The Christian Education Committee is having their annual Cake Auction right after church in the Fellowship Hall on Sunday, May 4, 2025. Tasty cakes, pies, and other goodies will be available for purchase. We look forward to your participation in baking and bidding. This is one of our favorite events & proceeds go to our Sunday School Program. A light lunch will be served by your Christian Education Committee.. Check back for a more detailed message next month...
God’s grace and peace. Karen Knospe
Interim President
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The Children will all receive a Bible during the Sunday, March 16, 2025 Service. Check back for a more detailed message next month...
God’s grace and peace. Karen Knospe
Interim President
Consistory President Message
This past Sunday we had our annual meeting. We covered many issues including committee members remaining in office until the By Laws are completed. We handed out the Mission Statement which we will be voting on soon in a special meeting. We received word that Hill Street will be blacktopped this spring, so we will be looking into blacktopping our parking lots at that time. The budget was also approved at this meeting and will increase by 1.43%. Thanks to Deacons for working on this.
A few things we will be looking into in the coming year is runoff problems around the church and establishing a task force to look into a Safe Sanctuary Policy.
In closing, I again want to thank everyone who works for St. John’s to make our church better. If everyone does their part, we can all follow Christ’s word in our lives and community.
God’s grace and peace. Karen Knospe
Interim President
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We have gotten through another Holiday Season. I want to thank all those that had a hand in making it successful. Now it is time to move on to the New Year. St. John’s Church Annual Meeting will be Sunday, January 26, 2025 after our morning service. Anyone submitting reports for the Annual Report please get them in by January 10. The Deacons have been working on the 2025 Budget and will be presenting it to the membership for approval at the Annual Meeting. The Consistory is asking the members of the Consistory to stay on in their positions until the Constitution Review task force has completed their work. Again, I would like to thank all who have helped with the Holiday season and everyone who has helped make this past year go smoothly and I wish everyone “A Happy New Year!”
God’s grace and peace. Karen Knospe
Interim President
Consistory President Message
We have had a very busy fall with the Bazaar behind us, the parking lot almost finished and a late Thanksgiving holiday. It is now time to look forward to the Christmas Season and the New Year. Many people are to be thanked from our Ladies who again had a very successful Bazaar to the Trustees for all they do and oversee at the Church. We cannot forget Faye and her Ducks who add so much joy and happiness to our church family.
The Deacons have prepared a budget for the coming year, which will be presented and hopefully approved at the annual meeting. A lot of work goes into this. As a church we need to remain fiscally responsible. Your generous giving makes this possible, so I encourage all to continue giving what you can.
The Consistory is going to be looking at Leadership Positions needed for next year. Please think about volunteering to fill one of these positions.
There are lots of fun things coming up for the Christmas Season so be sure to watch for the events. We will be decorating the Sanctuary, and tree. The Children have a program on December 15th and of course we will have a service on Christmas Eve.
God’s grace and peace. Karen Knospe Interim President
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It's been several years since I had the opportunity to serve St. John's as its president so please bare with me as I once again get into the groove.
I would like to start by THANKING Dale for the great job he did over the last six years! His patience and determination led our church through the most troublesome time in my 74 years of belonging to this church. Many things have changed, many policies rewritten, many things learned and more changes are forth coming. May God be with us as we slowly make the necessary changes to get and keep our church strong.
On another subject, we still have some vacancies on a couple of committees, those being the deacons (two people needed) and the investment (one person needed). We really need to have these positions filled as soon as possible so our church can function as good as possible. Pastor Deb or myself would be most happy to answer any questions you might have.
On another note, the consistory is beginning to study making structural changes to our constitution. These changes will stream line how our church works and in the process "modernize" it. The last time the constitution was updated was when pastor Fritz West was here.
The trustees are dealing with a collapsing parking iot wall. the south side parking lot wall has a HUGE bulge in it. A study committee has been formed to study the problem and possible solutions. The members are the trustees, also included are Randy Bohm, Paul Duellman and myself.
