THIS WEEK’S CALENDAR
Sunday, September 24th
8:00am Worship (Sanctuary)
9:00am Sunday School (Fellowship Hall)
9:00am Fellowship Hour (Fireside Room)
10:00am Worship (Sanctuary)
11:00am Love Fellowship Worship (Sanctuary)
Tuesday, September 26th
9:00am Quilting (Quadrooms)
Wednesday, September 27th
10:00am Bible Study (Fireside Room)
6:30pm Confirmation (Fellowship Hall)
6:30pm Choir (Music Room)
Thursday, September 28th
10:00am Fidget Mats (Quadrooms)
6:00pm Finance Team (Conference Room)
Sunday, October 1st
8:00am Worship (Sanctuary)
9:00am Sunday School (Fellowship Hall)
9:00am Leah Circle (Conference Room)
9:00am Fellowship Hour (Fireside Room)
10:00am Worship (Sanctuary)
11:00am Love Fellowship Worship (Sanctuary)
WORSHIP AND WITNESS MISSION NEWS
St. Peter Live
Our 10:00am service is livestreamed to our Facebook page (https://m.facebook.com/stpetersheboygan/) each Sunday morning. Following worship, the service will be uploaded to YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkvPIB8agxVhS72C5822etA) and our website (https://stpetersheboygan.com). The weekly bulletin is attached to this email if you would like to follow along with the online service.
Fall Worship Assistants
We are back to two services, please consider helping out by reading, ushering, serving communion, running tech or altar guild. Please take a look at your availability and sign up using the link below or call Carrie to sign up. Thank you! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084aaaac2eaaf58-worship
COUNCIL UPDATE
The St. Peter Council met on September 12, 2023. Reports were shared and Missions gave updates. An in-depth financial report was shared by our treasurer. Our current checking account balance is: $74. Please read the financial update for more information. A team of people was created to talk about next steps for the cross that was above the sanctuary skylight. That team met and shared their ideas with the council. It was decided to decommission the old cross. The wood from the old cross will be repurposed and the steel frame will be retained. Given the current financial situation, the team decided to revisit the conversation in a few months. There was no council meeting scheduled for July 2023. In August 2023, an email vote was taken to approve worship times returning to 8:00am and 10:00am beginning the weekend after Labor Day. It was also approved to have one worship service at 9:00am several Sundays throughout the year such as the Sunday following Thanksgiving, the Sunday after Christmas, and the Sunday of the annual meeting. Those worship times will be appropriately communicated to the congregation. Please talk to a member of the church council if you have any questions. Members of the council are: Pastor Kristin, Joy, Ginny, Pat D., Dawn B., Steve B., Nate, Connie, Jon W., and Jamie S.
Note: You will continue to receive regular council updates in this email. These updates include the significant information from the most recent meeting. You can find the “official” minutes of all council and team meeting minutes that we receive in the binder marked “Council Reports” that is kept below the bulletin board in the narthex.
FINANCIAL UPDATE
It was the best of times it was the worst of times. A phrase that is often overused and at times can be overly dramatic. However, I am going to use it here, as I cannot produce a better phrase that accurately reflects the current financial situation at St Peter.
The financial commitment by the members of St Peter has been outstanding so far in 2023. Through July there has been only one year in the past eight years when the General Fund Giving has been greater than it has been this year! Thank you for your continued support to the various ministries that the General Fund allows us to support. We all should be very proud of this fact and the numerous people affected by our giving. These are indeed the best of times.
However, the available balance in our checking account, which we use to pay salaries, expenses, ministry opportunities, and benevolence has dipped to concerning levels at various times throughout the year. Okay, not the worst of times but cause for concern. There are various reasons for this, and the Finance Team continues to look for opportunities to reduce expenses while maintaining the quality of our worship and ministries. The main reason for the dip in the checking account balance is that we have used up all previous “buffers” from prior years. Without our increased support to the ministries of St Peter through the General Fund, our ability to honor our commitments from our approved budget is compromised. One item that comes up consistently is the topic of Designated Giving. The donations to Designated Giving this year has made it challenging for St. Peter to honor its financial and ministry obligations. We are touching many lives and sharing God’s grace with many within and outside the four walls of St Peter. None of this is possible without our support of the congregation through the General Fund. I realize that the ministries that each of us value may be different, but our purpose is the same; to reflect God’s grace in all that we do. Giving to the General Fund, in my opinion, is the best way to guarantee that the various ministries of St Peter continue at a high level.
There is no reason that the remaining months of 2023 cannot be the Best of Times! ~ Nate (member of the finance team)
LIFELONG LEARNING MISSION NEWS
Sunday School
Join us for Sunday School each week from 9:00-9:45am! Kids ages 3 years old through 5th grade are invited to join us for a time of bible stories, music, and activities. To register for Sunday School, please visit the website below:
Confirmation
Confirmation for youth in 6th-8th grade has begun, please join us on Wednesday nights from 6:30-7:30pm. To register for Confirmation, please visit the website below:
Bible Study
Join us for Bible Study, led by Myra, on Wednesday mornings from 10:00am-11:00am in the Fireside Room.
SOCIAL OUTREACH MISSION NEWS
ELCA Youth Gathering!
For 8th-12th graders July 15-21, 2024 in New Orleans, LA. Friends are welcome! Talk to Pastor Kristin if you have any questions or are interested in attending. Registration forms will be available and are due, with a $150 deposit, by the end of October. Money is available to help with deposits if needed.
