The Downtown Presbyterian Church

2003 Congregational Life Report

Congregational Life 2003 Annual Committee Report

Congregational Life met early in 2003 and decided on three main objectives for our committee:

1) To get the congregation together outside of Worship

2) To care about each other - by visiting shut-ins, those who are sick

3) To organize special events

Some specific things we wanted to accomplish were the creation of a new church directory, a newsletter, a way of tracking the attendance of members/visitors and opportunities for more social involvement to help our congregation strengthen our ties to each other.

We were successful at accomplishing several of these goals. Pictures for a new church directory were taken in September and the finished product should be ready in the next couple of months. The church has also purchased software that tracks attendance but we have not decided yet the best way to use that information. Social involvement was definitely a priority as the Congregational Life Committee organized lots of gatherings in 2003 including:

§ the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner,

§ Easter Sunday Breakfast and Easter Egg hunt for the children,

§ lunches for three Congregational Gathering planning meetings,

§ an Indoor Picnic,

§ a Fall Festival and Ministry Fair

§ a reception for Autumn Butler-Saeger’s ordination

§ and a Christmas lunch.

All of the events were well attended and lots of fun. We look forward to having more opportunities for fellowship in 2004.

New plans for 2004 –

1) Member bios in the bulletin – Cynthia Mercante volunteered to organize this monthly addition. We are going to start featuring different DPC members every month in the bulletin answering a series of questions about themselves and DPC so that we can get to know each other a little better. We hope to include a picture made with the digital camera and recognize the featured members during Worship.

2) Casserole Project – Betty McConnell is heading up a casserole brigade to recruit volunteers to stock our freezer with 5-6 casseroles at a time that will be available to take to people in emergencies. Ken Locke is going to contact Amy Cleghorn when one is needed and she will contact someone to pick up a casserole and get it delivered.

3) Upcoming Events –

Feb. 15 – Annual Meeting/Lunch

Feb. 24 – Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner –Gar Saeger is going to organize this as a youth fundraiser. Congregational Life will be available to assist with decorating and any other needs they may have.

Apr. 9 – Good Friday Dinners. We are planning on having dinners and evening devotions in peoples homes again this year. Amy Williams is organizing this project. Volunteer homes are needed. More info coming soon.

Apr. 11 – Easter – We have traditionally done a Breakfast with a guest speaker on Easter morning. Plans are under way to continue this tradition. We will need to work around the schedule of the homeless breakfast and coordinate the speaker with the Outreach committee.

Items for discussion at future meetings:

§ A list of shut-ins and needs in this area

§ Additional committee members

§ Ways to effectively use the attendance tracking report

§ Events we want to organize this year

§ A telephone tree to improve communication/distribution of information

§ Ways to make better use of the church website

§ Ways to incorporate Evangelism into what we are doing

Have an idea for the Congregational Life committee or want to get involved? Please email Amy Cleghorn at cleghorna@yahoo.com.