8/25/10

Children begin in worship before going to a Sunday Special on August 29^th and September 5^th. This will conclude our summer worship. On September 12^th our program year will begin with Rally Sunday. Sunday School registration is at 10:30 A.M. Worship and Sunday School are at 11:00 A.M., followed by a picnic at noon that will include a Jolly Jumper and volleyball. Sunday School registration forms are included in this newsletter. We hope you have all had a wonderful time this summer and are ready to return to your school and church routines!

You are encouraged to bring any extra food or flowers from your gardens for the Harvest Exchange Table during Coffee Fellowship. Proceeds from your freewill offerings will support the Great Falls Rescue Mission.

WORSHIP WHERE THE WHALES ARE
WHEN? SEPTEMBER 10-11 WHERE? CAMP UTMOST
12901 Utmost Way-Greenough, MT 59823
(42 east of Missoula on Hwy 200)

Sponsored by the Western Association and the Disciples of Christ, this workshop explores what worship can look like if it comes from a place of depth. You'll learn how to design and participate in worship that honors our heads but moves us beyond that to our hearts and even deeper to our souls, where we encounter God and our truest self. Janice Springer, an ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ, serving our Missoula UCC part-time , will be the leader. Registration begins on Friday at 4:00 P.M. Dinner will be served at 5:30 P.M. The retreat ends on Saturday after lunch. Cost is $35.00 for an overnight stay and $27.00 for just the day. Registration forms are in the office and are due by August 30.

BIBLICAL TRAVELS AHEAD. *PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE.

Rev. Jim is in the process of putting together his next trip to the land of the Bible. Following in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul's 2^nd and 3^rd missionary journeys, this will be a land tour of Greece and Turkey. Relive the Book of Acts, while enjoying the many wonders of these two ancient and archaeologically rich countries, formally Asia Minor, Achaia andMacedonia. The basic Greece-Turkey trip will be 12 days, round trip from Great Falls (or any other departure city), departing MARCH 31, 2011*. A 3 day pre-trip option including extended time in Istanbul, Nicea, Troy and Troas, and a 4 day post-trip option to northern and central Greece, including Thessalonica, Philippi, Meteora and Delphi, will offer more opportunities. Brochures will be available soon. Friends and family members welcome. Save the dates- and your money! If you have not been to the Holy Lands, you have another opportunity to do so. Rev. Lyle Hamilton (Kama's dad) is leading the same tour Rev. Jim (and Lyle) led in 2007 and 2009. This is a terrific 12 day tour of Israel, with an optional pre-tour to Jordan and optional post-tour to either Egypt or Rome. Departure date from Great Falls for the basic trip is January 24, 2011. Brochures for this trip are already available. See Rev. Jim or the church's bulletin board.

With the award winning "UCC NEWS" newspaper no longer being printed (it has gone the way of a lot of hard copy publications), there is still a way to stay connected to the Wider Church. You can subscribe (it's FREE) to "Keeping You E-Posted" by going to ucc.org. At the top of the page, click on the news tab with a drop down arrow. "Keeping You E-Posted" is the second line down. It is a weekly, coordinated e-zine of news, featured items, resources, worship materials, and justice-action items e-mailed each Tuesday. Celebrate the ministries and diversity of the United Church of Christ and subscribe today- it's free, informative, fun, plus inspirational! Also on ucc.org, you can sign up to receive daily devotionals by going to the "feed your spirit" tab. Start your day off right. Sign up to receive the Stillspeaking Daily Devotional, delivered each morning to your e-mail inbox! If you still want more inspiration, visit facebook.com. Did you know the UCC is the second largest presence on facebook among U.S. Christian denominations? Why not make it the largest? Join at www.facebook.com/unitedchurchofchrist.

"JESUS FOR THE NON-RELIGIOUS"

Bishop John Shelby Spong (Episcopal, Retired) is this year's guest lecturer at the 6^th Annual Expanding Faith Lecture Series being presented at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Helena, supported by Covenant United Methodist and Plymouth Congregational-UCC Churches. The lecture series is September 24-25, beginning on Friday at 6:00 P.M. with a silent auction. Bishop Spong will also be the guest preacher at the 8:30 and 11:00 A.M. services on Sunday, September 26. He is one of the definitive voices for progressive Christianity and his books have sold more than a million copies. 24 years as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, Bishop Spong makes contemporary theology accessible to the ordinary person. His lectures will be based on his best-selling book, Jesus for the Non-Religious.

Tickets for the 2010 Lecture Series are available in Helena at St. Paul's church office, at the door on Friday, September 24^th and Saturday, September 25^th or through PayPal at www.stpaulshelena.org. Ticket pricing is as follows:

Complete Lecture Series (purchased by September 19) $50.00 ($60.00 after September 19 or at the door)

Friday evening ONLY (purchased by September 19) $35.00 ($40.00 after September 19 or at the door)

Saturday ONLY (purchased by September 19) $25.00 ($30.00 after September 19 or at the door)

Students with Student ID (purchase at door) $25.00 (one ticket good for all sessions)

BRING PRINT OUT OF PAYPAL RECEIPT TO DOOR FOR ENTRY IF TICKETS WERE PURCHASED ON WEB

Get together and carpool!

DOC/UCC PARTNERSHIP PROPOSAL

For the past year our Montana-Northern Wyoming Conference of the United Church of Christ has been in conversation with the Disciples of Christ Montana Region, exploring the possibility of merging our two Conferences. The joint committee working on this has come up with a proposal. In order to share this with the wider membership, regional presentations of this proposal are being offered. Your church is hosting one of the presentations for UCC and DOC members in our area. Come and hear what this would mean and what this would look like, beginning with a dinner, on Thursday, September 23, at 6 P.M., served by our Fellowship Board. The presentation will follow, seeking your feedback and questions. Come and be a part of shaping this exciting possibility for our wider church in Montana.

Helping Hands And.... If you would like to help Gladys Burt with her move to Billings by packing and getting boxes to Goodwill, etc., possible yard work, and some house cleaning, please call her daughter, Diana Geiger, at (406) 861-5548. A work party is scheduled for this Saturday, August 28.