A Community of Abundant Welcome to All, Growing Together in Christ and serving with Love

Important Updates on Suspension Time and Interim/Transition process

Due to the recommendations in Massachusetts, we are extending the suspension time for one week through April 7, 2020. Given this change, the Church meeting scheduled on April 5th will be rescheduled. 

Please know that your FFC family is thinking of you in this unique time. We care about you, your families and the communities around us that are experiencing struggles with limiting interactions to help stop the spread of the virus. A conference call meeting was held on Sunday, 3/15/20 at 11 am to allow for discussion about the Church Suspension, the Interim Search and Transition process for Charley. Questions and answers are listed below along with updates. 

Church Suspension Time

1. How do we make sure everyone gets any urgent information? Including those that don’t have access to email?


We are planning to set up a call chain. 

  • Charley is working with Michele Webster to draft a plan of how to initiate and define the list of people to cascade the calls. 

  • Part of the call will also be to check on each other and make sure we are ok and whether there is anything needed. If prayer is needed, Charley will be contacted and we will ask if it should be added to the prayer chain email managed by Marilyn Sutcliffe. 

 2. How will we worship?

  • Charley did a 20 minute podcast sermon continuing the series of “7 Last Words” for 3/15. This will continue for 3/22 and 3/29 and 4/5. Podcast is located on facebook page and on website. 

  • Additionally, Charley tested a live stream prayer group from the sanctuary at 10 am last Sunday.  A number of people found it and interacted with him during the church service time. It is recorded and on Facebook.  This will continue and additional elements will be added.

3. How are we communicating that our building is closed and activities have stopped?

  • Renters have been called and told the building is closed through at least April 7, 2020.

  • Every outside door has signs on it. Main sign and sandwich board also provide information on how to find us online. 

4. How will the church keep functioning financially?

  • Annette has received the $5,000 contribution from the UCC and deposited it

  • With no people in the building, light and heat use are being adjusted

  • The recent email to people listed ways people could continue their giving:
    Please consider electronic pledging or mailing your pledge to the church during this time period so that operating costs can continue to be paid. Options:
    A) Send a check (paper or electronic from your account) made out to FFC to: FFC, 171 Main St, Franklin, MA 02038  Attn: Annette Thompson
    B) Set up Vanco electronic pledging:  Send a voided check to the address above and indicate how you want the funds taken out of your account. Options are monthly on the 1st or 15th OR contact Annette Thompson (774-210-2110) with the following information:Bank Routing Number, account number and how you want the funds taken out of your account. Options are monthly on the 1st or 15th  

5. How will it be decided if the April 7, 2020 date is changed?

The executive team will keep apprised of recent updates and recommendations for interpersonal interactions.  A decision will be made on 4/1 as to our next steps - if we will end suspension on April 7, 2020 or increase the length of time. A notification will go out to the church. 

Interim Minister Search Process

  • Our applications have been sent to UCC & ABC

  • We have received 1 response to review from the UCC so far

  • Team will meet to discuss interview questions and how to meet with candidates

Charley Transition Activities

  • Charley & Michele W are creating an information  binder of “All we need to know” 

  • We have asked the Deacons to plan worship for the 3-4 week window we will have once Charley leaves and we are waiting for the interim to start. 

  • Charley’s Exit Interview is scheduled for 4/16, UCC has recommended specific roles that should be included in the discussion and they have been asked to be at the meeting. If anyone has specific questions regarding the process, please contact Stephanie Potts at sbpotts64@gmail.com. 

Please take care of yourselves, your health and your families. Try one of the new ways to connect with your church family. Know that God is with us and will help us through.

Blessings,
The Executive Team: Pastor Charley, Stephanie Potts, Claire Chiboub, Scott Kwarta, Steve Hampton

FFC Suspending Workship and Activities

FFC plan as of 3/13/20

After reviewing the current Coronavirus pandemic recommendations, we will be closing the church for an approximately two-week period through Monday 3/30.

