Established 1675
Telephone: (203) 265-1691 ¤ FAX: (203) 265-0693  ¤
Church E-Mail: firstchurchwlfd@snet.net

Welcome to the First Congregational Church of Wallingford website. To visitors, members, regular attendees and friends, we extend a warm welcome and our hope that you will find this website and the information it offers concerning the church, its ministries, activities, staff and outreach both easy to use and helpful. If you have Acrobat Reader, you can read our church newsletter, Spire. The Church's Monthly calendar of activities is also available. We welcome your comments and suggestions.

News

New Member Conversations and Questions?
Visit about the programs, worship, activities, mission, and history of the First Congregational Church of Wallingford.
Come and talk about your personal and faith journey.
Sunday, April 29, 2012 at 11:30 a.m. in the Guild Room.
New members of the congregation will be received
and welcomed on Sunday, May 6, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.
A separate new member conversation will be scheduled for Ashlar Village residents.
New members will be welcomed into fellowship
on Sunday, May 6, 2012 at 2:00 p.m.
Please let Rev. Dean Warburton know of your interest in attending. Church office: (203) 265-1691.
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Notes from the Scholarship Committee

Please keep in mind our Annual Flower and Plant Sale will take place on Mother's Day, May 13, 2012. Check out our flowers for your garden.
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An Invitation to Join in a New “Book Group”
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
7:00 pm @ The Meetinghouse
You can help us get our new Book Group launched. Bring yourself, a friend, and ideas for books the group might enjoy reading and discussing together. This First Congregational Church Book Group is sponsored by the Family Life Center and is open to all interested church members and friends. Our hope is that this new group will provide an opportunity to share conversation
and fellowship while enjoying “Books with Friends”.
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Relay For Life of Meriden/Wallingford
June 8-9, 2012
Lyman Hall High School, Wallingford, CT
You can join the First Church, Wallingford team
(Linda’s Angels).
Sign up after Church or support us with a
generous donation. Contact Any or Margaret Jay for additional information (203-265-1691).

Watch the video! Click here.

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Cultivating Fruitfulness
Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations

• Radical Hospitality
• Passionate Worship
• Intentional Faith Development
• Risk-Taking Mission and Service
• Extravagant Generosity

We have looked at each of these ideas and how they relate to our church as a congregation. Vibrant, fruitful, growing congregations practice extravagant generosity. They encourage their church members to grow in the grace of giving as an essential practice of Christian discipleship.

Hopefully, you have enjoyed our messages and are ready to make your promise real by pledging to support our church, its mission, and its place in our world. If you have already offered your pledge, thank you. It is never too late to fill out a pledge form.

Thank you for your support of our congregation’s ministries, programs, and mission.
Your Stewardship Committee
Cathy Knight, Tom Jastermsky, Diana Majchrzak, Peggy Segur,
Nancy Urquhart, Mary Kay and Dave Skinnon
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Youth Group News

Sr. High Youth
Meets Sundays at 6:00PM
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Sr. High Spring Retreat
Incarnation Center, Ivoryton, CT
May 11 & 12, 2012
The theme: “The wonderful world of Dr. Seuss” and “OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO! THERE IS FUN TO BE DONE! THERE ARE
POINTS TO BE SCORED, AND THERE ARE GAMES
TO BE WON." So, come and immerse yourself into
the world of Dr. Seuss. Talk about what it would be like
to be an individual in Dr. Seuss books.

At this Sr. High Retreat, I guarantee that there will be plenty of laughter and a time to heal the soul. Save the date, May 11-12. The
cost for this weekend will be $30, which covers transportation, food, and housing.
Call now (203-265-1691) to reserve your spot for this year’s fun-filled Sr. High Spring Retreat Incarnation Center, at
Ivoryton, CT.
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Jr. High Youth
Meets every 2nd and 4th Saturday from 5:00 - 7:00PM

Jr. High Lock-in
On May 4-5 the Jr. High will have a
spring-time Lock-in. The theme: “Words of
excitement.” We will play games, eat a ton of
pizza, talk, and stay up late. I hope to see
you there and guarantee this one will be
even better then the last!!!
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BAWA Health Initiative

Having distributed Malaria preventing bed nets to several villages in Cameroon (including BAWA) since 2005, we now need to replace these older insecticide treated bed nets with new bed nets which have new insecticide treatment. The cost is about $10 for each bed net. Please make a Bed net gift to BHI, send it to PO Box 432, Wallingford CT 06492 (designate bed nets on your check). Please read our current Newsletter.

