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In case of inclement weather, please check the following for closure information:

• First Pres Facebook page
• First Pres website
• Your email inbox (if you’ve provided the church office with an email address)
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• WBAY-TV (ABC 2) (Green Bay - Fox Cities) 
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Third Annual Souper Bowl Celebration

Sunday, February 9, 2025 | 12:30 – 4:00 p.m.

T&O Lanes | 1007 Oregon Street, Oshkosh

Join the Oshkosh Area Community Pantry for its Souper Bowl Sunday Celebration. You can start off your Super Bowl Sunday by bowling with friends and making a difference in our community! Enjoy FREE bowling with a non-perishable food item or hygiene donation!

Men Who Cook for Christine Ann

 Friday, February 28, 2025 | Doors Open: 5:30 p.m. | Dinner: 7:00 p.m.

Oshkosh Convention Center | 2 North Main Street, Oshkosh

Tickets: $100 | 920.235.5998 | Online Tickets: Here

Welcome to Men Who Cook 2025, the largest annual fundraiser for Christine Ann Domestic Abuse Services! We are thrilled to bring together local "chefs" – community members, leaders, and volunteers – who will showcase their culinary talents to support our mission. Join us for an evening filled with delicious dishes, friendly competition, auctions, and raffles, and most importantly - supporting survivors of domestic abuse!

Every dollar raised goes directly to empowering survivors, funding essential services, and supporting expanded services in our larger facility. Together, we can make a lasting impact. Thank you for being part of this incredible evening!

There will be no special theme this year. Instead, expect an elevated look and feel. The decor colors will be purple (for domestic abuse awareness) and gold! Dress code is formal/cocktail.

Oshkosh Area Community Pantry: Share What You CAN February Food Drive

Oshkosh Area Community Pantry | 2551 Jackson Street, Oshkosh

Donation Hours: Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

What CAN you do to help our neighbors who are facing food insecurity? Check your cupboards and check your shopping carts for canned products you’d like to donate to OACP. Here are some examples of what they’re looking for:

Canned Yams * Pork & Beans * Baked Beans * Canned Mushrooms * Canned Olives

Canned Fruit * Canned Milk * Canned Veggies * Creamed Corn * Canned Beets

Canned Sardines * Canned Fish * Canned Chicken * Manwich * Chili Starters

Meal Starters * Chunky Soup * Cream Soup * Canned Pasta * Canned Ravioli

OACP can still use any donation, whether food or monetary; but this month, they are encouraging donors to see what they CAN do! Thank you for your generosity!

The Goodness Found in Community

REV. KERRI PARKER COMMENTS FOR PRESS CONFERENCE 1/28/2025. 11 am, Wisconsin State Capitol. “State Legislation Empowering Schools, Places of Worship & Others in Light of Recent Immigration Actions” (Sen Carpenter, Rep Ortiz-Velez, Organizations)

My name is Reverend Kerri Parker. I am an ordained Christian minister and Executive Director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches. I stand here with members of our Board of Directors to assert:

• Our unswerving love for those who are living in fear due to recent immigration actions
• Our care for their safety, dignity, and well-being
• Our commitment to stand with those facing imminent violence

The Wisconsin Council of Churches has worked with and on behalf of immigrants in Wisconsin for many years. Our Statement on Nonviolence commits us to advocating for the dignity and civil rights of all persons and groups and speaking out against expressions of hatred or acts of violence directed against [them] because of their race, nationality, culture, ethnic group, …and more. When legal issues or questions of harm come to the forefront, we promote restorative justice, not retribution.

We live in an age of fear, retribution and separation. Wisconsin, we can do better. The proposals we are here to support allow sensitive locations where we care for vulnerable people to go about their missions without distraction.

We have many messages from churches supporting those who live in fear because of the color of their skin, their national origin, their immigration status. Our neighbors are seeking help, solidarity, and peace. We desperately need reconciliation, something that will not be achieved by making us more fearful and suspicious of one another, or by adding more violence to an already violent world.

The Christian tradition tells us we are all parts of one body. How, then, are we to abide someone entering our gathering and rending one part of the body from the others? How are we to abide this as part of our body politic, laws, and norms? We cannot. It is unnecessary violence perpetrated upon a place of peace. Wisconsin, we can do better.

A practice of care and accommodation, feeding and clothing, healing and safety has been in place among people of faith for millennia; hospitality is a central piece of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. How, then, are we to allow simple human need to be treated as trespass? We cannot. It is unnecessary violence perpetrated on a place of peace. Wisconsin, we can do better.

