If you have news to share in the weekly church email newsletter, please 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!

IN THIS ISSUE:

CARD SHOWER FOR MARY BROWN

CELEBRATION OF LIFE SERVICE FOR SHIRLEY BLACKMAN

GREETINGS FROM CENTER OF HOPE

FOOD PANTRY DROP OFF NEXT WEEK

WORSHIP SCHEDULE FOR FALL NOW AVAILABLE

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS

MISSION ROAD CONGREGATION ONLINE MEETINGS

THIS SUNDAY’S WORSHIP

And More…

CARD SHOWER FOR MARY BROWN

The Mission Road Prayer Circle would like to invite you to send ("shower") Mary Brown with a card or note this week. Mary’s son was killed in an auto accident recently. Please send a card or note to offer your condolences and share your concern and love for Mary. Mary’s mailing address is in the church directory.

CELEBRATION OF LIFE SERVICE FOR SHIRLEY BLACKMAN

Shirley Blackman, the wife of John Blackman, passed away on May 24, 2020. Her obituary is available online at https://www.johnsoncountychapel.com/obituary/Shirley-Blackman.

Shirley’s Celebration of Life service has been rescheduled to 10 AM on Saturday, September 12, 2020, at Lenexa Baptist Church, 15320 W 87th Street Pkwy, Lenexa, KS.

GREETINGS FROM CENTER OF HOPE

I wanted to give an update on how things are going at the Center. We are still handed out 25 to 35 sack lunch’s daily. We are doing pantry households and will start handing out school supplies with them this month. The clients appreciate the hygiene bags & t-shirts on Friday’s.

We are thinking about having shopping by appointment for the Thrift Store in a week or so. The items we always need are fruit cups, fresh fruit, sliced cheese, chips, sandwich bags, bottled water for our lunches. The pantry needs canned fruit, beans, dry beans, rice, side dishes, cereal, catsup, mustard & salad dressings. We are out of toothpaste, toothbrushes, & razors for our hygiene bags. We always need t-shirts and underwear to hand out on Friday’s.

We will be closed Labor Day Sept. 7th and Tuesday, Sept. 8th for a break for the workers at the center. We’ll be back on Wednesday ready to go again.

We really appreciate all the donations of items for the lunches, pantry, and thrift store. We are thankful for the continued support of funds.

Everyone stay healthy and be safe.

Blessings, Marsha Nave

FOOD PANTRY DROP OFF NEXT WEEK

To paraphrase St. Francis of Assisi, ‘Be a witness of Christ every day, and when necessary use words.’ And in the spirit of the Good Samaritan, let’s join Christ in mission this coming weekend. Please plan to drop supplies off at church for Central Avenue next Saturday, September 19, 2020, between 10 AM and noon. The Center suggested food, school supplies, personal hygiene items, and t-shirts. See ya all Saturday!

Thank you, folks! The Mission Road Congregation donated 250 pounds of food in August plus household items, clothes and more.

WORSHIP SCHEDULE FOR FALL NOW AVAILABLE

The new Fall 2020 Worship Schedule is now available in DropBox. You can access it using the following link: https://tinyurl.com/y4pc8c8b

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS

The Mission Road Adult Sunday School Class will meet again online using Zoom this coming Sunday. Class time will follow the Sunday morning worship and run from 10-11 AM. Our Mission Road worship service will continue to meet from 9:00-10 AM Sunday mornings.

The text for the class will be “Short Stories by Jesus” by Amy-Jill Levine and will include videos that correspond with some of the chapters. Dennis Wood will lead a review discussion of Chapters 1-2 this coming Sunday. Some class members felt there was more to discuss in those chapters before we moved on to Chapter 4.

If you do not already have a copy of the book, it is available from Amazon.com for $12.99 plus tax.

Every effort will be made to conclude the class by 11 AM so those who wish may attend the Toronto Congregation Zoom session. We hope you’ll join us online!

MISSION ROAD CONGREGATION ONLINE MEETINGS

The Mission Road Congregation will offer several meetings in the coming weeks online. Access details are the same for each session and are listed below.

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.

10 AM Every Sunday – Adult Sunday School Class studying “Short Stories by Jesus by Amy-Jill Levine.

THIS SUNDAY’S WORSHIP

The Sunday, September 13, 2020, worship theme is “The Exodus Journey” and will feature a message by Brian Libeer. Jane Landrum will preside, and Karen Birkby will serve as the worship planner. Robert Sindt will provide the PowerPoint and host the Zoom meeting assisted by Paul Bennetts.

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.

By the way, you’re welcome to stay online and chat after the worship service and join the adult class online. You do not need to log out, you can simply chat with friends online or mute and stop your video and then start your video again when class begins at 10 AM.

BOOK CLUB NOVEL ANNOUNCED FOR SEPTEMBER

The All Good Books group will discuss “The Life We Bury” by Allen Eskens on Thursday, September 17, 2020, beginning at 7:00 PM. Everyone is welcome and the same Zoom link will be used for the book club as is used for all Mission Road worship.

Check out the book cub’s website at https://allbooksclub.wordpress.com/

TECHNOLOGY IN WORSHIP CLASS

Wim van Klinken, World Church Information Officer will offer this workshop at 7 PM on Monday, September 14, 2020.

The training will offer tips, tools, and guidelines for how to best hold online gatherings. Free registration required: bit.ly/3lkGPQr

(those are lowercase letter L’s)

MIDLANDS MISSION CENTER FALL CONFERENCE

The Mission Center Conference will be a special virtual gathering on Sunday, October 18, 2020 with a morning and afternoon session.

Morning Session: 10 AM – 12 PM (Noon)

The conference will consider World Church Priesthood calls and 2021 Mission Center Leadership followed by a mission center worship service with Apostle Janné Grover speaking.

Afternoon Session: 2 – 4:30 PM

After a break we will join back together for some pre-legislative informational sessions and then an official business meeting to consider budgets. More information will be provided.

VIRTUAL WORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

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

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

Other virtual ministry opportunities 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.

MIDLANDS WEEKLY WORSHIP SERVICES

Bethel – 10:30 AM Sunday – Meeting ID: 204 886 967 Password: 8510

Lenexa – 11:00 AM Sunday – https://zoom.us/j/326620236

Mission Road

9:00 AM Sunday: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8855297717

7:00 PM Wednesday: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8855297717

Olathe – 10:00 AM Sunday

Subscribe to weekly email for link: www.olathecofchrist.org

The Highlands

10:30 AM Sunday: https://zoom.us/j/99900587892

6:30 – 7:15 PM Wednesday: https://zoom.us/j/95276706058

Shawnee Drive – 10:30 AM Sunday – https://zoom.us/j/644714834

University – 10:00 AM Sunday

Contact Jeff Mercer for the link: jeffdmercer

Webb Road – 10:00 AM Sunday

Contact for the GoogleMeet link: pastor

CURRENT CHURCH RE-OPENING STATUS

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.

According to the Kansas City Star, the positivity rate for Johnson County, which is the average percentage of positive COVID-19 tests over a 14-day period, was 11.4% a week ago. That metric puts the county in the “red zone.”

As of Wednesday September 2, 2020, Johnson County reported 8,362 coronavirus cases, and 118 deaths from the virus.

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

11 – Mission Road Congregation Business Meeting

18 – Midlands Mission Center 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.