ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS


Who are you going to call?

 

In David's absence this summer, please feel free to contact Ruth Ann Clark or Anne Sprague with any issues or questions. 

 

Ruth Ann has a team ready to care for pastoral concerns, and Anne can address administrative issues. Of course our office manager, Miranda Schaum, is available in the office 9:00 am - noon, and by phone or email at other times. One of these women will be able to find a resolution to your question. 

Ruth Ann Clark: ruthann.clark@mac.com 440-935-2393

Anne Sprague: moderator@firstchurchoberlin.org 440-396-5010

Miranda Schaum: office@firstchurchoberlin.org 440-775-1711


Possible Congregational Meeting

 

Pending approval of the Executive Council at their June meeting, a presentation to the congregation will be required regarding the expenditure of funds to replace broken air conditioning units in the Meeting House and Fellowship Hall. Please reserve a few moments following worship on Sunday, June 29th, for a brief congregational meeting to discuss this.


Pride Day Volunteers

 

Volunteers are needed to represent First Church for the 2025 Lorain County Pride! Saturday, June 28, between noon and 4:00pm Lorain County Pride will take place in the grass by the Oberlin College Science Center, 119 Woodland Street (it will move inside the accessible building in case of inclement weather). This is a family-friendly event where attendees can visit with vendors, grab lunch, watch performances, dance, play games, and connect with queer and allied community members. The First Church table will have handouts and crafts, and the welcoming faces of our members! At least two volunteers are needed for each one-hour (or more) shift. A sign up sheet is in the hallway to the Fellowship Hall. Wear your rainbow colors and represent your Open and Affirming church!


CATSS Continues to Connect!

 

Rachel Mentzer, advisor for the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) at Langston Middle School, and her students collected canned cat food for CATSS. This past Thursday Liz Burgess welcomed them to the kitten room and shared important facts about kitten and cat ownership. The students also got to hold and play with the kittens and learned that socializing kittens makes them more adoptable. 

 

NJHS is dedicated to leadership and service, and they are excited about doing more volunteer work with CATSS in the fall. CATSS continues to be thankful to First Church for the use of the kitten room. 


Summer Storytime Sign-up! 

 

Come get to know the church's wonderful kids - by reading a story to them during the sermon portion of worship this summer! Stories will be provided, and our wonderful childcare workers will be there to lend a hand. A sign-up sheet is in the gallery, or you can sign up by emailing Jen (faith@firstchurchoberlin.org). Thanks in advance for taking the time to get to know the children of the church!


Donations to OCS:

 

Are you looking for a way to help local families? The outreach and service committee has placed a donation box near the welcome table in the gallery to collect items for Oberlin Community Services. At this time, we are collecting the following items:

 

  • Size 4 and 5 diapers
  • Shelf stable food 

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.


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!


RECURRING EVENTS:

  • Worship - Live Streamed and in the Meeting House on Sundays @ 10am
  • Children's Church (grades K - 5) 10:15 AM each Sunday during the school year
  • Summer Storytime - 10:15 AM during the summer
  • Finance Committee - 2nd Monday each month
  • Facility Committee - 1st Tuesday each month
  • Stewardship - 2nd Tuesday each month
  • Office Staff Meetings - Mondays at 2:00 PM
  • Book Group  - Tuesdays at 4pm via Zoom
  • Witness and Membership - 2nd Wednesday each month
  • Christian Education Committee - As necessary
  • Outreach and Service Committee - 1st Monday each month
  • Executive Council - 4th Tuesday each month
  • Green Team - 3rd Wednesday of each month

Faith Formation News!

 

  • Children's Church: 10:15 AM during the School year
  • Summer Storytime in the Summer! Children are invited to join us on Sundays at 10:15 AM for a story

 

As always, call Jen or the office to get a link for any and all of these events!

CALENDAR OF EVENTS