The View
Central Christina Church 1025 Central Ave. Great Falls, MT 59401
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Community Joys and Concerns
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- PLEASE MAKE SURE WE HAVE YOUR FAVORITE EMAIL ADDRESS! We want to send you notices of things as they change. Please send an email to the church’s account at cccgf1025@gmail.com
- The Church Office is closed until further notice. We will check for mail and phone messages occasionally throughout the week. If you need to communicate with the church, please send an email to Ruth Lindabury at cccgf1025@gmail.com or Pastor Ron at CapnRonG@aol.com. Please note that Pastor Ron does not access the church email account. You can also call or text Pastor Ron at 406-868-3501. Please be patient if you do not receive a reply on Mondays which is Pastor Ron’s Day Off. Also remember that he may not see anything received on Sunday morning after 9 am.
- We appreciate the efforts of everyone to help us gather for worship through Zoom! Please email Ruth Lindabury at cccgf1025@gmail.com if you need help logging on. Like all worship services under any circumstances, it takes a team to lead us—Thanks to Ruth Lindabury, LeAnn Budeski, and Ruth Fletcher in running Zoom, to Charlie and Jacob Novak for offering tech support on the church phones, to Clint & Margaret Houge for running sound and PowerPoint, and to our talented musicians, Marjorie Kohler and Jeff Carroll.
- Thank you for your faithful support of our Week of Compassion Offering: $2,073.55 for 2020! Week of Compassion is helping to lead our Disciples response to the COVID-19 pandemic and your gifts are making a difference!
- We offer our Christian sympathy to the family of Ernie Rutherford who died in Arizona on March 7th. We pray for his family as they plan a memorial service in June.
- We also offer our Christian sympathy to Kerri Hiatt upon the March 9th death of her father, Dallas. Services were held in Helena.
- Please pray for…April Buley recovering from surgery scheduled for April 1st. She went to Spokane to sing with the All-Northwest Choir just in time to hear that the concert was canceled.
- You can send notes of encouragement to Aaron Fagenstrom at Missouri River Manor, Room 603, as he recovers from his seizures in rehabilitation.
- Remember our children and youth as they adapt to learning in different ways and cope with the cancellation of their activities and programs. And pray for their teachers from the school and their teacher-caregivers at home!
- Joey Taylor participated in the Northern Lights Virtual Youth Retreat—thanks for reporting in our March 29th Zoom Church Worship!
- Thanks to Dr. Kevin McCafferty for giving us our first orientation to safe practices during this pandemic. You can see his viral video about creating a face shield on Facebook or through the KRTV News website.
- We had 24 at our first Lenten Soup Supper and Mental Health First Aid Training. Please use what you learned in that session to look out for others and practice good self-care. Nicole Zimmerman is ready to resume our classes whenever it is safe to do so.
- St. Patrick’s Dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage will be held at a later date—so keep wearing the green!
- Thanks to Louise, Gary, and Dennis Hill for taking our food to FISH Food Pantry and serving during our rotation this week so that no one else will be exposed! Early indications were that they expected to be busy with the increased demand. You can drop your Food contributions off at the church and we will see that it makes it there to help our neighbors.
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Dear Disciples Family,
You are loved.
Your Elders, Chris Hunter, Elaine Higgins, LeAnn Budeski, Lynn Yahraus, Jean Muir, Clint Houge, and Margaret Houge have met several times to fashion questions for our candidates’ references as well as the interim minister candidates. We have called most and had wonderful conversations.
The candidates we have chosen will be interviewed one more time from our homes via Zoom. The Elders will make their choice then meet with the Board for the final verification. Board members, we will plan to meet face to face or via Zoom depending on the epidemic of the Coronavirus.
After the Board has voted, we will contact the candidate and make sure they are willing to serve and begin making arrangements for them.
Thank to Ron Greene for being willing to approach church electronically. Thanks to LeAnn and Ruth Fletcher for running the Zoom projector. A big thanks to Ruth Lindabury for answering all our questions. Clint has been faithful in the sound booth making sure we could hear the messages. Thanks to all of you for tuning in!
