Welcome to Faith United Church
Faith United is a multi-denominational (PCUSA and UCC) community of believers serving in the lake shore community of Oswego, New York. Our Mission to the community is an active focus on both physical hunger (Souper Bowl of Caring, collections of food for our local food pantry) and spiritual needs (weekly and special worship services) and a church building that is totally handicap accessible, hearing amplified, and ecologically friendly.
Summer Reading: Book Discussion
Our summer reading novel for the month of August is Southernmost by Silas House. The main character, Asher Sharp, is a pentecostal preacher for a small conservative, fundamentalist church in rural Tennessee. As the novel opens, a calamitous flood has struck the small Tennessee town. Following what seems to be a simple act of kindness on the part of the preacher who extends shelter to a couple of gay men who were left homeless in the flood, a rift develops between that preacher, his family, and his community over that one charitable act. Asher Sharp now finds himself exiled: fired by his church, divorced by his wife, and shunned by his community. His ex-wife takes him to court and he loses custody of his nine-year old son, Justin, whom he deeply loves. The now former pastor is also grappling with his sense of guilt over how he cut off relations ten years ago with his own brother Luke over Luke’s homosexuality. Asher now longs for his brother’s forgiveness and to somehow reconcile with him. Asher takes the very risky step of fleeing with his son, Justin to the Florida Keys, where he believes his brother is living, and in doing so hoping that he can avoid losing his son to his ex-wife. The novel is about how a person can come to question their former beliefs and then have to deal with the sacrifices that must be made when they act on those beliefs. It’s also about the struggle to find and hold on to God’s presence as we move from one worldview to the next. We plan on holding a discussion session of Southernmost on Sunday, August 27th during adult study time, starting at 10 am at Faith United church. You are invited to join us, either in person, or remotely on Zoom, using the same log-in as for regular Sunday worship.
Mission to Support Our Greater Community
Faith United Church has teamed up with the Oswego County Health Department Early Intervention Program and Hear 2 Learn to offer free of charge space each Wednesday for children to receive speech therapy services. Oswego County has many children in need of therapy services and few sites to efficiently provide these services. By offering the use of our education wing as a place in which Hear 2 Learn can provide speech therapy services to children enrolled in the County’s Early Intervention Program, our community is demonstrating our mission to help care for all.
Our Worship Time
Beginning Sunday, April 24th , 2022 – Worship service will begin at 11:15am
- Open dialogues and Christian Education will begin at 10:00am
In order to facilitate growth and innovation, the Commission of Faith United Church has adopted a Sunday worship time of 11:15 am. The Commission’s goal of adopting an 11:15 am worship service is to allow additional time for members and friends to gather on Sunday. Activities previously done after worship service (Christian ed, open dialogues, etc.) will be held prior to the service allowing for additional community building time. After consultation and agreement with Bristol Hill Church (Volney) regarding Sunday worship times, Pastor Andy will perform the early morning service in Volney.
Proposed changes to the Constitution and Bylaws have been ratified.
At a special meeting of the congregation of Faith United Church on March 26, 2023, all of the proposed changes to Faith United Church's Constitution and Bylaws were accepted by unanimous vote. The revised documents have now been posted to this website. Click here to see them.
Sunday Worship
Worship Service: 11:15 am
Coffee Hour/Fellowship: 10:45 am
Adult Study: 10:00 amFor a sample bulletin from a recent Sunday worship service, click here.
To listen to recorded sermons,
How to Find Us
Our street address:
Faith United Church
12 Mark Fitzgibbons Drive
Oswego, New York 13126
Upcoming Events
Adult study meets most Sundays after worship from September until June. During July and August we meet on the last Sunday of each month for a book discussion. The book we will be discussing on August 27th is Silas House's novel Southernmost.
The September meeting of the book group will be held on the 22nd at 2 pm. This month is "reader's choice". Either Her Hidden Genius by Marie Benedict or Photograph 51 by Anna Ziegler.
Announcements
We Have a Method for Making Electronic Donations to Faith United Church
The Presbyterian Foundation, in cooperation with Vanco Payment Solutions has provided us with a new way to make electronic donations to Faith United Church. With this new method, you now have to ability to schedule regular automatic donations, or to make individual, one time donations to the church's general fund, to the building fund, or to the special offering fund, (any or all of them) as you wish. For details, please see our donation page.
Hybrid worship services are now being offered
Ever since Sunday, May 2, 2021; the Faith United community has been able to participate in Sunday morning worship service via Zoom and in-person. Full guidelines for in-person worship are posted below.
Please keep an open and flexible mind as we continue to transition into the post pandemic world. We will be requesting constructive feedback to make the worship service as meaningful as we can for ALL participants.