Wednesday, April 17 a joint consistory was held at Hope. Discussed were church time changes (Sunday, July 7) and the next joint meeting Wednesday, October 9 which will include finance negotiations for pastor.
One last item... it was decided that the church needs a good clean out and inventory of church property. To accomplish this, it was decided to do it in place of a Sunday morning worship service; this is is what is called a "hands on" worship thanking God for what He has given us over the years and also where these things are located in the church building. Upon completion, a list will be compiled and kept in the church office for everyone's use.
Any questions about anything, please call... if I don't know, I will do my best to find out.
Hope everyone has a great month of May.
God’s grace and peace. Steve Prussing
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Hello Everyone,
We are well into fall. Today feels more like winter. The weather is definitely changing. Things are starting to get busier here at St. John’s Church. Coming up shortly, we will be having our Fall Bazaar. This is being put on by our wonderful Women’s Guild. These ladies always amaze me with the great job they do at organizing and putting on the Fall Bazaar.
The Deacons are also busy working on the budget for next year. This is always a tough job for them trying to keep expenses down but still maintain our church efficiency. This is the time of the year when we need to did deep in our pockets and give so the we do not fall behind in keeping our church viable.
The Consistory is also starting to look at the Leadership Positions needed for next year. Please think hard about volunteering to cover these positions. Your input and your help are greatly appreciated.
And remember to keep watching for the upcoming Holiday schedule. The Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday schedule will be coming out and you do not want to miss anything.
Thank you,
God’s grace and peace. Dale Schmidtknecht
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I just wanted to update you with what the Consistory is working on. It has been a relatively quiet summer. The church seems to be running smooth at this point. We need to thank Hope United Church for inviting us to their Summer Social and worship. We also had the annual meeting of the Friends of the Eagle Valley Church with a great turnout from St. John’s Church and Hope United Church. September starts the new Sunday School year and on September 24th we have the "Blessing of the Animals" at the park in Cochrane hosted by Hope United Church this year.
The biggest item I need everyone to start considering is at the end of this year my term will be up. I cannot hold another term as your President. We need to be looking for someone to take over the reins of the church. We will also be looking for someone to take over as Treasurer of the church. Judy’s term was up last year and she graciously agreed to serve one more year. She wants to enjoy retirement and step back a little from some of the responsibilities of church. These are the two pieces of leadership that need to be covered. There will also be a Deacon position and an Investment position that need to be filled.
This summer has seen relatively low attendance. This is a normal trend but it seems to be even lower than our normal. This makes me a little uneasy. We have to remember that in order to remain viable we need member participation. If we do not have members attending services and being involved then we do not have a church. Please attend when you can, get involved and encourage others to come. Our church and our church community are very special and we want to keep it going for future generations.
Lastly, remember to pray for all the people that are ill or have lost loved ones whether it be in our community or around the world.
God’s grace and peace. Dale Schmidtknecht
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We welcome the coming of summer with the green grass, green trees, and blue skies. I must let you know that the gutters on the church are finally fixed. We have hired a young man to do the lawn mowing and that is going well.
I want to thank everyone that participated in the Christian Eduction Cake Auction either by making cakes or bidding and buying cakes. It was a big success and helps our Christian Eduction programs a lot.
Please keep watching for the summer schedule. There are many things going on. Rhubarb Fest is coming up on June 10th. All you wonderful bakers come out to help us raise money for the Women’s Guild and church. We will be having Vesper Services this summer out in Eagle Valley. The first one will be Saturday, June 17, 2023. This is a change from the 4th Saturday of each month, so mark your calendars. People have asked me if there is a service in the park. This service, with the blessing of the animals, has been moved to the fall. So there is not a service in the park over summer. There may be other events this summer that I am missing, so keep alert for events scheduled.
