that requisition forms be used for purchases of sup-

plies, goods or services for $50 or more that are

funded by the budget will require the Board Chair

approval. The Board Chair must also use the req-

uisition form. Purchases of $200 or more require

further approvals which are noted on the requisi-

tion form.

Copies of the form are available electronically by

contacting Lisa Fisher at the Church office.

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CHRISTIAN OUTREACH BOARD NEWS

Upcoming Events…

JOHN STREET SOUP KITCHEN

Our next opportunity to volunteer at the John Street

Soup Kitchen will be: Saturday, July 7th

We need:

30 lbs. of mashed potatoes in 5lb increments

Desserts: 4 dozen squares or

cookies

Deliver to our church kitchen by

8:30 a.m. on Saturday

morning, July 7th.

People to help serve

Please contact Dave O’Brien at 508-835-8929 or

dnbobrien@gmail.com for more information.

HOPE for HOUSING

PURCHASE GROCERY CARDS

CVS Stop & Shop Big Y Shaw’s Hannaford

Build a Habit...Save a Home

Together, we can end family homelessness!

Food Cards are available for purchase each Sunday

following worship.

Checks are accepted for payment

You purchase food cards- value from $10 - $100

You receive the full face value of the card you

purchase.

What you don’t spend remains on your card for

later use.

The store donates 5% of what you

spend to prevent family

homelessness.

SECOND CHANCE THRIFT SHOP

As we begin to close the Thrift Shop for the summer, we are taking stock of the Good and the Bad. The Good: we have painted and reorganized, added a cash register to provide a receipt, offer Thrift Shop $ for purchases over $10.00, and we now have an email newsletter and the ability to notify customers of closings and sales. The Bad: we really need more volunteers - people to help in the store and in the sorting room. Please think about joining us - meet new people, make new friends and help your community. We really do have fun. We also need some technical assistance. Experience or a willingness to create mailing lists, create newsletters, set up our cash register to name just a few. In short - we need you !!!! Your purchases, your do-nations, and your assistance. Thank you for a great year. Contact Darlene for further info: 978-257-3484 or lauerdarlene@yahoo.com

Donelle Wright

4216 Centergate Lane #201

Orlando, FL 32814

donellebwrightcoach@gmail.com

If you would like to receive a pastoral visit please notify the church office.

WB FOOD PANTRY

First Congregational Church partners with Oakdale

United Methodist, Christ Lutheran and Our Lady of

Good Council churches in West Boylston to host a Food

Pantry. It is open from 1-3 p.m. on the 3rd Tuesday of

every month. Donations of food and money are always

welcome.

Donations may be left in the blue bins in the ramp

entrance. Thanks so much for your generosity.

This project was funded in part by a grant from the

Greater Worcester Community Foundation.

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Church School News

Thank you to our church school teachers,

Jody Barnard, Lori Rautkis, Jorge Landeo

and Chris Franger. You do a wonderful job

week after week for our children, giving

them a strong foundation of Christian Edu-

cation. The lessons you impart on them will

carry them through life. Thank you all for

your teaching ministry!!! Also, a great big

Thank you to Matt and Amy Colangelo who

lead our Crossroads youth group. The chil-

dren enjoy your ministry immensely and you

impart many life lessons and give the youth

a safe and welcoming environment to share

and grow.

A great job was done by all who

participated in Children’s Sunday.

This is your day to shine and you

did a wonderful job. Thank you

to all who participated, helped, organized

and made the program a success. A special

thank you to our confirmands and recently

confirmed who helped out the church school

children!!! It is always great when everyone

works together!!

We hope everyone has a great summer.

Enjoy all the things that summer has to of-

fer. Mark your calendars for Homecoming

Sunday, Sunday September 9th. We will

welcome everyone back to church school.

Pam Doonan

The family of Lyle Smith is very grateful for the

respect and overwhelming support we received

during Lyle's illness and Memorial Service on

June 2nd.

The many visits during his final days and

months, as well as the outpouring of caring

thoughts, cards, and condolences were comfort-

ing and reminded us, once again, of how very for-

tunate we are to be among a loving and support-

ive church family.

