Dearborn Congregational United Church of Christ provides opportunities for worship, spiritual growth, fellowship and service in a small congregation where all are valued and supported wherever they are on their individual faith journeys.
- Welcome Reverend Dr. Eugene A. Blair Dr. Blair's Bio.
Sunday, October 25, 2020 Worship Service
Sunday, October 18, 2020 Worship Service
Sunday, September 13, 2020 Outside Worship Service
Mac McAdams
- A FAREWELL PASTOR BLAIR!
On behalf of the members and friends of Dearborn Congregational Church, we extend a heartfelt 'thank you' to Pastor Eugene Blair for serving as our Intentional Interim Minister, spiritual leader, and consultant since March 1. Pastor Blair will be leaving us after November 8 to take on a new challenge at United Church of Ovid in Ovid, MI which is both Methodist and UCC. In spite of very difficult circumstances brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, which prevented him from truly getting to know our congregation due to sheltering-in-place which drastically reduced attendance, Pastor Blair laid for us a valuable foundation for using technology both during the service and outside the service, provided a blueprint and methodology for us to consider a new mission field with a new future, and delivered inspired sermons, while doing it all with dignity and grace. His efforts are deeply appreciated and we wish him the best, along with all of God's blessings, in all of his future pursuits. For the balance of November and December, Brian Sampson will lead us in worship and give the Sunday morning message. We greatly appreciate Brian for offering to fill this critical need during the holiday season.
- Worship Service Moves Inside: With cold weather arriving, we will go back to hold-ing all Sunday services inside. Please note that the sanctuary is cleaned thoroughly after each service, hand sanitizer and masks are available, we require masks, and there is plenty of pew space so we can all social distance with room to spare. Bath-rooms are cleaned and disinfected each week, too. Our sanctuary has always been Covid-free and we intend to keep it that way -thanks to the careful actions and good judgment shown by members and friends. We truly hope to see you, if you are com-fortable coming!
- Catch the Sunday Service at dccdearborn.org: If you can't make it in person to Sunday service, you can watch the worship service each week on our web-site, www.dccdearborn.org by clicking on the first link you see under "Recent and Up-coming Events". The Sunday bulletin, which is posted ahead of time, can be found on our website by looking under "DCC Home" at the top of the page and then going to "Weekly Bulletin".
- Special Prayers for Pat Stacho: Pat had yet another surgery on the arteries in her leg, but unfortunately she developed severe complications this time, including a bad infection in her leg, and is in a lot of pain right now. She's on antibiotics for 10 days. So please lift healing prayers up for Pat!
- Position Opening: Church Treasurer - After many years of faithful service, Matthew Haling is resigning as Treasurer, effective October 1. We need a replacement soon. The Treasurer is an Officer of the church and an important responsibility, however, the work is not particularly time consuming and doesn't require special training. Duties include mailing checks to reimburse members, monitoring the bank account, and doing work at month's end to record bills paid and generate financial reports for the Board of Trus-tees. Payroll checks are handled by another company, though, and monthly bills are paid by online banking thus reducing the time actually spent on the job. Matthew will be glad to coach his successor in using the online bank system and the accounting software used for reports. (QuickBooks spreadsheet and a program called "Gnucash"). To volunteer, or if you have questions, please contact Arnie Schilbe at agschil@att.net or (313) 318-5016.
- Canned/Boxed Food Drive for the Lennon Center: The Lennon Pregnancy Center in Dearborn Heights, which provides services to pregnant women who are single and often have other young children, has reached out to us and asked if we would collect donations of canned and boxed foods for Thanksgiving to help out MANY families they serve this year. We are unofficially kicking off this drive on October 1. There will be a box for you to put your donations inside the church.
- Fundraiser to Fix the Mayflower Room Roof A large section of the ceiling in the Mayflower Room collapsed in May due to water leaking from the flat roof above. The ceiling repair is covered by insurance, but the flat roof needs to be replaced and insulated BEFORE insurance work can be completed. The roof repair is expensive and we need your help! Our goal is to raise $25,000 to cover the cost. Will you pitch in and contribute to our campaign? Members and friends were mailed a letter with an offering envelope inside. Please prayerfully consider giving as much as you are able using the 'Donate' link on this page, which allows you to pay by credit card. A one-time donation or regular monthly donations would be deeply appreciated! The amount we receive will be reported in the Messenger in the coming months. There will also be a progress bar displayed in the sanctuary showing how close we are to our goal. Thank you and God bless you for giving!
- Wednesday Morning Coffee, Conversation, & Bible Study with Pastor Gene: Join us on Wednesdays at 10 AM for an hour-long Zoom Bible Study: "Twenty-Four Sundays in Pentecost - A Study of the Book of Acts". During this 24-week discussion leading all the way to Advent in November, we will look at the New Testament church, Paul, and ministry of the church today in response to "Acts". We cover one chapter a week (on August 26, we will be up to Chapter 11). Just click on the link shown below if you have Zoom installed on your laptop or cell phone. If you haven't tried it out yet, installing Zoom is free and it's easy! Go to Zoom.com
Link for meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85726573232 and this link is valid thru September 9. We hope to see you on Zoom for the morning chat!
- Downriver for Veterans & Pull Tabs Donations: We're still collecting non-perishable food and personal items for Downriver for Veterans in Wyandotte. Place non-perishables in a paper/plastic bag and leave it in the basket in the church behind the pews. We're still collecting pull tabs for Ronald McDonald House too! Thank you.
