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Membership
and Evangelism Update
The Session
was restructured last year to reduce the number of ministries from 6
to 4. Membership and Evangelism has been combined with the Mission
Ministry.
A sign-up notice has been posted on the bulletin board for the
February 22nd Ash Wednesday Soup Supper beginning at 6:00 pm.
The Book of Order (G-10404) was amended last year to rename persons
who may have ceased active membership to the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.) from “inactive” to “other participants”. “Other
participants” have all the rights and privileges of an active member
except the right to speak in the meetings of the congregation and to
vote and hold office.
Advertising in the Community Journal has been discontinued for this
year. We will still be advertising in the Clermont County Directory
and Cincinnati Bell Yellow Pages.com. This will be in effect until
our contract expires. The directory representative advised that the
system has been up-dated and more traffic will go to Calvin’s
website. We will be monitoring this to see if this new system is an
improvement.
There are a lot of openings on the Fellowship Hour sign-up sheet.
Please consider hosting one of these gatherings.
De-activating Inactive
The End of the Poison-Pen
For years,
the old Book of Order contained a category called the “inactive”
roll of the church. When the yearly roll review was done in
December, some folks received what has been called the “poison pen”
letter. This had very negative connotations and, even though they
had not been in attendance in worship or participated in the life of
the church, some people felt like they had kicked out of the church.
NO MORE!!!!
The new Book of Order G-1.04 classifies members as active, baptized,
affiliate or other participants. Calvin has adopted the policy that
an active member must attend at least five (5) worship services from
December 1-November 30. Affiliate members are those who are members
of another congregation who have moved temporarily from where their
membership is located, presented a certificate of good standing from
that governing body and been received by Session as an affiliate
member. They may participate in the life of the congregation in the
same manner as an active member except that they may not vote in
congregational meetings or hold office.
Which brings us to the “other participating members”. They are
members and fully a part of the church family. All are welcome to
participate in the life and worship of the church and to receive its
pastoral care. The invitation to the Lord’s Supper is extended to
all who have been baptized. The only distinction of “other
participating members” is that they may not vote in congregational
meetings or hold office, and that the church does not pay the “per
capita”, membership tax on them.
Calvin has adopted the policy that any active member who has been
moved to the Other Participants roll will not be removed from the
rolls of the church unless they relocate out of the area, are unable
to be contacted, are active in another church or at their request.
Until then, we consider them to be a member of Calvin and a part of
the Calvin family.
NEW
Study!!!
Please consider this study. It is specifically designed for those
who have not studied scripture before. It does require 7 hours of
homework across the 5 weeks of the study. Since the study is built
upon your reading/reflections the homework is integral to the study
and necessary.
The time for the study is not yet set. I am looking for an
expression of interest. Scheduling will follow.
Update from
Bldg. & Grounds Ministry
Another year is here and there is still a lot of work to be done at
Calvin. James Wilkins and the Middletons did a “walk-through” of the
inside of the church. Notes were taken of repairs and cosmetic
improvements. The ministry chairs and the committee will meet
February 29th to outline a plan of “attack”.
We are waiting for the asphalt companies to reopen to pave the
bridge and install the retention curb in the parking lot.
Also, we are still pursuing the additional light pole in the parking
lot with Duke Energy and getting nowhere fast.
Please remember to lock the doors and make sure the lights are off
when you leave the church. If you happen to find unlocked doors or
lights left on when there is no one in the church , please let James
or Karen know.
REWARDS
PROGRAMS
During 2011 the Rebecca/Ruth Circle received $2,037.27 through the
Kroger Neighborhood Rewards and the Meijer Community Rewards
Programs. This money has been designated to be used for mission.
If you have not been participating in this fund raiser, please, join
in. See Helen Lang for details.
Presbytery
- Who are they and what do they do?
If this is a question you have, you can learn all about
it! There is an opening for a voting commissioner for Presbytery
meetings. This opportunity is available to anyone who has been
ordained as an Elder in the PCUSA. There are four meetings each
year, usually in February, May, August and November, although there
may be special meetings called at other times. They normally start
around 5PM and include a finger-food meal.
Pastor Dave will be attending these meetings, so car-pooling is an
option. That would be a good time for some one-on-one conversations
with him.
Anyone who is interested, please contact Pastor Dave or Cyndi Yunger.
This is a great opportunity for you to represent your church family
and become familiar with the “bigger picture” of the PCUSA.
