Friday Newsletter

It’s elder-led worship this week! Come hear from Sandy, Dianne, Dick, Steve, Nikki, Bill, Angie & Maggie as they lead the service and share their own faith journeys.

Westminster is hosting the Presbytery of the Cascades quarterly meeting, Oct 24 from 3-7pm and Oct 25 from 9:30a-12p. Members and friends are invited to attend and learn about how our Presbyterian system works.

Oct 24 – School’s Out! Join the Poor People’s Campaign for a walk around the capitol from 1-2pm. Meet: Salem First Presbyterian Church.

Pastor Kelly will be out of the office on furlough Oct 26-30, 2025. Please contact the office with any urgent matters or questions.

Anyone know of a potter or mosaic artist that could help us repurpose some special pottery that has been broken? Contact Rachelle at 503-580-9971 (Text) or email wsbandmom@comcast.net.

What a wonderful weekend for an art festival, and what a wonderful festival! Thanks to everyone who participated in making our 36th Festival of Fine Art a smashing success! This year there are more folks than ever to thank! Our profound gratitude goes to:

The set-up and take-down crews

The display team for hanging the artwork so beautifully and keeping the gallery fresh throughout the Show.  

The dozens of volunteers who staffed the festival daily

The many talented bakers who donated mountains of homemade cookies for the Friday night reception

The hard-working crew that staffed the reception and cleaned up in record time

Every gifted musician who filled our church with beautiful music. Special thanks to the Fusion Trio, who capped off the Festival with a soul-stirring concert Sunday afternoon

And of course, the dedicated members of the Fine Arts Committee, without whom the Festival could never happen. Thank you all for your insight, creativity, and hard work.

A more detailed round-up of the Festival is forthcoming. In the meantime, thank you again, one-and-all, for a memorable and highly successful event.

Sheila Powell and Doreen Negstad, Co-Chairs

Our friends at Salem Mennonite Church invite Westminster to their next Speaker Series Event:

Nov 1 @ 10:30am

Shawn and Jon Newswanger have been autism parents (initially unwittingly) since 2005 when their daughter, Kathryn (Kate), was born. Their son, Dillon, was born in 2006. Dillon received his autism diagnosis in 2013. Kate was diagnosed as autistic in 2019. With Dillon’s diagnosis, Shawn and Jon found themselves needing to be advocates for neurodivergence acceptance and awareness.

In addition to being autism parents, Shawn works as Dillon’s direct support provider while Jon has had several professional and volunteer roles working with individuals who experience intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Kate attends Western Oregon University where she is majoring in English and minoring in history. She enjoys writing poetry and fiction.

Dillon attends Summit Community Transition Program. He enjoys running.

Shawn, Jon, Kate, and Dillon attend Salem Mennonite Church.

The Congregational Vitality Committee would like to thank Westminster for their

generous contributions to the annual School Supply Drive. The supplies were

distributed to the following schools: Lee Elementary, McKinley Elementary, Miller

Elementary, Faye Wright Elementary, Leslie Middle School, and South Salem High

School.

Thank you to all the blood donors and volunteers that showed their support for

the September 22nd Blood Drive. The Red Cross is grateful for our partnership in

saving lives. It was an enormous success thanks to the 34 presenting donors. We

met their collection goal of 100%. The next scheduled blood drive at Westminster

is December 15th.

Photo Directory Update:

Because so few people have sent in photos or updates to their contact

information, we are postponing printing copies or making the directory available

on the website. The Selfie Spot will continue to be made available in Boulder Hall

for the coming month, and a member of the CVC will be there in person during

coffee hour to assist people in getting a photo taken or in updating or adding their

information. Our goal is to have the updated directory ready by the end of

October.

Sign up to be a helper in Sunday School! You don't need to plan or lead a lesson, just be ready to help out the teacher and have fun with our kids.  The online sign-up is located here, or talk to Lynnea Lyman if you have any questions before you put your name down.

Hi all you congregants, 

Advent Craft is coming up soon. We are looking to help you clean out all the old costume jewelry and handkerchiefs and doilies. You will not get it back unless you come on November 23^rd and make a craft with it. Please look through your old favorites and then donate them to the Advent Craft. you will be amazed on what we're planning. please find the box in the Church Office.

Pamela Schmidling.

Want to participate in Moral Mondays at the capital with the Oregon Poor People’s Campaign? We meet every Monday, 12pm, at First Presbyterian Church. Contact Michele (michelehare25x2@gmail.com ) or Paul Negstad (pandd.negstad@gmail.com) to join or just show up! Next: Monday, October 27, 2025. Learn more: poorpeoplescampaign.org.

Watch more about Rev. Barber and the Poor People’s Campaign here: https://open.substack.com/pub/ourmoralmoment/p/moral-movements-expose-evil?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&timestamp=8.0