1)    Open Q&A Virtual/Conference Call Meeting at 11am on Sunday, 3/15/20
        Topics: Church Coronavirus Suspension and Pastor Charley Transition
        Please email (sbpotts64@gmail.com) or call (617-899-9722) Stephanie Potts for the
        information to log into the Skype session.  If you only want to call in, the information is:
        1-908-316-2436   Conference ID: 64511471#

2)    Worship

- There will a Podcast sermon to access for Sunday 3/15; please check the website on
  Sunday. www.franklinfederated.org

- We are hoping to expand with additional service components for 3/22 & 3/29 service to
   include some form of music and additional service components.

3)      Use of the Church
- No outside or community functions at the church through 3/30
- Limit meetings to conference calls or virtual meetings (like zoom) These should be set-up by the responsible leader of the meeting.  
4)      Pastoral care
This will be done via phone call by Pastor Charley
If there is a serious situation, please reach out via phone (508-507-0903) to discuss options with Charley

5)   Church Finances

Please consider electronic pledging or mailing your pledge to the church during this time period so that operating costs can continue to be paid.
Options:
A) Send a check (paper or electronic from your account) made out to FFC to:
     FFC, 171 Main St, Franklin, MA 02038  Attn: Annette Thompson
B) Set up Vanco electronic pledging:  Send a voided check to the address above and indicate
     how you want the funds taken out of your account. Options are monthly on the 1st or 15th   
     OR contact Annette Thompson (774-210-2110) with the following information:
     Bank Routing Number, account number and how you want the funds taken out of your
     account. Options are monthly on the 1st or 15th  

6)  Specific activities that are suspended for this time period:
- Play rehearsal for Murder at Mikes
- Choir Rehearsal
- Connect Groups at church including: Book Group, Move and Groove
- Affirmation Class
- We recommend that Connect Groups that meet outside of the church consider suspending for
   the same time period for extra caution.

We will provide any additional updates if the Coronavirus suspension period changes and there are any other impacted areas related to Franklin Federated Church. Please take care of yourselves and stay healthy.

The Executive Church Team:
Pastor Charley Eastman, Moderator - Stephanie Potts, Chair of Deacons - Claire Chiboub, Chair of Building & Grounds - Steve Hampton and Treasurer - Scott Kwarta

More information can be found here:

SNEUCC.org mass.gov cdc.gov

Book of the Month

Where is the door to God? In the sound of a barking dog.In the ring of a hammer, in a drop of rain, in the face of everyone, everyone I see.Where is the door to the divine tavern? Yes, in all we can behold.“Where is the Door to the Tavern,” Hafiz, t…

Where is the door to God? In the sound of a barking dog.

In the ring of a hammer, in a drop of rain, in the face of everyone, everyone I see.

Where is the door to the divine tavern? Yes, in all we can behold.

“Where is the Door to the Tavern,” Hafiz, trans. by Daniel Ladinsky

“So who then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”  —  I Corinthians 3:5-6 (NRSV)

Hello church, and welcome to one of my final letters to you all, set here in the aftermath of my announcement to accept a call to ministry at Pilgrim Congregational Church, UCC, in Southborough. It came at an opportune time, as it did, on the eve of our Annual Meeting, and I must admit I took a lot of the focus away from other things that needed attention. Now we are in the swirl of this team and that committee, as we navigate our way together toward an interim ministry at Franklin Federated Church and a settled pastorate beyond that.

Through all of this, I have been reminded at different times that I have been able to lead you in certain ways when the seas are calm. But when the winds start blowing again, as they always do in times of transition, it’s important for me to note the ways of leading that are best for times like these. Enter Peter L. Steinke, with his excellent book, Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times.

This book is a Godsend. It is rooted in the concepts of Bowen Family Systems, and it acknowledges the ways that individuals in a church are in relationship with one another, and the ways they sometimes support and sometimes smash up against each other. When the system is at rest, individuals are still in motion. Their hearts, their minds, their energies and programs and desires are all churning beneath the surface. But it all flows along fine when anxiety is in check.

