​CHILI SUPPER DATES SET

The Annual Chili Road Cook-Off and Supper has been scheduled for Sunday evening, October 25, 2015 starting around 5:30 PM. Mark your calendar!

MISSION BELLS SEEKS MUSICIANS

Musicians wanted! You are invited to be a part of the Mission Bells this coming season. We perform on the third Sunday of each month and rehearse two or three Monday evenings per month beginning September 14, 2015 at 7 PM. Tutoring is available on hand bells. The ability to read music is needed. Contact Dorothy Kelly May if you have questions.

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS SCHEDULE

The Adult Sunday School class is studying Mark Scherer’s "The Journey of a People: The Era of Reorganization, 1844 to 1946." This coming Sunday, the class will finish discussion of Chapter 16 (“Early Efforts toward Internationalization – Missions to Europe”) and then move on to discussion of Chapter 17 (“Years of Transition: 1901-1914). Jonathan Bacon will lead the class discussion.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO STUDY NEXT?

As the Adult Sunday School Class anticipates completing Volume 2 of the church history (by Mark A. Scherer), we’ll complete a survey this Sunday, September 6 to determine the next class topic. The following suggestions are offered based on suggestions from the class. We will vote at the beginning of Sunday’s class session. Each class member may indicate their top 5 choices. If you will not be in class Sunday you may email, text or call Jonathan Bacon with your choices. Here are the options:

1. Discover Your Spiritual Type by Corinne Ware: Readers explore four spiritual types–head, heart, mystic, and Kingdom–and exercises allow individuals and groups to assess their type. Additional information for clergy to use this tool with congregations is included, which will help them gain greater understanding of how members learn about, worship, and celebrate God–and why there may be tension about such issues as the form or content of the worship service.

2. God is Closer Than you Think by John Ortberg: Intimacy with God can happen right now if you want it. A closeness you can feel, goodness you can taste, a reality you can experience for yourself. That’s what the Bible promises, so why settle for less? God is closer than you think, and connecting with him isn’t just for monks and ascetics. It’s for business people, high school students, busy moms, single men, single women … and most important, it’s for YOU.

3. The Life and Letters of Paul (using Alfred H. Yale book and “The First Century Church” by Wayne Ham and Pat Spillman plus additional contemporary resources).

4. Live, Love, Share: Visibly One in Christ: a six-lesson text that includes articles and readings related to words of counsel presented at Community of Christ World Conference 2013. It explores liberating disruption, covenant principles for priesthood ministry, faithful disagreement, generosity, and commitment and response. Recommended 2015 reunion resource.

5. The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus by Amy-Jill Levine: In the The Misunderstood Jew, scholar Amy-Jill Levine helps Christians and Jews understand the "Jewishness" of Jesus so that their appreciation of him deepens and a greater interfaith dialogue can take place. Levine’s humor and informed truth-telling provokes honest conversation and debate about how Christians and Jews should understand Jesus, the New Testament, and each other.

6. St. Benedict on the Freeway by Corinne Ware: How can we heal the rift between our daily lives and the sacred? How can we live a life capable of hearing "the still small voice" of God while experiencing the speed and sensory overload of modern life? This book is Ware’s answer to these questions.

7. The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything by Brian D. McLaren: McLaren invites you to discover afresh the transforming message of Jesus-an open invitation to radical change, an enlightening revelation that exposes sham and ignites hope, an epic story that is good news for everyone, whatever their gender, race, class, politics, or religion.

8. Sharing in Community of Christ: Exploring Identity, Mission, Message, and Beliefs (3rd Edition): is ideal for adult classes and individual study. The full-color, 36-page text is an excellent addition to your home or church library. It contains Community of Christ identity statements, Enduring Principles, Basic Beliefs, Mission Initiatives, and many other insights on matters the church and disciples share together and with the world. Also available as a free download.

9. Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Ron Bell: This introduction to the Christian faith is definitely outside the usual evangelical box. Bell wants to offer "a fresh take on Jesus"—a riff that begins with the assertion that Jesus wanted to "call people to live in tune with reality" and that he "had no use for religion." Bell invites seekers into a Christianity that has room for doubts.

