MISSION ROAD CONGREGATION EVENTS – MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2020

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 each week for the Sunday Morning Mission Road Worship Online and for the Wednesday Evening Prayer Circle Online!

IN THIS ISSUE:

CHRISTMAS PACKAGES

HMA 2021 Pledges

WINTER WORSHIP SCHEDULE

FURNITURE / HOUSEHOLD DONATIONS FOR BERNICE SMITH AND SON ANDRES

JIM NEEDHAM’S ARTWORK IN KC SHOW

DONATIONS NEEDED FOR COVID PATIENTS

THIS SUNDAY’S WORSHIP

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS

SCHEDULE OF FOOD PANTRY DROP-OFF DATES

MISSION ROAD CONGREGATION ONLINE MEETINGS

And More…

Christmas Packages

If you are participating in the Christmas Packages for Center of Hope, please have them loosely wrapped (preferably in open Christmas bags) and delivered to Mission Road church on or before Sunday December 13th. Robin will be at the church between 10 and 12 Noon on the 13th. Please keep the packages small (like a shoe box size) as they will be distributed using social distancing, through a drive-up window.

We are very fortunate in having 30+ hand knitted hats, gloves and scarves donated to the Christmas drive by a neighborhood knitting group and friends of the church.

HMA 2021 Pledge Information

The Board of the Health Ministries Association (HMA) recently voted to renew our contract with Saira Giron to serve as our nurse in Honduras for 2021. If anyone wishes to make a pledge for 2021 or is ready to make a donation to support her work next year, please email Paul Bennetts at paul89crna@gmail.com or you can send your donation check to Paul at 10926 S. Cottage Lane, Olathe, KS 66061 and he will forward checks to the HMA office.

Checks can be made out to "Health Ministries Association" or just "HMA" with a notation in the memo line for "Honduras Nurse Program."

Thanks to all who have supported Saira’s work for the past several years.

FURNITURE AND HOUSEHOLD DONATIONS FOR THE SMITHS

If you have furniture or items for the household, please consider donating them to Bernice and or Andrew Smith. Any items from furniture to housekeeping (dishes, linens, etc.) would be very much appreciated. Please drop off your donations in the Fellowship Hall at Mission Road Congregation. If you need help transporting the items, please call Robert Sindt at 913 341 7462 or email him at rsindtks.

WINTER WORSHIP SCHEDULE

The Winter Worship Schedule is now available online at https://tinyurl.com/Winter2020Worship. Thank you to all those who volunteered to provide the worship experience in the Winter of 2020-2021.

DONATIONS NEEDED FOR COVID PATIENTS

Jennifer Libeer works at Research Medical Center which cares for more COVID-19 patients than any other hospital in the Kansas City area. Jennifer writes: "I am extremely proud of the staff’s ability to meet the medical needs of the patients and I know that our efforts will continue into next year. One of the struggles for COVID patients is extreme isolation sometimes for weeks at a time. I have made a list of items we would love to have on hand to give to patients to help with their mental health and boredom. You may have other ideas that are similar."

If you can donate, items can be dropped off at the church (please mark for Research Medical Center so as not to confuse with donations for the Center for Hope) or at Jennifer’s home (her address is in the Church Directory), or Jennifer has volunteered to pick up items if you live in the area.

Ideas include Sudoku books, puzzle books, word searches, adult or kid coloring books/colored pencils, sketchbooks, playing cards, journals, magazines (all types, even old ones), books (spiritual quote books or uplifting themes), hand puzzles, Play-Doh, yarn, crochet hooks, and knitting needles.

If you have questions, text Jennifer at 913-544-3484.

THIS SUNDAY’S WORSHIP

The Sunday, December 6th, 2020, worship theme is “Prepare the Way of the Lord” and will feature a message by Brian Libeer . Kennetha Kutler will preside and serve as the worship planner. Jonathan Bacon will provide the PowerPoint and host the Zoom meeting assisted by Roxann Kosmicki.

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.

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS

The Mission Road Adult Sunday School Class will meet online using Zoom this coming Sunday. Class time will follow the Sunday morning worship starting at 10 AM.

The text for the class will be “Short Stories by Jesus” by Amy-Jill Levine.

SCHEDULE OF FOOD PANTRY DROP-OFF DATES

The Mission Road Congregation continues to serve an important need by providing food stuffs, school supplies and new or gently used clothing for the Central Avenue Center of Hope. In October we provide an astounding 325 pounds of food for the pantry (surpassing September 245 pounds)! The need continues!

Please plan to drop supplies off at church on the following Saturday mornings between 10 AM and noon:

December 12, 2020

January 9, 2021

There continues to be a special need for food, school supplies, personal hygiene items, school supplies and t-shirts.

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.

JOIN US FOR GIVING TUESDAY ON DECEMBER 1, 2020

Double the Good

This year a generous matching contribution of $200,000 has been pledged for this event. For example, a $25.00 contribution will be matched and becomes $50.00.

Any donation to Worldwide Mission Tithes helps bring hope to people around the world! In 2020, contributions have supported:

· COVID-19 crisis relief and oblation aid, including $100,500 to Haiti, Africa, Nepal, India, and Central and South America. And, a total of $63,614 in oblation aid in the United States.

· Ten chartered World Church teams with 136 members who provide guidance, advocacy, and education on Earth stewardship, diversity and inclusion, health and wholeness, spiritual formation, and peace and justice — among others.

How to Participate

Online

Visit eTithing (https://app.securegive.com/cofchrist) to give.

Text

Type GIVE to 844-964-1444 and follow the instructions.

Mail

Send checks to Community of Christ International Headquarters, Presiding Bishopric, 1001 W. Walnut St., Independence, MO 64050. Mark the check "Giving Tuesday.”

Thank you for sharing your generosity and for supporting our mission!

CURRENT CHURCH RE-OPENING STATUS

Cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations continue to rise in Kansas. We have not yet met the World Church criteria for reopening our congregation (that is, COVID-19 cases must be stable or declining for three weeks before face-to-face meetings are resumed). We’ll continue to meet using Zoom until the situation changes.

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.

SUMMER 2021 CAMPS SCHEDULED

Doniphan Reunion – June 11 – 15

Middle School Camp – June 20 – 25

Senior High Camp – June 20 – 25

Junior Camp – June 27 – July 1

Chihowa Reunion – July 11 – 16

Youth Quest – July 22 – 24

Spectacular – July 24 – 31

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.