- Church Maintenance Jobs -Volunteers Wanted:
Even if you aren't attending worship on Sunday, there's still a valuable way you can serve the church. We've compiled a list of indoor and outdoor tasks that we need your help with. Feel free to come over on your own time and spend an hour or two. A 4-page list of jobs was printed in the June Messenger. This list is also located on the table in the back of the sanctu-ary and the bulletin board by the tower entrance. Some jobs have been completed or are nearly complete. We'd like to take inventory of the classrooms, office equipment room, base-ment storage area, and storage garage, too. If anyone wishes to work with another person on this task, bring a notebook and pen and pick a room. For outdoor work, please bring your own yard tools and either a lawn or trash bag. Thank you!
- If You Have a Key or Key(s) to the Church... Please let our Secretary, Liz, know and give her your Key Number. The Key Number is the number which appears by itself on one side of the key. It's NOT the number "069" which is on all the church keys. You can contact Liz by email (dccucc@gmail.com), leave a note on her desk, or tell her in person. Thank you.
- Kroger Community Rewards: It’s been 22 years since our church became a recipient of 5% back on all purchases except gas, alcohol and prescription drugs made online or in the store. I hope to renew your interest in this free money that goes directly to our church each quarter. If you use a Kroger Plus Shopper’s Card (which we all do in order to get discounts) please register it online if you haven’t done so. ANYONE can register our church as a recipi-ent, don’t need to be a member. Invite your friends and family to register us. All your points for gas, coupons and everything else remains the same. Nothing special to punch in when checking out at the store. To be sure that our church is receiving the 5% back from your pur-chase, look at the bottom of your receipt and it will display Dearborn Congregational Church.
Go online to Kroger Community Rewards and follow the instructions to register. No codes are needed – just type in the name of our church and it will come up. When we first began the program we were receiving approximately $500 a year and other than registering once, there’s nothing more to do. Contact me if you have questions. – Diana Schilbe
- Sleeping Mats for the Homeless Project: This is an ongoing project where any-one can make sleeping mats from plastic shopping bags. The group meets on Mondays from 6-8 pm at First Presbyterian Church, 600 Brady St. Dearborn, MI 48124. Bring your bags and your friends. For more information, call Charlie at (313) 506-0907, or see the orange flyer in the sanctuary.
- Prayer List Update We've updated the prayer requests listed in our Sunday bulletin. If someone's name has been removed and they are still in need of our prayers, please contact the church office at 313-271-8552 to have their name added back on the list. To keep our list current, we will date when the prayer request is received and after a month, unless it is renewed, it will be removed.
- Downriver for Veterans: We are collecting non-perishable food items for Downriver for Veter-ans located on Fort Street in Wyandotte. Only in its second year, this organization needs on-going support to assist local resource-limited veterans with food and other needs. Some veterans are on disability income and don’t have enough to pay their bills and buy gro-ceries. You can place your donations in the Totes of Love bin in the back of the Sanctu-ary. Please check the expiration date to make sure items have not expired. Thank You!
- Attention Amazon Shoppers: If you currently have an Amazon account (regular or Prime) your purchases can now earn our church .5%. All you need do is sign into Amazon Smile and log in just as if you were on your regular Amazon account, designate our church as your charity and shop. Please share our Charity with friends and family – anyone who has an Amazon account can donate to us. See Diana Schilbe if you have questions.
- Altar Flower Dedications: Please check the flower calendar in the back of the sanctuary. There are many Sundays available to reserve flowers in honor or memory of loved ones.
GRACE AND PEACE TO EVERYONE:
These are trying times for everyone, the nation, and all churches. Please know that your pastor and lay leaders are working hard to keep us all together through this time of trial, isolation, and crisis. Always know that God is with us to bless us, guide us, and protect us.
Your leaders and I will be meeting via conference call every week through this time of trial and crisis. We want you to know the following:
WORSHIP
Please find attached An Order of Family and Personal Worship to be used today and daily. Since it is not possible for us to gather together as a congregation, we invite you to worship and pray at home, daily! We will be sending you a new order of service each week. May God bless you and your family in this worship.
OFFICE OPERATIONS
Pastor Blair will still be in the office on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings from about 8:00am to 10:30am. If you need to call him or contact him, that would be a great time to do. The best way is to use his cell phone; 1-734-748-6039. Our secretary, Liz, we will be in the office when the building is vacant due to health and families issues. CALL her before coming.
MEETINGS AND EVENTS
As you may have guessed, all meetings and events at the church are cancelled, including worship, dinners, and other activities. We will update you weekly as this is very fluid at this point. We DO NOT expect to be able to have Palm Sunday or Easter services. Please stay tuned for updates.
YOUR FINANCIAL GIVING
Many have asked about their offering. We suggest the following: you can simply mail your offering, you can leave it in the outside mailbox, or you can drop it off on Liz' desk in the office. Or you can choose to set aside weekly amounts at home and catch up with your offering when we return in person. We want you to do whatever is comfortable. THANKS for asking!
PASTORAL CARE
Please let me know ASAP if there are specific pastor care issues. I will be more than happy to respond to needs as they arise.
CARE FOR ONE ANOTHER
This is a lonely and difficult time for people. All of us are stressed to the limit and our mental health is being challenged. So, right now, pick up the phone and call three people in the church. Call 3 people who have not been in a while. Call 3 people you do not know. Just simply ask them how they are doing and let them know they are not alone. Caring is just that simple. You can do this!
Stay well, stay blessed, and stay in love with God,
Pastor Blair
Dr. Eugene A. Blair
Ann Arbor, MI
1-734-748-6039
Attached is "A Family and Personal Prayer Service for Such a Time As This Fourth Sunday in Lent - For the Week of March 22, 2020. To be used for Sunday worship while worship together is not possible, and to be used daily as an act of worship and devotion. Hymns can be found in your family hymn book or on YouTube. Use these offered or choose your own daily. Prayer Service.
