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www.foclutheranchurch.org 1 [email protected]
The Illuminate A publication of Family of Christ Lutheran Church
January/February 2020
Pastor’s Reflection
2019 Was a busy year at FOC!
It’s hard to imagine that we are already breaking in a new year. 2019 was an amazing year, with our ministry
growing as we seek new ways to serve our neighbors. In addition to what you will read in the pages of this
newsletter, here are a few things to celebrate: We are seeing many repeat visitors, and gaining new members
slowly and steadily. 100 new neighbor invitation cards go out monthly. We have new life in our younger age
families. We have made the sanctuary more ADA accessible and relocated handicapped parking spaces to
safer locations. We have a new energy around stewardship, and a new communications team. We are
instituting a new safety team. We created designated visitor parking. All this with the wonderful child space
in the sanctuary. We have a long journey ahead, but I feel God is really moving here. Our lay leaders are
strong and ready. It’s exciting.
Welcome to 2020
If you are like many, the new year also brings some kind of resolution—a new determination to improve or
grow your life. Rather than choosing a resolution that is not important enough for you to keep, perhaps
choose something that will deepen the meaning and purpose of your life lived out in faith. I want to suggest
that you prayerfully explore Dreams and Visions for the life in Christ that God is calling you to live. Sound
daunting? Well maybe it is. Discipleship in Christ costs.
If we begin with the understanding that we are beloved children of God and that Christ did indeed come to
bring us new life, then our daily life, decisions, and choices MUST be guided by that truth. So, People of
God, how and to what is God calling you in 2020?
As a congregation, we made and embraced both our Vision Statement and the Imagine Renewal process,
because we believe that God is calling us to live out our faith and discipleship through FOC in ministries that
both enrich our faith and serve our neighbors in meaningful purposefully ways. We are choosing to make
easing the suffering of the most vulnerable a cornerstone of our shared ministry. We are choosing to make
faith building a priority in the many offerings we have to grow and learn. We are choosing to make true
community a priority in how we walk together. We are choosing to be a place of welcome for all.
As we begin this new year, I want to thank you for all the many ways you pour out the love of Christ along
the way. The living gospel of Jesus is woven into the fabric of who we are as a congregation. By your faithful
participation, and support, FOC will continue to be a strong beacon of love and grace for a long time to come.
Thank you for being the Church, and for your continued courage, dedication, support, and commitment to
God’s mission in this place, as we seek together to be a part of what God is doing now.
2020 promises to be an exciting year as we move purposefully into God’s future together!
Happy New Year,
Pastor Kit
www.foclutheranchurch.org 2 [email protected]
Family of Christ Vision Statement Family of Christ is a family of God where all are welcome as we worship and grow in spirit and in life by…
• Connecting the scriptures with our Christian faith and life experiences
• Serving and caring for our neighbors and communities
• Building relationships among people of all ages and walks of life
• Transforming our world by teaching love, grace, peace, and kindness
• Moving purposefully into God’s future and we ask God to help guide us.
Dear Family of Christ, We have had a great 2019 and are looking forward to an even brighter 2020. With so many things happening at Family, sometimes it’s difficult to keep up! It never fails to amaze me how much we do, our results often defying the size of our congregation. Most recently, we increased our Christmas Food Box deliveries making 125 needy families a little more comfortable this season. Judy does a great job rounding up and directing folks to help gather, pack, and then deliver nearly 2,000 pounds of food. Our community outreach included invitational postcards about what is going on at Family of Christ, a neighborhood blood drive, participating in National night out, and cookie baking for the homeless. Laura, Kay, and Carolyn worked hard to raise the awareness of Family's involvement in and around the Felida/Vancouver areas. Our Sanctuary has a new look that includes welcoming our new accompanist, Dorothy. We also shortened the pews for better walkway access and are now showing announcements on a screen. The outside also received an update with improved LED lighting and with the parking lot getting re-striped. This provided better handicap access. These efforts highlight how much our fantastic volunteers are the backbone of Family of Christ. Their quiet service to both our church and our community is amazing. SO much happens because of these generous people, without which we wouldn’t have the effective ministries that are so important to sharing Jesus Christ’s important message. Your ideas are always welcome so please visit with your Council members and get to know them better. Your 2019/2020 Council Members Betty Perry President Karen Rossiter Christian Ed/Preschool Alan Sease Vice President Laura Harris Social Concerns Carol Collell Secretary Kay Mueller Outreach Judy Enders Treasurer Trudy Swan Stewardship Eric Evans Financial Secretary Kris Sease Worship/Music Carolyn Ness Congregational Life Dale Wilken Property Kit Neeley Pastor Jim Collell Property Chair
The Illuminate 3
Happy Birthday in January
4th Stephanie Evans 4th JoAnn Munson 10th Teare Caton 11th Dan Neeley Sr. 11th Rachel Nelson 17th Linda Marousek 20th Kay Mueller 21st Abbie Corlett 21st Alex Sosa 23rd Samuel Evans 23rd Lila Nollette 23rd Jayden Patterson 28th Dylan Terry 29th Stephanie Terry
Wednesday Family Night!
