EACH SUNDAY……….. 8:30 am Breakfast in Gordon Hall9:00 am Bible and Bagels in the Lee Room9:00 - after the service: Child Care in Nursery (for infants to Kindergarten) 9:00 - 9:45 am Grades 5 - 12 in Youth Lounge with Jeremy 10:00 am Worship Service ( Sunday School for Pre-K to 4th grade after Children’s message ) 11:00 am Coffee and fellowship in Gordon Hall 11:20 am Adult Forum and other activities

A welcoming and affirming

Church Community

June 2016 Newsletter

In our latest series during worship on Sundays, The Risen Community, we are reminding ourselves what it means to be the church. Several ideas factored into this direction, not least of which is my 6-month mark here at First Baptist. Having been together for half a year, I’ve had a little bit of time to get to know you, and likewise you with me. In seeing how deeply you care about God, this church, and each other, it seemed as good a time as any to dive into these feelings all the more deeply, adding some theological bearing to our love for each other.

I was also struck by a quote some of you have heard me share a couple times now. Paraphrasing Dr. Andrea White, she said she wants to push back on the myth that the church in America is dying. This was a profound statement to make in light of the current trends. Yet she’s right. If we believe in the risen Christ, then we must absolutely believe in the risen church. Jesus is alive, so too is his body—us.

The church may be changing, and individual churches may be dying, but the church isn’t because Jesus isn’t.

Finally, I’m also indebted to an article I read after Easter by Dr. Molly Marshall, in which she suggested that pastors need to do a better job of preaching an Easter theology. Meaning, we need a constructive theology of what it means to live the resurrection.

We don’t celebrate the resurrection on one highly attended Sunday a year, but rather, it defines our very existence as a church and informs

our very being as followers of Jesus.

So what does it look like to offer a constructive theology of the resurrection? One answer, I think, is for us to consider ourselves as a part of the resurrection, too.

And so, we press into this summer with a focus in mind, that we, The Risen Community, will practice resurrection together, figuring it out as we go, but bringing life with us wherever we go. Together, as a community; boldly, in the power that raised Jesus from the dead; lovingly, as Jesus called us to do.

Brent A. Newberry

Wom e n ’ s B r e a k f a s t Please join the merry throng at the Nu Cafe on Chandler Street

on June 4th at 8:30 am

M e n ’ s B r e a k f a s t Please join the merry men at the 122 Diner in Holden

on June 4th at 8 am

The Potluck Supper, hosted by the Scrogin Book Forum in May raised $160. It will be decided soon to which issue or

organization this money will be donated. At the Supper the group watched part of a video about

the book “A Path Appears” which was very moving. If YOU would like to suggest a theme for a Potluck

Supper, let us know!

Welcome, Laurie, to the family at FBC !

On June 6th Laurie Canavan will be joining the staff at FBC as our part-time Communication

Specialist. As of July 1st she will be producing the weekly

order of worship, any special fliers and posters as well as managing our website and other social

media. We are looking forward tremendously to having her work with us to

take the Communications of FBC to even higher levels!

There will be more details about Laurie’s work and the organization around Communications later in June.

SCROGIN BOOK FORUM SELECTIONS 2016 - 17

June 5    Leader: Sue Ellen Scrogin         

Advocating and selecting the book list for 2016-2017

Thanks to the Adult Ministry Team, and Anne Goff in particular, we are able to advertise the upcoming Forums, held after the Service on Sundays.

June 5th Scrogin Book Forum led by Sue Ellen Scrogin

June 12th CHURCH PICNIC BBQ GAMES FUN

June 19th Father’s day, no Forum but there will be coffee

June 26th Kickball Game, details to follow

Youth News…. Ready, steady, Go….!

On May 22 our Young People helped to make over

400 cookies for the Mustard Seed and

some for themselves! They all had a

great time cooking, chatting and caring!

On the second Sundays in June some of the Youth will be partnering with adults to

help usher, take up the offering, help TC with sound and read the Scripture passages.

Please be supportive of our young people as they learn how to grow into the ways of FBC. Thank you to Courtney for co-ordinating this.

June 5th is the last Sunday until September when our Young People leave the service for classes.

During the Summer our youth will be part of our Worship Services in Gordon hall.

June 2016

Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat

298:30 Breakfast10 am Worship

30 31 19:30 am Women’s Prayer F’ship

24:30 pm Children’s Music6:15 pm First H’Bells7:30 Chancel Choir

3 4 Women and Men’s Breakfasts see p.3

58:30 Breakfast10 am CommunionFirst Handbells playingScrogin Book Forum

6 73 pm English Tea at Lynne Carroll’s house7 pm Co-ordinating Council Meets

89:30 am Women’s Prayer F’shi3pm English Tea at Lynne Carroll’s house

94:30 pm Children’s Music

7:30 Final Chancel Choir Rehearsal until Sept

10 11Boston Pride Parade noon.see Brent for details

128:30 Breakfast10am WorshipCHURCH PICNIC after Worship

13 14 159:30 am Women’s Prayer F’ship

16 17 18

198:30 Breakfast10 am WorshipFather’s Day

20Items for Summer Newsletter to Lynne Carroll

21 229:30 am Women’s Prayer F’ship

23 24 25

268:30 Breakfast10 am WorshipForum:A Game of Kickball!