 UPDATE
ON PRAYER CONCERNS AND WEEKLY PRAYER EMAIL
If you would like to share a prayer concern or joy during a service,
write your request on a prayer request/update form (find on wall
next to Pastor’s office or in the pews). If you wish the concern to
also be included in the Sunday Bulletin, note on the form “bulletin”
or simply speak to Clerk Cyndi Yunger or Judy Staubach. Concerns
will be listed in the bulletin for three weeks, unless another
request is received.
If you would like to receive the “Weekly Prayer Email” mailed each
Wednesday (with more detail), please write your email clearly in the
friendship register and we will put you on the list for that
mailing. If you don’t have access to email, or would prefer not to
receive prayer joys/concerns in that manner, a few copies will be
available on the shelf to the left of the Pastor’s office door. If
you find them all taken, see Judy Staubach for a copy.
Printer Cartridge Collection
Thank you, thank you!!!
The printer cartridge recycling campaign has been a huge success!
Please keep the cartridges coming!!!
Thanks to all who have dropped off used cartridges in the
cartridge recycle bin. We have saved $240 of our office supply
expenses in 2012!
Calvin has gone Wi-Fi!
A wireless internet connection has been installed. You are now able
to get on the internet from your laptop computer anywhere in the
church building. There is no password required. When you press your
internet explorer button and connect to Calvin wireless connection a screen will appear that requires you to agree to abide
by the agreement. We elected to not secure the access with a
password but there are several layers of security protection built
in and access has been limited to deny access to undesirable sites.
Should you have trouble logging in to a legitimate site you can
email A-F@calvin-pc.org and an exception can be added for that
particular site. This wireless internet access should prove to be a
valuable tool for Liturgy teams, meetings, youth and Bible Study
classes.
Thanks to James & Marsha Wilkins, we now have a computer in the
Liturgy Room.
Our Liturgy
Teams are an integral part of the definition of Calvin Presbyterian
Church. They spend a great deal of time making sure our Sunday
services are meaningful, uplifting and praiseful. We have a library
of resources used by the teams to prepare services now situated in
the Liturgy Resource Center in the Old Sanctuary wing. A computer
would be a valuable addition to the room. If you know of anyone who
has a computer they would be willing to donate we can provide our
Liturgy Teams with an additional tool to prepare our services.
 Capital Campaign
Remember to keep your Capital Campaign Pledge up to date. If you
made a one-time gift to the Capital Campaign, please consider an
additional gift. We are close to paying off the renovation loan and
then every dollar you give will go toward future maintenance of our
building. Currently, our roof needs repair and we need to be
prepared for other areas that are sure to need attention in the near
future.
Loan Update:
As of
September 30, 2011 we have received $103,479 in pledges and one time gifts to
the Capital Campaign. Payments of Principal and Interest leave a
remaining balance of $6,289.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Are
you receiving The Caller in the best way for you?
In an effort to save on postage costs and
deliver the Caller to everyone in the most convenient way we have
implemented three alternatives for receiving
the Caller.
-
Via
Email. This is the quickest and least costly way for us to keep
you informed.
-
Printed
Hard Copy. Available on the shelf below the bulletin board in
the hallway.
-
Via
Snail Mail (US Postal System)
If you are not currently receiving the Caller the way you prefer
please let us know.
Either
-
Email
Mary Smith at mjsmith@fuse.net
,
-
Drop a
note in the collection plate or
-
Mail a
note to the church attn.: Mary Smith
Calvin Caller
The Caller
is one of the primary ways that Calvin communicates information,
news, prayers, and joys with our members. As we always want to be
working on good
communication, we invite you to let us know what you would like to
hear about in The Caller. If you have an idea for an article, a
rumor you need more information about, a question you always
wondered about, or just need an outlet
for your expression of faith, please give us some feedback or
content for the Caller. ANYONE can write an article, pen a poem,
draw a picture, or even just pose a question in the Caller. Just
submit your contribution to mjsmith@fuse.net, give a hard copy to
Helen Lang or Karen Middleton (M&E elders). Thank you.
Caller Deadline
The deadline for next month's Caller is Sunday, Feb.
19.
Please send articles to the
Newsletter Editor. Thank you!
Missed a church service? Missed church last Sunday and want to catch up, or want to share our pastor’s recent sermon with a friend?
You can now read some of Calvin’s sermons online at Calvin Presbyterian Church: Sermons. |
