Community and Fellowship

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Church retreat at Phantom Ranch Camp in Wisconsin

EAC group 5

Each summer we take a weekend to head up about 90 minutes away to a camp in Wisconsin where we spend a day and a half worshiping together, relaxing, enjoying nature, and having fellowship and fun.  There are ample opportunities for recreation such as canoeing, swimming, basketball, and horseback riding.  We also have an annual church talent show on Saturday night and wonderful intergenerational worship on Sunday morning.

Prayer Retreat in Michigan

stone chapel silent retreat

Each year in the fall (often over Columbus Day) a group from the church heads up to the Hermitage retreat center in Michigan (about 2 hours away) for a day or two of prayer, rest, quiet, and reflection.   We usually participate in the retreat center’s morning prayer service.  The rest of the time though is mostly unstructured with ample time for prayer, walks in the beautiful meadows and woods, reading, resting, writing or any other activities that people find meaningful and spiritually fulfilling.

Women’s Day

Each year in the spring we have a traditional Women’s Day service.  Women are always heavily involved in our worship service and church leadership but on this Sunday every component of the service is led by Women and we celebrate the gifts of the women in our congregation in a special way.  We often have a special Women’s Day choir and usually a guest preacher.  The men in the church on this Sunday provide a special meal in our fellowship hall after the service.

Beloved Community Sundays

On MLK Weekend in January and at least one other Sunday of the year we celebrate what we call Beloved Community Sunday.  We have named it this after the phrase that MLK used to describe his vision of the type of community that could serve as a positive replacement for the violence and racial discrimination that he spent his life fighting against.  On Beloved Community Sundays we have worship together at our building and then head out to eat in one another’s homes – individuals agree to host a meal for 6-8 members and we spend that afternoon eating together, strengthening our sense of church community, and getting to know one another better and building relationships in intentionally mixed-race groups.

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