Stacks Image p106723_n99
Stacks Image p106723_n70

Coronavirus Cancellations and Service Changes

Due to efforts to contain the spread of the Coronavirus, Beaver United Church of Christ has discontinued all in person services and meetings until further notice. Please visit our website for additional information as it becomes available. Our on-line Calendar page also lists the current status of activities and events at our church.

Sunday School materials are available here.

Please join us each Sunday morning at 10:30 AM on our Facebook Page for our on–line worship service.

Worship materials to accompany each Sunday's service are available here.

Sunday Worship Service recordings are available here.

Click here for Facebook.

The Pastor's Letter™ – May, 2020

Dear Beaver Church,

Because of the uncertainty with our plans for May, it was felt that a normal newsletter was not warranted. Instead I have included a Pastor’s Peace for May, and I have written this letter, which includes some other information. We will be continuing in May with what we have been doing in April, and therefore all of the information from the April newsletter pertains to May as well.

I had really hoped by now to have some clearer idea of what is going on in terms of the church, plans for meeting in person, and other church activates. Unfortunately, I still do not know when we will be able to resume meeting together. I do know that a shelter in place order has been extended to May 29th and that includes limiting gatherings of larger than 10 people. In consulting with the consistory, and looking at guidelines from our denomination, as well as looking at what other denominations are doing, it was decided that we will continue to suspend in person services at least through May 29th, and most likely all of May. Essentially we are looking for guidance from the state for when it would be deemed mostly safe for us to congregate again. I am hoping that might be sometime in June, but I have learned during this pandemic that things are constantly changing, and so I can make no promises about such a date. When we do decide to have in person services again, we will thoroughly announce it.

On a positive note, our florist, Beavercreek Florist, has opened again for deliveries, and being that we as a church decided to support this business, we have restarted our flower service with them. We currently have flower spots available for May 17th and 31st. If anyone would like to sign up for either of those dates, please email me and let me know what the flowers are in honor or memory of.

We also have a little time left for high school seniors associated with the church to apply for the Greene Memorial Scholarship. If you are receiving this letter via email, an application has been attached. If you are getting a physical copy of this letter, because you don’t use email, please call me at 937-469-1383 if you would like a copy of the application mailed to you. Completed applications can be mailed to the church and must be postmarked by May 17th.

As my dad used to say, that is all that is fit for print. I continue to pray for everyone as they deal with all of the various complications regarding this pandemic. As I say in my Pastor’s Peace, I am not sure of the future, but I know God is part of it and that we will gather in worship again some day. In the meantime we will have to suffice with virtual services with lots of real love shared across the miles that separate us.

Blessings, Pastor Brian

Beaver UCC

We are a community of caring individuals brought together by a common bond – love!

Our congregation is composed of people from all walks of life who come together to offer healing and comfort, learning and encouragement - much like a family. We welcome all, and believe that extravagant hospitality is central to the role of our church.

At Beaver UCC, we strive to help our members grow spiritually, while at the same time understanding that everyone has their own spiritual path. Our church is a place where you can think for yourself while differing views are respected. It is our hope that through education, fellowship, and service we can, as a community, come closer to God and each other.

Since our founding over 200 years ago, Beaver Church continues seeking to offer an atmosphere of informality, spontaneity, fellowship, and fun. We hope our Church is a place where you and all will feel both welcome and comfortable.

About Our Church

Sunday School Program

Sunday School Materials – Click Here
Sunday School will resume after in person services resume.

Nursery
Meets: Upstairs each Sunday after the children’s moment, year round.
Main Teacher: Hayden Rauls
Ages: Infant through Pre-K
This class is for our youngest students and there will be a combination of play and some instruction depending on the ages present.

Young Learners
Meets: Upstairs each Sunday after the children’s moment, September through May, with a one month break around Christmas.
Main Teacher: Sarah Hogan
Ages: K through 4th grade
This class is for our younger learners and will be focused on instruction and lessons. Material will be taught from a children’s story type Bible. Children less comfortable with working on lessons might wish to stay in the nursery, and those that are more advanced might wish to go to the older class.

Children’s Bible Study
Meets: Upstairs each Sunday after the children’s moment, September through May, with a one month break around Christmas.
Main Teacher: Brittany King
Ages: 4th through 8th grade
This class will be a Bible and faith study where children will read scripture lessons from the Bible each week and study them. Children will also learn about Christian faith themes present in the topics and readings for the week. Readings should somewhat overlap with the readings given in the service. As children reach the point where the curriculum or discussions seem less challenging, then they are encouraged to stay in service, attend the Adult Bible Study, and seek confirmation with the Pastor when ready. During breaks, children will be asked to stay in service.

