Reopening Survey
The results of our church reopening survey are in: 18 “yes” to open in person worship and 30 “no” to continue worship on line for now. One of the wonderful things about our church is that we are a family. We like to be together, shake hands, hug and meet together for fellowship after the worship service. At this point if we did open for in person worship, masks would have to be worn at all times, singing would not be permitted, we would have to physical distance and there would be no fellowship following worship. Not to mention the hours of extensive cleaning of the entire worship space, bathrooms, office, all hallway surfaces, outside handrails, door handles etc. that would have to occur after every worship.
With these factors and the results of the survey along with the fact that Pastor Mary would still be leading worship from home, we will not be opening for in person worship for the time being.
“I remind our churches to follow a slow, cautious and deliberate process while moving toward reopening,” said our Bishop of the SEPA Synod, the Rev. Patricia Davenport. “Our highest priority is to do no harm” in the process of reopening churches, the bishop said. “In this new abnormal, our concerns are for our rostered ministers and members who are vulnerable because of their age and/or underlying conditions,” the bishop said. “We want everyone to be safe and show Christ’s love for their vulnerable neighbors as we learn whether our area will see new outbreaks.”
Sunday School Program
This year, because, after some discussion, we realized that having children in worship for an hour and then having them be online for another amount of time was simply too much “Zoom” screen time on a Sunday morning, we’re going to experiment with offering a “Sunday School” program on Wednesdays at 4:30pm for about 30 to 45 minutes!
Rally Day
Please mark your calendars! Rally Night will be Wednesday September 16th at 4:30pm. We will be having a zoom “Sunday School Rally Night!” We are planning to begin with lessons about the Old Testament using the virtual, online program called “Whirl.” Many of the children already are familiar with the Whirl program. Look for an email with more information. Please reply to the email if you would like to join any night so you can be added to the zoom link. The link will also be posted in the Sunday bulletin.
We look forward to this new way to share the love of Jesus with so many more families in their homes via zoom!
For more information see, Melissa Prunkel, Education Leader
Vacation Bible School
We enjoyed Vacation Bible School via Zoom during the first week in August, from the 3rd to the 7th. We met online from 10am to noon Monday through Friday. We had 17 kids sign up and averaged around 9 kids each day. Pastor Mary, leading the opening, closing and transition comments was at church along with Nancy Gansner and Gail Achilles. Nancy and Gail did their storytelling from the Nursery. Janet Hill was in the church office “sharing” the prerecorded videos (including Emily and Jake Halpern’s skits). Sharon Diggans and Liana Schantz were at home leading us through the crafts. Also “zooming” from home were Laura and Alexis Cooper sharing the Kid Vid Cinema. A few of the days are posted on our Facebook page if you want to see how things went. By the third day, we had it down pat!
A Special Thanks to our Vacation Bible School Leaders
Bible Story Presenters: Gail Achilles and Nancy Gansner
Imagination Station Leaders: Sharon Diggins and Liana Schantz
Cam Track (Engineer) and his Friend, Emily & Jake and Emily Halpern
Kid Vid videos: Laura and Alexis Cooper
Hosts: Pastor Mary Konopka, Bridge Pastor and Janet Hill
Chris Jones for creating the Buddies and decorating the Fellowship Hall.
Sharon Diggans and Liana Schantz for assembling the VBS kits.
Dale Foster for transporting materials.
Rich Hollenbach and Adam Feldman for their technical help.
A special thanks to Springfield Mennonite Church in Coopersburg for sharing some of their VBS sets with us and to Chris Jones for making all the arrangements.
And thank you to all the parents and children that participated in our first ever Virtual Vacation Bible School and were so gracious through technical problems and a tropical storm.
E-Giving Through Vanco
We continue to encourage online giving through Vanco.
* Electronic gifts are fast and secure
* Recurring donations can be scheduled and managed
* Giving can be with your credit card or banking information
Electronic giving has really benefitted our church during this time when we haven’t been able to worship in person.
Thank you to everyone who has signed up for online giving and also for those of you who continue to mail in your pledges!
If you would like to give electronically, visit our website (faithmontgomeryville.org) and click on the E-giving button.
Faith’s Transportation Initiative
Even though we are not transporting anyone to appointments at this time, Dale Foster is still bringing Wawa food to those in our congregation and our community who are in need of a little extra food. (Through the Food Donation Connection program we receive food from Wawa every Tuesday and Thursday. It is mostly Sizzlies, bagels, pastries etc. that are left over from the day before and stored in Wawa’s freezer.)
Thank you, Foster family, for making sure those in our church family and our community are taken care of!
