An opportunity for us to express our gratitude to Jen for her years of service at First Church is being planned; details to follow.

Something New:

The First Church Diversity Library

Diversity is God’s creation. Equity is God’s justice. Inclusion is God’s family. In today's world, these have become ideas to be excluded from our schools, libraries and homes. With book-banning on the rise (though, thankfully, not yet here), now is the time to make sure these ideas remain available to all. Do you have a favorite book for young people about diversity in any form? Consider sharing it by donating a new or gently used copy to our growing First Church Diversity Library. Books can be brought to the church office. If you have questions, contact Anne Conway or leave a message with the Office Manager.

General Synod Delegate

Congratulations to Laura Bandy, who has been chosen as a youth delegate to the UCC's General Synod! First Church will be helping to defray Laura's expenses as she travels to Kansas City, Missouri this July. (Contributions from our friends would also be gladly accepted! Talk to Miranda or Anne Sprague if you have any questions.) Please make sure you congratulate Laura, and pray for her as she prepares to experience this gathering of the wider church! 

Every two years, General Synod brings together thousands of faithful members of the United Church of Christ for inspirational worship, conducting the business of the church, formal church witness, and fellowship with friends. The theme of the gathering is “Into the Deep,” based on Luke 5:4, which says, “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’”

General Synod is always an extraordinary event in the life of the United Church of Christ. Delegates and visitors will experience dynamic workshops, generative plenary sessions, inspirational worship, engaging youth activities, and special dining events. Delegates will conduct the business of the denomination and set priorities for our ministries. The Keynote speaker, Rev. Jennifer Butler, founder of Faith in Public Life and Faith in Democracy, will offer illumination and insight into the challenges facing our congregations and communities. And delegates and visitors will stand up for issues that demand a faithful witness, and will worship together.

Strengthen the Church Offering Collected June 1st!

The Strengthen the Church (STC) Offering is one of four special mission offerings of the United Church of Christ. This offering reflects the shared commitment of people across the United Church of Christ to cooperatively build up the UCC. Conferences and the national setting equally share the gifts given by members and friends through their local congregations. The funds raised support leadership development, new churches, youth ministry, and innovation in existing congregations. By your generosity to this offering, you build up the Body of Christ.

The offering will be collected on June 1st, 2025. It is possible to contribute in one of three ways:

1. By mailing a check made out to The First Church in Oberlin with “STC” in the memo line to the church office,
2. By using the offering envelopes on the Welcome Table and depositing your donation in the donation boxes in the Meeting House by the doors exiting the room, 
3. Or, by going to our First Church website, scrolling down and clicking on "Donate Online" and then going to the “Strengthen the Church” section.

More information about Strengthen the Church can be found on our website, in our church e-news, or here: https://heartlanducc.org/STC/ 

First Church building rental opportunities

The First Church buildings offer numerous opportunities for meetings, rehearsals, concerts, weddings, and family events. After long study, a reasonable rental fee schedule has been worked out to offer fair use of the facility to our members and our neighbors. Large rooms (the Meeting House, Fellowship Hall, or JFO Room) and small rooms (upstairs classrooms, Room 4, Reading Room) can be reserved by the hour or by the half day. Discounted rates for church members and community partners may be available. The city of Oberlin has limited spaces available for events, and we are happy to offer our facility to help fill that need for our neighbors.

There Are Requirements for Making Submissions to our First Things First eNews!

In an effort to make our eNews more readable and shorten the length, we have created new guidelines for submitting posts! The guidelines are as follows.

1. As usual, the deadline for submissions for the upcoming First Things First is Wednesday prior to 10 AM.
2. We will not be putting in any non-First Church job postings.
3. We will not be putting in any full flyers as the submission (however, we will put in a button that links to a PDF of the flyer).
4. There is a word limit of 100 words for the text of a submission.
5. You may insert links into the text post for more information, either by button or hyperlink in the text.
6. You may insert PDFs (accessible by buttons) for more information, a flyer, or anything else that would be helpful for the post, but the document must be in PDF format. Any other document format will not be included in your submission.
7. You may send one picture that you have the rights to use (i.e. a picture that is not subject to copyright, we suggest using the site pexels.com).
8. The submission will run for a maximum of 2 weeks in the eNews. These 2 weeks do not have to be consecutive.

When sending in your submission, you must have

• The title of the post
• The text of the post (maximum of 100 words)
• Which 2 weeks you'd like for your submission to run

When sending in your submission, you could have

• If you'd like, one picture
• If you'd like, PDFs (and what you'd want the title of the button that links to it to be)
• If you'd like, the links for spots in the text post (and which word(s) you'd like to be the hyperlink or what you'd want the title of the button to be)

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we try to make our eNews experience more manageable for our readers!