Romans 12:1-2 encourages junior high youth who have completed grades 6-8 to take their everyday lives and place them before God as an offering. Youth and youth advisors are encouraged to take part in this weekend filled with worship, workshops, music, and recreation at Elizabethtown College, June 19-21. Early bird registration cost is $160 per person (participants and advisors) from January 9 through March 31. On and after April 1, registration is $185 per person. Register now at http://www.brethren.org/yya/njhc/. For more information, contact Kristen Hoffman at or 847-429-4389.
Our Congregation has a Camp Scholarship Fund to help defray the costs of Summer Church Camp and Work Camps for our children and youth. We offer $25 for every camper, and more for those who need extra help.
Please consider making a special contribution to this fund.
Week-long camps are an excellent way for people to experience faith, service, community, and independence. Look for Summer Camp brochures soon. Please contact our camp ambassador, Jerry Anne Kines for more information.
Worship Committee has a need for additional Sanctuary Partners. These couples or individuals share a month of duties that include prepare the altar candles, send the acolyte forward at the proper time, usher or recruit ushers, count attendance, and clear the pews after the service. If you are willing to consider this service to our congregation, please email or call Jan Burket or Mark Wilkerson.
I want to take a moment to thank everyone who donated to the Brethren Nutrition Program in our campaign to host a lunch for our hungry neighbors on Christmas Day. Between in person and online donations, we raised over $1,200, which was more than double our goal. This allowed us to host a wonderful lunch, as well as cover some of our plumbing issue costs from 2014. Thank you so much to everyone who donated. You have helped us to serve our neighbors in need during the holidays, as well as in the upcoming year. I greatly appreciate everyone who donated. Thank you!
We have made some great strides in our program in 2014: hiring a full time program coordinator, as well as opening on Thursdays. Unfortunately we have had struggles as well; three separate “floods” in the kitchen (as well as other plumbing issues), as well as needing a new pilot light in our oven. These damages set us back quite a bit financially, and have caused us to stretch our budget.
In 2015, we will be applying for grants to get our facilities taken care of so that we can have a kitchen that is used often, and serve our community more effectively. We need your help to hold us over as we are applying grants. As I mentioned earlier, our funds have been stretched tight, so we need your help to keep serving our neighbors on Capitol Hill.
You can help by donating to BNP on Razoo by following this link; http://www.razoo.com/story/Brethren-Nutrition-Program, or sending checks to BNP c/o Washington City Church of the Brethren 337 North Carolina Ave. SE Washington, DC 20003. If you have any questions regarding this fundraiser or BNP please email me, Carolyn Nestman, at .
Thank you for all you have done to help support BNP and our goal to end food insecurity in Washington DC. Thank you for your continued support of our program!
If you are a full member of Oakton, the Nominating Committee prayerfully asks you to consider serving on the Board as Vice Chair for 2015. The position requires attendance at Board meeting the third Monday of each month, substituting for the Board Chair when he is unable to attend.
We would like to spare those who are serving on Search Committee from additional duties so that they can concentrate on that process. If you have any questions, please contact Jan Burket, Mark Phillips, or Jane Meadows as soon as possible. We will need to know before the Congregational Business Meeting of Jan. 25.
