SITUATIONAL AWARENESS FOR SENIORS:
  • If there is enough interest, we will offer a workshop to help senior recognize potentially dangerous situations and know how to protect themselves and their possessions from threats. The workshop will include topics such as home safety, social media, safety in public, and identifying and avoiding conflict. Please sign up in the lobby or contact the church office if you are interested.
MANSE UPDATE:  
  • At press time, we are still seeking a tenant for the manse. Please keep all those involved in this process in your prayers.  Until the manse is rented, we are using reserve funds to meet expenses.
GUEST PREACHER:
  • The pastor will be on vacation September 20th-26th. Please contact your flock leader if you have a pastoral need during this time.​
MARK YOUR CALENDAR!:​
  • WORSHIP AS YOU WORK -Help us celebrate the Labor Day weekend with us by wearing your work clothes to worship on September 1. Whether it’s what you wear when earning a paycheck, studying at school, or working in and around the house, help us thank God for the many ways in which we are able to be productive! Our last Sunday for “summer schedule” will be September 1, with worship at 10:00. Beginning on September 8, Sunday School will meet at 10:00, with worship starting at 11:00.
  • Join us for worship on September 8, when members of this summer’s mission team will describe their experiences during the July mission trip to Buckhorn, Kentucky, which had been devastated by flooding in 2022.
  • The nominating committee will soon begin its work to identify candidates to serve as church officers in the coming year. Please lift them up in prayer and seek the Lord’s guidance if the committee invites you to serve.  The Nominating Committee meeting on September 8th right after worship.
  • It’s Apple Dumpling Time! Old Union Church will sell apple dumplings at the Mars Applefest on October 5. Plans are underway for making dumplings on Friday, October 4. Watch for how you can participate by volunteering and donating supplies.
  • Plan to take part in our annual Budget Forum after worship on October 13, to assist the session in planning for our 2025 financial year. We will reschedule the fellowship dinner (usually on the third Sunday of the month) so that we can share a meal before talking money.
CHURCH SECURITY:
  • On May 19 representatives from COPS-1 conducted a safety assessment of our building and procedures and made a series of recommendations to enhance the safety of our congregation in the event of an armed intruder. During the August 3 self-defense workshop they provided further information about their recommendations, which the session discussed at its August 19 meeting. As a result, we are seeking to form a security team of three or four people to take responsibility for safety measures. Team members will do things such as lock doors into the fellowship hall during worship and monitor video cameras. Please speak with the pastor if you’re interested in helping in this way.​
​​STUDENT PASTOR UPDATE:
  • We will not have a student pastor this year. The seminary student who was considering the position decided not to join us.
​​​
​​ SUNDAY SCHOOL:
  • ​Our children’s Sunday School is expanding this year to two classes! We welcome children of all ages. Classes will be held in the church basement and begin at 10:00.
  • ADULT STUDY -Sunday morning Adult Study is new this year! We will have a combination of guest speakers and pastor-led studies on various topics of interest. September 8: Guest speaker Judy Eversole of Buckhorn School in Kentucky, to describe her work to support the students and their families, and how our mission team was able to help.
  • September 15: A creative approach to praying the Lord’s Prayer
  • September 22: Guest speaker still to be determined
  • September 29: Beginning of an eight-week exploration of different kinds of prayer in the Bible
  • The Adult Study will meet in the conference room on Sunday mornings at 10:00.
DID YOU KNOW?
  • We are pleased to welcome a home-school group who will be using our facilities on Tuesdays for shared learning throughout the academic year. Classes will be meeting in various areas of our building. Please be courteous of their needs if you come to the church while they are meeting.
  • ​Old Union will continue its school food program, to provide weekend meals for Longmore Academy students who come from food-insecure families. This year we will provide food for 50 students (up from 30 last year). You can help by packing food after worship on Sundays, adding fruit to the bags on Thursdays, or delivering the food to the school on Fridays.
  • For the past several years, Old Union has collected the Pentecost Offering to support work with children, youth, and young adults locally and across the nation and world. At its meeting this summer, the General Assembly has decided to end this offering program in 2026.​
MISSION ENDOWMENT FUND:
  • Each year the Mission Endowment Fund generates income that can be used to support missions. This year, we are able to use up to $10,000. Although the session had allocated up to $1,000 to be used for our summer mission trip, it turns out that the money wasn’t needed. But the mission trip did identify a mission need that the session was happy to support. As you will learn during worship on September 8, our mission team worked with staff from the Buckhorn, Kentucky school. The school’s budget to help students and their families in need had been cut from $19,000 to $4,000. Old Union was able to send $8,000 to help make up the difference. Over the course of the coming year, you will learn about this money will help families in this impoverished region of Appalachia. We still have $2,000 available for this year; please speak with a session member if you have an idea or know of a need that we can help to meet.
  • On August 4, Old Union had a surprise special guest. Rev. Magnus Moseray, originally from Sierra Leone, has begun churches and trained church leaders in Europe, Africa, and Latin America. He joined us before beginning a three month trip in seven Latin American countries. Members of our congregation donated a total of $410 to help support his work.
​GARAGE GIVEAWAY:
  • ​Thanks to everyone who donated items for PRISM’s Garage Giveaway, to welcome international students with free household items and furniture. A special thanks to Ruth and Gary Geller for delivering our donations to Bellefield Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. This year’s Garage Giveaway served a record number of students!
Old Union Presbyterian Church | 200 Union Church Road, Mars, PA 16046
​724-538-8672 | [email protected]
200 Union Church Road, Mars PA 16046