Adult Bible Study
Meets: In the fellowship hall each Sunday at 9:30 AM, September through May.
Main Teacher: Pastor Brian
Ages: Youth and Adults
This class will be a Bible and faith study each week led by Pastor Brian. Jr. High and Sr. High youth and Adults are encouraged to attend.

Services Provided by Beaver UCC

Prayer List and Card Ministry
Do you know someone who would appreciate our prayers, receiving a card from us, or having Pastor Brian visit with them? Please let us know. The Prayer List and Card Ministry will never be published on our website, although it will be included in our monthly newsletter.

Weddings
Beaver UCC offers wedding services including space rental, pre-marital counseling, and officiating for both members and non-members. Please contact the pastor for more information.

Funerals
Our church offers support in any way we can to assist those who are grieving the passing of a loved one. Funerals are generally held in the sanctuary and a meal is provided by the church afterwards.

Confirmation Classes
Confirmation classes are held each year for teenagers who wish to join the church and know more about their faith. Classes generally start in September and culminate with confirmation in May.

Counseling
The church offers pastoral counseling for members and non-members. Please see the Pastor’s Page for information on office hours.

Accessiblity
Beaver Church is wheelchair accessible with elevators. Sound reinforcement devices are available for the hard of hearing as are signers for the deaf. Please let us know if you have any special needs.

Beaver UCC Choir

Beaver Church Sings!
Music is an important component of worship at Beaver Church, one that lifts our spirits and helps us rejoice in God and with each other. Everyone is invited to participate in Beaver UCC’s choir - all you need is an appreciation of music and a desire to learn. We also encourage any and all musicians who wish to share their talents with us during worship. If you would like to join the Beaver Church Choir or provide accompanying instrumental support during a service, please contact our choir director or Pastor Brian.

Adult Choir
Beaver UCC’s Adult Choir provides music for each worship service from September through May, plus a special service on Christmas Eve. Practices are held following Sunday Worship in the church sanctuary.

Community Service and Support

Service is just as important to Beaver Church as fellowship.

Weekly contributions of food and clothing are taken to local food pantries and service organizations for those in need. Volunteers plan special activities for residents of nursing homes, while the congregation as a whole makes Christmas brighter for folks by sponsoring food and gift drives each holiday season.

Members of our congregation also support a variety of other charitable causes with time, money, and in-kind donations, including Heifer International, the Dayton Food Bank, the Salvation Army, and the Connor Puckett Fund.

The United Church of Christ

The religious heritage of the United Church of Christ (UCC) stems from the great traditions of the Protestant Reformation - Lutheran, Calvinist, and Congregational. These traditions were brought to America by Protestants fleeing persecution in Europe.

Four religious traditions, including the German Reformed, of which Beaver UCC was part, united in 1957 to become the United Church of Christ. Today, any local church or denomination is welcome to apply for membership in the UCC.

Beaver Church's services feature a combination of formal and informal worship. Our service includes communion on the first Sunday of the month, and all are welcome to participate.

Worship

All Worship and Sunday School gatherings are cancelled until further notice. On-line Worship Services are available each Sunday on the Beaver Church Facebook Page.
Worship materials for each Sunday's streaming service are available here.
A link to each Sunday's service is also available here, usually by mid-afternoon.

Activities, Events, and News

Beaver Church offers monthly activities for our congregants, including special youth events for our younger members.
Monthly activities, events, and news are listed on both our website and monthly Beaver Church Chatter newsletter.

Listen to Pastor Brian's Sermons
When available, Pastor Brian's sermons are posted on our website by Thursday each week. Sermons are available on The Pastor's Page™.

Communicating During The Pandemic
Because we will no longer be able to meet in person for the time being, it is important for us to still be able to communicate and for the church to be able to send information to the members. We will be continuing the newsletter, and as long as we are able to mail it out, we will. There is also always a copy of the newsletter on the church website, www.beaverucc.org, and it will be emailed as normal. Day to day communication will be primarily sent out via our “all church email list.” You are encouraged to please become part of this list if you are not already. To add your address to the list, please send your email address to Pastor Brian or call or text him at 937- 469-1383 to give him your email address. Updates will also be placed on the church’s Facebook page.

