Greetings from your Stewardship and Outreach Committee,
That’s a new name for us and more reflective of our duties in educating and providing for opportunities for you in the areas of stewardship and outreach. In other words, turning our resources into LOVEin Action.
That’s our theme for this year’s pledge campaign - the time when we ask each of you to carefully consider what it is we really do here at Red Lodge Community Church, how much you value that, and to what extent you are willing to support it. We’ll do our best to help you analyze the first part of that equation then leave the last two parts for you to prayerfully consider.
It’s been a difficult year, no doubt about that. We’ve had to change and adapt. The hardest part has been distancing ourselves from one another while working to stay connected. We’ve learned the hard way, that one of the things we value most about Red Lodge Community Church is that we are a community of believers who value each other’s company. We really miss passing the peace in person, singing hymns in harmony together, greeting old friends and meeting new ones, sharing a cup of coffee and keeping up-to-date on each other’s joys and concerns. We laugh and cry together. We work and learn together. Together we’re a force for good in God’s world. And it’s really hard not to be together in person in our comfortable brick and mortar home. We have adapted and learned how to make technology the glue that keeps us together - for now. We pray the pandemic will end and that we can safely return to worship in our beautiful sanctuary together soon.
What are other things we value? A joy-filled, hard-working pastor. Music and the people who produce it. This well-maintained building we love. Shalom, bulletins each Sunday, the phone that gets answered and all the other tasks Mia performs for our benefit. There’s a lot of expense in keeping this church running, and these are the things that make up the biggest part of our budget.
It is these things that provide the base from which we put LOVEin Action. Our actions bring our faith to life. They are God’s love through us reaching out into the world. That is the outreach part of who we are. Supporting the COVID Relief Fund at the foundation, extending a hand to the children at the Boys and Girls Club of the Northern Cheyenne, sending blankets to Church World Service, generously contributing to the five special offerings of the UCC, potentially hosting NCCC workers, providing space for preschoolers, helping stock the cupboards at the food bank. The list goes on and on, oftentimes helping in ways we never see or hear about. Consider these words from Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “Do your little bit of good where you are. It’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” While all the little bits we do individually and as a church family may not have overwhelmed the world just yet, they surely have made a difference in this community and beyond. The pandemic has only made us a stronger force for LOVEin Action. Let’s continue to use it to ride the wave even higher. Please consider prayerfully what you value and what you are willing to pledge to keep Red Lodge Community Church in the forefront of the action.
Watch for Coffee Hour Zoom presentations, updates in the Weekly Wrangler and Shalom, and other information from your Stewardship and Outreach Committee.
Please download and/or complete the pledge card and return it to the church by October 18th. Alternatively, you can set up your 2021 Pledge to be paid directly from your bank account or from your debit/credit card on our Giving page. (Be sure to select the 2021 Pledge fund as you set your payment up.) If you'd like a pledge card mailed to you, please call or email the church office at (406) 446-1444 or rlccassistant@gmail.com. Together we’ll continue to be God’s LOVEin Action.
JoAnn, Julia, Carol, Linda and Russ RLCC Stewardship and Outreach Committee
graphics by Helen Copyright 2020 Red Lodge Community Church