Dear First Pres,
One week from today is the last day of school for Fresno Unified. Sanger and Clovis follow one day behind. If you have kids in school, or you work in education, this isn't news to you. You've likely been counting down for a while in anticipation of the infamous summer break. For others, the summer months are just like any other months, just hotter (and here comes the heat). But for us, as a congregation, the summer months are unique.
Starting on June 16, Father's Day, we're making a strategic change of pace to our Sunday morning experience. We'll change from two services of different styles to one service with a mix of styles. After worship, there will be a mix of special activities and casual connect time. For children, there will be nursery & preschool classes during worship, Kids Alive for kids K-2nd (released during worship), and a children's message during the worship service. For adults, there will be a Bible education class (led by the cadre of retired pastors) before worship.
Why make such a change? The Session (our leadership board) really wanted to focus on building unity throughout the congregation this summer. Changing our schedule helps us do that because it puts all of our folks in the same room at the same time. One of our Core Values is Transformational Relationship, and at the heart of that, for us, is an intergenerational connection. We believe the change of schedule and the special activities that the change allows will create the perfect environment for intergenerational connections to thrive. Finally, we've had many newcomers in our congregation throughout this school year. We pray that the design of our summer will facilitate wonderful hospitality to truly welcome newcomers into the life of our congregation.
So, here's the schedule for 8 weeks June 16 - August 4:
8:30 Bible Education Class for Adults
9:30 Worship
10:40ish Connect Time and Special Activities
And here are the Special Activities we want you to add to your calendar:
June 16: All Church Potluck Brunch
June 30: Kingdom Kids Luau (fun celebration open to all, sponsored by our children's ministry)
July 14: FPC Eat Downtown Day (join others at downtown restaurants)
July 28: Love our Church (wear your work clothes and help give some TLC to our church campus)
August 4: All Church Potluck Brunch
It's going to be a fantastic summer ... especially if you lean in to our worship gatherings and special activities with the Session's goals in mind. I trust you will.
Blessings,
Jeremy
P.S. This week's Scripture reading for our Flawed and Flawless sermon series Judges 17-18.
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