MISSION ROAD CONGREGATION EVENTS – MONDAY, MARCH 29, 2021

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 on Zoom!

IN THIS ISSUE:

GOOD FRIDAY SERVICES

CONGREGATIONAL PLAN FOR REOPENING

THIS SUNDAY’S WORSHIP

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS

NEXT FOOD PANTRY DROP OFF IS APRIL 10!

ALL GOOD BOOKS TAKES A BREAK

MISSION ROAD MESSAGES/SERMONS ON YOUTUBE

And More…

GOOD FRIDAY SERVICES

There will be a Good Friday Service on April 2, at 7 PM. You can join in as early as 6:45 PM on the same Zoom link we use for all other Mission Road meetings.

CONGREGATIONAL PLAN FOR REOPENING

The Mission Road Congregation Reopening Plan that includes reopening the church for Easter services has been submitted to and approved by the Midlands Mission Center. The details of the plan are covered below.

Note: If you plan to attend in-person, on Easter, please email Pastor Larry Birkby to let him know. That way, if there are last minute changes, you’ll be informed.

Easter Sunday is also Communion Sunday and the reopening plan addresses how the sacrament will be served.

We are excited to lead the way in the Midlands Mission Center to have our building back open for in-person worship. Efforts are underway to test our AV systems to confirm that we can offer in-person worship and provide access by Zoom for those who wish to worship from home.

Here’s the Mission Road Congregation Plan

Reopening Date: April 4, 2021 at 10.:30

Facility Health Officer: Paul Bennetts

Criteria to be met:

1. Cases per 100k will be lower than 10

2. Testing for COVID-19 is available locally and easily accessible

3. Local hospitals are not overloaded with COVID-19 patients and can provide treatment for all patients and health conditions needing hospital care

4. Personal Protective Equipment (mask, gloves, sanitizers) are accessible to members and to be used during group gatherings.

Our response to required provisions as listed in the [World Church] guidelines

Church facility:

• The church will be cleaned weekly following the Cleaning and Sanitizing Checklist being certain that high touch areas will be sanitized as part of the cleaning. Copies of the Implementation Checklist and the Cleaning and Sanitizing Checklist will be available for those using the church for practicing organ and piano and for the man who cleans the church.

• Organists and piano players who use the church to practice during the week will sanitize their areas and door handles.

• Staff who use the building for their assignments will also sanitize after themselves and will sanitize the door handles.

• Bulletin information will be projected using PowerPoint.

• Church provided signs will be posted by the doors.

• One individual will keep a check list of individuals in attendance each week to track attendees.

• Hand sanitizer will be available to members as they enter.

• All participants will be required to wear face masks. Free face masks will be available at the entrance for those without a mask.

• All items will be removed from the pews to include pens, offering envelopes, hymnals and prayer request cards.

• Guest book and pen will be removed.

• No food will be allowed in the building which will prohibit potlucks, breakfast and beverages including coffee.

• Worship service will begin at 10:45 AM. All efforts will be made to close the service by 11:30 AM.

• Use of the downstairs bathrooms will be limited to one person or family at a time.

Physical distancing

• Family members living in the same house will be allowed to sit together. Family groups and/or individuals will be seated a minimum of 6 feet apart.

• Roping and signs will denote available seating.

• We will maintain no more than 30% of capacity.

• Members will be instructed to maintain social distancing when greeting each other before and after the worship service. Members will be encouraged to visit outside staying physical distanced as weather allows.

Church School Programs

• Adult classes will continue to be held using zoom. Class time will begin at 9:00 a.m.

• Before closing we had two early elementary children and two children in middle school. It is unclear if we will hold Sunday School for them. If we, do it will be during the 10:30 worship time. All these students are in school full time. Location will be in the lower-level classroom.

Worship Services

• Services will begin at 10:45. All efforts will be made to close the service by 11:30

• No singing will be allowed

• Order of worship will be projected using PowerPoint.

• Ministry of music involving singing will be recorded prior to service and played as part of the PowerPoint. Ministry of music involving strings, organ or piano will be performed live.

• Disciples Generous Response will be facilitated by having a collection tray placed at the back of the sanctuary for collection as members leave the service.

• Hybrid worship will be planned using zoom for those unable to attend in person worship.