The biggest thing that I want to remind everyone on is the change in worship time coming up. Per our Shared Covenant Agreement, we will be changing worship times from 8:30am to 10:30am beginning SUNDAY, JULY 2, 2023. Mark your calendars! This new time will continue for the next 12 months.
Everyone enjoy your summer!
God’s grace and peace. Dale Schmidtknecht
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Again, we come to the changing of the seasons. We welcome the coming of Spring (hopefully soon) and the coming of Easter. I personally love Easter time as much as Christmas. I love the music, and the story of the Resurrection of Jesus.
But with spring comes items we need to think about. First off, you may have seen that the gutters have fallen off the church. I have contacted the company that did our roof and gutters and they should be coming in the next couple of weeks to fix and replace the gutters.
Second issue that I want to bring up with the coming of Spring is the need for someone to mow the lawns this summer. Steve Prussing and Randy Boehm have graciously been mowing for the past years but want to step back and enjoy their summers. We have gotten a few quotes to mow the church and parsonage but I want to put it out there that if anyone knows of someone interested please let me or a consistory member know before the next Consistory meeting April 12, 2023
I would like everyone to pray for those members that have been ill, had accidents or had surgery or just been under the weather. Pray for them to have a quick and healthy recovery. And please pray, at this Easter time, for all people in the world that are suffering. That their lives become better.
God’s grace and peace. Dale Schmidtknecht
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We have gotten through another Holiday Season. I want to thank all those that had a hand in making it successful. Now it is time to move on to the New Year. St. John’s Church annual meeting will be Sunday, January 22, 2023 after our morning service. Anyone submitting reports for the Annual Report please get them in as soon as possible. The Deacons have been working on the 2023 Budget and have presented it to the Consistory for approval for the Annual Meeting. The Consistory also approved the SMAT (Shared Ministry Advisory Team) recommendation to keep our church service time at 8:30am until July and then change for the next 12 months. I am still looking for a Deacon position to be filled for the slate of officers for the Annual Meeting. If anyone is interested, please let me know. We are also strongly looking for a new church Secretary. Judy has graciously filled this position for several years and would like to step away.
Again, I would like to thank all who have helped with the Holiday season and everyone who has helped make this past year go smoothly.
God’s grace and peace. Dale Schmidtknecht
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It was brought to my attention that people missed hearing from me regarding what is going on with the Consistory, your governing board. This fall season will start the Consistory’s annual budgeting process. The Deacons will be meeting to work out the budget for next year. I will also be looking into filling the vacant committee positions. Anyone interested in working with a committee please let me or anyone currently on the Consistory know.
We are also looking to start up a new committee or group to work with the "information technology (IT)" equipment. This would be working with computers, video taping equipment, running the power point on Sundays etc. Anyone interested, please let me know.
This October we will be meeting with the Consistory of Hope UCC for our semi-annual joint Consistory meeting. Please let me know of any issues or concerns that you feel should be brought up at our meeting. I know we will probably be discussing service times.
I want to remind everyone that we have started using ushers in our service again. If you are on the usher list, the greeter list, money counter or flower/communion list please be aware of your volunteer Sundays.
I would like to inform everyone that the new lift is installed and operational. I want to thank everyone that helped to get this going and also thank everyone for their patience during the construction process. The new lift works somewhat similar to the old lift in that you have to hold the inside buttons to make it go up or down. What is new is that the doors work automatically. To open them you press the button on the wall. Once you are on the level you want to go to, the door will open automatically to let you out. If you have any questions feel free to ask me.
Happy Fall to Everyone! Dale Schmidtknecht
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I have just a few things that I need to bring up. First of all, just a reminder that as of Sunday, July 3, 2022 St. John’s will be having our church services at 8:30am until the end of the year. We will be reviewing this closer to the end of the year to see if this schedule works for us and Hope UCC.
Next, I am still looking for an Elder to fill a spot that was vacated. Anyone interested please let me or Pastor Deb know.
