Denmark UCC May 2012 Newsletter

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Parishable ItemsDenmark Congregational United Church of Christ

May 2012Sawyer Circle will meet at 12:00 on

May 1st.(Note time change) No

meetings of Sawyer Circle in

June or July. Plymouth Circle will

meet at 7:00 on May 3rd.

The choir will rehearse everyWednesday at 7:00; the

dates are May 2nd, May 9th, May 16th,

May 23rd and May 30th.

Wacky Wednesday will meet on

Wednesday May 2nd and May 9th

at 5:30. On May 2nd they will be

cleaning up outside in Denmark. May 16

th

is the End of the Year Party.

The Trustees will meet on May 8th at 8:00.

Christian Ed will meet on May

9th at 6:45. The Standing

Committee is meeting on May

17th at 7:00 pm.

On May 6th there isCommunion at theservice.

May 13th is Mothers Day.Promotion Sundayhas been changed toMay 20th and that will be thelast day of Sunday School.

May 17th is the Feast of theAscension.

On May 19th there is asession of scrapbooking andcrafting from 9:00 am. to5:00 pm. in Fellowship Hall.

On May 20th, afterthe service were

having Pot Luck and a churchwork day, sponsored by the Trustees.

May 27th

is the collection for the

Strengthen the Church Special

Mission Offering.May 28

this Memorial Day

4H meets on the 3rd Sunday of every

month, with the exception of July.

Heritage Days are the first weekend in June,

the 2nd and 3rd. There is more information on

the bulletin board and in this newsletter on

page 7. There will also be an insert in the

Sunday bulletins.


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Parishable Items May 2012

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Greetings yall,

Denmark Congregational UCC is finding itself in

the enviable position of growing. We are growingnumerically, spiritually, programmatically, as well as our

general optimism. This means that the role of the

pastor is slowly starting to change. While I will still be a

leader in this church and the community, with the

growth of the church, the membership (thats you) will

be expected to take on some of those leadership roles

that the pastor has traditionally taken sole

responsibility for. So what is leadership? What does

this mean for the church and its members? Lets get

into it.First off, leadership in the church takes an

approach that focuses on relating people to one another

with the purpose of working with them to understand

and address the (sometimes) complex issues of which all

involved have something invested. While no single

sentence can hope to contain all that is involved in

leadership, this definition affirms that leadership

involves other people working together, requiring

relationship. There are many ways that this definition

can be enacted and enforced by any leader, bothpositive and negative, so what follows are some

guidelines to help each of us become better leaders of

both the church and the wider community.

Leaders love and rely on Godand help others

do the same. This one may seem strange as the first

role of the leader, but bear in mind that I am referring

specifically to church leaders. Our primary role, if we do

nothing else in our community, is to help others find the

love of God in their lives. This means that whether we

are in feast or famine, the role of the leader is to ensurethat all who enter our community recognize that

everyone is loved by God.

Leaders dont work in a vacuumthere is much

that surrounds them and what they do. This principle

may well be called, pay attention to context. Ive said

before that life is messy, meaning that our lives are full

of stuff that makes things complicated. The church is

no exception to this. In fact, because the church is full

of many lives, all of them messy, the church may well be

the messiest place of all. This means that leaders must

be able to wade through not only the explicit conflict,

but also the background context that informs the

conflict. In my experience, the fight is rarely about the

stated issue, but much more about the steps that lead

to the stated issue. The church has a long memory,

which means that context becomes all the more

important to stave off divisive conflict.

Leaders dont work alonethe committees,

the boards and the congregation are not the enemy.

The church is too big for one person, or even one

committee, to run effectively. For this reason, we haveseveral different committees and boards that have

different responsibilities. Each of these committees is

filled with talented people who have a vested interest in

the success of the church. This means that each

committee could be seen as a tool in a toolbox. Some

jobs simply require the right tool. Leaders of the church

will recognize which committee should have which

responsibilities and how to ask for help.

Leaders make decisionsand take

responsibility for them. In our congregational polity,the congregation is the final word on what actions the

church takes. However, there are a lot of things that go

on in and around the church that dont require the

voice of the entire congregation. Therefore, some of

these decisions are made on behalf of the congregation

Sometimes, these decisions prove to be wrong or

against the wishes of the greater body. At this time, the

leader, whether it be a committee or a person, must

take responsibility for that decision. There is no shame

in making a mistake, but there is shame in refusing toadmit or correct that mistake.

These are the first four of about nine principles

have. Next month well look at the next five before

determining how these principles ultimately apply to us

all, whether we think were a leader or not.