We have learned a lot during the past year of online worship. The most important lesson has been that we are a community that is no longer confined within walls. We have had visitors, long distant relatives, and snowbirds join in worship from coast to coast. Our goal during this time of transition is to create an experience that universally connects those in-person with those online. This means the sanctuary will have the necessary technology to accomplish this goal. The technology used at present will most likely not be the final setup for our future worship experience. As we have demonstrated form the beginning of this pandemic, we are willing to experiment, listen, try, and grow during this process.
Guidelines for in-person worship
Regarding Church building COVID guidelines: It is our intention to follow the CDC guidelines regarding masks and distancing.
Mask wearing is now optional inside the building. Anyone who wishes to wear a mask will not be discouraged from doing so.
Worship service will be conducted in a “hybrid” manner (people attending via Zoom and/or physically). These guidelines will be reviewed at each Commission Meeting and updated as the CDC and New York State Health Department COVID-19 guidelines evolve.
Stay Home If:
- You have a temperature of 100.4˚ or higher.
- You have other symptoms of illness. (CDC Guidelines)
Cough or Chills
Shortness of breath or Muscle pain
Difficulty breathing
Sore throat
Fever
Loss of taste or smell - You have been exposed in the past 5 days to someone with COVID-19 or COVID-19 symptoms or have tested positive for COVID-19. If there is any chance you might be a risk to others, please stay home.
When Coming to in-person Church:
- In consideration of the latest CDC guidelines, mask wearing is now optional for people attending indoor gatherings, such as Sunday worship. Even so, if you do not feel well, please stay home and join us on Zoom.
- Hand sanitizer continues to be available in the dispensers on the way in and out of church.
- WAVE. Please do NOT shake hands or hug. Do not assume the other person is comfortable with physical contact, even if you know they are fully vaccinated.
- Please use a tissue or otherwise cover your mouth/nose if you cough or sneeze.
In-Person Guidelines:
- In-person attendees will “sign-in” upon arriving at the building for Sunday morning service (This information will only be used if someone attends service who tests positive for COVID-19). This is in lieu of our former practice of "passing the friendship pads."
- Hand sanitizer will be available throughout the building.
- Offering plates will be available at the sanctuary exit. If you wish to make an offering, simply drop your donation in the plate. This is in lieu of our former practice of passing a collection plate.
- In-person singing of hymns by congregants is permitted.
- Music will continue to be a significant part of the service. We have not yet transitioned back to a full choir. Our music will either be prerecorded, or a soloist may be used in-person with physical distancing.
- All words for hymns and readings will be printed or projected.
- Coffee hour refreshments have been re-instituted on a limited basis. Pre-packaged food and drink are available for those more comfortable with that option .
- Communion elements will be served individually so as limit person to person contact. Pre-packaged elements will continue to be available. The practice of intinction has been indefinitely suspended.
NOTE:
If anyone who attends worship tests positive or develops symptoms, please call the church office without delay.
News from Discipleship Committee
- The Discipleship committee is collecting new board-books for the children who are attending the "Hear to Learn" and "Thrive by Five" speech therapy programs held in our church. Donations may be placed in the labeled box in the hallway by the bulletin board.
Adult Study
Adult Study is held most weeks at 10 am before the Sunday worship service, except during the months of July and August when we meet once a month. On August 27th we will be discussing Silas House's novel Southernmost.
From the Mission Committee
Peace and Global Witness/Neighbors in Need Offerings
This offering will be collected on World Communion Sunday on October 1. On World Communion Sunday we celebrate that Christ’s peace extends through all creation. Since 1940, World Communion Sunday is an ecumenical celebration of our oneness in Spirit, bringing churches together in Christian Unity.
For the PCUSA, this offering has a global as well as a national and local emphasis. The focus Bible verse is You are with me from Psalm 23. This offering is used to shed light on sources of strife and to create projects that promote peace and understanding. These take a variety of forms. Half of the PCUSA money goes to the Mission Agency to partner with ministries around the world. Another 37.5% is retained for our church’s use in a peace related action. Our Committee will announce our decision in an upcoming announcement in Church. The remainder of the offering goes to the PCUSA mid-level councils for peacemaking on the regional level.
For the UCC, the Bible focus verse is Behold! God saw everything God made and behold, it was very good (Genesis 1:31). Two-thirds of the offering is used by the UCC’s Justice and Witness Ministries to fund a wide array of local and national justice initiatives, advocacy efforts and direct service projects. Justice and Witness continues its strong policy Advocacy work on issues such as the federal budget, voting rights, immigration, health care, hate crimes, civil liberties, and environmental justice. The other one-third supports the UCC’s Council for American Indian Ministries. Forebears of the current UCC churches worked with many American Indian communities in the upper Midwest. Today there are 20 UCC congregations on reservations and one urban, multi-tribal UCC congregation in Minneapolis that receive aid.
