Category: Events

2023 Advent Workshop

Cheri Simonet
Advent Workshop

Sunday, December 3rd

“Advent” means coming or arrival. Rather than just waiting for Christmas to get here, we use the season of Advent to prepare for Christ’s coming. Advent begins this year on Sunday, December 3rd and we will kick off the season with our annual Advent workshop following worship.

Open to all ages, this event will feature crafts, activities, and Kevin’s famous chili lunch. Brenda has designed some great crafts once again, including a beautiful coaster suitable for gift-giving and an Ugly Christmas Sweater ornament. New this year is the option to decorate an Advent Yule Log for your home. And of course, as always, we’ll have Loni’s cut-out cookies to decorate (and eat!).

Returning this year is our Socks of Love project that was initiated last year. Filling a sock for persons in our community who are experiencing homelessness is one way to show our love and share our bounty with neighbors in need. Each pair of warm wool socks is filled with travel-size toiletries and other necessities for those who struggle with basic needs. Last year we filled 48 socks—this year can we do more? Our socks will go to St John’s shelter.

Please join us for this all-church celebration.

2023 Christmas Toy Shop

Cheri Simonet
Christmas Toy Shop

This year our Toy Shop, that benefits Pantry guests, will be held on Tuesday, December 12th. Please consider donating toys to support our cause.

Toys are needed for ages 2 through 18 years old and should be dropped off before Sunday, December 10th. Toys for teenagers are especially needed. Please place your unwrapped donations in the toy chest that’s at the bottom of the Sanctuary stairs.

And for those who’re not interested in shopping, you can contribute with a monetary gift by selecting the Pantry Toy Shop Fund through our online giving portal or send a check to the office at 200 S. Ashland Avenue, 54302 and note Toy Shop in the memo line.

As guests arrive for the Pantry between 10am and noon, they’ll receive a slip of paper to shop the toy shop. We’re in need of 3-4 of Santa’s elves to be personal shoppers for our guests. Personal shoppers will assist our guests to choose from the age-appropriate selection of toys. If you’re able to help as a personal shopper elf, please call Jane Bies at 920-621-6400.

Thank you for your support and for helping us make a Merrier Christmas for those in need!

Youth Group 2023 Lock-in

Cheri Simonet
Youth Group

It’s time once again for our Annual Youth Group Lock-in! This annual tradition started many, many years ago with the task of wrapping Christmas gifts for Tank Elementary School families that our church adopts for Christmas each year.

Christmas Baskets

The Christmas Prayer Basket campaign, supported by the Outreach Committee, selects three families to adopt each year from nearby Tank Elementary School. We obtain wish lists for the children and adults in each family and those wishes are placed in three separate baskets on the table in the back of the Narthex. Congregation members select from the tags and return gifts unwrapped to the church by Thursday, December 14th. And the following night of the 15th is when our Youth Group gathers in the Memorial Room to wrap the dozens on dozens of presents generously donated by our members.

Although the primary purpose for the youth getting together is to wrap all those presents, the larger picture is having our youth connect with the local community and with those who’re less fortunate than us. Our youth focus on seeing those who are sometimes forgotten and unseen during the busy hustle and bustle of the Holiday season. The lock-in is the fun part of it but moreover youth draw a connection to how fortunate we are to be blessed in so many ways. It’s easy to take for granted our blessings and there’s no better time of year than Christmas to reflect, remember and give thanks for all those blessings.

We gather at 6:30 on Friday, December 15th to wrap, retire to the youth group room for our sleepover and return home the following morning after breakfast. It’s a memorable and rewarding experience for all who participate. If you’d like to know more or get involved in this year’s lock-in, please contact Joel Morien at ce@firstpresgreenbay.org. And thank you to all our members who will generously donate those gifts for the youth to wrap!

2023 Blue Christmas

Cheri Simonet
Blue Christmas

December 19th at 6pm

For any of us who have experienced loss or are in the midst of struggles, the holidays can be a particularly painful time, stirring up grief in acute ways. As a result, churches of every denomination and style have adopted the practice of a “Blue Christmas” service. We continue this tradition with a Blue Christmas service on Tuesday, December 19th at 6:00pm in the sanctuary.

This time of worship is designed to provide space for prayer, reflection, and remembrance in the midst of the holiday hustle and bustle. It will include special music, candle lighting, and the sacrament of holy communion. All are welcome to join us for this contemplative service of worship. A dessert reception will follow in the Fellowship Room. Invite a friend or neighbor!

2023 Christmas Eve Worship Service

Cheri Simonet
Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is on Sunday, December 24th and all are invited to join us for a special service of worship at 6:00pm in the sanctuary.