Fellowship During The Pandemic – NEW!
As I stated during last Sunday's service (May 23, 2020), we are going to have a weekly Zoom meeting for the church every Tuesday from 7pm-8pm as a way to Fellowship. For those who have not used Zoom, you can go to www.zoom.us and sign up for a free account and download a client if you would like. The account is optional, you do not need one to join a meeting . Also, if you don't want to use a client, you can join via a web browser. You can use a laptop or computer with a camera and microphone, or a smartphone, or tablet. You can even use a computer with just a microphone and we just won't see video of you. If you have none of that technology you can dial in on a phone and just have audio only, all you need to do is dial a long distance number.
Zoom Meeting Information
Beaver Church Weekly Fellowship
Time: May 26, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Please check your Beaver Church email for specifics… Meeting ID, Password, or browser address. Also, phone call-in numbers are listed.

Giving To Beaver Church During The Pandemic
All of us have been impacted in so many ways by the Coronavirus pandemic. Many have been struggling financially, and for those of you who have, please contact Pastor Brian and we can assist you from our benevolence fund. For those that are able to continue to give your offerings to the church and wish to, you can either send checks to the church at “1960 Dayton-Xenia Rd. Beavercreek, OH 45434”, or if you wish, you can go to our website www.beaverucc.org and use the yellow donate button in the upper right hand corner of the webpage to donate online via credit or debit card. We are very grateful for continued offerings during this period, as we are still paying staff and taking care of other bills and obligations.

Changes To Beaver Church Due To The Coronavirus Pandemic
As all of you are aware, we are in an extraordinary time where all of us have to change our lives to limit the spread of the Coronavirus. In keeping with the recommendations of the State of Ohio Department of Health, the consistory has voted to suspend all in-person church meetings and functions including Sunday worship. This seemed to be the most responsible thing to do for the safety of our church members and the greater community. This is also what the vast majority of other congregations have done. We will continue in this way until the state has deemed gatherings such as worship safe. Based upon info given out thus far we will likely not be meeting in person until May at the earliest. While we won't be having in-person worship, we will continue to have worship every Sunday at 10:30am online through Facebook. There will be a live broadcast with Alex and myself. In addition we will also have communion each Sunday online during Lent and Easter as originally planned, and I ask that if you wish to participate in communion that you have bread and some sort of juice or wine with you for the service. In addition to changes in how the church worships, the consistory also voted that all staff would continue to remain employed and will be given work to do during this time period. Being that the church is more or less continuing as it has before, there of course will still be all of the normal bills and obligations to pay. Obviously some church members might be greatly impacted financially by the shutdowns, and if you find yourself in need of help, please contact me as we have access to benevolence funds that can help. For those of you, however, that feel as if you can donate to the church and wish to do so, we would appreciate your continued donations so that we can keep the church going during this time. Donations can be mailed to the church at "1960 Dayton-Xenia Rd. Beavercreek, OH 45434". We have also added an online donation button to our website at www.beaverucc.org which will take credit or debit cards and is processed through PayPal. As always if you have any questions or concerns about anything please feel free to email me or call me at 937-469-1383. As stated there will be more detailed information coming out in the next few days about all of these changes. Lastly, as always keep everyone dealing with the many ramifications of this pandemic in your prayers.

Items For The Kids
Jeannette, our fabulous children’s moment leader, will be putting some things together for the kids which will be sent in the mail for Easter. If you wish to have your children receive something from Jeannette, or any other care package items we send to the kids, please email Pastor Brian with your address and the number of kids who would like to receive things at that address.

Worship Service Now Streaming On Facebook
While the church is canceling in person worship, we will instead be having worship online each Sunday at 10:30am through Facebook. For those that are familiar with Facebook, you will just need to go to our Facebook page, which you can search for as “Beaver United Church of Christ”. For those not set up on Facebook, it is very easy to setup a Facebook account. All you need to do is go to www.facebook.com and follow the instructions for setting up a new account. Once in Facebook, search for our church. Alternatively, if you go to our website, www.beaverucc.org, there is also a link to our Facebook page that you can click on. Once on the church’s Facebook page there will be a live stream video, that you might have to scroll down a bit to see. You can enlarge it by clicking on the enlarge button on the lower right hand of the video. You will be able to make comments during the video, which we will use, for instance, during joys and concerns. Once the service is over you will also be able to view the video afterwards on our Facebook page as well. When we have communion, if you have bread and wine or juice with you, I will consecrate it through Facebook, so that we can all partake of communion together. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Pastor Brian about this on his cell phone: 937-469-1383.

Joys And Concerns
We will be continuing our joys and concerns during our online services. To be included each week, please email your joys and concerns to Pastor Brian before each Sunday. There is also the ability to make comments during the service and we will use that as well for joys and concerns.

Garage Sale Postponed
We will be postponing the Garage Sale to a later date once the restrictions from the pandemic have been lifted. In the meantime please hold onto your items and we will let you know when you can bring them and when the new date for the sale will be.