10. The Village Effect: How Face-to-Face Contact Can Make Us Healthier, Happier, and Smarter by Susan Pinker: In her surprising, entertaining, and persuasive book, author and psychologist Susan Pinker shows how face-to-face contact is crucial for learning, happiness, resilience, and longevity. From birth to death, human beings are hardwired to connect to other human beings. Face-to-face contact matters: tight bonds of friendship and love heal us, help children learn, extend our lives, and make us happy. Looser in-person bonds matter, too, combining with our close relationships to form a personal “village” around us, one that exerts unique effects. Not just any social networks will do: we need the real, in-the-flesh encounters that tie human families, groups of friends, and communities together. Marrying the findings of the new field of social neuroscience with gripping human stories, Susan Pinker explores the impact of face-to-face contact from cradle to grave, from classroom to workplace, from love to marriage to divorce. Most of us have left the literal village behind and don’t want to give up our new technologies to go back there. But, as Pinker writes so compellingly, we need close social bonds and uninterrupted face-time with our friends and families in order to thrive—even to survive. Creating our own “village effect” makes us happier. It can also save our lives.

11. What Did Jesus Really Say (and exploration of the words of Jesus in the scriptures using additional resources that consider what we know about the historical Jesus).

ANNUAL SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE IS OVER, BUT…

Keep in mind that school supplies are needed all year long. Any time you think of it, simply bring supplies and place in the Central Avenue Center of Hope Food Pantry cabinet inside the front door of the church. Always needed: paper, pencils, erasers, crayons, markers, and all the usual school supplies that children need. If you are blessed, pass it on.

MINISTRY OF THE ELDER TEMPLE SCHOOL CLASS

From Barbara Borkowski, Central USA Mission President. Midlands USA Interim Mission President: Dear Friends, I just wanted to share information about the new pilot “Ministry of the Elder.” If you have individuals who need this class prior to ordination…this is a great way for it to happen!

September 5–November 27, 2015 “Ministry of the Elder” Temple School Class offered through eLearning. Temple School will offer a pilot of the new course “Ministry of the Elder” as an 8-week online class through the new Community of Christ eLearning. Registration begins August 5 at 8:00am (Central Time) and ends September 5. This class is limited to 20 people.

To be eligible, students need to:

• Have access to a computer or tablet with high-speed Internet access

• Be able to dedicate 1.5 hours each week (8 weeks) Sept. 5-Nov. 27, 2015

• Pay the reduced pilot fee of $15 (credit or debit card) by calling Herald House Customer Service toll free at 800-767-8181 or locally at (816) 833-1000 x 1004

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Wednesday, September 2, 2015, 6:30 PM – Saints’ Chorale Rehearsal in the Church Sanctuary

Wednesday, September 6, 2015, 7:45 PM – The Prayer Circle meets in the quiet of the Church Library. NOTE NEW TIME!

Sunday, September 6, 2015, 9:00 AM – Breakfast (Donna & Richard Emslie), come and join us for conversation and fellowship.

Sunday, September 6, 2015, 9:30 AM – Sunday school classes for children and adults.

· Nursery available – 9:30-11:30 AM in downstairs Nursery.

· Children’s Sunday School class – 9:30-10:15 AM taught by Robin Payne

· God’s Kids – 9:30-11:30 AM – Children’s Library (Second Sunday of the Month Only) starting a study of the Book of Mormon.

Sunday, September 6, 2015, 10:30 AM – Steve Holben will speak on the theme "Draw the Circle Wide" with Larry Birkby presiding. Larry will also serve as worship planner.

SEPTEMBER BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION

The next meeting of the All Good Books discussion group will be held Thursday, September 10, 2015 at 7:00 PM at the Community of Christ (7842 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS) in the Church Library. The book we will discuss is "We Are Called to Rise" by Laura McBride.

MISSION ROAD WORSHIP AUDIO RECORDINGS

Our congregational worship audio recordings are hosted online at https://copy.com/ej21J9e1xKOCiJwX

Recently added audio recordings include:

Margaret Athey message presented on August 2, 2015, filename 20150802-MAthey.mp3

Avis Garrett-Baptist message presented on August 9, 2015, filename 20150809-ABaptist.mp3

Richard Emslie message presented on August 16, 2015, filename 20150816-REmslie.mp3

Steve Holben message presented on August 23, 2015, filename 20150823-SHolben.mp3

Karen Birkby message presented on August 30, 2015, filename 20150830-KBirkby.mp3

The beginning numbers of each filename indicate the Sunday of the audio recordings. The first 4 digits represent the year; the next two digits indicate the month and last two digits represent the day of the month. In most cases, the date is followed by a dash and then the first initial and last name of the speaker.

Audio recordings from previous years are located in folders corresponding to the year (2005, 2006, 2007, and so on). If you missed a Sunday, this provides you a way to hear the music and the message.