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Doug and I went to Friday Evening Fellowships and had a good time with you. Then Doug and I told personal stories one night—and you honored us by packing the place.
I have enjoyed meeting and building relationships with our local clergy, university leaders and town agencies. We are planning two projects with the town and our local clergy group—ways we can serve Longmeadow together.
Both our Jewish and Christian friends in other congregations are going to share a book study this fall and next spring. There will be classes where we compare how we read the same text in the Bible or Torah and discover how we understand God’s teachings.
Town agencies and faith houses are working together to combat isolation for some of our neighbors. We are seeking to learn how we can reach out to them and make sure they have the resources they need.
Bay Path University, St. Mary’s, St. Andrews and First Church will host a progressive dinner in September. We’ll move from church to church, sharing a meal and introducing the students of Bay Path and these three congregations to each other.
So far, we have hosted two of our four yearly Saturday Celebration events, which are open to all the town. We bring in live music, serve a great meal and have activities for the kids. We open our doors in the hopes of meeting our neighbors and spending time with them so they can get to know us. Both Mardi Gras and our Pride celebrations brought in new townspeople for us to meet and begin to build relationships with.
Christian Education
When I came to FCCL, I brought with me the Spill the Beans curriculum for adult worship as well as for Church school and pre-k. This curriculum allows our children to work with the same Bible stories we are discussing in worship.
Our new Thursday-morning Bible study group reads and discusses the scripture to be preached the following Sunday. I love this class! It is one of my favorite things! It is open to all; come join us.
The class is small, about 6-8, (so there is room for you). What I love about the class is that we wonder together about the text. We try to understand the context, what the world was like when the text was written. We read different