Take the night off from cooking, and relax and enjoy the fellowship while
you enjoy a hot dinner prepared by loving hands. Folks that can, pitch in
and help with clean up. The cost is still just $4 per person, no family of
four or more pays more than $14. (No one is left out, so if cost is a factor,
please talk to Pastor Kit). After dinner, join in on one of the scheduled
activities. There will be:
• Dinner will be served from 5:00 until 6:30p.m. The January 8th dinner
will be Chicken Tetrazzini, salad, rolls and dessert.
***Our Chili Cook Off will be January 29th! There will be prizes!!***
• Kids Sing 5:30-6:00 pm
• Little Christians for children PreK-5th grade join together for lots of fun
from 6:00-7:00 pm.
• Confirmation ~ 6:00-7:00 pm
• Adult Bible Study led by Larry LeFave, 6-7 pm in Library.
• Chancel Choir Rehearsals ~ 6:30-8:00 pm
• Board/card games are available for high school youth and adults that
wish to focus on fellowship
Consider being a part our Wednesday Night
Dinner Team! Talk to Sandie Beems for
details!
***Favorite Chili Cook Off Contest***
Dust off your favorite recipe and make a batch to
bring to our annual chili cook-off contest. There
will be prizes!
5-6:30 pm Wednesday, January 29th.
Save the Date—-Annual Meeting
Sunday January 26th between the two
worship services. Meet in the family
room.
Annual reports are due in the office
now please.
Coming up in January...
Concert by Our Own Dorothy Bauer Wednesday, January 15th at noon. Concert given by Soprano Dorothy Bauer and Pianist Cinda Redman. Program includes Arias by Tchaikovsky, Massenet, Puccini, Verdi, Bellini and Gershwin. VENUE: THE OLD CHURCH 1422 SW 11TH AVE., PORTLAND, OR 97201 WEBSITE: www.theoldchurch.org
Linda Marousek, Sunday, January 5th, 2 pm
St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1309 Franklin Street, Vancouver
All are invited
www.foclutheranchurch.org 4 [email protected]
Happy Birthday in February 1st Cheri Herzog 2nd Don Nelson 3rd John Ferdgi 3rd Dan Neeley Jr. 5th Fred Pollock 5th Karen Bena 7th Shirley Bridenbecker
8th Ian Caton 9th George Hoffman 10th Sharon Ferdig 11th Les Stark 11th Rob Whitaker 14th Riley Caton 16th Karen Rossiter 18th Jeff Wuethrich
20th Gary Endresen 20th Oliver Evans 23rd Bobbie Fykerud 24th Randi Osborrn 25th Carol Hoffman 25th Marilyn Howe 27th Neil Fykerud 28th Nancy Hilgendorf
Coming up in February…..Building Relationships
February Anniversaries 2/18 Dave & Karen Yankee 2/19 Randy & Randi Osborn 2/23 Al & Janet Jaffe 2/23 Anthony & Lila Nollette
“Bobbie Lardie” Senior Lunch Bunch
Next lunch will meet on Thursday, January 16th, at 11:30 am. Watch the
announcements for the location.
Social Concerns: Neighbors Helping Neighbors
This community food pantry, located in Ridgefield,
also serves Felida and Salmon Creek, bringing tangible
help to our neighbors in need. January requested
item is oatmeal. In February, canned soup.
Of course, your welcome to donate any non
perishable food items as well as household items at
any time. The donation basket is located in the NE
corner of the narthex hallway outside of the
sanctuary.
Calling All Single Ladies!
Gather with us here at the church this coming Thursday,
January 2nd, starting at 2 pm. This month we’ll play
Mexican Train. We alternate between watching movies and
playing games. All single ladies are welcome to attend.
