Announcements for July 15

• Card Tables Needed
  If you have a card table you no longer use, please consider donating it to St. John’s. It’s OK if the top is a bit scuffed, but it must be sturdy and stable. It would be helpful to have a few more card tables on hand for future ice cream socials. We could also use another five gallon Igloo drink cooler. If you have one gathering dust in your basement or garage, we’ll take it. Contact Gale Michael.
   
• Wednesday Morning Worship
  The 9:00 a.m. worship service on Wednesday will be Morning Prayer this week, July 18, and for the following Wednesday. The Eucharist will resume August 1.

Reflection for July 15

Love One Another

Peace begins with loving one another. Start with the people in this room…. Take what you have learned here about deep hospitality and keep moving toward the other. Maybe we can even figure out how to love everybody in this church. This reconciling work isn’t like BASE jumping – finding a thrill by stretching some rubber band that ties you to the earth. God’s mission is real faith work, the kind of trusting vulnerability that knows there’s only one rule to keep us safe, the spirit’s tether that will draw us into the arms of a Friend on the other side of that chasm. (Presiding Bishop The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori’s closing sermon to General Convention).

Director of Christian Formation for Children and Youth

Overall Objective for the Position

Working collaboratively with the Rector and parish members of St. John the Evangelist, build and support Christian Formation programs for children and young people that inform and empower them to live into their baptismal covenant (Book of Common Prayer, p. 304-305).

Goals

• Help children and young people experience the presence and love of God. 
• Help children and young people develop a feeling of belonging within the church community, and a sense of involvement in parish life and worship. Integrate children and children’s activities into the overall life of the parish. 
• Help parishioners grow in their awareness of and enthusiasm for the ministries and formation of children within the parish. 
• Teach children and young people the formative stories of the Christian faith from Scripture and the history of the church. 
• Instill in children and young people a sense of Christian mission and responsibility and provide opportunities to exercise that responsibility. 

Qualifications 

• A love of Christ and a commitment to the church as the Body of Christ. 
• A commitment to children and young people as full members and participants in the Body of Christ. 
• Imagination and creativity. 
• Good communication skills. 
• Good organizational skills. 
• Willingness and skill in recruiting, motivating and supporting adult volunteers. 
• Experience and training in children’s education or Christian education is highly desirable, but not necessary. 
• A respect for, and preferably familiarity with, the theology and worship of the Episcopal Church. 

Specific Job Duties

• Develop, oversee and support Sunday Christian Formation classes for children ages 3 through middle school. 
• Supervise the Nursery Director. 
• Recruit and support teachers and adult volunteers. Encourage participation in teacher training and formation events. 
• Develop and program occasional formation and service opportunities for high school aged young people.
• Communicate with parents, parish and Rector about Christian Formation activities. 
• Ensure that adequate supplies and furnishings are maintained in Christian Formation classrooms. Maintain classrooms as neat and functional. 
• Oversee children’s chapel program. 
• Develop and administer annual Christian formation budget. 
• Attend occasional diocesan Christian formation events. 
• Pray for the parish, especially children and young people. 

Expectations and Accountability

• Work ten hours per week, including presence for worship and programs on Sundays and at least five hours of regularly scheduled office time per week. 
• Attend a Diocesan Training event on sexual abuse prevention. Undergo a background check. (Both are required by the Diocese of Chicago for all church employees.) 
• The Director of Christian Formation will report to the Rector on all program and personnel matters. By church canon, the Rector has ultimate responsibility and oversight for all Christian Education programs. The vestry is responsible for financial management, including salaries and money allocated through the program budget. 

Salary and Benefits

• Salary and vacation negotiable, depending upon qualifications and experience.
• No health or pension benefits are provided. 

Application

Please send a résumé with at least three references to:
The Rev. Kristin Orr
St. John the Evangelist
P. O. Box 25
Flossmoor, IL 60422

sje2638@gmail.com
(708) 798-4150

Announcements for July 8

• Ice Cream Social
  A big thank you to everyone who participated in the Ice Cream Social by scooping ice cream, cutting watermelon, setting up tents and tables, arranging flowers, mixing and pouring lemonade and iced tea, serving ice cream, lemonade and iced tea, grilling hotdogs, selling food, overseeing the children’s table, helping the balloon ladies, greeting the community, attending, cleaning up, donating to the entertainment and most importantly praying for good weather. The weather was hot, but the attendance was good. This event would not work as well if all of you didn’t support it. THANK YOU!
   
• Card Tables Needed
  If you have a card table you no longer use, please consider donating it to St. John’s. It’s OK if the top is a bit scuffed, but it must be sturdy and stable. It would be helpful to have a few more card tables on hand for future ice cream socials. We could also use another five gallon Igloo drink cooler. If you have one gathering dust in your basement or garage, we’ll take it.
   
• General Convention Is Underway
  You may access a wealth of information about General Convention at the media hub website, here.
   
• Wednesday Morning Worship
  The 9:00 a.m. worship service on Wednesday will be Morning Prayer this week, July 11, and for the following two Wednesdays. The Eucharist will resume August 1.

Reflection for July 8

Saints We Remember

The three [saints] we celebrate today were activists for the kingdom of God in their own day. Each one insisted, in his own way, that the reign of God was meant to be realized on earth as it is in heaven, and not just something anticipated after death.... Walter Rauschenbusch was a New York, Baptist theologian who laid the foundation for what’s called the Social Gospel. He didn’t mince words. He insisted that private sin begets social sin when he named six sources: “Religious bigotry, the combination of graft and political power, the corruption of justice, the mob spirit... and mob action, militarism, and class contempt – every student of history will recognize that these sum up constitutional forces in the Kingdom of Evil.” He insisted that a historical tendency to substitute personal salvation for the kingdom of God meant that people “seek to save their own souls and are selfishly indifferent to the evangelization of the world.” The good news to the world, in his eyes, was about the reign of God on this earth (The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, preaching at the opening Eucharist of General Convention).