Prayer List - To see prayer concerns, please visit our prayer board here.
Important Dates
Nov. 14 Women’s Tea
The Sleep Out 2009
CROP Walk 2009
Thanks to everyone’s support of CROPWALK we raised over $3,300 dollars as a congregation. We surpassed last year’s totals in terms of number of walkers (+1) and dollars raised (+700)! Special thanks to this year’s walkers: Mike B., Tabitha and Shane, Donna J., Steve L., Debbie L., Hillary P., Maya I., LeAnn V., Kimberly W., and Steve and Chana W.
IOCP News
The challenge in maintaining FoodShelf inventory is unprecedented. Basic products are either unavailable or unaffordable at the food bank. More families are using the FoodShelf more frequently and there are 30-40 new families every month needing help.
We expect 450 families to register for the Adopt A Family program this year. Your support and participation are needed more than ever in the weeks to come.
There are many opportunities to volunteer at the FoodShelf, to sponsor a family, and to help December 11,12, and 13th during the Adopt A Family weekend. Please call 952-475-2436 to be a sponsor, to volunteer, or for information or go to pccc.pbworks.com/IOCP.
Thank you
Thank you so much for your thoughtful donation of school supplies to Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners.
Our BACK TO SCHOOL program has become an institution in the community – providing critical service to low-income families with children and a delightful opportunity for individuals and groups to support a worthwhile project. Some of our donors are preschoolers who’ve saved “allowance” and birthday money, then selected and delivered their donations themselves, seeing firsthand how this wonderful process works. What a simple and effective way to develop a lifelong habit of the heart!
Your support is genuinely appreciated. We couldn’t do it without you!
Sincerely,
LaDonna Hoy, Executive Director
Interfaith Outreach & Community Partners
SHARING THE BOUNTY----------
Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners will distribute 100,000 pounds of food during the holiday season. We can meet the challenge with your help. Please consider donating early in November or December ---several thousand bags will be prepared for each of the holiday distributions!
Appetizers, potatoes, cheese, sausage, crackers, cake mix, nuts, bread, butter or margarine, rolls, stuffing mix, frosting mix, canned or fresh fruit, aluminum foil,
canned or fresh vegetables, plastic wrap, canned soup, foil, turkey pan, whipped cream mix, holiday napkins, pie crust mix, gift certificates for turkeys
This list can be found online at pccc.pbworks.com/Holiday-needs
A Table Before Me: God's Open-Armed Adventure
Come Join the Adventure!
2009 Adventure in Mission– TABLE HOSPITALITY
Every month will include a different focus; every quarter will bring a new activity; every season will provide more challenge to increase your understanding of Mission, deepen your commitment to Mission, develop your capacity for Mission stewardship.
October Mission Focus: CROP Walk
November Mission Focus: The Sleep Out
Decaf has arrived!Reminder- Plymouth Creek Christian Church sells Fair Trade Coffee! Part of your purchase goes to provide hunger relief assistance. $6 a bag; pick it up from the display in the Welcome Center, next to the Church Office.
Currently, we’re selling three types- Breakfast Blend pre-ground, both regular and decaf, and French Roast whole bean. But there are more options available, which you can look at on the equal exchange website. at interfaith.equalexchange.com
October Sermon Homework-
For the month of October, Pastor Shane is preaching a sermon series titled "Adventures of Biblical Proportion." Here are the scriptures to look at ahead of time. Consider it your sermon homework for the month. No tests, but gold stars and extra credit for those who complete the homework on time!
October 4- Daniel 3- The Fiery Furnace
October 11- Judges 15:9-19- Samson and the Donkey Jawbone
October 18- Judges 4 - Deborah and Jael
October 25- Acts 27:1-2, 7-11, 13-15, 18-20, 27, 39, 42-44- The Shipwreck of Paul
PCCC’s This I Believe Essays
Based on the NPR “This I Believe” series
Check out thisibelieve.org if you want to learn more
We invite every person at Plymouth Creek to write a "This I Believe" essay regarding one aspect of your faith.
1)350-500 words,
2)Tell a story; make it personal,
3)Describe one thing about your faith, i.e. don't try to include everything.
4)Email them to pastor@plymouthcreek.org, or hand it to Pastor Shane, or send it via snail mail, or slide it under the office door.
Each week for the next year, we will put one or two of these in the weekly bulletin insert, so that we can learn from each other what's important about faith, and how to put that into words.
Every essay will be anonymous- so no one needs to feel self-conscious, competitive or worried about judgment. Only Pastor Shane will know who wrote the essay (or not, if you just slip it under his door!).
Fall Sunday School Schedule(s)
Reminder- Sunday School has started. 9 AM (8:45 for Adults) every week. Get ready for another adventure in learning.
Plymouth Creek Christian Church will once again be hosting a sleep out to support IOCP’s efforts to combat homelessness in our area.
We will be sleeping out on November 14th.
We will again gather on the north lawn of the church in our tents, boxes, and cars. Or bring a bedroll and sleep on the floor inside (many people stay with a friend when they lose their housing).
