A SAFE PLACE FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN

CRAFT CIRCLE NEWS

We have a lot of store and restaurant coupons in the basket on the counter in the C.E. Building. They are free for the taking and really do save money on your shopping. This is also a good way to try new products and not spend too much. We sort through the basket the first week of each month, to keep the coupons up to date. Lots of good coupons are in there. Please help yourself. I have been keeping track on my savings each month on a calendar and last year I managed to save $287.03

Two of our women have been having health issues and haven’t been with us for a couple of months. Get well Liz and come back, we miss you. My Aunt Elizabeth, hopefully will be back this month. We have missed you too.

This is a very sad time for us, as we have lost our good friend and long time faithful member of our group, Mary Czajkowski. She has joined us on many outings, mystery trips, and our retreats to my home away from home in the north woods near Ludington. We will really miss her. Rest in peace our good friend.

Love to all,

Betty Bush

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Communion – February 5

2 cents a meal – February 5

Souper Bowl of Caring – February 5

Confirmation Class – February 5,12,19,26

Worship & Music mtg. – February 7

Children’s Valentine Party – February 11

Session – February 20

Board of Deacons – February 21

Ash Wednesday – February 22

Presbytery mtg. – February 28

Ladies Retreat – March 24

Ecumenical Good Friday service – April 6

Teen Tea – May 12

Dear Church Family,

By now you have all received your letter from our Stewardship Committee. We all hope that you will be able to respond soon as we are starting to plan for 2012’s budget. Please do not hesitate to share any questions, concerns, or ideas you may have about our budget with any member of our committee or Rev. Greg. We are all in this together. I have included the text of the letter with this column just in case you missed it:

Greetings in Christ!

 As we approach the end of the year, the time has come to ask you to consider renewing your pledge commitment to our Belleville Presbyterian Church. We will be continuing with the faith-based model we started using last year. Using this model has Session developing the annual budget based on pledges instead of just presenting a completed budget it to the congregation as a giving target. As a result, our Session must have a commitment from you before we can allocate money for anything, no matter what. 

 Ask yourself, “How grateful am I for the gifts that I have received from my loving God?” That is a question that only you can answer. As we all continue to live with challenging economic conditions both at home and in the world, the mission of the church must continue. This takes money and work. The church needs your gifts of time and talent as well as cash. Do you have any new ideas or insights for how to use whatever God–given abilities you have for Christ through our church? Please share them. We promise to be good stewards of all that is placed in our care.

 Great things have been happening at BPC over the last year. Worship attendance and membership are both up, our involvement in community and Presbytery events has increased, and there is a wonderful feeling of joyous optimism in our family of faith.  Our Community Garden was a great success. We’re well along with planning for the celebration of 50 years of ministry that will commence in the fall of next year and build up to a grand finale on the first Sunday of Advent in 2013. The future is bright, and we invite you to rededicate yourself to the work of our Lord Jesus Christ that is ongoing at the Belleville Presbyterian Church.

 We ask you to prayerfully consider your pledge of time, talent, and treasure for the coming year before returning the enclosed pledge card. Let’s make this next year the start of another fifty years of wonder!

Faithfully,

Elder Carol Maguire

Belleville Presbyterian Church Stewardship & Finance Committee

 Christian Education

The Christian education team is working on the Women’s retreat scheduled for March 24, 2012. The Sunday school class is focusing on learning The Lord’s Prayer. Confirmation class continues. Plans for a Teen Tea are formulating. All teens please save the date May 12, 2012.

-Elder Deb Gill

Keep Kids Warm

Our church is starting an exciting coat ministry. Our mission is to provide a coat, hat, gloves or mittens for every single child in the community that needs one. We may be a small church, but we have a big heart. We are looking for coat angels; members of our congregation that would be willing to help find gently used coats, hats, gloves or mittens for children by visiting thrifts stores, asking friends and neighbors, and all around bargain hunting. These angels would have to be committed to purchasing and donating the gently used children’s coats, hats, gloves or mittens. We also need angels that would be willing to launder the used outer wear. Anyone that is interested please contact Diane Shew, Connie Etter, or Deb Gill.

CHILDREN’S VALENTINE PARTY

Saturday, February 11, 2012

2:00 – 4:00 PM

Crafts, Cookie Decorating and story-time

February 22, 2012

Imposition of Ashes at 5:30 PM.

POTLUCK DINNER – SUNDAY – FEBRUARY 19 – 11:00 A.M.