Falcon Heights Church will host a community Thanksgiving service at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26. Also participating will be New Life Presbyterian Church and Como Park Lutheran Church.
A combined choir, clergy and lay leaders from the three churches will lead worship. Fellowship will follow the service, with coffee, hot cider and pie. All are welcome!
We are collecting money and gift cards to purchase gifts for seniors at Lyngblomsten Care Center. The Lyngblomsten staff will use your donations to buy gifts for their residents.
Suggested cards include Amazon, Target, JC Penney, Visa and Kohl’s. They can be purchased at the Scrip table during coffee hour.
Please make checks payable to Lyngblomsten Foundation. Leave donations and cards in the designated box in the church lobby. Deadline: Dec. 8.
Don’t miss our advent musical offerings in December. They’re free and open to all ages.
The Crossroads Team has heard from the congregation that our church building (and parking lot) could be a great asset to the community. People have proposed ideas for sharing a portion of our space with another organization.
We’re hearing from other churches that moving beyond a single use for church buildings is a trend that bears examining–whether it’s sharing space with a community service organization, an educational institution, another church or something else. Sharing space, done wisely, could increase our impact in the community while also providing additional financial security for our future.
One of the areas the Crossroads team has been exploring throughout the year has been ways we can serve the larger community of which we are a member. Last week, we asked you to share any ideas you might have about partnerships we could start or expand in the community, and we still need more of them.
What do you think? Please share your thoughts or ideas about sharing our space with the Crossroads team, including Cor Wilson, Carol Holm, Rev. Rick King, Conee Biggs, Margee Fabyanske, Mary Gaasch, Brian Knapp and Larry Schumacher.
Thanks to everyone who weighed in with their votes on the ideas and suggestions offered by fellow congregation members as experiments to improve our relationships with each other and with the community.
After collecting all the votes, a few things became clear: there is a strong desire to reconnect on an intimate level with each other; a strong desire to connect our children to the life of the congregation; and a strong desire to connect with the broader community in meaningful ways, using our facilities as an asset.
The top goals identified by those who cast their votes were:
All the responses – not only those identified above – will be collected and used to help design our congregational road map to guide future decisions about small experiments and large strategic decisions the congregation may make.
In the near term, our Crossroads Team will meet with our multi-congregational cohort on Nov. 4 to share our results and plan next steps.
Churches progress through small experiments, author says
“Churches often assume that trying something once means they have to get it perfect,” writes Dwight J. Zscheile in his book “The Agile Church.”
“If they fail, the whole endeavor (new ministry initiative, worship service, program, etc.) often just quietly disappears, without seeking to learn what changes might be made in the next round. Often, there is no next round. Churches tend to have unrealistic expectations of success. Innovators make clear that you have to try things out again and again, while making small modifications, to see what works. That is the value of small experiments.”
Intrigued by this idea of small experiments? Please join us this fall to discuss “The Agile Church” as it relates to our journey as a congregation.
And check out this short video about experimentation, “Learn from Failure,” that may relate to our efforts: https://vimeo.com/1034713344
Choose one of two book discussion groups:
We hope you’ll join us for the “adventure of God’s mission.” Sign up for one of the book discussions on the clipboard in the lobby, or sign up online.
Are you new to Falcon Heights Church? Or are you a member who needs a refresher course on all things UCC? Here’s your chance to learn more about our church!
Join us from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sundays, Sept. 8, 15, 22 and 29, when Rev. Rick and others will lead a newcomer information series. The group will be a mix of folks new to FHC and those who’ve been coming for longer. Child care will be provided, and dinner is on us!
Sign up here or on the clipboard in the church lobby. Also, please let us know on the signup form if you need child care, and if you have any dietary needs that we should be aware of. We hope to see you soon!
The FHC carillon rings again! Thanks to a gift from the estate of Sue Reitan, the church’s carillon is restored and ringing again.
The original carillon, running with cassette tapes and belt-driven players, was a gift decades ago from Evylyn and Jerry Palmer. Parts were no longer available. The three loudspeakers on the roof were originally mounted on a wooden sawhorse that rotted out and collapsed. That caused one of the speakers to fill with water!
A new iPad-driven system has replaced the cassette tape unit. Now we have hundreds of new musical options. We removed the speakers earlier this month and Metro Sound & Lighting restored them to original specs. Simultaneously, Alex Olsen fabricated a custom steel hanger to mount the speakers that allows them to be aimed more broadly than before.
Currently the carillon rings at 8 a.m., noon and 6 p.m. As we move through the liturgical year, we’ll add music (e.g., a Fourth of July concert and a Christmas Eve ringing).
The Minnesota Renewable Energy Society will have a June 13 screening of “Point of No Return,” a film about the first solar-powered flight around the world. The viewing is from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at Cambria Gallery, Minneapolis.
The event is also a fund-raiser for MRES. Information and tickets at www.mnrenewables.org/film-screening-point-of-no-return.
Ramsey County will host a listening session about suicide prevention from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 30, at Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, 270 N. Kent St., St. Paul.
Share your experiences with suicide prevention resources, needs, partnerships, support, and ideas about how to spread community awareness. More information: Kari Umanzor, 612-916-6998 or [email protected].
1795 Holton St.
Falcon Heights, MN 55113
651-646-2681
[email protected]