Keep blessing each other,
Margaret Houge, Moderator
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Our Easter Offering Supports General Church Ministries
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Witnessing in the time of COVID-19: An update on Global Ministries Mission Co-workers
provided by Global Ministries staff
The COVID-19 public health emergency continues to change and evolve each day, impacting many of our lives. It has disrupted plans, regular programming, and routines, leaving many feeling uncertain. In the midst of this, Global Ministries, mission co-workers, and global partners are doing our best to contribute to the health and safety of our fellow global citizens while remaining committed to our mission of presence.
This week, Area Executives shared updates on the status of all mission co-workers. Every mission co-worker is in contact and discerning their best course of action in consultation with the Area Executive, global partner, and their families. Area Executives and global partners have been most focused on our young adults in this changing situation. As of the publishing of this letter, five Global Mission Interns have returned home and four remain in place. Other mission co-workers have made the decision to stay and accompany our partners during these challenging days. These situations continue to be evaluated as conditions evolve. Communications between Area Executives, partners, and mission co-workers remain open.
During this time, Global Ministries will be sharing regular prayers and stories from mission co-workers who are working around the world. As Andrew Larsen, serving in the Philippines wrote:
We are to follow the example of washing feet. Getting down to the nitty gritty dirty work of being a servant to those in need. It is hard to interpret this in any other way. What does this look like during this time? Our feet washing of today are the concrete actions required to walk alongside the communities in most need.
This virus is touching all of our partners around the world. Throughout all of this, we are holding all of the people in the world in prayer. Judy Chan, from Hong Kong writes:
We continue to pray for all those affected including patients, their families, frontline medical workers, and vulnerable groups in the community like cleaning staff, the elderly, and those for whom vital services are closed due to the virus. We also pray for governments and those in authority to respond wisely and quickly in this critical moment. Lastly, we pray for churches and all Christians to be mighty witnesses for the love and mercy of God through their words and deeds, both private and public.
Please keep all of the mission co-workers in your prayers. If you would like to share in their witness during this time of crisis, please sign up for Global Ministries updates, including regular prayerful responses to pandemic from around the world and here at home.
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ELDER’S REFLECTION:
Inspirations from an Inkwell
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Thank God we have slowed the progression of the coronavirus in Cascade County with the cancellation of everything from Family Promise activities to Mental Health First Aid and Sunday School.
Please go to the church website to check our calendar for updates.
Our Northern Lights Regional Assembly has been postponed. You can find out all the Regional information at
northernlightsdisciples.org
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You can worship God with your gifts and support the church financially in 3 ways:
- Mail your check to the church
- Use the Givelify app on your smartphone
- Set up an automatic payment/withdrawal from your bank account.
Thanks for your faithful support of our ministry and mission!
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Just as one fills a pen-nib from an inkwell so words can flow across the page, so my pen is full of thoughts I wish to share with you.
Today I’m thinking about prayer. We need to remember that just as a conversation with a friend is two-way, so should our conversation with God be. We should not just tell Him what we want, but listen for his reply, and what He has to say to us. Remember that God’s reply may not be in words you hear with your ears, but in your heart – and it may not be immediate, nor the answer you expect or hope for. But know that God does always answer.
Now when “virtual reality” has become our actual reality, we can continue to reach out to one another by praying for one another, and also with a friendly, caring phone call. (Just check your church directory; you may see names there of those who especially need your prayers, too.)
Elaine Higgins, an Elder
(P.S. I’m the “Iduna” you may see listed as participating in Zoom Church.)
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Retirement Celebration Cancelled
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It is with much regret that we are forced to cancel the retirement party in honor of Ron Greene on May 8th because of the Coronavirus epidemic. You may however, still remember him by sending letters that we can add to a scrapbook in his honor. Send all items to 1025 Central Ave., Great Falls, MT 59401.
You can also honor Ron’s retirement by sending a monetary gift to:
Christian Church Foundation
PO Box 1986,
Indianapolis, IN 46206
Please designate to: Ruth Fletcher & Ronald C. Greene Fund that benefits Week of Compassion.
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