CHURCH NEWS January 14 , 2007

A new Sunday School class for parents of young children begins today by Jess and Vicky O’Dell in the church library  at 9:30 each Sunday.  This will be a class of teaching and fellowship to get to know one another better.  The book being used is Be a Great Parent, by Dr. H Norman Wright.  You may still sign up on the Friendship Register for the class and book.

There will be a brief Body Life Committee today, right after church in the church library.

Office will be closed on Monday – due to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday.

This is the week our new small group Bible studies start up again for ten weeks.  Today is the last day to sign-up.  Those of you who wanted a day group will meet at the church library on Wednesdays at 1 pm.  This is an open group that can grow bigger, so feel free to join anytime.  If you’re in an evening group your host home should be notifying you.  If not, call Polly at 422-3941.

FEELING STRESSED, DOWN IN THE DUMPS, TIRED? Then be sure not to miss this Saturday’s (Jan. 20th) Non-talent Show at 6:30 pm at the church!  We’ll have fellowship over dessert and then laugh a lot at humorous acts.  You’ll be glad you came.  If you plan to attend, write “Non-talent” after your name on the Friendship Register so we’ll have enough dessert.

Our Annual Congregation Meeting is January 21st, next Sunday, right after the worship service.  If you would like a congregational book before the meeting, they will be ready for pick up on Friday afternoon.

We will be having our potluck on the 21st after our Annual Congregational Meeting. A-M bring a dessert N-Z  bring a salad.

An Invitation for Membership - If you’ve found our church to be a church home for your faith journey, you are invited to attend a membership class to consider joining this church.  Our pastor will be offering a class this month for those interested.  We’ll pick a time that will hopefully work for everyone once we know who is interested.  So please call the church, talk to Pastor Ken, or sign the church Friendship Register-“Membership” soon if interested. 
Generally there are two class sessions.

A Special Note for Church Members on Per Capita –
            If you’ve been a Presbyterian very long, you are probably familiar with the term “Per Capita.”  It is a per-member assessment in the Presbyterian Church to pay for administrative costs.  By handling administrative costs for our denomination in this way, mission dollars designated for missions totally go to do that work.  Our per capita in this presbytery is $38.85.  Two thirds of this ($26.77) goes to our Presbytery of Central Washington.  General Assembly receives $5.79 and the Synod the remainder, $6.29.  Our Presbytery costs are high because of our geography and lack of population. For our church, per capita is $6,527 we pay in the first three months of the year. Any giving to offset that expense to our budget is greatly appreciated.  The session wants to remind parents that if they have children who are members and not living here, it might be nice to let them know of this expense born by the church on their behalf.