ELCA Young Adult Gathering
This gathering will be alongside the 2024 Youth Gathering in New Orleans! Those who will be 18 to 35 at the time of the Gathering are invited to attend. Most programming will be geared toward those 18 to 25 years old. All young-adult participants will be divided into cohorts based on age. Attendees of the Young Adult Gathering will be housed separately than the Youth Gathering participants, undergo background checks prior to registering, and will have separate programming (aside from the Mass Gathering). More details can be found at https://www.elca.church/gathering/attend/young-adult-gathering. If you are interested in attending, please talk to Pastor Kristin ASAP because the registration process is different.
P-Y-P Day (Pick your Project)
All are welcome! What is it, you ask? Come to the Quadrooms or Fellowship Hall for conversation, camaraderie, and a place to work on your project of choice.
You can use table space for laying projects out, sewing machines or the industrial sewing machine, putting LWR kits together, writing out birthday cards for WELCA, cutting quilt squares, bringing your own knitting, crocheting or embroidery projects. Whatever you would like to work on. We will meet the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month.
Any questions, ask Kelly J.
Fidget Mats PLUS!!!!
New name for fidgeters as we have evolved! Some of our fidgeters and quilters have found a new way to bring comfort and care to the people we serve and have added Pocket Prayer Quilts, Adult Bibs and Foley Bag Covers to those in need.
A delivery was made to a neighbor who has family at a home for elderly in Sanford, Florida named the Ethnos Homes. Delivered to them were 3 Alzheimer’s mats, 3 Adult, 3 Children’s mats and 4 cuffs. The neighbor is one who has donated many doodads and gizmos to us to use in our creations. We are always so thankful for all who remember us when sorting things from their larders so we might continue to be super recycle-ers and a blessing to all in need. Peace to All.
Join us on Thursdays from 10am to noon in the Quadrooms.
Lutheran World Relief School Kits
A message from Lutheran World Relief: “Education is one of the strongest tools a community has for breaking the cycle of poverty. Ensuring that girls attend school, especially in places where their access is deprioritized, has even stronger results. Lutheran World Relief School Kits contain essential supplies to help children — and in some cases, adults — continue learning in the face of serious obstacles. That learning leads to a better life for them, their families and their communities.”
Please consider picking up a few kit items to help our congregation meet our goal of assembling 150 school kits this year. Drop them off in the hallway between church and fellowship hall. Thank you for all the support given to this project. It is always amazing on school bag assembly day to see what an impact we as a congregation can have on the world. Any questions contact a WELCA board member.
School kit item list:
4 – 70-sheet notebooks
1 – box of 24 crayons
1 – pencil sharpener
1 – ruler
1 – pair blunt scissors
5 – unsharpened pencils
5 – black or blue pens
1 – 2 ½” eraser
Fellowship Hour
Join us for fellowship hour in the Fireside Room between services. Please come to chat and have a cup of coffee or hot tea.
We need VOLUNTEERS to make, set up and clean up coffee. A sign-up sheet is on the table in the Fireside Room. If no one signs up, there will be no coffee made. If you are interested in helping out, but would like a quick tutorial, please see Kelly J.
Lutheran World Relief Layettes and Health Kits
The Layette and Health Kit donations are coming together, but we are in need of standard size bath towels (not bath sheets) in dark colors, T-shirts for boys and girls (6-24mos), metal nail clippers, white mild 3oz bars of soap, socks, caps, and sweaters or sweatshirts (9-24 mos). Please place all of your donations for Lutheran World Relief on the shelving in the Fellowship Hallway.
Quilting
Is learning to sew on your bucket list? Is quilting one of your passions? Then we can help!
Our mission for quilts for Lutheran World Relief requires: Gently used sheets for quilt backs. (Not silky type fabrics). Flat sheets are preferred, but fitted sheets can be used as well. Twin, Full, Queen, King, and any colors or prints. Then join us for quilting on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon, in the Quadrooms.
We welcome anyone willing to cut quilt squares, layout squares to make tops, sewers to put tops together, or to tie quilts once sewn. Sew! (So) come join us! We would love to have you.
Northside Christian Food Pantry
NSCFP appreciates your continued support. The numbers of guests accessing our pantry remain higher. We continue to need food donations. There will be a monthly list of most needed items in the weekly email.
In November there will be an Open House at the pantry. It will be open on a Saturday evening and after church services on Sunday. All are welcome. Refer to final date and time in future weekly emails.
The September most needed food items are as follows: Cereal, Canned Meals, Canned Fruit, Boxed Potatoes, Soup, Pasta Sides, Canned Vegetables, and Toilet Paper. Please put your donations in the food cart in the Narthex.
We appreciate and need your continued support. Pat L.
COMMUNITY RESOURCES
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
This lifeline provides care and support to people experiencing stressful situations. It is free, confidential, and is available 24/7. People of all ages who need help for themselves or a loved one can access the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by: calling 988, sending a text message to 988, or using the chat feature at 988lifeline.org. People who contact 988 will be connected with a trained counselor who takes note of the person’s needs, understands how the person’s problem is affecting them, provides support, and, if needed, gets the person additional help.
PRAYER REQUESTS
Please keep the following people in your prayers: Jim, Karen, Tim, Joanne, Gary’s Family, Mike’s Family, Wilson, Julian, Mya, Kelly, Dominique’s Family, Richard’s Family, Sharon, Christopher, Mallissa, Vivian, Matt, Tony, Jen, Tracy, Evan, and Apostles of Christ.
BULLETIN AND WEEKLY NEWSLETTER ARTICLE DATES
Announcements for the bulletin and weekly newsletter are due at noon each Wednesday. Please submit information to Carrie, at email address stpeter@stpetersheboygan.com. The staff will review and make final decisions based on clarity, space, content, timing, and needs of the community.