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

Bible on the Bayou, Crocodile Dock Summer Church School begins on Sunday, June 21 at 10:00 a.m. Hop on a flatbottom
boat and drift on lazy, hazy waters under tall cypress trees--
until the big adventure begins.
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Rock Cats Baseball Game Sunday, July 12 at 1:05 p.m. Limited tickets ($5 each) available at Family Life table after services.

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How do you want to receive your Spire? If you would like to receive yours as an email
document...let us know. A quick email (firstchurchwlfd@snet.net ) will tell us your wishes and give us your email address.

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New Testament Seminar
Part 2 - Spring Semester
At First Congregational Church: The second twelve classes of The New Testament Seminar will be offered each Tuesday evening, beginning April 14 at 7:00 p.m. in The Spiritual Center of The Meetinghouse.
At Ashlar Village: The second twelve classes of The New Testament Seminar will be offered each Wednesday, beginning April 15 at 12:00 noon as a Lunch & Learn opportunity, in the Ashlar Village Theatre.

This second portion of The New Testament will come to life and offer its wisdom as the Rev. Dean Warburton leads a complete survey of this remarkable collection of history, stories of the early church, and personal faith journeys. We will begin with the Acts of the Apostles and continue through all of the Epistles. The New Testament is central to the history of Western civilization, whether seen as a religious book of faith or as a cultural document.

This spring session, will approach the New Testament from a historical perspective, highlighting questions of faith and theology. Each class session will feature a thirty minute introductory lecture by Professor Bart D. Ehrman, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following this, Rev. Warburton will lead a discussion of the material covered. There will be plenty of time for questions and answers. All persons are welcome to join with us for one or all of the classes.

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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, a member of our church, 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 on this wonderful project, see the BAWA Health Initiative web site. You may also contact Dr. Dennis J. Richardson or 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.

Also a group of Quinnipiac University students is taking on a huge project in hopes of saving lives half way around the world. It's called Cafe Cameroon, a coffee business they've set up to help the 400 people living in Bawa, in Cameroon Africa. You may pre-order coffee for $15 a pound. Go to their website. All profits help the Village of BAWA build and support better health care.

PLEASE SUPPORT THIS WORTHY EFFORT. HELP SAVE LIVES. THANKS!
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Our church has been engaged in a planning process for the past two years in order for us to move Forward into the Future. From these plans, we have aspirations. To see pictures of of our needs, click here.

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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 into a safe and informal place where they can receive spiritual care and good coffee. Read the entire article on the UCC website. 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 either through the office (265-1691) or contact Beth Bianco (269-5765). 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.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Beth Bianco by email at popupnut@sbcglobal.net or at home at 203-269-5765.

The next Prayer Shawl Ministry meeting will be tbd as we will take a break during the summer.
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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!

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Soul Boosters

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