From the Moderator

It is Thanksgiving time again! As part of being thankful we share the bounty God has given us, and we at Union Church have many ways to do that. This month is our annual Stewardship Drive, part of that is considering the many talents we have been given and discerning ways to share those with our church and the world around us. Please thoughtfully consider how you can do that in the coming year. We also have the opportunity to help many in our local community through the local food pantry. We will be collecting canned sweet potatoes and creamed corn for the Thanksgiving baskets. Then starting November 18 we will once again “Stuff the Pew” to help fill the Christmas baskets and stock the pantry. Please see a separate article with all of the dates and other information.

As we have done for a number of years we will be packing shoe boxes for “Operation Christmas Child”. This allows our church family to reach out to the furthest reaches of the world and share with all the little children of the world. As they are now charging for the red & green boxes we encourage you to use a shoe box from home, any one will do, approximate size is 11 ½” x 7” x 4 3/8”. Watch for all of the details coming soon.
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I hope you were able to share in the fun of Trunk or Treat held last weekend. We had many children of the community dress up and stop by our 11 trunks open for business. There were some pretty scary trunks this year! We also enjoyed coming inside to warm up with a yummy bowl of soup and some hot chocolate. Thanks to all who came out for a great time or helped in any way!

The Trustees have been hard at work replacing the garage door and working on lighting. I think they still have some other projects on the docket before winter gets here. If you are available to help they will be meeting on Saturday, November 3 to work in the youth room and do some outside clean up. Hope to see you there!

The Nominating Committee will be meeting soon to assemble our slate of committee members to be voted on at the annual meeting. We are still looking for a member from the general congregation to fill the last position. If you have a little time to attend one or two meetings to help with this process please see me. Your time and assistance would be greatly appreciated.

The end of last month we took a short part of our worship service to discuss the results from our congregational survey. Those results are also included with this newsletter. We will be trying to break down the results and determine which of the many suggestions we should try to act on. I think the overwhelming theme is how do we grow our church and get more young people involved. The real question is exactly how we make that happen.

Please watch for more opportunities to give your input or assist in any way. If we all work together we can make things happen!!

It is definitely a busy time of the year, but I look forward to the fun and fellowship that comes with all of these projects. I didn’t even mention the Hanging of the Greens or the Make it, Take it! See you at church this month!
 
Janet
Moderator