Sacraments

• Communion: A masked and gloved person will prepare the emblems. Squares of bread or gluten free option will be placed in small cupcake papers. The juice will be prepared in small paper communion cups. The emblems will be placed on a table in the sanctuary before the service begins. Members will come forward and will be handed their emblems to take back to their seat for partaking. The individual doing this will be masked and gloved. Members unable to physically move forward will have their emblems delivered to them. This plan limits individual contact.

• Other sacraments that involve touch or proximity will be delayed until all government regulations (local, state and national) and church guidelines permit such touch or proximity, or they may be performed virtually or in-person through the established guidelines.

• Requests for individual exceptions will be made to the mission center/apostle.

Midweek Service

• A small prayer group meets on Wednesday nights. We have been meeting via zoom and would like to continue with that as a couple people have joined us from Iowa. As time passes, we will likely change from zoom to in person meeting with zoom for those living in different states.

Church facilities by outside groups

• We have no plans to allow outside groups to have access to our building. This will lessen the likely hood of contamination and need to clean.

Communication of this to congregation

• It will also be posted on our website and included in our weekly newsletter. Copies of this request to open will be mailed to people who do not have e-mail or Facebook.

THIS SUNDAY’S WORSHIP

The Sunday, April 4, 2021, worship theme is “Risen!” with Steve Holben as the speaker. Karen Birkby will preside and serve as the worship planner. Jonathan Bacon will provide the PowerPoint and Kennetha Kuttler will host the Zoom meeting assisted by Roxann Kosmicki and Robert Sindt.

You are invited to join us online starting at 10:30 AM for conversation and fellowship with the worship activities beginning at 10:45 AM.

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS

The Mission Road Adult Sunday School Class is currently studying the “Sermon on the Mount” book by Amy-Jill Levine. This coming Sunday, Jonathan Bacon will lead the discussion of Chapter 6 (“Living Into the Kingdom”). Class begins at 9 AM following and will conclude by 10 AM for those who wish to drive to the church for in-person Sunday morning worship. Plans are to also offer access to the worship service on Zoom starting a 10:30 AM.

ALL GOOD BOOKS TAKES A BREAK

After an email poll, the majority of book club members who responded would prefer to wait until the book club can meet in person. So, we’ll not meet on Zoom or in person until at least mid- to late-Summer.

The novels most frequently nominated to add to the schedule are “The Four Winds” by Kristin Hannah and “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig. We’ll discuss those two novels in that order when we resume meeting in person. Happy reading and we look forward to resuming our discussions in-person sometime in 2021.

NEXT FOOD PANTRY DROP OFF IS APRIL 10!

The Mission Road Congregation continues to serve an important need by providing food supplies, school supplies and new or gently used clothing for the Central Avenue Center of Hope. Please add the following drop off dates to your calendar. We’ll be at church between 10 AM and noon on these dates to accept your donations!

Saturday, April 10 2021

Saturday, April 24, 2021

Just so you know: Mission Road contributed 320 pounds of food to the Center in January and 310 pounds in February plus hygiene items, household items and clothes. The need continues! Let’s continue this wonderful response!

MISSION ROAD MESSAGES/SERMONS ON YOUTUBE

If you missed a Sunday morning message (sermon or homily), you’ll now be able to view them on YouTube. The Community of Christ – Mission Road channel can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiCbae5dTgl0cmF9b672skAyPXl-5o1lM (or by using the shortened, easier to remember weblink: https://tinyurl.com/MissionRoadYouTube).

We are only posting the sermon or Sunday message portion of each service due to copyright concerns. Also please note that in some cases, Zoom failed to record the service.

New videos will be posted during the week following each message/sermon.

MISSION ROAD CONGREGATION ONLINE MEETINGS

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

7 PM Every Wednesday – Prayer Circle on Zoom.

9 AM Every Sunday – The Adult Sunday School Class studies “Sermon on the Mount” by Amy-Jill Levine on Zoom.

10:30 AM Every Sunday – social gathering time on Zoom and in person in preparation for worship.

10:45 AM Every Sunday – Sunday Morning Mission Road Worship in-person and on Zoom.

TITHES AND OFFERINGS

Please remember that church expenses continue. If you are not attending in-person please remember to support the church financially. 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

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.

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.

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.