Don’t forget to join us this week for the Sunday Morning Mission Road Chat Online and for the Wednesday Evening Prayer Circle Online (see below)!

IN THIS ISSUE:

MISSION ROAD CONGREGATION ONLINE MEETINGS

THIS SUNDAY’S WORSHIP

SUMMER 2020 WORSHIP SCHEDULE

REOPENING THE CHURCH

FOOD PANTRY DROP OFF NEXT WEEK

TIME TO REACH OUT

And More…

MISSION ROAD CONGREGATION ONLINE MEETINGS

The Mission Road Congregation will offer several meetings in the coming weeks online.

7 PM Every Wednesday until the Social Distancing Guidelines relax and the quarantine ends – Prayer Circle.

9 AM Every Sunday until the Social Distancing Guidelines relax and the quarantine ends – Sunday Morning Mission Road Worship Online. More information on this Sunday’s worship is below.

7 PM, Thursday, June 18, 2020 – All Good Books discussion group meets on Zoom to discuss “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” by Rachel Joyce.

THIS SUNDAY’S WORSHIP

The Sunday, June 7, 2020 the worship theme is “Sacredness of Creation” and will feature a communion message by Cline Reine. Karen Birkby will preside. Please be prepared with your own emblems (bread and water or grape juice) so you can participate in the communion.

You’re invited to join us online starting at 8:45 AM for conversation and fellowship with the worship activities beginning at 9 AM. After the service, we’ll keep the Zoom session open for folks to fellowship. We hope you can join us.

SUMMER 2020 WORSHIP SCHEDULE

The Summer 2020 Worship Schedule is now available online at https://bit.ly/3cOYiM0

Please review for any assignments you may have.

REOPENING THE CHURCH

The World Church has developed guidelines for reopening the church buildings. We will be reviewing these guidelines and we will start preparing the building for gatherings. We will post these new directives when we are closer to reopening. We anticipate that it will be early July before we will meet again in the church building. We all know that we will need to rethink the way we gather and fellowship. Until we open the building for meetings we will continue to worship and fellowship via Zoom. Thank you to Jonathan and his continued hard work to keep us together and informed of each other. Thank you for your understanding and support through this strange time. Most of us are in good health and safe, but we also know there are some that are more susceptible and we want to keep everyone safe. Larry

FOOD PANTRY DROP OFF NEXT WEEK

Every other week you are encouraged to drop off foodstuffs for the Central Avenue Center of Hope. The next drop-off will be on Saturday, June 13, 2020, from 10 AM to noon, there will be a large box outside the front entrance of the church for you leave your donations.

Your contributions are especially important during the current pandemic. Robin Payne will pick up the contributions at Noon then Susan and Merrill Clark will deliver the items to the Center for Hope.

TIME TO REACH OUT

Many of our members live alone and during this “Stay at Home” period, they would enjoy a call from one of their church friends. Give your friends a call or if they have an iPhone or iPad, Facetime them.

VIRTUAL WORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Join Mission Center Invitational Support Minister Craig Hidy for a worship service via Zoom – 6:30 on the 2nd & 4th Thursday evenings. Watch the Mission Center Facebook page for details and a link each week!

Seventy Craig Hidy’s weekly blog: www.emporiacofchrist.org/70craigblog

Other virtual ministry opportunities – including Bethel and Olathe – can be found at www.cofchrist.org/online-ministries.

In this time of need please continue your generous response via eTithing. It is safe and easy. Find more information at www.cofchrist.org/etithing.

TITHES AND OFFERINGS

Please remember that church expenses continue, even when we’re not meeting in the building. Mary Reichenbach, the Congregation’s Financial Officer has indicated that contributions can be mailed to her house (10223 Briar Dr., Overland Park, KS 66207) or the church (7842 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS 66208), or you can sign up for eTithing on the World Church website https://www.cofchrist.org/etithing). Any of these options will enable you to continue your regular contributions.

If you use the eTithing site, select the United States link and then scroll down to Mission Road Community of Christ. When you click on that page, there will be an option in the upper right hand corner to ’sign up’ to create your account and enter either your bank account information for direct debit or a credit card to charge your contribution, or ’sign in’ if you have already set up your account. You may also choose a one-time contribution or a continuing contribution. Most of the contribution options on our tithing envelopes are available on the Mission Road eTithing page. If you have additional questions about electronic contributions, please contact Mary.