The results of our church reopening survey are in: 18 “yes” to open in person worship and 30 “no” to continue worship on line for now. One of the wonderful things about our church is that we are a family. We like to be together, shake hands, hug and meet together for fellowship after the worship service. At this point if we did open for in person worship, masks would have to be worn at all times, singing would not be permitted, we would have to physical distance and there would be no fellowship following worship. Not to mention the hours of extensive cleaning of the entire worship space, bathrooms, office, all hallway surfaces, outside handrails, door handles etc. that would have to occur after every worship.
With these factors and the results of the survey along with the fact that Pastor Mary would still be leading worship from home, we will not be opening for in person worship for the time being.
“I remind our churches to follow a slow, cautious and deliberate process while moving toward reopening,” said our Bishop of the SEPA Synod, the Rev. Patricia Davenport. “Our highest priority is to do no harm” in the process of reopening churches, the bishop said. “In this new abnormal, our concerns are for our rostered ministers and members who are vulnerable because of their age and/or underlying conditions,” the bishop said. “We want everyone to be safe and show Christ’s love for their vulnerable neighbors as we learn whether our area will see new outbreaks.”
Sunday School Program
This year, because, after some discussion, we realized that having children in worship for an hour and then having them be online for another amount of time was simply too much “Zoom” screen time on a Sunday morning, we’re going to experiment with offering a “Sunday School” program on Wednesdays at 4:30pm for about 30 to 45 minutes!
Rally Day
Please mark your calendars! Rally Night will be Wednesday September 16th at 4:30pm. We will be having a zoom “Sunday School Rally Night!” We are planning to begin with lessons about the Old Testament using the virtual, online program called “Whirl.” Many of the children already are familiar with the Whirl program. Look for an email with more information. Please reply to the email if you would like to join any night so you can be added to the zoom link. The link will also be posted in the Sunday bulletin.
We look forward to this new way to share the love of Jesus with so many more families in their homes via zoom!
For more information see, Melissa Prunkel, Education Leader
Vacation Bible School
We enjoyed Vacation Bible School via Zoom during the first week in August, from the 3rd to the 7th. We met online from 10am to noon Monday through Friday. We had 17 kids sign up and averaged around 9 kids each day. Pastor Mary, leading the opening, closing and transition comments was at church along with Nancy Gansner and Gail Achilles. Nancy and Gail did their storytelling from the Nursery. Janet Hill was in the church office “sharing” the prerecorded videos (including Emily and Jake Halpern’s skits). Sharon Diggans and Liana Schantz were at home leading us through the crafts. Also “zooming” from home were Laura and Alexis Cooper sharing the Kid Vid Cinema. A few of the days are posted on our Facebook page if you want to see how things went. By the third day, we had it down pat!
A Special Thanks to our Vacation Bible School Leaders
Bible Story Presenters: Gail Achilles and Nancy Gansner
Imagination Station Leaders: Sharon Diggins and Liana Schantz
Cam Track (Engineer) and his Friend, Emily & Jake and Emily Halpern
Kid Vid videos: Laura and Alexis Cooper
Hosts: Pastor Mary Konopka, Bridge Pastor and Janet Hill
Chris Jones for creating the Buddies and decorating the Fellowship Hall.
Sharon Diggans and Liana Schantz for assembling the VBS kits.
Dale Foster for transporting materials.
Rich Hollenbach and Adam Feldman for their technical help.
A special thanks to Springfield Mennonite Church in Coopersburg for sharing some of their VBS sets with us and to Chris Jones for making all the arrangements.
And thank you to all the parents and children that participated in our first ever Virtual Vacation Bible School and were so gracious through technical problems and a tropical storm.
E-Giving Through Vanco
We continue to encourage online giving through Vanco.
* Electronic gifts are fast and secure
* Recurring donations can be scheduled and managed
* Giving can be with your credit card or banking information
Electronic giving has really benefitted our church during this time when we haven’t been able to worship in person.
Thank you to everyone who has signed up for online giving and also for those of you who continue to mail in your pledges!
If you would like to give electronically, visit our website (faithmontgomeryville.org) and click on the E-giving button.
Faith’s Transportation Initiative
Even though we are not transporting anyone to appointments at this time, Dale Foster is still bringing Wawa food to those in our congregation and our community who are in need of a little extra food. (Through the Food Donation Connection program we receive food from Wawa every Tuesday and Thursday. It is mostly Sizzlies, bagels, pastries etc. that are left over from the day before and stored in Wawa’s freezer.)
Thank you, Foster family, for making sure those in our church family and our community are taken care of!
