by Paul Davis

Summer is officially over! Time for planning our activities for the Fall and beyond. And it’s time to celebrate the level of commitment that many of you have made to your/our church. A quick skim of the last Bell Buoy identified well over twenty ministries and activities that connect us, through love and service, to God, to each other and to our community. Our Mission!

Our congregation has identified seven (7) priority action goals to carry out our Mission. One of these efforts, led by Mairi, is the Family Faith Formation program, currently supported by Rev Jan, Norma Nielsen, Liz Perrone-Gray, Annie Demiris, and me. We’re focused on developing a
critical mass of families with young children who participate in worship, Christian education and fellowship activities within the Shoreline communities.

We have identified the help we need to accomplish our goals for this Church year:

PreK/K Sunday School Teachers – 2 – Share faith stories with our youngest members. Sunday school teachers teach once a month. Curriculum, support, and a teen mentor for your students are provided.

Family Ministry Taskforce – 5 – The family ministry taskforce meets once a month for about an hour and a half. Members help to plan and organize events and programs that focus on serving our church families, and reaching out to unchurched families.

Event Volunteers – 10 – Help out at various family ministry events, such as Parents’ Day Out or the Bunny Brunch. Typical jobs include preparing and serving food, clean up, registration table, and running crafts/activities. Family Ministry events occur about twice a quarter.

Messy Church Team – 10 – Help out with the Messy Church ministry to welcome families and unchurched people. Volunteers are needed for the following roles: organization and publicity, meal preparation, activity leaders, welcoming, and clean up.

SYNC Volunteers –  2 – Volunteer with our middle school youth group. We need someone to occasionally (once every two months approximately) assist in supervising the youth during meetings, which take place on Sunday afternoons/evenings for about two hours. We also need someone to help prepare and serve supper at SYNC meetings approximately once every three months.

Family Ministry Publicity – 2 
Help with family ministry events by putting up posters around town, mailing invitations, following up on RSVPS. This might take an hour or two a month.

Church Family Lunch Angels – 4
Sponsor the church family Sunday lunch, after worship, for $40 a month per angel, to help cover the costs of food and fellowship so that we can welcome everyone.

These are very specific opportunities for your giving of your time and talent in manageable increments, and being fed by fellowship with others. Please sign up in Fellowship Hall now! For answers to your questions talk to Mairi (mairigrahamshaw@gmail.com). This Family Faith
Formation effort is a living example of a Mission-focused church

— Paul Davis