With transition comes uncertainty. We don’t know what God will do next at Franklin Federated Church. We just don’t! And with uncertainty, comes anxiety. The premise of Steinke’s book, as I understand it, is that helpful leaders meet times of anxiety with a core of compassionate calm. For the good of the church, they “take thoughtful actions, risk goodwill for the sake of truth, stay the course (hold steady) and manage self.” (Steinke, 149) They hold to the principles that got them where they are in the first place, and they aren’t afraid of conflict or creative differences. By differentiating themselves, they recognize that though they are in the system, they can stand outside it and view it dispassionately. I hope you’ve felt my calm through the process as we move to our time of transition, and I urge you to consider this book.

Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times is written for church leaders (ministers, officers, etc.) but you lead in your own way in the ministries you’re a part of. As Mark Sanborn says in his great short book, You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader, “We don’t need a title, or an organization, to lead. What we need is nothing more nor less than a burning desire to make a positive difference and an awareness of the opportunities to lead that present themselves each day—at work, at home, with our friends and relatives, within our communities.” (Sanborn, 103) So I hope you’ll consider Steinke’s work in light of any possible anxiety you may be feeling.

Finally, one of the most important things we can do at the beginning or the end of a ministry (and this is truly both) is communicate what’s happening, as we go along. Paul was one of our greatest communicators in the faith: he states and overstates what should have been obvious to all, but he does it with clarity and patience. The first letter to the Corinthians is a great example: Paul planted the church at Corinth, a fellow evangelist Apollos watered (encouraged and supported) it, and God grew it! They would have known this at Corinth, but their anxiety got in the way. Paul takes time to remind them in this timeless epistle.

Life in 2020 doesn’t move at the speed of epistles. It goes just a tiny bit faster. Considering that, it’s important for me and others in the leadership of Franklin Federated Church to practice “over” communication…if there is such a thing! To that end, we’re going to have Information Sessions from now until I leave on the odd Sundays, beginning March 1st, and continuing March 15th, March 29th and April 5th. Think of these as little All-Church Open Meetings, to bring everyone up to speed on what’s happening with our ministry transition. You’ll  hear from me and other church leaders, you can ask any questions you want, and just generally share in the process. The Transition Team and the Interim Minister Search Team can let us know how their progress is going. We’ll share everything that’s happening and bring everyone up to speed. We don’t want anyone to feel left out or uninformed.

That’s it for now. I began this letter with a poem by Hafiz, the beloved mystic poet celebrated by Ralph Waldo Emerson, among many others. This poem speaks to me today, because I want to remember that God is still speaking: when the ship is at rest, when it’s rocking on heavy seas, and at every time in between. We will find God together at work in this transition as well. And with God on our side, we’re going to continue to share the Good News of Jesus with Franklin and the world beyond.

In Christ,

Pastor Charley Eastman

 

Art Auction, Saturday 9/28 7pm

Franklin Federated Church will host an Art Auction on Saturday, September 28th at 7pm at 171 Main Street, Franklin.

The preview will begin at 7pm with a wine and cheese social to view the art work. The Live auction will begin at 8pm and will feature more than 150 custom framed and matted works of art; lithographs, etchings, serigraphs, animation cells, watercolors, original oils signed by the artists and documented sports memorabilia.

Featured artists include Kinkade, Wooster Scott, Picasso, Chagall, Dali, Renoir, Boulanger, Neiman, Rockwell and Shaviko. The majority of the art will have opening bids ranging from $45 to $300. Opening bids are generally 50% less than traditional framed gallery prices.

Tickets for the event are $15 and the community is welcome! The ticket price includes the wine and cheese social and hors d'oeuvres throughout the auction.

Contact the church office at franklinfederated@gmail.com to order tickets.

