December 24, 2017
December 31, 2017
If you haven’t noticed, there are a couple extra doors at St. John. These are there to help commemorate the Reformation, but also to help us live out the Year of the Volunteer, which is St. John’s theme for this year.
We’re inviting everyone at St. John to consider volunteering, or volunteering in a new area. On these doors, you’ll find various volunteer opportunities.
Please check out these doors to see if there’s something there that you want to get involved in! If you have an idea for something new for St. John, feel free to let us know and we’ll work with you to get that ministry started.
The FM Food Pantry is located at 1101 4th Ave N in Fargo. The Pantry collects and distributes groceries and goods directly to people who come to the Pantry site to make a request for food for their families and themselves. In 2016 the Pantry provided food to 17,885 individuals from 5,997 households – 44% of the individuals it serves are children under 18.
The FM Food Pantry is heavily reliant on the work of volunteers. Last year in 2016, 1,906 individual volunteers provided 24,070 hours of work at the FM Food Pantry—this is equivalent to 11.5 full time employees. For one week each year we, at St. John, take a turn to recruit the volunteers who fill the many grocery requests that the Pantry receives every day.
The FM Food Pantry is reliant on food that it receives from local food drives – like the one we’ve done annually at Thanksgiving at St. John. This Thanksgiving, our Social Concerns/Mission Committee is once again issuing a challenge to our congregation to collect one TON of grocery items to help keep the shelves of our F-M Food Pantry replenished!
This year will mark our 22nd annual food drive in connection with observance of Thanksgiving! The drive will once again be held in conjunction with our Thanksgiving worship service that’s to be held at 7:00pm on November 21st.
As in the past, those who participate in our food drive will be given a grocery bag during worship services with a list of food items needed by the Pantry stapled on the outside of the bag. More information about the food drive will be provided in the worship service announcements on Sunday mornings prior to Thanksgiving.
Learn about Martin Luther and the Reformation during our adult forum series. Join us at 9:45 a.m. on Sundays in the sanctuary.
At Cross+Walk, we’ll help kids and their families discover who Jesus is. Through large group and small group settings, we’ll show your family how to live out faith every day at home, school and in your communities.
Who: Everybody is welcome with a special focus on families (grown-ups, too!) with kids ages 3 through grade 5.
When: Begins Rally Sunday, September 10. Register online or pick up a form in the church office or at the welcome center. All children are welcome to participate! We welcome donated school supplies (markers, paper, colored pencils, etc.).
Questions: Please contact Erin Bjerke, Youth Education Director, with any questions at 232-8521 or ebjerke@stjohnfargo.com.