Johnson County Arboretum and Botanical Gardens

MISSION ROAD CONGREGATION EVENTS – MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

HELP US HELP YOU

If you have news to share in the weekly church email newsletter, please write it out and send to Jonathan Bacon or Larry Birkby by Noon on Sunday each week. It’s important that you include the basics about each announcement: Who, What, When and Where. If the information is incomplete, we cannot guarantee getting it in the newsletter in a timely fashion.

If you have people to add to the prayer list, please contact Kennetha Kuttler.

IN THIS ISSUE:

HEARTS FOR HONDURAS CAMPAIGN

THIS SUNDAY’S WORSHIP ON ZOOM

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS NOW MEETING AT 9 AM

NEXT FOOD PANTRY COLLECTION DATE

MISSON ROAD BUSINESS MEETING

BOOK SWAP COMING TO OUR PARKING LOT

MIDLANDS MISSION CENTER CONFERENCE

COVID UPDATE: PAUL BENNETTS, HEALTH OFFICER

REFUGEE RELIEF

And More…

HEARTS FOR HONDURAS CAMPAIGN

Goal met! The Community of Christ Health Ministries Association (HMA) wants to extend their thanks to everyone who contributed to Hearts for Honduras campaign that will provide healthcare to rural Honduras in 2022.

The $25,000 committed covers Nurse Saira’s salary, provides medicine, buys wound care supplies and testing supplies for diabetes, UTIs, and other ailments common in Honduras. HMA also provides gas, oil changes, insurance, and maintenance for the truck Nurse Saira uses to visit four villages each month.

A huge THANK YOU to all who donated and enabled HMA to meet the Hearts for Honduras goal for 2022.

THIS SUNDAY’S WORSHIP ON ZOOM

For Sunday, October 3, 2021, the worship theme is “Speak with Integrity.” Arlene Leonard will deliver the morning message. Dorothy May will preside and serve as the worship planner. Robert Sindt will provide the PowerPoint and host the Zoom session assisted by Kennetha Kuttler as co-host. You are invited to join us online for worship starting at 10:30 AM.

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS NOW MEETING AT 9 AM

The Mission Road Adult Sunday School Class will continue the study of “A History of God” by Karen Armstrong. Marilyn Gairns will lead the discussion covering Chapter 4 (“Trinity: The Christian God”). The class session now begins 15 minutes earlier at 9:00 AM on Zoom.

The class is studying “A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam” by Karen Armstrong. The text discusses how the three dominant monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have shaped and altered the conception of God over time.

NEXT FOOD PANTRY COLLECTION DATE

In August 2021, the Mission Road Congregation donated 125 pounds of food plus many personal items to the Central Avenue Center of Hope. The need continues and this congregation serves an important need by providing household goods and clothing (new or gently used) and food for the Center of Hope. Please add the following drop off dates to your calendar. Members will be at church between 10 AM and noon on these dates to accept your donations!

Saturday, October 9, 2021

Saturday, October 23, 2021

Remember that school supplies for the children supported by CACH are needed all year-round!

Other requested items.

Kitchen: sandwich bags, lunch bags, sliced cheese, snacks, fruit cups

Pantry: canned chili, green beans, oatmeal, spam

Hygiene: masks, lotion, razors

Thrift store: winter items, anything

MISSION ROAD BUSINESS MEETING

The Mission Road Business Meeting is scheduled for 9AM on October 10, 2021. Whether the meeting will be held in-person or on Zoom (or both) will be announced next Sunday.

The committee headed by Ron Millard is looking at the creation of a leadership team composed of a Pastor and two Associate Pastors. Final details will be shared next week and at the October 10, 2021, Business Meeting.

MIDLANDS MISSION CENTER CONFERENCE

The fall Midlands Mission Center Conference will be held on Oct. 17th. More information will be available on the MMC website. The conference will also be available on Zoom.

COVID UPDATE: PAUL BENNETTS, HEALTH OFFICER

In the past week we have seen a downward trend in the numbers of new COVID-19 cases in Kansas (about 20% reduction) and Johnson County (27% reduction) which corresponds with the numbers of COVID inpatients we currently have at KU Med (about 25% down from the peak). This is the first real improvement we have seen in many weeks, so it comes as great news and we hope the trend continues.

In terms of being able to meet in person for church, we are not quite there yet. The current rolling average for new cases in Johnson County is at 23.7. In order to meet in person again, we need to be at 10 or below with a sustained downward trend. This has been the recommendation of the World Church since the guidelines were issued in late February, 2021. I will continue to watch the trends but this feels somewhat hopeful.

Stay well!

REFUGEE RELIEF

Members of the congregation interested in helping with the needs of the refugees coming to Kansas City from Afghanistan have two opportunities to offer financial assistance. Della Lamb is the community group that will process and assist refugees in their resettlement. Money is the greatest need at this time. You can learn more about Della Lamb on their website at https://www.dellalamb.org/.

A second organization supporting refugees is the Jewish Vocational Service (see information earlier I the newsletter).

If you are interested in supporting either or both of these organizations, you can make a check out to “Community of Christ” and add “Refugee Relief” in the memo field. If you prefer your funds go to JVS or Della Lamb, please enclose a note to that effect, otherwise, funds will be split between the two organizations. Mary Reichenbach will forward the donations to the appropriate organizations.

SAVE THESE DATES

Mission Road Business Meeting scheduled for 9 am Sunday, October 10, 2021.

The Midlands Mission Center Fall Conference is scheduled for 2 pm Sunday, October 17, 2021.

A Worldwide Conference Preparation Event is scheduled for June 9-11, 2022.

NEW INTERNET SERVICE – NEW EMAIL – NEW WI-FI – NO CHURCH PHONE

Google Fiber has been installed in the Church. So, the old email has disappeared. The new email address is: missionroadcc

Please change your contact information now and start using the new address for any email communication.

We also have a new password for the Wi-Fi at church. Information how to access the new Google system is posted on the church bulletin board.

We are eliminating the church phone. Most everyone has a cell phone and since we are changing from ATT to Google, we are eliminating the land line.

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 as soon as possible following each message/sermon.

2022 CARAVAN TRIP

Youth and families interested in the tentative 2022 senior high caravan trip (campers must complete 9th–12th grades in spring 2022), please fill out this survey: http://bit.ly/CaravanSurvey

IN-PERSON AND ZOOM CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP TIMES

The Congregation will offer online meetings using Zoom for the next few weeks, until the COVID 19 situation improves in the neighboring communities. The access weblink for all Zoom sessions is the same and times are listed below.

7 PM Every Wednesday – Prayer Circle on Zoom.

9:15 AM Every Sunday – The Adult Sunday School Class meets on Zoom.

10:30 AM Every Sunday – Sunday Morning Mission Road Worship accessible 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.

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 or email Kennetha Kuttler at missionroadcc.

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 (Kennetha Kuttler) is missionroadcc

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.