Beginning Sunday, June 21st , St. John’s UCC will begin in-person worship once again.

 We will do so with an abundance of caution following protocols set forth by the CDC and our local health department. While worship services will be offered at the church, we encourage those over 65 or those with any underlying health conditions to stay at home and continue to worship with us online.

Worship gatherings will be limited to 50 persons. Attendees are required to pre-register online at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4CAAAE28A6FB6-come or call the church office (325-2165). The church office will resume regular operating hours Monday, June 15^th (8:00am-4:00pm Monday-Thursday and 8:00am-noon on Friday). Worship will be held at 8:00am (This service will be recorded for online access) and 9:30am. An 11:00am worship service could be added if there is a need. The services will be approximately 40 minutes and have the feel of our usual 8:00am worship. Other precautions will include:

• Two entrances to the church will be open: the elevator entrance in the circle drive and the front doors on 14^th street.
• Wearing face masks will be required. Please bring your own. If you do not have one, a mask will be provided for you at the door.
• Utilizing hand sanitizer upon arrival and departure is strongly encouraged.
• Alternate pews and staggered seating will be marked off. Family units may sit together.
• There will be no bulletins, hymnals or pew bibles available.
• There will not be congregational or choral singing. We will incorporate special music, instrumentalists, soloists, and hymn tunes will be played.
• Offering will be collected "drop off" style.
• Volunteers will conduct a complete cleaning of pews, bathrooms, door handles, etc. between worship services.

These will be our practices for the time being; again, gathering with an abundance of caution. We will adjust as conditions warrant.
 
Peace,
Pastor Todd

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Initiating Pastoral Care Conversations For Members In Care Facilities
 

Pastor Christie held a training for the Parish Visitor Team on May 26 focusing on Chaplaincy Skills helpful in conversations with the elderly who are isolated from family, friends, and outside stimulation and who may be experiencing spiritual distress due to ramifications of COVID-19. The training focused on trauma, pastoral communication skills, positive coping interventions, signs of spiritual distress, emotional expressions of stress, and role playing using specific intervention skills. If you would like a copy of the notes from this training, please contact Pastor Christie at revchristiestjohnsucc@gmail.com. Thank you to all who were able to attend this training.Your ministry is so important!

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Announcement
St. John’s Membership Committee
 
Greetings members:

The Membership Committee would like to thank all members who responded to our request for updating member information. At this time we would like for you to select a favorite picture of yourself and/or family to be included in the directory. The picture will need to be in good taste of course. Pets are welcome in your pictures as well as a display of Badger colors. We are sure you have a favorite picture you may wish to use as your directory picture. The more recent the better. They can be sent in digital format, if available, to the church office and will need to include your name and/or names of the individuals in the picture. A digital jpeg file is preferred, but we can work with printed photo formats if necessary. We look forward to seeing a lot of great pictures.
If you have any questions regarding this request or project or need assistance please feel free to contact the Membership Committee at 715-403-1260.
Thank you from the Membership Committee.
Joel Dutenhoefer, Chair