New Bed Net
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In 140 characters or less, how would
you describe the First Congregational Church of Wallingford to an interested stranger?

Among the responses shared:
Our church is not only the foundation for our beliefs in the Lord, but also the sanctuary for our people, our family. In one simple, but powerful word our church is HOME.

High on a hill in Wallingford, there is a pointy church, with warm, inviting, giving families, that welcome with generous loving arms all those who come to us.

The First Congregational Church is a warm inviting place that reaches out to the community with an abundance of support.


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The Bawa Health Initiative
For the Village of Bawa, Cameroon, Africa

The Board of Community and World Service has not lost sight of the great need for medical and health assistance in Africa. Dr. Dennis J. Richardson along with Dr. Blaise Dondji, have undertaken the mission of helping the village of Bawa by:

• Providing primary health care to the residents of Bawa
• Reducing the prevalence of infectious diseases
• Supplying clean drinking water to all residents
• Educating the general public about infectious diseases in the developing world

For further information (this is our latest Newsletter) on this wonderful project, and also see the NEW BAWA Health Initiative web site. You may contact Rev. Margaret Jay by calling the church office at 203-265-1691 and leaving a message. You may also mail donations to: Bawa Health Initiative, Inc., P.O. Box 432, Wallingford, CT 06492. With your continued support, we can make a difference in the village of Bawa in Cameroon. Please consider making a $10 donation to purchase bed-nets to help fight Malaria!

We are also on Facebook (search for BAWA Health Initiative page).

PLEASE SUPPORT THIS WORTHY EFFORT. HELP SAVE LIVES. THANKS!
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Holy Joe's Cafe

Holy Joe's Cafe is a Coffee House Ministry – United Church of Christ military chaplains have found an old way to invite soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan into a safe and informal place where they can receive spiritual care and good coffee. We also have a Facebook page. Search for Holy Joe's Cafe on Facebook.

Holy Joe's Cafe / First Congregational Church, UCC has been selected to represent the Northeast Region of the United Church of Christ at the General Synod in Tampa, Florida based on our Coffee House Ministry supporting deployed Chaplains and their Troops.

Read the entire article on the UCC website. Click here.
Read the CT Conf. article about Rev. Sholtes. Click here.
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The Prayer Shawl Ministry is a dedicated group of women who knit
shawls and prayers together for those in need of healing. "Part of the journey of prayer and faith is to recognize that we may never know how our love and care will touch or change another person's life. Instead, we are invited to offer others our compassion and let whatever needs to happen, happen. There is an old saying: Our hands are God's hands." Through the shawl-knitting ministry we can learn to trust the truth that God works through us when we care for our friends and strangers alike.

The instructions for both Prayer Shawls, as well as numerous patterns for baby blankets, exist on our website www.firstchurchwlfd@snet.net.

If you have a need for a Prayer Shawl for a friend, family member or for yourself, please do not hesitate to contact the ministry (Kathryn Janis) through the office (265-1691). If you are not connected to First Congregational Church in Wallingford, CT please follow this link for a Prayer Shawl Ministry in your area. Click here.

If you have created a Prayer Shawl or Baptismal Blanket, please drop it off at the church office ~ there will be a sign-in sheet to identify who made the shawl, the color of the shawl, if it is intended for someone or if it is meant to be used by the ministry in the general shawl cache. There will be a Prayer Shawl basket for new shawls and blankets that need to be blessed at the church office.

The next Prayer Shawl Ministry meeting will be May 21, 2012.
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Upper Room Devotional Booklets are in the Narthex literature rack in both regular and large print editions.

========================================================== We would also like to assemble an "All Church" email list. If you are a church member, please send us an email. Send to: fccweb@snet.net
Thanks!

==================================================================== Have you been e-spired? If you would like to receive your Spire as an email document...let us know. Email
(firstchurchwlfd@snet.net)
and say yes! To the e-spired…Thank you.
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Soul Boosters

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