Our heartfelt thanks and appreciation goes out to

all.

Prayer and Praise All those with health concerns: Jim Bronwell Carol Rotti Lynne Pierce-Arlette and Bill Peterson’s friend Steven Small Sophia Landeo Bernadette White–one of our faithful Second Chance Thrift Shop stewards Tony-Sharon Seale’s brother-in-law David Holmes-Amie Dehner’s step-father Scott Holt Debbie Thomas-Carol Rotti’s cousin Bob Akins-Marsha Saunder’s brother Valerie-friend of the Poland family Lori Rotti Danielle Akins-Marsha Saunders’ niece Ursula Helle Ryan-Arlette Peterson’s coworker’s husband Greg Phelps-Lue Hawley’s nephew Janet Friberg-Carol Rotti’s cousin Lisa Robertson-Carol Rotti’s niece Wider concerns: Thanksgiving for all who come through our doors. Our service men and women around the world and their families. Those who are unemployed among us and around the country.

The Church Bell 6

Sunday, September 9 ~ Homecoming Sunday Chancel Choir 8:30

Church School Returns The Reverend Dr. Gregory W. Schmidt preaching

A Festive Homecoming Reception

following worship.

From Our Treasurer—We need your help!

Please remember to keep current with your pledge

through the summer months. Our expenses contin-

ue all year even when you are not in worship in any

given week or month. If you plan to be away over

the summer we appreciate your efforts to honor

your financial commitment to our church to help us

honor our commitments to our staff, ministry and

mission. You can mail your offering or drop it off

at the church office or in the mail slot on Central

Street.

During our united worship time with Christ Luther-

an Church offering envelopes will go to their re-

spective churches and undesignated cash offerings

will be divided equally between the two churches.

Hello and Happy Summer from the Adult Discussion Group The group is now on our sum-mer break. We had our year end gathering a few weeks ago and are looking forward to some nice summer weather.. Near the end of our meeting schedule the group decided on the opening subject that we will study when we return in September. We will begin a five part series by Adam Hamilton, entitled, “Unafraid, living in hope and courage during uncertain times.” Americans are anxious people. Many of us suffer from fears caused by our life experiences. In this study, Hamilton will show how we might better move away from worries and fears and learn to live with courage and hope in this anxious age. Hamil-ton will explore the most common fears experi-enced by Americans today and offer practical solu-tions along with insight from Scripture. Please come and join our group when we return from our summer time away. Blessings, George

The September Bell Deadline is

Thursday, August 16.

Send address changes to administrator@fccwb.com

SUMMER OFFICE HOURS

TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY

9:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M. TELEPHONE: 508-835-4462 FAX: 508-835-4463

OFFICE EMAIL: administrator@fccwb.com WEBSITE: www.fccwb.com

Messages may be left on the church phone system for the

staff at any time.

Pastor Greg Schmidt (ext. 101)

Administrative Assistant-Lisa Fisher (ext. 100)

Financial office (ext. 103)

Staff Email addresses are:

Greg: greg@fccwb.com

George: gvogel@charter.net

Financial Office: financial@fccwb.com Christian Ed Office: pjmdoon@msn.com

Community Nursery School: cnswb@fccwb.com

The Church Bell 7

Good morning my friends, As most of you know I started my new position as Director of Finance and Operations at African Com-munity Education program (ACE) last week. ACE is a community-oriented educational program targeted toward African refugee and immigrant children

living in Worcester. The students attending this program have come to the U.S. from nations suffering from war

and political or social instability. As a result, these children were unable to engage in meaningful schooling

during their childhood. When they arrive in the U.S., they are enrolled in school according to their age, rather

than their actual level of education, and thus are often years behind their peers in most subjects. Fortunately,

many of these children are bright and motivated, and ACE seeks to draw on these strengths to close the gaps

with their education.