We are thrilled that our organist Michael Raught is pulling together a choir to sing several pieces in the service. This group will practice after worship in the choir room on December 3rd and 17th, and all are welcome to join.

The Christmas Eve service will feature special choral music, an extended message for the children present, and candle lighting. While we can’t promise the full-fledged pageants of old, we do hope to recreate the nativity scene with costumed characters and familiar carols. Bring your family and friends for a special evening together.

Annual 2024 Ski Trip

Cheri Simonet
Annual Ski Trip

The calendar just turned to December, the cold air has sunk in and snow’s even flurrying which means our Christian Education Committee has plans well underway for our annual Ski Trip!

Although the event is primarily coordinated with Youth Group, the ski trip is considered a family event so all are welcome to join!

Mark your calendars for fun on the slopes January 26th. Our ski destination is Ski Brule and we’ll be checking in on Friday the 26th, checking out Saturday the 27th at the Chicaugon Lake Inn. 

Registration forms with more details will be coming in our January Newsletter. We will need a minimum of 20 skiers to take advantage of the Ski Brule group discount so spread the word to family, friends and neighbors. The more the merrier!

We hope to see you on the slopes!

Church Chix Gather December 7, 2023

Cheri Simonet
Church Chix

Please join us, women of all ages, for our December Church Chix Social on Thursday, December 7th!

Our dinner reservation is for 6:00pm and we’ll dine at Old Mexico Cantina & Grill located at 11884 Velp Avenue in Suamico.

Some Chix like to meet up for a cocktail the hour before dinner so that’s always an option and before our evening wraps up we’ll decide where next month’s dinner will be, trying our best to alternate the east side of town with the west side of town. No monthly commitment required.

To attend, you can email an RSVP to office@firstpresgreenbay.org or there’s a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board.

For more information, please contact Linda Michael at lindan9woa@gmail.com or by calling 920-347-0261.

So, if you haven’t already RSVP’d, do it today and join the Church Chix December social for a great night of laughter that’s sure to be memorable!

All Saints Sunday 2023

Cheri Simonet
All Saints Sunday

For all the saints, who from their labors rest…

November brings us to a season of thanksgiving, and we are surely thankful for all the “saints” of this congregation and throughout our extended families who have gone on to their heavenly homes in the past year.

On Sunday, November 5 we will celebrate All Saints’ Day in 10 am worship, remembering especially Ginney Amen, Allen Collins, Karen Walker and Joanne Herman. We have reached out to surviving family members, inviting them to participate in this special celebration. We are looking for a picture or two of each deceased member to project during the worship service. As those photos are projected, we will join in prayer for all the saints and remember each name. As the names are read, a family member or friend will come forward to light a candle for each one. Following the recognition of all our members, others will be invited to come forward and light a candle for a friend or family member they have lost in the last year as well.

We remember and give thanks for all those who have gone before us to show us the way—don’t miss this special worship experience.

November 2023 Fourth Sunday Forum

Cheri Simonet
4th Sunday Forum - Internet Safety

“Internet Safety: How To Protect Yourself Online”

Our new opportunity for adult enrichment and connection on the fourth Sunday of each month has been well-received! We continue this month on November 26th from 9:00 to 9:45 am in Fellowship Room with a special presentation from our own Lisa Olson on Internet Safety.

Lisa has recently retired from the Green Bay Public schools after a long career in internet technology, and she brings us a wealth of knowledge in how to stay safe and still make use of all the rich resources technology has to offer. Learn about the importance of knowing what apps to access on your phone or tablet, and how to be careful about where you give your personal information. She will also address what AI is, and why we should care. Bring your questions and your concerns—coffee and treats will be available, too.

2023 Advent Bible Study

Cheri Simonet
Holy Disruption Discovering Advent in the Gospel of Mark

Begins November 29th & 30th

Where’s the baby?! The Gospel of Mark doesn’t have a nativity story—so where’s the Advent message? It’s in every aspect of Jesus’ life, to his death and beyond. The incarnation—God’s coming to earth in human form to be baptized, teach, heal, eat, and die—is what we celebrate at Christmas, and Mark shows us just how radical and celebration worthy it is.

Holy Disruption presents a fresh understanding of the holiness of Christmas grounded not in a conventional, cozy Christmas message but through Mark’s disquieting Gospel, which invites its readers to experience God’s disruptive but transformative love for us and our world.

Join us on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30pm via Zoom or on Thursday mornings from 11:00am to noon in the Fellowship Room. The lesson is the same for each group, so you may move back and forth as your schedule necessitates. Books will be available by mid-November in the church office or from Pastor Katie.