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
Consistory President Message
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Consistory President Message
Check back for message next month...
Consistory President Message
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
Consistory President Message
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Consistory President Message
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Consistory President Message
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
Consistory President Message
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Consistory President Message
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
Consistory President Message
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Consistory President Message
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Consistory President Message
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”.