2020 CALENDAR

October

18 Midlands MC Conference

November

6–8 TWIST

TBD Seventy, High Priest, Bishop, Evangelist Gathering

SUMMER CAMP UPDATE

We are disappointed we will be unable to gather together at reunions and youth camps this summer. However, we hope to create a virtual experience to keep us connected. If you are interested in helping to plan any aspect of an online reunion, please contact Sarah Marolf at (785) 213–8308.

WORLD CHURCH UPDATES

Per World Church recommendations camps, reunions, vacation Bible schools, and other large church gatherings are cancelled during July and August. World Church buildings and historic sites are closed through August 31. Congregations can work with mission center leadership and field support ministers to decide when and how to reopen starting in July or later.

INTRODUCING OUR SUMMER SPECIALISTS

Brittany Gist has been hired as our Social Media Summer Specialist. As a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Central Missouri Brittany is majoring in biology with concentration in pre-med. She has been part of the Community of Christ since birth and was baptized at age eight. “I really love to stay involved in the church and serve where I am needed.” Recently she discovered a new hobby than enlists her marketing and social media skills and interest. “I am so grateful for this summer opportunity and hope to make a difference in the mission center’s online presence.” During her tenure she will assess and improve our communication platforms and online presence and create a long-term marketing plan. She will be available to support and collaborate for virtual training and ministry opportunities.

Justin Keehler will be our Chihowa Retreat Center Summer Specialist. This fall Justin will be a junior at the University of Missouri studying business, although his desired career path is in the nonprofit field. Last July he was ordained a priest, and he can play a “semi-sufficient” saxophone. Though he played soccer competitively in high school, he now enjoys putting up hat tricks in intramurals. He loves to travel and hopes to someday study abroad, “preferably in Asia or Africa where I can’t show off my limited Spanish skills and will instead be dumbfounded by French and other languages.” He challenges anyone willing to a game of Pickleball and has an affinity for QuikTrip pretzels. As the summer specialist he will work closely with the Chihowa Board and interim caretakers to develop fundraising plans, organize the social media presence of the retreat center, and create a marketing plan to increase grounds usage.

CHIHOWA UPDATE

We would like to express our gratitude to Jean Davis for her time as Chihowa Retreat Center Resident Manager. We know she has made many friends while managing the use of the retreat center and being present during many reunions and camps. Jean’s last day will be June 13, 2020. We wish her many blessings in her next adventure.

Chihowa Retreat Center will begin looking for a new resident manager in the near future. In the interim, Allen and Cricket Laughlin have graciously agreed to stay on site as interim resident managers. They will be coordinating efforts this summer to accomplish some much-needed updates and administrative improvements. If you would like to volunteer in any way, they would welcome your call: 816.665.1867.

DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WITHOUT EMAIL OR FACEBOOK ACCESS?

If you know someone in the congregation that does not have email and does not use Facebook, please let Jonathan Bacon know. We are trying to be sure everyone in the congregation has access to periodic news updates and information on congregational activities.

CONCERNING PRAYER REQUESTS

Please know that any member of the congregation can post prayer requests or share information about members and events on the Mission Road Members Only Facebook page. You do not need to send the information for approval to anyone. In fact, doing so may slow down the dissemination of your request. Be sure to include the person needing prayers and what situation has occurred (if you wish to share that information). If your post concerns an event or news item, be sure to include the basics in your posting (such as who, what, where and when).

For prayer requests, if you do not have access to Facebook, then please call Paul Bennetts our Congregational Pastoral Care Coordinator.

OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE VIA EMAIL

The email address for general church drafts of your Order of Worship and church business (Clint Reine) is mrcoc

The email address for CFO business (Mary Reichenbach) is mrcoccfo

IMPORTANT CONGREGATIONAL LINKS

The Mission Road Congregation hosts the following social media sites:

Congregational (public) website at www.mission-road.org

Facebook Page (public) at https://www.facebook.com/MissionRoad.CoC

Facebook Group (open only to congregational members) at https://www.facebook.com/groups/MissionRoad/

The All Good Books discussion group website at https://allbooksclub.wordpress.com/

Visit and "like" each of these sites to keep up-to-date on congregational news.

CONGREGATIONAL NEWS EMAIL

If you have news items and calendar additions or changes that need to be included in the congregational news email, please contact Larry Birkby. His email address and phone number are both in the Church Directory.