TUESDAY FEBRUARY 18
–MidWest USFW Zoom mtg, 7:00 PM
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 19
—Prayer Soup supper, 5:30 PM @ parsonage
–M&O Flourishing Friends Zoom meeting, 7:00 PM
—No Welcome Class Bible study
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 20
–Choir practice, 6:30 PM in choir room
–Chiming choir practice, 7:15 PM in choir room
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 22
Art Club, 11 AM-3 PM in meetinghouse dining room
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 23
Meeting for Worship-Sharing, 10:00 AM, both in person @ meetinghouse and online via Zoom
MONDAY FEBRUARY 24
Ministry & Oversight, 7:00 PM by Zoom
BULLETIN BOARD for FEBRUARY 16, 2025
THE TRUSTEES’ February meeting will be held this afternoon at 3:30 PM by Zoom or at the parsonage.
THE MISSIONS & SOCIAL CONCERNS COMMITTEE’S February meeting will be held this afternoon at 4:30 PM by Zoom.
AN OFFERING PLATE to receive contributions for Winchester Friends’ ministries is located on the table at the sanctuary parlor entrance. Thank you for your faithful support and participation in the Meeting’s work.
TODAY IS COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRY SUNDAY: Each third Sunday of the month, Friends are invited to donate a staple food item or a dollar or two for helping area residents who struggle to afford adequate nutrition. Food donations may be left at the church office door, and monetary donations may be dropped into the Quaker Oats tin on the southwest parlor table.
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN 2025: This week’s chapters are Numbers 1-24. The year’s daily reading schedule is on the southwest parlor table.
USFW Midwest will have a Zoom meeting for all USFW women this Tuesday February 18 at 7:00 PM. Pam Ferguson will send the Zoom link.
FLOURISHING FRIENDS: Late last year, the Monthly Meeting approved acceptance of an invitation for our Ministry & Oversight to enter into a six-month consultancy with Quaker trainers Scott Wagoner (pastor, High Point NC Friends) and Colin Saxton (former pastor, FUM General Secretary). They have developed a course to help equip Friends Meetings for effective ministry in our country’s rapidly-changing culture. The first meeting of the series will take place this Wednesday Feb. 19 at 7:00 PM by Zoom. The link will be sent to participants on Wednesday morning.
THE WELCOME CLASS BIBLE STUDY will next meet on Wednesday February 26 at 7:00 PM by Zoom to study Lesson 12 in the Illuminate quarterly (“Creation Praises God,” drawn from Psalms 19 and 98). Speak with Pam Ferguson for the Zoom link or a quarterly.
THE BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP is now reading the novel Tom Lake (by Ann Patchett) for discussion on Monday March 10. Copies are available for loan from Winchester’s Public Library. All are welcome to participate!
KRISTEN’S KITCHEN: In the sanctuary parlor today is a table with baked goods from Kristen Sherman and her family. They bake pies, cinnamon rolls, several kinds of bread, muffins, and cookies to sell at the Minnetrista Saturday Farmer’s Market in Muncie. The items on the table are ones which didn’t sell yesterday. The Shermans offer them to Friends here for a freewill donation, with all the proceeds going to Friends United Meeting to support the Belize Friends Church’s Grocery Bag Ministry helping their neighbors with needed food.
CHRISTMAS MISSIONS OFFERING REPORT: Friends here donated $2500 in December which was matched with funds from the Best Special Projects account. $1500 has gone to Mennonite Disaster Service for their Hurricane Helene/flooding response in North Carolina. MDS workers have cleaned up mud, cleared fallen trees, and installed 150 small bridges and culverts to help people access their homes. Another $1500 is being sent to support the ministries of Jamaica Yearly Meeting, our Fall 2024 global ministries focus. $1000 has gone to Gideons International for their Bible placement ministry, and $1000 went to the local Community Christmas Baskets project which provided food to 400 area households in December.
PUBLISHING TRUTH: December’s Monthly Meeting for Business approved a grant of the church’s Coon Fund money to help Barclay Press complete the publication of Friend Max Carter’s new book Palestine and Israel: Understanding Encounters. The book is Carter’s account of the struggle for peace in the Holy Land and the various developments he has witnessed in Palestine since the Second Intifada. The Meeting will soon receive a copy of the book for our library, available to all interested Friends.
PILL BOTTLE COLLECTION: The Missions & Social Concerns Committee is collecting plastic pill containers for Matthew 25 Ministries, an Ohio agency serving overseas medical missions. Pick up an information/instruction sheet from the west parlor table, and place donated bottles in the collection basket.
PENNIES FROM HEAVEN $10 bills are available to Friends willing to carry them until led by the Spirit to share it with someone needing a bit of help and a reminder of God’s love. See Ron Ferguson to obtain one.