We will have breakfast together before Sunday School
If you would like to make an online donation in support of this year’s sleep out, visit iocp.ejoinme.org/140 or go to the announcements section at www.plymouthcreek.org
Sharon Watkins Adds Her Voice to "Break the Silence" for the DRC
October 6, 2009
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Greetings today in the name of the living Christ – and on behalf of brother and sister Disciples across the United States and Canada. It is an honor to add my voice in breaking the silence about the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Disciples' roots in Congo go back over 100 years. Today the Disciples of Christ Community in Congo is strong and vibrant. It is led by as gifted and skilled a group of leaders as can be found anywhere in the world church. And yet these partners tell us forthrightly that people in Congo are suffering.
The war in the east has brought to a halt all across the country to the needed development of infrastructure that might have followed the end of a cruel dictatorship. The war drains the energy and resources of the national government. But more heart-breaking are the weapons of terror that are used in that war against women and children. It's time for the world community to shine a light on the violence, and to insist that the Congolese government and the United Nations turn their attention to putting an end to it.
The World Council of Churches, through its top governance body, the Central Committee, has urged WCC member churches "to publicly condemn violence against women" in the DRC. It has urged all parties in the conflict to put an end to all acts of sexual violence and called on the government "to end impunity for rape and to evolve effective strategies to combat sexual violence."
Such measures are long overdue. But there is more. We, too, citizens of the United States and Canada, have a role to play.
The war in the eastern DRC is complicated. It is partly a remnant of the very disputes that led to the Rwandan genocide not so long ago. But it is also due to the unimaginably rich store of natural resources in Congo – resources that the 21st century world demands for jet fuel, cell phones and computers. People and companies of many nations have gotten rich taking minerals from Congo without compensating the Congolese. Such greed fuels the war. This centuries old pattern of taking from Congo – from slavery, through the rubber trade, through trade in diamonds and copper to today's trade in cobalt and coltan – has left Congo exhausted and depleted. And yet the church continues to grow, the people continue to work and to hope for a better day. They reach out to us as partners to help break the pattern and break the silence by standing up and speaking out and searching our own consciences.
At General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) this summer I spoke about Henoch, a child of a Congolese Disciples pastor. I said Henoch, a child of God, is also our child. As you break the silence today I hope you will remember the children of eastern Congo who live in terror of the next militia coming through. Remember their mothers and sisters whose lives are devastated by horrors that most of us cannot imagine. I hope you will pray for them and for us, that you will educate yourselves about the role we play in today's interconnected global economy, and that you will continue to speak up and to give, so that Henoch's generation can know peace.
In the name of the one who came that we might know life in abundance,
Sharon E. Watkins - General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
For More Information
Sandra Gourdet
Area Executive
Africa
PO Box 1986
Indianapolis,Indiana 46206
317-713-2551
Fax: 317-635-4323
sgourdet@dom.disciples.org
Former WoC Intern Reports from IndonesiaWednesday, October 21, 2009
Dear Friends,
{The Rev. Bonnie Carenen, former WoC Intern, is now working for Church World Service in Indonesia. She has sent this on-the-ground report of our relief efforts. We are so grateful for her service.}
Earthquakes don't kill people, but broken buildings and a breakdown in the infrastructure do. Similarly, it is not merely houses or institutions that keep people alive in an emergency situation, but the hands and hearts and fortitude of people who take courage and compassion seriously.
In western Sumatra and across Indonesia, earthquakes are common enough. The 17,000 islands of Indonesia exist because of seismic activity along the "Ring of Fire," an unlucky-horseshoe-shaped geological belt that stretches around the Pacific rim from north of Australia to Japan, around to Canada, including the western United States, and down to Chile in South America. It includes the most active earthquakes and volcanoes in the world, and some of the richest, most fertile soil.
The 7.6 Richter scale earthquake that struck in Padang in western Sumatra two weeks ago destroyed the lives and livelihoods of many people. It also created a fragile moment when God's moving in the world was keenly experienced and shared. In this story Zukri Amra first ensured the well being of his family, then quickly gathered thirty teenagers to help survivors out from under the rubble, until he was sure "nothing more could be done." This truly is courageous compassion.
Week of Compassion's implementing partners in Indonesia, including Church World Service, oversaw first-response efforts, including distribution of tents and tarps, establishing water and sanitation supplies, and distributing emergency medical relief. Now, efforts have moved from emergency relief to intermediate recovery. CWS is creating safe spaces for children to play and work through their confusion and anxiety. CWS is helping supply families with resources to rebuild and fortify their homes so they are quake-resistant.
In Indonesia and around the world, 'expected unexpecteds' are a part of life. Week of Compassion is committed - by fact and by faith - to the work of responding to the areas of deepest suffering and promoting the widest possibility of mercy and hope.
Around the World, Around the Year: Where in the World Have We Responded This Week?
Disaster Responses:
Vietnam, flood relief
Cambodia, flood relief
Florida, long-term storm recovery
Pastor's Pen - Click here to read Pastor Shane's latest letter
Read more!
