Zion Ministry Opportunities

Helping You Help Us

Looking for a way to 'Love God and share Christ's love with others'? There are lots of opportunities at Zion. The following series of articles are designed to introduce you to Zion ministries. Each month, we'll feature Zion ministries in the ZionNews and on the Zion web site Articles will include ministry descriptions and contacts, so you can find your passion and get involved! Click one of the topics below to go directly to that ministry.

Special Events
Music and Worship Commission
Church and Ministry
Building Trustees
Stewardship Commission
Consistory
Office Volunteers
Christian Education Commission

Special Events

What are you missing out on? Zion has several special events throughout the year that we should all consider attending.

Weekly, during Lent, we have a light supper with an interesting Lenten program. During Holy Week, the meal is served on Maundy Thursday, with special readings and music.
A Mother/Daughter Banquet is scheduled during May. The meal is catered and the men of the congregation serve and do the cleaning up. This year, the program was a talent show with members of the congregation performing. Ladies, if you don't have a mother or daughter to invite, neighbors or friends would enjoy the evening.
Our annual picnic is held in the fall at one of the local parks. The young men of the congregation take care of grilling and everyone is invited to bring a covered dish to share. This is a time when all ages get together for games, conversation, and a brief service with songs and prayer.
In January, the annual congregational meeting is scheduled. All groups report on their activities during the previous year, the annual Church Budget is presented for approval, and other pertinent business is presented for discussion and approval or disapproval. This meeting is on a Sunday after the services, with a catered luncheon.

Watch ZionNews and the Sunday bulletins for these special events. If you haven't attended them in the past, please consider joining us in the future. Better yet, consider getting involved in the planning of an event. Your life will be enriched with the sharing of fellowship, becoming better acquainted with other members and being involved in the Church Family.

But the most SPECIAL EVENT takes place each and every Sunday. This is the time when we can come to Church, talk to God, hear a message from God, and then visit with other members.
Back to top

Music and Worship Commission

The main duty of the Music and Worship Commission of the Consistory is to organize and oversee the aspects of worship at Zion. This includes securing ushers, greeters, lay worship leaders and acolytes for all regular and special services, working closely with all the music/worship staff to plan and improve our public worship, and also serving as a 'search committee' when any of these staff positions become vacant. Any assistance or supervision needed for staff or services is also provided by this Commission.

What does Music & Worship need from the members of Zion? YOU!! We are always in need of people who want to honor God in service. Please see the yellow sign-up sheets on the bulletin board in the hall outside the kitchen, to serve during the services. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mary Niederhelman.
Back to top

Church and Ministry

The Church & Ministry Commission is another of the five committees that serve as Consistory. The Pastor is a member of the Church & Ministry Committee, too. We meet once a month at Church, one hour prior to each Consistory meeting. This committee has a wide variety of duties, some of our which include: reviewing staffing needs of the church, administration of the church office, serving as the Nominating Committee for Consistory, and serving as a Search Committee in the event of the resignation of the Pastor. What's it take to serve on this commission? Just a willingness to serve our church and help to keep it running as smoothly as possible. If you have any questions about our committee and other things that we do, please feel free to contact Donna McMullen.
Back to top

Building Trustees

The Building Trustees Commission manages and maintains needed repairs on all buildings, grounds and parking lot. This is not a "today" problem; it is an "everyday" problem. Due to the size and the age of the building, it is a never-ending job. We want to take pride in our church for ourselves and our community. Visitors have commented that our church always seems neat and clean. Let's keep it that way.

Other Building Trustee duties include (but are not limited to) maintaining needed housekeeping supplies; supervising repairs on all buildings and grounds, the parking lot and building equipment (i.e., boilers, air conditioning, kitchen appliances, etc.); supervision of custodial employees; compliance with local building and health codes and insurance regulations.

We need to remember this is OUR church. We are all responsible for maintaining and repairing it. Your time and expertise is needed - please let Terry Hull, chair of the Building Trustees Commission, know when you can help.
Back to top

Stewardship Commission

Stewardship is "managing the resources of". At Zion, the Stewardship Commission of the Consistory is responsible for managing our non-physical resources: coordinating the annual church budget, raising funds for the budget, disbursing moneys to our chosen charities, communicating ministry opportunities to our members and to those who regularly attend Zion.

At times of fiscal crunch within the church, Stewardship is especially important. You are probably most aware of Stewardship's work in the fall, when they send letters asking for financial pledges and sharing service opportunities through the "Time and Talent" questionnaires. This is the primary commitment of the Stewardship Commission; sometimes a hard task but a very necessary one, and we all know that is worthwhile when we can walk into church on Sunday morning and greet our friends.

Stewardship meets once a month to discuss the various programs it is responsible for. Evelyn Hoffmeister is the Stewardship Commission chairperson.
Back to top

Office Volunteers

There is much more to do in a church office than most of the congregation realizes. There are few events that do not affect the office workload. Zion currently has 3 office volunteers, who track the attendance, tend to the responsibilities of the Treasurer, collate the ZionNews monthly newsletter, stuff inserts in to Sunday bulletins, and help with other projects that come up.

Volunteers are needed throughout the year, but especially during the summer, to fill in during the Church Secretary's vacation. This work mostly involves answering the phone and small miscellaneous jobs for the Pastor. The Secretary prepares the Sunday bulletins and the ZionNews and takes care of most other routine work in advance. We need 4 volunteers for the week of June 17th; each to work in the office for 1 day. (The office will be closed on Friday that week.) The office is generally opened 8:00 am to 3:00pm, but hours may be shortened to 9:00am to 3pm during the Secretary's vacation.(Hours vary depending on the Pastor's schedule.)

If you are interested in volunteering in the church office in June, or for other periods of vacation later in the summer, or for anytime of the year, please contact Linda Read at church.
Back to top

Consistory

Ever wonder who's in charge at Zion? Nope, it's not the Pastor, and it's not the denomination. As the church council, the Zion Consistory is responsible for long and short-term church planning, supervising church staff, maintaining church buildings, overseeing ministries, managing the church finances, and connecting with other UCC congregations and the denomination.

What kinds of people serve Zion through the Consistory? People who are comfortable making decisions and taking a leadership role (or want to learn to be leaders); people who care about Zion's direction and are willing to put their time and energy into getting us through today and taking us into the future. As a Consistory member, you serve on one of the 5 "Commission" (committees) responsible for a specific aspect of the congregational life and church business. Your 3-year Consistory term gives you the opportunity to concentrate in one area that you're especially interested in, or to work in several areas and gain a wider perspective of the church. (Watch for articles about the individual Commission in future ZionNews issues and on our web site)

The Consistory meets in Founders' Hall at 7:30 pm, the 2nd Monday of each month. All church members and staff are welcome to attend, but we ask that only Consistory members and people on the agenda participate in the meeting. The current Commission members are listed in the front of your church Directory.

Consistory members are nominated at the end of the year and elected by the congregation at the annual meeting in January. We'll be preparing the next slate of nominees later this year; if you'd like to be considered for nomination, or want more information about the Consistory, contact the Consistory president or one of the Commission chairpersons.
Back to top

Christian Education Commission

The Christian Education Commission works together to determine the curriculum for Sunday School as well as Bible Study groups and other education opportunities.

For information about the Christian Education Commission, please contact the commission chair, Angie Winter.

Home | Contact Us | Privacy Policy