MYSTERY DINNER THEATER MAY 4th, The Conundrum on the Crackerjack Cruise [Updated]

Update: Tickets are sold out to the May 4th show and a Mystery Matinee show has been added on Sunday, May 5th @ 2:00pm. Tickets are $20. Email Deborah Bergstrom (debbyberg@comcast.net) or Steve Hampton (steven.w.hampton@gmail.com) for tickets. Snacks will be available for purchase.

Join us May 4th at 6:30 pm for a fun frolic on the high seas! This event will benefit Franklin Federated Church and its ministries to our community.

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The Big Turnaround of 2019, Part 1!

time for a turn!

time for a turn!

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be open to you.”

 —Matthew 7:7

Over the next several weeks, I’m going to be updating this blog to connect with our wider congregation about what’s been going on at Franklin Federated Church. Some folks saw an initial e-mail about our budget issues, and may not have attended any of our meetings. I’ll try to fill you in (from my perspective) and we can keep the conversation going when I see you again.

SO:

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

The good news is, God is good, Franklin Federated Church is well, and most of our folks are in good health.

The good news is, new folks are coming to Franklin Federated Church and adding their faith to ours.

The good news is, some changes are coming, to help us do what we do as a church more efficiently and to give us a better base of resources.

The good news is, many of your fellow congregants are stepping up to help with all these changes.

Over the last couple years, the treasurers of Franklin Federated Church have been watching a trend: our budgets are bigger than our resources. That is, we’ve been running deficits. Good, faithful people have been pledging, the money has been well used and not abused, but our ministry needs, including staff, missions and utilities, have outstripped our ability to pay for them.

For a couple of years, we got lucky, and cash was always on hand in one form or another to make up the shortfall…until last year. Then it hit, and we are now facing another year of shortfall. So the church council met, and did what anyone would do in such a situation: we panicked!

Well, some of us did. More good news about Franklin Federated Church is that even when things aren’t going perfectly, there are some seriously cool-under-pressure folks involved at many different levels, and together we managed to talk ourselves down and figure out a way forward. We wanted very much to inform the wider congregation about what was going on, so we sent out an email that was…a little incendiary. It basically said that one way to balance the budget would be cut all the staff salaries in half, and reduce the minister’s salary. If we hoped such a letter would inspire folks to give more, then we were disappointed, and that’s as it should be: fear doesn’t breed generosity, a wise person once told me.

But it sure got everyone’s attention! And folks responded, on e-mail, by the phone, and in visits with each other. We also had a record turn-out at the Annual Meeting on February 3rd, and that was great! The good news, though the meeting ran a little long (over three hours!) people were engaged, charitable and kind to one another.  

And we found a way forward.

The good news? We know what we need to do, and we’re figuring out who’s doing it. The only bad news? You’ll have to read my next post to find out more! Thanks for reading, I’ll update this soon.

In Christ,

Pastor Charley Eastman

The Annual Christmas Bell Concert

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Thanks to all who joined us at our annual Bell Concert featuring the New England Ringers. We rang in the Advent Season with great music, great support from our community, and plenty of holiday cheer!

Thank you to all of our generous sponsors for making our 2017Christmas concert a wonderful success!

Platinum Sponsors

Lyn A. Pickhover, Esquire
Post Office Box 291
Mansfield, MA 02048-0292

Marilyn Sutcliffe

The Matlet Group
60 Delta Drive
Pawtucket, RI 02860

Steven Kinson

Gold Sponsors

Bob and Chris Brown

Herbert F. Hunter, P.C.
Accounting, Auditing & Tax Services
9 Summer Street-Suite 305
Franklin, MA
hfhuntercpa@yahoo.com
781-255-9200

Silver Sponsors

Acorn Animal Hospital
20 Earl’s Way
Franklin, MA 02038

Arthur Home Improvement
Franklin, MA
(508) 528-4424

Deborah Bergstrom Professional Billing Services
Four-Bruno Drive
Milford, MA 01757

Ginley Funeral Home
131 Main Street
Franklin, MA 02038

Shanna McKelvie

Brass Sponsors

Dave and Jane Sveden

 

2017 Christmas Handbell Concert with The New England Ringers

The Franklin Federated Church welcomes back The New England Ringers for our annual handbell Christmas Concert on Saturday, November 25, 2017.

