We invite you to live in openness to the voice of the Still Speaking God.
Through God’s grace, this congregation is committed to being a loving and welcoming community of faith. We recognize, celebrate, and give thanks for the many diverse gifts of God among us. We affirm that all people are created in the image of God and as beloved children of God, all are worthy of God’s grace and love.
In Galatians 3:28 Paul wrote: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, male or female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” We declare ourselves to be an Open and Affirming Congregation, welcoming into the full life and ministry of the church, persons of every race, culture, age, gender identity and gender expression, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, marital status, education, and economic status. We especially welcome all who have known the pain of exclusion or discrimination in the church and society.
On Sunday, November 15, 2020, First Congregational Church, UCC in South Haven MI, voted to officially become an “Open and Affirming” congregation. This is a designation within our denomination and affirms the dignity of all people and our desire to extend the hospitality of God to everyone.
For our next family fellowship gathering, we will be hosting a welcome picnic for Pastor David Frey on June 4th, following Worship at 11:30 in Fellowship Hall. Sarah Peterson will be grilling the burgers and hot dogs and will provide the buns and condiments. We will all need to bring a side dish or dessert to pass.
Summer Worship Schedule Begins June 11th
A service at 9:30 will be held in the sanctuary.
There is no early service in the chapel.
As the saying goes ‘many hands make light work’ is so true when it comes to holding a Food Truck distribution. If you can help, please let Scott Raue know.
Workers would arrive about 10:30 to help set up. All distributing begins at 11 a.m.
We Care food pantries are the recipients of Simply Give donation cards that are purchased at the South Haven Meijer store during April-June 2023.
Double Match Day will be on Saturday, June 17th. On that day, for every $10 Simply Give card purchased, Meijer provide an additional contribution of $20, brining the the total to $30 for a single customer purchase.
The designated gift cards are intended to purchase food items to replenish our pantry’s shelves and will not be distributed to individual families
SUPPORTING LOCAL
FOOD PANTRIES
Current economic conditions are placing
increased pressures on low-income families,
food insecurity is increasing rapidly, making
programs like Simply Give even more
important for local food pantries.
Customers are encouraged to purchase $10
Simply Give donation cards, which are
converted into Meijer food-only gift cards and
given to the food pantry selected by the
individual store.
The Simply Give program allows food
pantries the opportunity to choose the
grocery items best suited for the families they
serve, as well as baby food, formula, diapers
and wipes.
Each of the more than 260 Meijer stores
across the Midwest partner with multiple local
food pantries, keeping the money generated
within the community.
Hunger relief is a corporate philanthropic
focus at Meijer, in addition to diversity &
inclusion, environmental and local giving.
We need to have three people for this committee. Your main responsibility would begin August/September. Your duty is to find someone that would like to fill a vacancy on a board beginning in January.
We have descriptions of each board for you to share with your perspective volunteer.
Your main responsibility would end November 1st.
Contact Dave Murphey if interested.
Okay, don’t let these words scare you.
Yes, we would like to put together a new photo directory. We’ve lost many, and gained many since the last time we did one.
This new directory right now as a greater purpose. Kris Ayers thought it would be useful to our new minister for helping place faces with names. The photos will be added to our Membership file in the church’s program, Church Windows, which has other information we use.
The layout will be different than what we did last time. A page will have many photos with just the people’s names. We already put out an address directory periodically because so many things can change so it won’t have any of that. We are going to try a different approach.
Rather than trying to catch and take pictures at church we are going to ask you to submit a photo. Most people, especially families, take photos that contain everyone. The back-ground is not important. It can be from a pho-to you used to make Christmas cards. We just ask you to try and submit one with every-one.
Send your photo to the church at:
church@uccsouthhaven.com
The photo can be in the form of a JPEG, GIF, or PNG.
We would like to have this pictorial completed by May 1st. You’’ll have plenty of time to find a recent one, or make a new one.
Thanks so much!
The Diaconate is reinstating the Care Team so we can address the needs of our church membership
Contact Elaine Kitchin or Mary Pietenpol, our coordinators to volunteer
Here is the final FCC Safety Plan.
You can find this on our First Congregational Church, UCC Facebook Page
Sunday Service: 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Church Office: M-F 9:30 to 1:30
“God is still speaking,” reminds us that God still has a lot more to say. Since 2004, Still speaking has worked with thousands of United Church of Christ churches and individuals across the country to make religion relevant again and to extend an extravagant welcome to all – because no matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you’re welcome here. Here at the United Church of Christ.
First Congregational Church is taking another step forward in the digital age! We have signed up for Online giving and donations through a company called Vanco Payments. Use this button to go directly to our First Congregational Church online giving and donations page:
Here are some of the more recent things we have been up to at First Congregational Church of South Haven Michigan.
We invite you to come join us for any and all of our events!
Want to get to know us better? Here is a good place to start, check out our most recent monthly newsletter and recorded service. We would love to have you join us for a service and get to know us better!
Join us in Fellowship Hall after service for coffee, snacks and fellowship!