We are looking for someone who is interested in the history of the church to be our historian. This person would kind of compile past history of our church. We are also looking for people who would be interested in taking pictures at any church event. These pictures could then be used on our church webpage to show anyone interested in what we are up to. Speaking of our webpage, it will be taking on a new look in the near future. The Consistory has decided that it is time to update the webpage, Facebook page and other social media. We have contracted with a local person to help us with this process.
Last, I would to remind everyone that the new lift which had to be replaced, is almost complete. Anyone wishing to contribute to the expense of replacing the lift, it would be greatly appreciated. Any donated money wouldbe reimbursed back into our investments as that is where the Consistory voted to use money to pay for the lift.
God’s grace and peace. Dale Schmidtknecht
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I feel that we, as a congregation, are getting back into a steady routine. It is nice to see people coming back and new faces showing up. We still have a lot of work to be done but we will work our way back to a strong church family again.
I have a couple of items I would like to address. The first one is the church lift. As I mentioned at the annual meeting, our church lift has gone beyond its useful age. We voted as a Congregation to replace the lift. This is going to be done in the upcoming weeks.
The church has monies from investment and memorial funds to put toward replacing the lift. However, we are asking that anyone who is interested in donating toward the lift it would be much appreciated.
The other item that I have is that we are still looking for someone to take over the church secretarial duties. This position is a paying position. Judy has graciously kept on doing the duties of secretary but had said that once a new pastor was on board that she would like to step back.
If anyone knows of someone, a church member or not, that would be interested please let me or any Consistory member know.
God’s grace and peace. Dale Schmidtknecht
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Here are just a few notes to keep everyone updated. I am still looking for one more committee member for the Memorial Committee. Anyone interested, please let me know. Otherwise, I have all the rest of the committees filled. I want to thank everyone who volunteered to be on a committee.
The final work has been done on the church with the gutters being finished this last week. This puts the finishing touch to a project that started last summer after the hail damage. We are still looking for someone interested in being the church secretary. Judy has been gracious to do this while we were in this transition period, but would like to step back as soon as we could find someone. If anyone is interested or knows of someone who may be interested, please let me know. This is a paying position.
As discussed at the Annual Meeting, we will be looking into repair or possible replacement of the lift in church. The lift is about 25 years old and parts may not be available any longer. We have been written up a couple of times by the inspector for a switch that is out. We will need to do something soon to stay in compliance. The Deacons and Memorial Committee will be looking into how to pay for the repairs or replacement.
If you know of anyone that needs to be visited as a shut-in, as a potential new member or as a friend, let Pastor Deb or the Consistory know. Also, please encourage people whom have left the church for whatever reason to come back and worship with us.
God’s grace and peace. Dale Schmidtknecht
Consistory President Message
Well, we made it through another year. I want to thank everyone who helped us get through this past year. There are so many people involved that I am not going to mention anyone by name because I would probably miss someone.
January 2, 2022 starts a new chapter for St. John’s as we welcome our new Pastor, Rev. Deb Kunkel. We will also be entering into a shared ministry with Hope UCC in Cochrane. This will be something very new to us, so I ask everyone to keep an open mind and be patient as we work out schedules, etc.
I am still looking for committee members to be filled. I am looking for a Deacon, a Board of Christian Ed member, an Investment committee member and a Memorial Committee member. Please let me know if you are interested.
Just a reminder that our Annual Meeting will be January 23, 2022.
Thank you & Happy New Year!
God’s grace and peace. Dale Schmidtknecht
In 1957 St. John’s Evangelical and Reformed Church became St. John’s United Church of Christ as a result of a merger. The denominations of the Congregational Christian Church, along with Evangelical and Reformed Church joined to form United Church of Christ. UCC is a distinct and diverse community of Christians that came together as one church. They joined faith and actions and currently are over 5,000 churches with nearly one million members across the U.S. The UCC serves God in the co-creation of a just and sustainable world. The UCC is a church of "firsts," a church of extravagant welcome, and a church where "…they may all be one".
