Post-Inauguration Prayer & Advocacy
We imagine you may have questions about immigration and World Relief Wisconsin. Over the next few newsletters, we'll be providing updates and information that we hope you find insightful and encouraging.
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Monthly Prayer
On the first Monday of every month, Liam Nelessen (Advocacy Coordinator, World Relief Wisconsin), will host a virtual prayer meeting from 8:00 - 9:00 p.m. His intention is to focus our intercession on these groups:
- Immigrants
- World Relief
- Governing Officials
- Pastors & Churches
Use this link to join.
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Reflection:
God-Sized Challenges
In this time of changing administrations - it is easy to get caught up in a flurry of information. While our Presidential Administration is different, our Lord Jesus remains on his throne. We are humbled to know that World Relief prayer partners vote across the political spectrum. We take great encouragement by our shared prayer for Jesus to guide President Trump and his advisers!
The challenges facing our country and displaced people throughout the world are God-sized challenges; they are not World Relief-sized, Wisconsin-sized, or America-sized. With God-sized challenges, we must ask for God's intervention.
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Annual Giving Statements
The 2024 giving statements were emailed on January 23, 2025, (if your email address is on file) to those who have contributed financially. For those who have not provided an email address, paper statements were mailed on January 23, 2025.
If you have not received your statement by Friday, January 31, 2025, please contact the church office.
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Bad Weather Closure Info
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)
- Your mobile phone text messages (if you’ve opted in to receive texts from the church)
- WBAY-TV (ABC 2) (Green Bay - Fox Cities)
- WBAY website
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Blessing Box Updated Priority List
Donation Bin:
Next to the Church Office
Donation Hours:
Sundays before and after Worship Thursdays: 8:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Temps are colder now, and hand warmers are urgently needed for our neighbors. Please, do whatever you can to help. Look for the convenient donation bin located near the church office.
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Brown Bag Bible Exploration
Tuesday, February 4, 2025 | Noon – 1:30 p.m.
Magnolia Hall at First Pres
For those seeking a supportive and nurturing atmosphere to explore their faith, this group is an ideal choice. Just bring your Bible, your thirst for God’s word, and your lunch! And help spread the word to your family and friends about Brown Bag Bible Exploration.
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Community Breakfast
Saturday, February 22, 2025 | 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. | Magnolia Hall at First Pres
The community breakfast is a cornerstone for connection and support, offering a delicious, homecooked meal and a starting point for meaningful conversations. Join us to share this experience, whether you’re seeking assistance, looking to help, or simply want to be part of a community that cares. Together, we’re not just sharing a meal; we’re nurturing the roots of our community.
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Tom’s Drive-In Fundraiser Night
Benefiting Community Clothes Closet
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Beginning at 4:00 p.m.
Tom’s Drive-In | 3301 E. Calumet Street, Appleton
You are invited to Tom’s Drive-In for a delicious meal and a tasty way to support our local Community Clothes Closet. When you’re purchasing your food, just make sure you let them know that you’re there on behalf of the Community Clothes Closet. And then, 20% of the sale will go back to CCC!.
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Volunteers Need:
Men Who Cook for Christine Ann
Friday, February 28, 2025
Volunteer Arrival: 4:30 p.m.
Oshkosh Convention Center
2 N. Main Street, Oshkosh
Call Christine Ann to Volunteer: 920.235.5998
Sign Up Online: Sign Up Sheet
CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS! Christine Ann is gearing up for Men Who Cook, and they need YOUR help to make this event a success! Volunteer today and be part of this amazing community effort. Whether it’s helping at the event or behind the scenes, your time makes a big difference! Together, we can make this event unforgettable!
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Winter Essentials Needed
Day By Day Shelter | 420 Ceape Avenue, Oshkosh | 920.203.4536 | jessica@daybydayshelter.org
We Need Your Help This Winter! The cold season is here, and Day By Day guests are in need of warm clothing and supplies. Items like: jackets, gloves, and hats; warm socks, hand & toe warmers.
Let’s work together to keep our neighbors warm and safe this winter! Donations can be dropped off at Day by Day Shelter.
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Black History Month: African Americans and Labor
Source: Association for the Study of African American Life and History
The 2025 Black History Month theme, African Americans, and Labor, focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people. Indeed, work is at the very center of much of Black history and culture. Be it the traditional agricultural labor of enslaved Africans that fed Low Country colonies, debates among Black educators on the importance of vocational training, self-help strategies and entrepreneurship in Black communities, or organized labor’s role in fighting both economic and social injustice, Black people’s work has been transformational throughout the U.S., Africa, and the Diaspora. The 2025 Black History Month theme, “African Americans and Labor,” sets out to highlight and celebrate the potent impact of this work.
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Africans were brought to the Americas to be enslaved for their knowledge and serve as a workforce, which was superexploited by several European countries and then by the United States government. During enslavement, Black people labored for others, although some Black people were quasi-free and labored for themselves, but operated within a country that did not value Black life. After fighting for their freedom in the Civil War and in the country’s transition from an agriculturally based economy to an industrial one, African Americans became sharecroppers, farm laborers, landowners, and then wage earners. Additionally, African Americans’ contributions to the built landscape can be found in every part of the nation as they constructed and designed some of the most iconic examples of architectural heritage in the country, specifically in the South. Read more.
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A Statement of Support for The Right Reverend Mariann Budde, Bishop of Washington, The Episcopal Church
From the Advocacy Committee for Women and Gender Justic of the PC(USA)
January 25, 2025
The Advocacy Committee for Women and Gender Justice stands in solidarity with Bishop Mariann Budde and her call to the President for mercy and compassion toward those who are marginalized and oppressed. The harsh words used to attack Bishop Budde are not only an affront to her but to every clergywoman in the United States, as well as to all women.
As women in the Presbyterian Church (USA), we stand on the shoulders of incredibly educated, talented, and strong women who paved the way for us to have a voice that was once silenced. Their legacy inspires us to speak out against injustice and to advocate for equality and compassion in every sphere of life.
We invite you to read our full statement of support for Bishop Budde below. Let us also join together in prayer for our nation and for leaders at the national, state, and local levels, that they may act with wisdom, empathy, and a commitment to justice.” Read more.
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Sunday Worship Service: 9:30 a.m. † In-Person † Facebook † YouTube | | | |
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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. | | | | | | |