Shenkel United Church of Christ SHARINGS AND CONCERNS February 2014 SHENKEL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST 1580 Shenkel Road Pottstown PA 19465 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Shenkel United Church of Christ’s “The NEWSLETTER” is a monthly publication prepared, edited, and mailed by the leadership and staff to all members and friends of the church. It communicates news about our life, purpose, and mission as a Church of Jesus Christ. Information related to our partnership as a member of the United Church of Christ and wider church/community out- reach is included on a regular basis. The Church is located at Unionville & Shenkel Roads in North Coventry Township.
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Shenkel United
Church of Christ
SHARINGS AND CONCERNS
February 2014
SHENKEL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
1580 Shenkel Road
Pottstown PA 19465
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Shenkel United Church of Christ’s “The NEWSLETTER” is a monthly publication prepared, edited, and mailed by the leadership and staff to all members and friends of the church. It communicates news about our life, purpose, and mission as a Church of Jesus Christ. Information related to our partnership as a member of the United Church of Christ and wider church/community out-reach is included on a regular basis. The Church is located at Unionville & Shenkel Roads in North Coventry Township.
February 2014
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1
2 Communion Choir after late worship
3
Home School Co-Op Resumes
4 5
BOCE: 7 PM
6
Community Lunch Bunch: 11:30 AM Music and Wor-ship Meeting: 7 PM
7 8
9
Choir after late worship
10
Home School Co-Op
11
Quilters: 9:30 AM Consistory: 7 PM
12 13 14
Work Camp at Old First in Philadelphia begins
15
Work Camp continues
16
Healing Prayers
Choir after late worship
Work Camp ends
17
Home School Co-Op
18
Mid-Day Dinner Club: Noon at a location TBA
19 20
Card Making Class: 10 AM
21 22
23
Choir after late worship
24
Home School Co-Op
Community Meal: Noon at Christ Episco-pal Church
25
Quilters: 9:30AM
26 27 28
1580 Shenkel Road, Pottstown PA 19465 610.326.3535
the third Tuesday of each month – and you’re invited to
join us! The next meeting date is Tuesday, February
18th , and we’ll be eating at a location to be an-
nounced, Watch the Sunday bulletins for further infor-
mation. The Mid-day Dinner Club is open to young-at-
heart adults of any age who enjoy eat-
ing out and would like to get to know
other Shenkel members a little better.
Call the church office if you’re able to
join us!
SHENKEL
QUILTERS
The Shenkel Quilters
have been snowed-in
or without power just like most of
you! Hopefully we will have good weather
to meet and work on our beautiful
quilt. We are nearing the final stage of put-
ting it all together. What fun it will be to
see what our hard work will look like when
completed. Then comes the professional
quilting and the selling of the raffle tick-
ets....with which we will need your
help. This is an original design that grew
out of an idea. No other quilt in the world
will be quite like it! Again, we welcome
new members from the community. The
part I like best about our group is, of
course, the friendships, but every time we
meet someone brings in something they
have created...be it sewing, knitting or just
an antique quilt they have held on to. We
all just love seeing all these beautiful crea-
tions! We will meet in February on Tues-
day(s) the 11th and 25th at 9:30 in the
Church Social Hall. Take care and enjoy
the beautiful winter months!
Margie Allen
CARD MAKING CLASS
The card making class meets
on the third Thursday of each
month at 10 AM. The cost of the class is
$8.00 which will provide all participants with
three beautiful cards.
In February, the meeting date will be Febru-
ary 20th. To insure there will be enough ma-
terials prepared for everyone, please call
Connie Armbruster at 610-326-6516 if you
plan to attend.
Hope to see you on February 20!
YOU SHOULD KNOW….
Sunday worship is never cancelled due to snow or
inclement weather. If possible, though, please plan to attend
the 10:45 service to give the snow removal crew time to clear
the parking lot and sidewalks. The choir directors and Sun-
day School teachers will contact you if there is a cancellation
of any programs. Of course, you should always use your judg-
ment as to whether it is safe enough to drive.
