Wednesday Night Supper on October 16th

After an amazing Third Wednesday Night gathering in September, our Wednesday Night Supper on October 16 at 5:45 will highlight the fall with a popular seasonal meal: chili, salad, cornbread and rolls, followed by apple and pumpkin desserts. Plan to come and enjoy the food and fellowship! Invite friends and neighbors! Welcome college students!

We're looking for cooks for the following items: 4 people to make a crock pot / large pot of chili with meat; 2 people to make a crock pot of vegetarian chili; 4 people to make a favorite pumpkin or apple dessert. Sign-up sheets are in the hallway on the way to fellowship hall. Let us know if you're coming. And, if you want to prepare and bring something or come early and help assemble the salad, you can sign up for that as well. A donation basket will also be available. It will be an evening of no tricks - all treats!

Are You Interested in Learning More About Joining First Church?

Please join us for an informal Inquirer’s Gathering in the JFO Room following the worship service on October 20th. Wherever you are on your faith journey, your questions are welcome, and conversation is invited.

We look forward to seeing you!

The church will receive new members on November 3rd.

Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Mary Nelson, Thursday, Oct. 31, 1:00 p.m. in the First Church Meeting House. Reception following the service in the Fellowship Hall. All are welcome.

Please remember Mary's family and friends during this time of grief and loss:

O God, who heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds; look in tender pity and compassion upon your servants whose joy has been turned into mourning. Leave them not comfortless, but grant that they may be drawn closer to you and one another in their common sorrow. Fill their souls with the light and comfort of your presence. So dwell with them and be their God, until the day breaks and the shadows flee away. Amen.

Call for Bel Canto Musicians

Bel Canto, Kendal’s handbell choir, is looking for one or two musicians to play handbells from Aug 30 through Nov 17. Please help us out! It’s a fun ensemble experience. Contact Betsy Allen if interested, betsyallen2345@gmail.com

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!