Favorite Chocolate Dessert Contest
Bring your favorite chocolate dessert during our
Wednesday Family Night Dinner from 5-6:30 pm on
Wednesday, February 12th. Come sample all the goodies
and vote for your favorite. Prizes will be rewarded.
Million Meals
Gather up your loose change and bring it to our next
in-gatherings-January 12th & February 9th
100% of your offerings go out each month to the Clark
County Food Bank to be given to local agencies as
grants to buy food for only 8 cents per pound.
Million Meals in 2019
At the time of this printing, you have donated $7,162.
This amount equals 89,525 lbs of food. We have now
provided 2,541,336 meals since starting the program.
We are on our way to 3 Million Meals!
YOGA on Fridays
Resuming on Friday, January 10th, come check out our
Yoga class from 10-11:15 am. This gentle stretch, breathe
and release class led by Mary Stewart, and is suitable for
most ability levels. Bring a mat (or Mary has some to
borrow) and wear comfortable clothes—just $10 per class.
Drop in’s welcome.
www.foclutheranchurch.org 5 [email protected]
Connecting the Scriptures….Serving and Caring
Adult Christian Education
Sunday @ 10 am join Pastor Kit in the library. Would it
surprise you to know that the early Christians did not all
understand or agree on the nature of the Holy Trinity,
and most especially the nature of Jesus of Nazareth as
the Christ of God? From the start, there were many
interpretations and conflicts over what it meant to
follow Jesus. You need only read the letters of the New
Testament to get a sense of that! It took centuries of
prayerful study, discussion, and in some cases bloody
conflict, before the great councils of the church
succeeded in formulating documents most—if not all—
could agree upon. Do these ancient creeds still work for
us today? Let’s see as we are dive deep into The Creeds
of the Church.
Tuesdays @ 10 am come join us as we take a deep dive
into the scripture texts for the coming Sunday. We have
a blast.
2nd & 4th Thursday Evening @ 6-8 pm Bible/topical
study with Pastor Kit is an exciting and fun evening of
deep conversation on a variety of topics. We are
exploring The Letter to the Hebrews, a writing of
significance that nears that of the Apostle Paul’s most
significant work, the book of Romans. We will ask what
is and is not helpful or true for us today.
2nd & 4th Friday @ 8:00 am Men’s Breakfast Bible
Study has been deep in The Gospel of Luke. We are on
chapter 11, but it’s never too late to join the
conversation. Come and share in the great conversation
and enjoy a scrumptious breakfast prepared by the
loving hands of Nancy Hilgendorf.
WELCA-Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
WELCA Circles bring women together once a month for
bible study using Gather magazine, fellowship, and
sharing.
Thursday, January 9th, Mary Elizabeth circle meets at
1:30 pm at Sandra Farrell's, 13108 NW 11th Place # B,
Vancouver, Handicap accessible. For information call
Jeanne Downing, 360-573-5657
Twas The Week Before Christmas
Twas the week before Christmas and all through the church, elves were busily buying turkeys and
trimmings with nary a lurch.
The boxes all wrapped by the tree wall with care, with hopes the drivers soon will be there.
While out in the lot there arose such a clatter, we
sprang from our pews to see what was the matter.
Turkeys are coming in all shapes and sizes, shelves are exploding before our very "eye zez."
Our thank yous we give, your generosity so much,
the families are happy to get turkeys and such.
God Smiles on your work when you help with this project, to set such a goal defies any logic.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!
Thank you to all who donated food and money
including the Dietzen Family for providing 25 tur-keys, our wonderful staff and parents of pre-
school for filling 12 boxes and 12 turkeys them-selves; Washington State Patrol for their generous donation, the 5 ladies who called all the families, Al Doud for mapping all addresses, Jim Collell for sorting all addresses and highlighting complexes
for easy delivery, all who wrapped boxes, all who filled boxes and all who delivered on Sunday, the
turkey guard, Rossiters for making the chart of food collection and Betty for supervising the re-
turned undelivered dinners.
Whew!! what a labor of Love. Blessings,
Judy Enders
The Illuminate 6
You have filled the hearts of some 225 families with
Christmas joy! Think of it, 100 children in need had
their Christmas wish fulfilled and 125 families enjoyed
a delicious Christmas dinner, all because of you and
our wonderful Preschool families.