"Christmas with All the Bells and Whistles" starts at 7:30pm and tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance by calling the church office at 508-528-3803.

Click here to download the flyer.

Find out more about the New England Ringers here: http://newenglandringers.org

Christ Has Risen - He Has Risen Indeed!

Franklin Federated Church celebrated the rising of Christ with two special services. 

Easter Sunrise Service

Members of the church attended an ecumenical sunrise service at Camp Haiastan in Franklin. 

 

Easter Service

The Easter service started with a decorated cross entering the sanctuary and ended with a Hallelujah Chorus. 

Church members added flowers to  the cross that would be carried into the sanctuary during the service

Church members added flowers to  the cross that would be carried into the sanctuary during the service

Lilys and Daffodils decorated the sanctuary

Lilys and Daffodils decorated the sanctuary

Holy Week at FFC

Passion Sunday

Sunday April 9 at 10 a.m.

The day will be marked by the singing of hosannas to mark Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

As the service unfolds, it will transition toward the somberness of what is to occur in the week ahead - Jesus’ betrayal, trial, and crucifixion.

Maundy Thursday

April 13 at 6:30 p.m.

We will gather at 6:30 p.m. for a Tenebrae Service and a simple meal of soup and bread in the dining room.

All are welcome and no reservations are needed for supper.

The meal will be followed by a worship service in the sanctuary and the serving of Communion to commemorate Jesus’s ast meal with his Disciples.

Easter Sunday Services - Sunday, April 16, 2017

Easter Sunrise Service at 6:30 a.m.

Franklin Federated will join the First United Methodist Church of Franklin for an ecumenical Easter sunrise service at Camp Haiastan at 722 Summer Street.

Traditional Easter Service at 10:00 a.m.

We will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ with flowers, hymns and praise in our sanctuary! This beautiful tradition hearkens our spirits to the promise of new life.  

“Christ the Lord is Risen Today” - He is risen indeed!

 

FFC Celebrates CWS Blankets and Tools Sunday

February 12th is Church World Service Blanket and Tool Sunday. Franklin Federated Church will be taking a special offering to support this amazing mission project that provides blankets and tools across the United States and the world.

From Church World Service:

Help people around the world recover from disasters and get a fresh start.

Someone like Karen, a senior citizen in Michigan whose home was ooded in 2014. Or Nerline, a mother of four in Haiti, who lived in a tent for several years after the 2010 earthquake destroyed her house.

When you partner with us, through the CWS Blankets program, you are helping our neighbors in need recover from disaster, giving them hope and the tools they need for lasting change.

You are providing necessities and cleanup supplies to Karen and others impact- ed by stateside disasters, working with the community to rebuild their lives. You are coming alongside Nerline and others in Haiti, to construct a new home and accompany them on the long road to recovery.

You also make it possible to be prepared for whatever may come in the future so we are ready to act. Join us.

UCC's Trading Places Campaign

The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a distinct and diverse community of Christians that come together as one church to join faith and action. With over 5,000 churches and nearly one million members across the U.S., the UCC serves God in building a just world for all.
Since 1957, the United Church of Christ has been the church of firsts–the first to ordain a woman, the first to ordain an openly gay man, and the first Christian church to affirm the right of same-gender couples to marry. We were in the forefront of the anti-slavery movement and the Civil Rights movement.

We believe in a God that is still speaking, a God that is all-loving and inclusive. We are a church that welcomes and accepts everyone as they are, where your mind is nourished as much as your soul. No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you’re welcome here

Read more about the UCC's Trading Places campaign here