To meet the needs of this population, ACE has developed a Saturday program with formal classes in Math and

English, a one-on-one tutoring and mentoring, life skills courses and extracurricular activities, such as dance,

soccer and art. We also offer after-school tutoring, Monday through Friday from 3pm to 6pm. Lastly, we em-

ploy culturally competent outreach staff to do home-visitations with families and encourage parents to take an

active role in their child’s education.

As luck would have it -I have started during the annual fundraising drive just before the beginning of the new fiscal year. Here at ACE we raise funds for our programs through grants and donations. We are all reaching out to our contacts to support ACE with our new monthly giving program. We call it KUPANDA, which means to plant or sow in Swahili. We have a goal of signing up 60 supporters to join the program before the end of June and I was wondering if you would like to be one of them. One of the reasons I’m particularly excited about this initiative is that each supporter will receive a monthly story highlighting the journey of one of our students, so you can see first-hand the impact of your do-nation. It really doesn’t matter how much you donate, what matters is that we have a large community of supporters - we know it takes a village to raise one child! So even if it’s just a dollar or two a month please consider joining this program and supporting ACE. I don't want you to feel any pressure about this but did want to offer the opportunity to become involved ! Additionally we always need volunteers to work with the kids both ongoing as mentors and tutors or on special occasions for activities and field trips. Let me know if you are interested and I can provide more info on that. Aside from helping African refugee kids get more outstanding programming from ACE, you'll also get a free t-shirt and discounted tickets to our Annual Gala which this year will be October 11 (Save the date - as you might expect -its not your typical boring gala) All donations are tax-deductible, of course! If you'd like to join, here is the link to sign up! https://donate.acechildren.org/kupanda. Thank you so much Gina

Volume 63, No.7 The Church Bell Back page

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST 26 CENTRAL STREET, WEST BOYLSTON, MA 01583-1600

PHONE: 508-835-4462 EMAIL: administrator@fccwb.com

FAX: 508-835-4463 WEBSITE: www.fccwb.com

The Reverend Steven A. Small, Senior Pastor Emeritus

The Reverend George E. Vogel, Associate Pastor Emeritus

William E. Nierintz, Ch.M., Minister of Music Emeritus

Heidi Pisano, Community Nursery School Director

The Reverend Dr. Gregory Schmidt, Interim Pastor

Kristjon Imperio, Minister of Music

Lisa A. Fisher, Administrative Assistant, Editor

Kendrik Imperio, Custodian

03 Shirley Rotti

03 Brenda Smith

04 Jayson Pusateri

04 Anne Webb

06 Pamela Cummings

08 Nathan Dawidczyk

09 Vincent Latorre

10 Jonathan Dehner

10 Bailey Doonan

11 Brenda Rotti

13 The Rev. George Vogel

14 Alyssa Irula

15 Shirley Patch

15 George Stark

16 Benjamin Krugman

16 Joshua Krugman

16 Brittany Zendzian

20 Janet Gustafson

21 Francis Beaupre

21 Mikayla Bishop

21 Andrea Borge

21 Christopher Shliapa

22 Albert Rotti

23 Caroline Espe

24 Winifred Hesemeyer

25 Becky Mathews

26 Joyce Rowell

27 Ruth Bolivar

27 Donald Gray

29 Cara Bjorklund

29 Chelsea Dellasanta

31 Alexander Bartholomew

03 Jake O'Brien

04 Lisa Zendzian

05 Davin Ketchum

05 Kathryn Lynch

05 Lori Rauktis

06 George Richardson

07 Benjamin Fancy

08 Kristin Franger

08 Emily Stark

09 Patricia Boyle

09 Peter Rotando

09 Patricia Boyle

10 Sarah Jones

11 Lauren Espe

11 Zachary Newman

11 Molly O'Connor

14 Welles Mahoney

15 Nicholas Person

16 Brady Allain

18 Lehman Bolivar

20 Nicholas Coviello

20 Emily Walker

25 Amy Colangelo

25 Robert Morris

26 Katrina Pusateri

26 Branlin Smith

27 Luke Fancy

27 Susan Mathews

27 Todd Raymond

28 Donna-Drew Price

28 Karen Michalak

29 Julie Krugman

31 Tina Beaupre

July August