In response to findings and recommendations of the Financial Responsibility Committee (FRC) and a vote of the congregation on October 18, 2009, the Eliot Church of Newton will be convening deliberative dialogues in January and February 2010 to prepare for budget decisions at the March 14, 2010 congregational meeting.  These dialogues are open to everyone in the Eliot church community and will cover a variety of options for addressing Eliot's fiscal issues and strengthening the church as we move further into the 21st century.   We hope that every active member and friend of Eliot will attend one of these dialogues. 

 

At the dialogue forums, participants will consider several "approaches," or potential action plans, and will be asked to weigh the costs and benefits of these potential action plans, with the ultimate goal of reaching common understanding, and a common direction to take in response to the financial issues.  Participant comments will be anonymously recorded to capture the essence of each forum.  These records, in addition to participant surveys, will be summarized and distributed to church members at a March 7th congregational forum to prepare for the March 14th congregational meeting on the FY 2011 Eliot budget.

 

The dialogues will be facilitated or "moderated" by Eliot Church members who will not advocate a specific point of view or solution, but provide participants with a broad range of choices to consider.  The moderators will use a nonpartisan discussion outline prepared to guide the deliberation and educate participants on the issue.  Light refreshments will be served at each meeting.  The dialogue dates and times are as follows:

 

Sunday, January 24 from 3:00 - 5:00 pm    

      

Wednesday, January 27 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm

 

Saturday, January 30 from 3:00 - 5:00 pm    

  

Sunday, January 31 from 11:30 am - 1:30 pm

 

Wednesday, February 3 from  7:00 - 9:00 pm

 

Sunday, February 7 from 11:30 am - 1:30 pm

             

Wednesday, February 10th at 7:00 - 9:00 pm

 

 

 

 

For additional information, please contact Kevin Curtin, Eliot Task Force Chair at 508-423-0140 or kjcurtin@gmail.com.

 

 

Black Box Bible Study-Theological-Spiritual Forums in January & February.  During the Sundays of January and February, there are several Sundays available to offer 11:30 forums after worship.  Tony and Karla are collecting topics/issues that you are interested in discussing and studying.  All you need to do is submit your "topic" and after we have gathered a bunch of them, we will put them in a box and draw as many as we need to cover the Sundays!   Please submit your ideas by January 12th by either sending an email to Pastor Tony (askill@comcast.net) or sending an email to Pastor Karla (revkarla@gmail.com) or by placing your idea in the offering plate on Sundays.

HOW would you describe Eliot Church in ten words or less?  Your membership commission is looking to you, the congregation, to submit ideas and slogans that we might use as our "mission" tag line.   A mission statement should be brief, hopefully catchy, and capture who we are and why we exist.  For example, one congregation's mission statement is "Becoming the Beloved Community".  Another congregation's statement is "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors".    Some of the "mission" statements from the UCC national campaign include, "Ancient Faith, Fresh Perspectives", "God is Still Speaking", and "No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here."   What words or statement do you think will capture the spirit and community of Eliot Church?  Submit your ideas to Karla Miller, or Fred Balfour; or write them on the bulletin board by the church office.  There is also a prize-a Kiva Micro-Loan credit that you can use to invest in small businesses/entrepreneurs  in the developing world!  See www.kiva.org for more information!

 

Since pastor Tony can walk to church, we have never cancelled a Sunday worship service, and probably won't.  However, there are times when we may wish to cancel Sunday School, Chancel Choir, Children's Choir, and other planned programs.

 

Since most of the congregation is connected by email, we will use the Eliot Email list to "get the word out" about cancellations.  For major events, an all-church email will be sent by 8:00am.  We will have a special message on the church telephone answering machine announcing the cancellations (also by 8:00am).

 

If you don't have email at home, or would prefer to get a telephone call (rather than email message) if a cancellation might affect you, please call Terri Whitney Jackson in the church office at 617-244-3639 ext. 201 or send her an email at office@eliotchurch.org and asked to be put on the phone contact list.

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