Please remember that if you have news to share in the weekly church email newsletter, you must notify Jonathan Bacon or Larry Birkby by Noon on Sunday each week.

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

IN THIS ISSUE:

THE GOING FORTH STATEMENT FOR THE COMING WEEK

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS FOR LYNN MATTHEWS DAD

FALL WORSHIP AVAILABILITY FORM

SATURDAY WORKDAY

MISSION ROAD CONGREGATION ONLINE MEETINGS

THIS SUNDAY’S WORSHIP

CURRENT CHURCH RE-OPENING SURVEY RESULTS & STATUS

SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE

WORK DAY THIS SATURDAY

FOOD PANTRY DROP OFF THIS SATURDAY

And More…

THE GOING FORTH STATEMENT FOR THE COMING WEEK

You are a light. You are the light. Never let anyone—any person or any force—dampen, dim or diminish your light. Study the path of others to make your way easier and more abundant. Lean toward the whispers of your own heart, discover the universal truth, and follow its dictates. . . Release the need to hate, to harbor division, and the enticement of revenge. Release all bitterness. Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already won. Choose confrontation wisely, but when it is your time don’t be afraid to stand up, speak up, and speak out against injustice. And if you follow your truth down the road to peace and the affirmation of love, if you shine like a beacon for all to see, then the poetry of all the great dreamers and philosophers is yours to manifest in a nation, a world community, and a Beloved Community that is finally at peace with itself.

~ John Lewis, in “Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America”

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS FOR LYNN MATTHEWS DAD

Lynn Matthews’ Dad, Max Matthews, will turn 92 on Tuesday, July 28, 2020. Lynn is asking members to “shower” her Dad with birthday cards. You can send cards to:

Max Matthews
107 E Sunflower
McAllen TX 78504

Please be sure to write a note and share how you know Lynn in your birthday greetings. Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to bless Max with a “shower” of greetings!

FALL WORSHIP AVAILABILITY FORM

The Fall Worship Availability Form is now available online at https://bit.ly/2CqZEzC

The form is due by August 2, 2020. Please take a moment to fill out and email the form to Caryn, carynpbro or mail this form to: Mission Road Community of Christ, Attention Pam O’Neal, 7842 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS 66208 or to their home addresses which are in the Congregational Directory.

SATURDAY WORKDAY

A workday is planned again for this Saturday July 25th. We still have several tasks to complete before we open for any gatherings. The main goal is to install the Vinyl base and the new stair treads. We can wear masks and practice social distancing while we work and we can have work stations placed apart. If you can help, we look forward to seeing you on Saturday morning at 8 am.

MISSION ROAD CONGREGATION ONLINE MEETINGS

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

7 PM Every Wednesday – Prayer Circle.

9 AM Every Sunday – Sunday Morning Mission Road Worship Online. More information on this Sunday’s worship is below.

7 PM August 20, 2020 – the All Good Books group will have an online discussion of “The Keeper of Lost Things” by Ruth Hogan using Zoom.

THIS SUNDAY’S WORSHIP

The Sunday, July 26, 2020, worship theme is “Understand the Kingdom of Heaven” and will feature a message by Jane Landrum. Ron Millard will preside and serve as worship planner. Robert Sindt will provide the PowerPoint and host the Zoom meeting assisted by Kennetha Kuttler.

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 (see the information later in this newsletter about how to join the Zoom session).

CURRENT CHURCH RE-OPENING SURVEY RESULTS & STATUS

The final results of the Church Re-opening survey are reported below. Results include 33 responses representing 37 respondents.

Question: Under the guidelines listed above (by the World Church) and assuming that Mission Road offers both face-to-face worship and online worship (using Zoom), which are you most likely to attend?

17 (45.9%) attend in person

13 (35.1%) attend only online

6 (16.2%) undecided

1 (2.7%) do not plan to attend currently

Question: Would you be interested in attending in an outdoor setting (church lawn or in a park) with social distancing and face masks?

18 (48.6%) yes

9 (24.3%) no

10 (27%) undecided

Question: Are you interested in attending an adult class if offered?

8 (21.6%) yes, if face-to-face and with social distancing and face masks

13 (35.1%) yes, if online

16 (43.2%) no, thank you

Keep in mind that the World Church criteria for reopening congregations requires that COVID-19 cases should be stable or declining for three (3) weeks before face-to-face meetings are resumed. Johnson County, Kansas does not yet meet that criterion. Here are the numbers for the past three weeks:

Cases

June 29-July 5, 2020 = 592

July 6-12, 2020 = 762

July 13-19, 2020 = 777

Deaths

June 29-July 5, 2020 = 2

July 6-12, 2020 = 3

July 13-19, 2020 = 4

Hospitalizations

June 29-July 5, 2020 = 8

July 6-12, 2020 = 18

July 13-19, 2020 = 7

With these trends, the earliest we would re-open the church building for face-to-face meetings would be mid- to late-August 2020, but that assumes we see declining numbers in the next three weeks.

SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE

What items does the Center of Hope need? In addition to the regular food and personal hygiene needs, the Center is beginning its school supply drive. These supplies make the difference for many children served by CACH who otherwise might be going to school without the tools they need to fully participate.

Items that are most needed include bottles of school glue (Elmer’s), sets of 24 crayons, pencil crayons, blue pens, red pens, package of twelve #2 pencils, pink erasers, glue sticks, pair of blunt tip (Fiskars) scissors, pencil cases, pocket folders, subject dividers, packages of lined paper, packages of plain (copy) paper, lined wide ruled spiral bound notebooks, 12” rulers, boxes of tissues, broad tip markers, packages of washable felt tip markers, 1” binders, pocket dictionaries, pencil sharpeners, highlighters, bottles of hand sanitizer, and primary composition notebooks. These items cover school supplies needed for Kindergarten through 6th grade students.

When shopping for your children or grandchildren, pick up some extras for the CACH. Anything you can bring between now and the end of August will be a blessing for these school children.

FOOD PANTRY DROP OFF THIS SATURDAY

Every other week you are encouraged to drop off foodstuffs for the Central Avenue Center of Hope. The next drop-off will be this Saturday, July 25, 2020, from 10 AM to noon, there will be a large box outside the front entrance of the church for you to leave your donations.

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

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.