COMMUNITY LUNCH BUNCH
Thursday, February 6, 2014
11:30 AM
Bob Brown will be presenting a program
on having the Lititz Post Office installed
in his home, now known as "Brown's Postal Museum." Transparencies will be shown, and we will see how the instal-
lation evolved from a "hobby" for Bob and Barbara to living
with a piece of postal history in their everyday lives.
All participants are asked to contribute $6.50 to cover the cost of the lunch and the program. Please sign up on the
sheet in the social hall or call Ruth Klein at 610-326-4520 or
the Shenkel UCC church office at 610-326-3535 by the Monday prior to the program to reserve your spot.
YALE SPIZZWINKS (?)
Congratulations to Collin Gray on a great performance with the
Yale Spizzwinks (?) at Owen J. Roberts High School on Friday,
January 10th. The Spizzwinks (?) is an renowned A cappella
group from Yale University. The whole gang invaded the Gray
home and then put on a fabulous performance that was enjoyed
by many, including lots of proud Shenkel folks. Great job, Collin!
GOOD NEWS AROUND TOWN….
Congratulations, Lilly Keim!!
Our very own Lilly Keim won the Fifth Annual Christmas in Birdsboro
contest. Lilly drew a wonderful picture of a Christmas tree and submit-
ted her picture and an essay about her favorite memory of going to the
Chirstmas ih Birdsboro celebrations in the past. Lilly’s won 1st prize and
had her submission displayed at the Birdsboro Community Center over
the holidays. She also got to light the Community Christmas Tree this
year. Wow, how fun! You can see her handiwork on the bulletin board in our social hall.
Good work, Lilly!
Many thanks to those people who helped decorate wreaths and the church for the Ad-vent season. Also, thanks to those people who came out on Saturday, January 10 to un
-decorate. Over the last few years the Advent Decorating Com-mittee has been purchasing things that will help the committee with time in future years as well as things that are safer. In-stead of using wax candles, oil filled candles were purchased. This past year the decision was made to purchase artificial wreaths so that those decorating them can do them at their lei-sure and not spend one whole day at church decorating live ones. This past year we discussed purchasing an artificial tree. After Christmas, Louise and Tootie Hine found a fantastic bar-gain on such a tree. An almost $1,000 tree was purchased for $200.
If you are one of the many people who enjoy seeing the beautiful transformation of our church, would you consider making a donation to the new Christmas tree that will be used for Christmas 2014? Simply put your donation in an envelope and mark it “Christmas Tree” and place in the offering plate.
PAGE 9
BACK TO LIBERIA….
January 6, 2014
First Mission Letter 2014
We pray this letter finds you have had a Merry Christmas and a great start to your New Year 2014! Now pic-
ture a living room full of various piles of suitcases, clothes, Bibles, student profiles, camera equipment,
mosquito netting, letters to students, just to name a few, and you will know it must be time for God’s Pre-
cious Children to head back to Liberia, West Africa!
This year we have a team of four going to help take each student’s picture and update their profile. Barry
Fehnel, a member at Community United Church of Christ, (where Deb just finished as their interim pastor),
is going along and will be our picture expert this year and Chu-Chin Chen, a recent graduate of Palmer Theo-
logical Seminary and one of Deb’s students will be helping fill out the student profiles as she also gains first
-hand experience of what it is like to be in the mission field.
By the grace of God and your help we will be adding 200+ students to the program this year which means
1500 pictures need to be taken and 1500 profiles need to be updated in the sixteen days we will be on the
ground in Liberia. We have a lot of work ahead of us and we appreciate all your prayers to help us get it
done!
Gary is hoping this year to be able to video tape some of the graduates of the Tuition Sponsorship Program
so we can hear first-hand what an education has meant for them and what they are doing now that they
have graduated the program.
As we prepare to head out we are thankful for our dear friends who house-sit our home. We also ask for
your prayers for Barry’s wife and Chu-Chin’s husband who will be patiently awaiting their return. And we
give praise to God for your prayers and support and the privilege we have of doing this ministry in the name
of Jesus and sharing God’s love.
We fly out on Tuesday January 8, 2014 so look for our next letter at the end of that week as we keep you
posted on what wondrous things God will be doing through all of our lives in Liberia, West Africa.