Letters to our representatives in congress are needed
The Mission committee is encouraging our congregation to send letters to our Senators and Congress person to vote to pass the farm bill coming up soon for votes. The bill has many provisions to ensure that families have access to nutritious foods that they can afford. A letter station is in the Narthex. The table has addresses, sample letters, envelopes and stamps to complete this campaign. You may take materials home with you, but let us know if you wrote a letter and how many.
The Fitzhugh Park Elementary School Scholarship
Faith United Church is now sponsoring a scholarship for a graduating Oswego High School senior who attended Fitzhugh Park Elementary School. The Mission Committee is pleased to announce that Kiara Barton has won this year's Fitzhugh Park Scholarship offered by our church to an Oswego High School senior who attended Fitzhugh Park Elementary School. The scholarship is for $250.00. Kiara plans to study physical therapy. We all wish Kiara well with her future plans.
News from the Finance Committee
Beginning in August, Canale Accounting Service has taken over bill paying for the church. They were already doing our payroll and taxes. Barbra Wall has assumed responsibility as Church Treasurer. We want to again express our deep appreciation to retiring Treasurer, Juanita Tschudy, for her many years of dedicated service to our church.
Rebekah Prosachik is the new church attorney and Russell Gettman has just updated the survey of the church property. We are moving forward with the sale of a 50 foot wide strip of our land behind the warehouse to Tony Pauldine who plans to renovate the warehouse as a wedding venue and needs the extra land for parking. In exchange, he will provide a variety of services for our community garden project.
The Shineman Foundation awarded our church a $5,000 grant to support our community garden project. The Foundation and it’s hundreds of grants benefitting the Oswego community are another huge legacy of the generosity of life long members of our church, Barbara and Dick Shineman.
Leslie King has taken over administration of both the Building Fund and the Great Commission Fund. We want to express deep gratitude to Ted Sivers who oversaw both of these funds for many years.
David King
For the Finance Committee
A Message From Our Pastor, Andy Hinman
Welcome to Faith United Church of Oswego. As the new settled Pastor, my goal is to continue this congregation’s long standing commitment of providing congregants, visitors, and those longing for acceptance an open and welcoming experience.
We are all in various stages of navigating a life journey that will contain all kinds of obstacles, some of which may shake our core beliefs. However, in those times of hardship God is present placing loving miracles to lift us up and remind us that we are unconditionally loved and accepted. As a community that accepts and reciprocates the teachings and love of Jesus Christ, Faith United is a safe haven free of judgment in which all can come together to live in the renewed hope of Christ.
In the safety of community, we have the opportunity to learn Christ’s teachings while applying what we learn to our own lives.This means that we must be open to being uncomfortable at times, as we realize that we are ever changing individuals exploring and uncovering the talents God has placed within us, sharing those gifts with the community and world around us to uplift and build up those in need.
How to join Sunday morning services on Zoom
If you would like to join our new live stream service offering, please join us at 9:15am Sunday morning.
There are two ways to join:
1. Click on the following link from your smart phone or computer: https://zoom.us/j/207196571
a. If you have not used the Zoom application in the past, you will be asked to download and install this free application.
b. Once Zoom has been installed, you will be connected to the worship service (you may have to re click on the above link if you are not automatically joined)
c. You will be prompted whether or not you would like to share your video and audio; this decision is completely up to you and will not impact your ability to see or hear the worship service.
d. I am sorry that we will not have live support available to assist you during this process, but please email me with questions or difficulties you encounter so that these can be addressed for future services.
2. Join the worship service over traditional phone service (no video but you will be able to hear the worship service) Warning: long distance charges may apply depending on your phone plan!!
2. Join the worship service over traditional phone service (no video but you will be able to hear the worship service) Warning: long distance charges may apply depending on your phone plan!!
a. For this option, please dial one of the following numbers and follow the prompts:
i. Dial by your location
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 301 715 8592 US
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US
Meeting ID: 207 196 571
How to Find Us
Faith United Church is located on the south side of Mark Fitzbibbons Drive next to Oswego Middle School. Our building is totally handicapped accessible with off-street parking available.
Working Hours
Secretary: Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri. 10am - 2pm
Where are we?
12 Mark Fitzgibbons Drive
Oswego, NY 13126
Phone: 315 343-3480
secretary@faithunitedoswego.org
faithunited1@gmail.com