Peace,


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May 4 Max WaldschmidtMay 7 Dennis BraytonMay 8 Julia KerrMay 10 Lindia SteinMay 10 A.J. MartinMay 12 Sherry SandrockMay 12 Curtis SteinMay 12 Samuel HasencleverMay 13 Marie WolfskillMay 16 Leroy MabeusMay 16 Bonnie SteinMay 17 Susan KnipeMay 17 Merle HasencleverMay 19 Shelly MartinMay 20 Jocelyn ColeMay 23 Louise DavisMay 25 Alice HorstmanMay 25 Lindsay LampeMay 27 Cindy LandisMay 28 Chris RoxbergMay 29 Stephen SentiMay 29 Ashland BlanchardMay 30 Robert BonarMay 31 Virginia BonarMay 31 Haley Lampe

May 1 Raymond & Sharon StotlarMay 1 William & Leah KuntzMay 3 Ray & Sherry McKeeMay 20 Chris & Mary HarveyMay 22 Brad & Leslie StottsMay 30 Dave & Jocelyn Cole

May 6thActs 8:26-40, Ps 22:25-31,1 John 4:7-21, John 15:1-8May 13thActs 10:44-48, Ps 98,1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17May 20thActs 1:15-17 & 21-26, Ps 1,1 John 5:9-13, John 17:6-19May 27thActs 2:1-21 or Ezek 37:1-14,Ps 104:24-34 & 35b,Rom 8:22-27 or Acts 2:1-21,John 15:26-27 & 16:4b-15

If you know of anyone whodoes not receive thenewsletter and would liketo, please let the office know or tellthem to let the office know.


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The church history update will be

discussed at the next meeting.

The schedule for opening the church

was discussed: Terry Hoenig and Harley

Morton are scheduled for February. Jeff

Weisinger will open the church in March and

prepare communion for March 4th.

The Food Pantry continues to need

saltine crackers. The schedule for opening

the church is Sherry in April and Kathy

Blanchard in May. The Lent Dinner hosted

by the Standing Committee served 52 people

and over $300.00 was collected for mission

funds.

The 175th Anniversary for the church

will be celebrated in May of 2013. The

celebration was discussed by the committee

including forming a committee for the

purpose of planning this event. The

committee will have 5-7 people. Sherry

McKee volunteered to participate on the

committee.

New Business: A complaint regarding

the projector screen was received and

discussed.

The church calendar was discussed.

Maundy Thursday service is scheduled for

7:00 pm. on April 5th, Good Friday service at

7:00 pm. on April 6th, Easter service at 7:00

am. and 10:00 am., on April 8th, with Easter

Breakfast being served by SHPF at 8:00 am.

Sunday April 29th is the fifth Sunday of the

month and the Conference Minister will be

speaking regarding the conference.

(approximately 5 minutes) Pastor Chad will

be gone on Sunday May 20th and SHPF will

be providing the service. Pastor Chad and

Elizabeth will be on vacation beginning June

9th and absent from the June 10th service.

Committee discussed whether we

need greeters for schedule, pencils and

visitor cards in the pews. The committee

discussed new member acknowledgement,

including providing members with a card and

copy of the church by-laws. The committee

discussed Financial Peace University (Dave

Ramsey). The committee discussed placing

an Easter Cross in the front of the church.

Next meeting is scheduled for Thursday

April 12, 2012 at 7:00 pm.

The meeting adjourned with the Lords

Prayer at 12:15 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Kjrsten Bobb, Secretary

The churchs 175th

anniversary is

approaching. If you are interested in

working on the anniversary committee,

please call and talk to Sherry McKee at 319-

372-2176 or Linda Roxberg at 319-528-

4538. We are trying to form a group of 5-7

people that can work creatively with others

and can effectively delegate responsibilities


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to the rest of the church. The Standing

Committee, over the course of the year is

available to hear anyquestions,

compliments, comments and concerns

regarding Pastor Chads performance. They

will be engaging in a proactive evaluation of

Pastor Chad and the church throughout the

year so that any issues can be brought up

and addressed before they become

problems.

Pastor Chad & members ofCongregational UCC,Thank you so much for your warmwelcome this past Sunday. I lookforward to resourcing your growingministry to children, youth andfamilies.Peace,NicoleThank you from Blanche Hardy toeveryone for their cards, phone calls,visits and food. It was so thoughtfuland is very much appreciated.Blanche Hardy

Make sure you keep August 24th open.There is a surprise coming that is foreveryone!!

Please call Sue Watson at 528-4494 or the

church office at 528-4465 with any prayer

concerns. We are praying for:

Patty Dochterman Tony Haeffner

Sandra Parrish Chris Jackson

Clayton Whitmarsh Mike Horn

Mike & Carol Smith Rick Goldie

The Family of Mary Amenell

Steve Dougherty

The events for the June calendar must be

submitted by June 18th; the newsletter will be

printed on the 25th because of the Memorial

Day weekend.

Documents

Denmark UCC May 2012 Newsletter