The remedy to a world full of brokenness and pain is not to perpetrate more violence. As a community of churches, we assert the goodness to be found in community, and the sacred dignity and worth of each person. We hold ourselves accountable for creating spaces of physical, spiritual, and emotional care; for calling community leaders to their better selves in wielding power and privilege appropriately. I am here with the backing of the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Council of Churches to assert the need for sensitive locations such as churches to be allowed to go about their missions without fear of disruption by state violence. We pray Wisconsin will show its better self. Regardless, we will continue being who we are.

Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month (TDVAM)

Need Help Now:

Call: 1.866.331.9474 | Text: LOVEIS to 22522

Dating violence is more common than you may think, especially among teens and young adults: 1 in 3 U.S. teens will experience physical, sexual, or emotional abuse from someone they’re in a relationship with before becoming adults. And nearly half (43%) of U.S. college women report experiencing violent or abusive dating behaviors.

Each February, young adults and their loved ones nationwide raise awareness about teen dating violence through Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month (TDVAM). This annual, month-long effort focuses on advocacy and education to stop dating abuse before it starts.

We’re excited to announce the 2025 theme for TDVAM is “Respect That.” Selected by the love is respect Youth Council, “Respect That,” is a powerful concept that can transform relationships. Respecting someone isn’t just a vague idea; it’s action and a mindset. The theme “Respect That” highlights the importance of treating partners with dignity, listening to their viewpoints, respecting their boundaries, and valuing their autonomy by focusing on “respect.”

A Statement from More Light Presbyterians

January 24, 2025

Dear More Light Presbyterians Community,

At his inauguration ceremony on Monday, January 20, the president of the United States announced, “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.” An executive order formalizing his proclamation followed. The board and staff of More Light Presbyterians denounce the harmful ideology and discrimination this hate speech promotes; we call on all people of faith and values to join us in fighting this and all proceeding attacks on trans, intersex, and other LGBTQIA+ rights in the coming weeks, months, and years.

In eliminating the language of gender and acknowledging only the language of “biological sex,” Trump’s executive order conflates gender with sex and denies the sociological and biological complexities of both. What is more, the order employs rhetoric claiming to “defend” cisgender[*] women from “gender ideology”. MLP board and staff denounce the pitting of transgender people against cis women as a “divide and conquer” tactic, meant to disrupt the solidarity these communities could wield against the administration targeting the bodily autonomy of both.

While executive actions do not have the authority to override the Constitution, federal statutes, or established legal precedent on their own, they do lay out standards that the president expects the government to implement. This order thus has tangible consequences for the millions of trans and intersex people living in the United States—including multiple members of the MLP board and staff—by threatening the legal protections and rights we have fought long and hard for in schools, workplaces, prisons, hospitals, and the church.

Because of this imminent threat to our queer siblings, and because the Christian faith is too often weaponized as a pretext for harmful laws, it is more important than ever that we take a firm stance against discrimination. At this very moment, the Presbyterian Church (USA) is deliberating whether to add the categories of "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" to our denomination's discrimination clause. We maintain our support for the passage of Amendments 24A and 24C in our denomination’s Book of Order.

The staff and board of More Light Presbyterians believe in the inherent beauty, worth, and dignity of all people. We believe both social and medical gender affirmation is salvific - it saves lives - and that the laws of human government obstruct the laws of our loving God in denying trans and intersex people this affirmation. We urge our member congregations, friends, and all Christians to speak up against these measures; our siblings need us more than ever.

Here are some ways to get active:

• Call your representatives urging them to denounce the Executive Order erasing trans people.
• Start discussions in your congregation about supporting Polity Amendments 24A and 24C.
• Reach out to local LGBTQIA+ organizations and ask how you can get involved / resource them.
• Buy from queer-owned businesses in your area.
• Download REFUGE Restrooms and begin marking any gender neutral or trans-safe public restrooms you encounter.
• Donate to a mutual aid fund that supports trans people, or to a trans individual’s fundraiser for gender affirming care or basic necessities.
• If you are an ally/co-conspirator, keep educating yourself on transgender and intersex issues so that you can respond confidently to hate and misinformation you witness; if you are a harmed or an impacted community member, hold fast to community with us.

Finally, we extend a particular message to all those who will be most directly  impacted by this new presidential term:

Hateful people want nothing more than to see you feeling hopeless and abandoned—but we promise you, there will always be people in your corner ready to protect you with our lives. We will not leave you to fight alone, no matter how dire things get. Cling to your community, nurture your spirit however you can, and remember: Politicians were never going to save us. We keep us safe, trusting in the love and solidarity of the One who created each of us with purpose and delight (Genesis 1:31; Psalm 139:14).

In Solidarity, 

MLP Board and Staff

[*] A cisgender female is a woman who identifies as a woman and was assigned female at birth.

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First Presbyterian Church is a member of More Light Presbyterians, a coalition of churches whose mission is to work for the full participation of the LBGTQ community in the life, ministry, and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and in society.