27 28 299:30 am Women’s Prayer F’ship

30 1 JULY 2 JULY

Please note that the Summer office hours

Mon to Fri 9 - 4 pm

Memorial Day thru Labor Day

Dear Friends, It is time again for the One Great Hour of Sharing special offering. By the grace of God, we are given the opportunity to share our gifts and resources with our brothers and sisters in need around the world. All of us have the power to give back to God from that which God has given us, and in doing so, create a more just world for all of God’s children. Through our gifts, we participate in the many ministries that serve the hungry, the poor, the distressed, the refugee. The Hebrew Bible models this offering in the story of Ruth and Naomi, portrayed in the Book of Ruth. When faced with forced relocation, due to famine and political strife, Ruth said to Naomi, “Where you go I will go.” Solidarity stands at the heart of their story.

Solidarity stands at the heart of the ministries of One Great Hour of Sharing. Solidarity stands at the heart of this offering.

Like Ruth and Naomi, refugees today are confronted with dire situations in their homes, and are forced by the necessity of survival to leave behind their communities in order to seek safety and security. Currently, the United Nations estimates over 60 million of our brothers and sisters across the world are refugees or displaced persons. The number is higher than it has been since World War II, and is expected to increase as violence continues in the Middle East and parts of Africa. Through One Great Hour of Sharing we embrace refugees around the world as our own. We say “where you go, we will go.” This offering places us side-by-side with those in need. It offers us the opportunity to be Ruth for the Naomi’s of the world. By supporting One Great Hour of Sharing, we answer God’s call for us to bring wholeness to a fragmented world. The One Great Hour of Sharing offering reaches across the globe. Sometimes it provides solidarity to those who have experienced loss due to disasters in our own community and congregation, and at other times it says tangibly “you are not forgotten” to our sisters and brothers on the other side of the world. Through our gifts, we can help ensure that all of God’s children have what they need. Together, we accompany the refugee and stand in solidarity with the distressed, bringing about the world as God intended.

Thank you for prayerfully considering your gift to this special offering. You will find OGHS giving envelopes in the pew racks at church.

Please give as you are able. Sincerely,

D. Lyn Stevens, Rev. Brent Newberry, Outreach Team Facilitator The First Baptist Church

One Great Hour of Sharing

On January 18, 2005, the First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain was destroyed by fire. Determined to rebuild, the church broke ground on a new building in 2008. In support of our friends in Jamaica Plain, First Baptist Church of Worcester gave the

church a loan to start the rebuilding. On Pentecost Sunday, 15 May 2016, three visitors from First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain surprised us with a very

special gift during worship, a lantern made from the charred pews salvaged from the wreckage of the Church.

It’s all beginnings and endings this time of year! As I write the calendar for June and talk about what has happened and what is to come, it seems to me

that how the Church works is transferring from one season to the next. Choir, Handbells, Sunday School sessions are ending, Summer office schedules take over and there is a holiday feel to FBC. We are planning BBQs and Games

outdoors and planting hosta and we are ready to spend more time in the fresh air as the temperatures rise, viewing the world from a different angle.

And so it is with our ministries, we are beginning to look outward and see what needs to be done in our Community to make it a better environment for all

who live in it. Brent has reminded us that the Church was one of the main sources of food for

the hungry, education for the young and a safe haven for those in need right through the 19th century. Let’s try to recapture the work they did then, with all the modern technology that is at our disposal. Open the doors, look at life

from the outside and see what we can do to recapture the mission of serving in practical ways.

If you don’t know about him, the story of Robert Raikes, who pioneered Sunday Schools in England, is very interesting. In Church Sundays Schools in 1831 in England one and a quarter million children were being taught to read

and write, well before Public Education was organized. Perhaps we need to remember our heritage as Christians who see local need and this lead and

effect social change. Lynne Carroll

This is your June Newsletter 2016 from First Baptist Church, Worcester

Phone  508-­‐755-­‐6143  

Extensions:    Rev  Brent  Newberry  301,  Wesley  Hall  302,      John  Carroll  303,      Joan    Gonyea      304  Andrea:              Andreal@Jbc-­‐worc.org  

 website:                www.Jbc-­‐worc.org            email:    info@Jbc-­‐worc.org  

follow  us  on  facebook:                                The  First  Baptist  Church  Worcester                                                                                                                                            The  FBC  Worcester  Youth  Twitter:                      @FBCWorcester  

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