"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, diversity; in all things, charity."

GETTING TO KNOW OUR MINISTRIES:

 

Education Ministry helps plan the fall Sunday school program by choosing a curriculum and finding teachers to help teach our children.

 

During our summer months we help find teachers to lead enrichment times- this usually includes a sign up sheet and work sheets to help guide our teachers.

 

We help organize our acolytes and train them in lighting the candles before and after church.

 

In the spring we have a Bible Sunday in which 2nd graders (and anyone who has not previously received one) get Bibles.

 

At Christmas we have a pageant led by our Sunday school children.

 

During the summer we have a Vacation Bible School program.  For this we ask for members of the congregation to help as teachers, serve snacks, and to help with games.

 

Facilities Ministry is responsible for the physical building and grounds of the church.  It is our responsibility to maintain the existing structure and property while planning from any additions and enhancements that may be required as the congregation grows and evolves.

 

We try to perform most of our maintenance and upkeep to the property via our periodically scheduled workdays.  These usually begin in April and last through October.  There are many tasks that can be performed at a workday including: painting, yard work, cleaning and any other item that needs attention to keep our church looking well.

 

The Facility Ministry is always looking for assistance on a full time or part time basis for specific projects.  Feel free to contact any member of the committee if you have a specific talent that you would like to share to help keep our church and grounds looking beautiful.

 

Finance Ministry is responsible for administrating church business affairs and financial encumbrances and to appropriate, execute or otherwise hold in sacred trust all devises, grants or bequests made to the church.

 

Our responsibilities and activities include:

· Count, credit, and deposit donations each week & report results to Treasurer and Financial Secretary

· Evaluate St. John’s financial status each month & suggest ideas for income growth & expense control

· Assist with any loan application process as needed

· Plan and/or (help) implement annual Stewardship campaign

· Help Treasurer and Ministries prepare next year’s budget for presentation at the Annual Meeting

 

Members At Large Ministry is responsible for church growth and development activities.  We provide the Sunday greeters and also are responsible for the new member get together.  Any advertising for the church goes through our ministry and we oversee the SBC yellow pages ad.  Any specially formed short-term committees also fall under our ministry.

 

Outreach & Benevolence Ministry (O&B) – actively seeks to engage the time, talents, and material resources of St. John members in projects targeted at helping people and organizations locally, nationally and internationally with special needs.  Examples of recent and current projects are:

· PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter) is a local program run by DuPage PADS, Wheaton, IL, which St. John supports.  O&B is committed to providing food and volunteer staff on any month that has a 5th Wednesday for an overnight homeless shelter operated at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Naperville.  Beth Shalom shares this commitment with us.

· Thanksgiving Meals to Needy Families and the support to Loaves & Fishes Community Pantry are two other local projects operated by this ministry.  The former involves providing food gift cards to families with special needs who attend Longwood Elementary school in Naperville.  The latter involves monthly donations of food items and, once a year, volunteers to help receive, unload, and store items received from food drives, such as the Mail Carriers drive.

· Providing awareness of and soliciting monthly member contributions for OCWM (Our Churches Wider Mission), one of several fund raising programs of UCC, is both a local and national project that is part of this ministry’s charge.  Of the funds supplied by St. John members (and 1,000 other UCC churches) some flow back to us and others support a wide assortment of local and national church ministry activities.

· A number of Church World Service fund drives, such as Crop Walk and Blanket and Tool Sunday are the target of fund raising efforts within St. John by the O&B committee.  These funds provide humanitarian relief from hunger, disease, and natural disasters throughout the world.  Besides these drives, in 2005, O&B raised over $3,000 to help victims of the Asian Tsunami and the US hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.

 

In addition to undertaking projects like these, O&B works to both raise St. John member awareness and to support outreach activities and works undertaken by other ministries (and individuals) at our church.  For example, developing funding for a Youth Fellowship summer work trip via plant sales, car washing, or the sale of shareholder certificates is a part of St. John’s overall outreach effort.

 

Parish Life Ministry is the ‘social ministry’ of the church.  We’re here to welcome everyone into the social life of St. John. 

 

We organize many of the fellowship activities that occur regularly throughout the year.  These include coffee hours, monthly potlucks, as well as events that occur outside the regular Sunday morning worship time.

 

Events such as the annual Progressive Dinner, golf outings, campfires and Kane County Cougars outings are all managed by Parish Life.  Parish Life also has taken over responsibility for the summer Family Camp.

 

Spiritual Life and Evangelism Ministry (SLE) – is responsible for everything relating to the spiritual component of St. John.  Our impact on the life of the church is most evident in the ‘look and feel’ of the worship service, but SLE is involved behind the scenes in many ways.

 

SLE’s responsibilities include:

· Scheduling worship services – this includes special event services such as the 'Blessing of the Animals Sunday'

· Arranging for  substitute preachers when necessary

· Coordinating the order of worship with the pastor – the ‘choreography’ of the worship service

· Pastoral staff supervision and evaluation

· Lay staff supervision and evaluation

· Oversight of the music ministry

· Altar care

· Ushers

· Seasonal decoration

· Lay leadership training; And more…

Though SLE has a large mandate (and represents the biggest portion of St. John’s annual budget) it has help from many in the congregation who have special interests in the spiritual life of the church.  We couldn’t do it well without the help of others and welcome the participation of all in the congregation.

 

Youth Ministry is responsible for the oversight of the St. John Youth Fellowship.  It has authority to create and implement, with Cabinet approval, policies related to the on-going vision of the St. John Youth Fellowship program.

 

We provide oversight and establish policies are in place for all Youth Fellowship activities that

a.     insure safe and inclusive events

b.     insure that the St. John community is accessible to the youth in the congregation

c.     provide oversight of Youth Fellowship fund raising.

Click here for a copy of the Ministry Meeting form.