35 dignity bags for foster children were delivered to
Children’s Services at DHS early in December. Add to
those the 25+ last spring and you know you have had a
huge impact on the lives of these hurting young ones.
Throughout the year you have contributed $7,162 to
Million Meals! And also supported Community Kitchen
You volunteered at: Walk N Knock, Neighbors Helping
Neighbors, Clark County Food Bank, and Friends of the
Carpenter, Who Shelter, and out in the community in
many ways.
You hosted the 2nd annual Fundraiser Concert for
Friends of the Carpenter with our friends Harmony
Chorus.
You Charter Scouts and Cub Scouts now serving boys
and girls.
Our Preschool serves 118 children, preparing them for
school and teaching them about the Bible and the love
of Jesus
You help support Judy and Dave’s homeless ministry &
trunk dinner ministry with good food and supplies
You are a loving presence at the Felida Children’s 4th
of July Parade, Vancouver Pride, and the Vancouver
Peace and Justice fair, providing water bottles and
delicious apples.
You provide a fun and safe Halloween with our annual
Trunk-N-Treat and Carnival
Partnering with our friends in the Lions Club,
Vancouver Fire and Rescue, and Dr. Tanya, we
welcomed our neighbors for a National Night Out
community gathering with fun, snacks, vision
screening, melanoma checks, and a tour of a very cool
fire truck for the kids.
It takes all of us serving together, so thanks to all of you
for all you do and share to make the ministry of Family of
Christ meaningful and significant. You are a blessing!
THANK YOU FOR SHARING THE LOVE OF CHRIST SO
GENERIOUSLY!
Our Social Ministry and Justice team and our Outreach/Imagine Ministry teams have been working hard to
help FOC take it the next level! Our FOC ministry is making real differences in the lives of our neighbors.
Helping The Homeless During the Winter
Thank you for all the donations this past year you gave
to help those suffering from hunger, cold and
homelessness in Clark county. Judy and Dave still go
out every week and feed the most vulnerable of these
folks out on the streets. They can use a continuous
supply of warm gloves for both men and women, and
clean socks are the most requested items. Winter coats
help too, if you have some you aren’t using. (We have
too many hats and scarves already, thanks.)
They will take meals or desserts if you want to
contribute food. We have large freezers here if you
wish to make food contributions. Thank you all for the
support.
www.foclutheranchurch.org 7 [email protected]
Building Relationships Between People From All Ages and All Walks of Life
Happy New Year & Welcome to 2020!!
We would like to say; Thank you to Santa for coming to our Santa Breakfast on December 14th, and for supporting our preschool for 19 years. Thank you for everything that you have done for us, the children, families and staff look forward to your visit every year.
We hope all of you had a Wonderful Holiday! We would like to say Thank you to everyone that helped out by donating food items for the dinner baskets and for providing gifts for the Giving Tree. We know the Families and children really appreciate your thoughtfulness.
Preschool classes will resume on January 6th 2020. Preschool will be closed on Monday January 20th for Martin Luther King Day. January 23rd we will be having our annual Family Game Night.
During the month of February we will be having our Valentines Day celebrations. February 12th our W/F 2’s class & AM 4’s classes will have their celebration. February 13th the T/TH 2’s class, AM 3’s,PM 3’s & PM 4’s will be having their celebration. Preschool will be closed February 14th & 17th for Presidents Day Weekend.
Open Registration for the Community will be held on February 24th
Our youth has been busy the past several weeks doing service projects for our congregation, family, and community! Recently, you might have noticed cards in your church’s mailbox from our youth! These are ‘Positive Cards,” which are meant to share with you inspiration, encouragement and knowing that you are loved and appreciated!
Our Christmas program was held December 15th and what a wonderful and meaningful story of what Christmas time is about for us through the eyes of our youth and their participation and enthusiasm! We thank Tori Neeley for directing, along with Jim & Karen Rossiter, Teare Caton, and Mathew Hastings.
As we head into the New Year, we have many ideas and projects that we will be doing through our “Hands On” ministry on Sunday mornings. All kids are invited to join us at 10:00 in classrooms #2 & #3! We have a special Preschool-Kindergarten class just for this age group meeting in classroom #1 and we welcome them all!
On behalf of our teaching staff, we wish you all a wonderful New Year filled with many wonderful Blessings!
~Cheri Herzog
www.foclutheranchurch.org 8 [email protected]
