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News - News, April

Westminster is Hiring!

Childcare Coordinator: This 5-7 hour per week position needs someone who loves God’s children, and has great organizational skills. Click here to read the job description.

Associate Director of Music: This part-time position (20 hours/week) will support the adult and youth choirs while leading the children’s choir program. A successful candidate will also be an integral part of worship leadership from the organ and piano. Click here to view the full job description. Questions? Contact Tim Evers.

Volunteers Needed for VBS

Hero Hotline (VBS) is coming to Westminster & WE NEED YOU!!!
9 am - 12 pm June 19-23 (Mon thru Fri)
We need youth and adult heroes to help! We need many more volunteers to run the current program. We’re looking to go live with registration in the next 10-12 days. Without the help below, we will have to re-design the program and open it up to less participants.

We need:

  • Pre-VBS Prep Help & Decorators
  • Registration/Check-in Helpers (the mornings of VBS)
  • Crew Leaders (16 adults + 16 youth)
  • 1-2 More Youth Music Motion Leaders
  • 1 Pre-School Co-Director
  • Pre-School Crafts & Games Leaders

Sign-ups are easy. We’ve given you 3 options!

Then, we’ll contact you!

New Text Giving at Westminster

We are changing how we text give at Westminster which is easy and saves us subscription/processing costs. Our Director of Finance, Sandy Kurek shows you how in this short video. Just text keyword “EGIVEWPC” to 73256 on your mobile device. Click the response link and add the amount, Fund(s) (new), frequency, date, email and select or add your payment information. That’s all – we challenge you to try it! Questions? Contact Sandy Kurek.

We're Hiring: Associate Director of Music!

We are beginning the process of hiring an Associate Director of Music Ministries. This part-time position (20 hours/week) will support the adult and youth choirs while leading the children’s choir program. A successful candidate will also be an integral part of worship leadership from the organ and piano. Click here to view the full job description. Questions? Contact Tim Evers.

March General Fund Financial Report

March was a come-back-down-to-earth month as pledged giving dropped considerably after a very strong first two months. Non-pledged giving, however continues to outpace last year’s totals with a 44% increase YOY. Music revenues are the strongest we have seen for a 1st QTR ever, thanks to the incredibly successful Brahm’s Requiem. And cash donations, while less than 1% of the overall budget, are well on pace to exceed last year’s totals. On the expense side, Personnel and Property lead the way in cost savings, due to three main factors:

  1. Cross-training of staff to fill finance assistant role
  2. Decision to go with one FT custodian coupled with the hiring of an outside cleaning company to service the Preschool 3 days a week
  3. The savings from a snow-less winter which contributed $14k to the bottom line.

As we enter the 2nd quarter, we are reminded of how important a church community is, as witnessed by Easter’s in-person attendance, and the impact it has on all of our ministries.

March Numbers

YTD Actual

Budget

Better/(Worse)

Pledged Revenue:

$549,072

$575,011

-4.5%

Total Revenue:

$720,926

$674,607

6.9%

Total Expense

$535,76

$570,018

6%

Registration Open for Westminster Preschool

Westminster’s Preschool enrollment is in full swing for the 2023-2024 school year. If you have a child between 2-5 years old and are looking for a wonderful, part-time morning/afternoon preschool starting next fall we have openings for:

  • Parent-and-Me Class (Young 2's, meets on Mondays)
  • Tuesday/Thursday Older 2's
  • Monday/Tuesday/Thursday 3's
  • Monday/Wednesday/Friday 4's
  • Monday-Friday Older 4's & 5's.

Contact our Director, Megan Potts if you are interested in enrolling or click here to register. Help us spread the word to your friends and neighbors!

Hearing Aids Collection

The Chester County Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America and the Greater West Chester Sunrise Rotary are collecting pre-owned hearing aids. They will coordinate with another nonprofit organization to provide hearing testing, hearing aid adjustments, and distribution of used hearing aids to low-income, qualified, hearing-impaired people. If you have hearing aids to donate, please drop them off in the church office. Questions? Contact Pastor Ann.

Volunteers Needed for Vacation Bible School

9 am - 12 pm June 19-23

VBS is quickly around the corner. We need youth and adult heroes to help with Hero Hotline Vacation Bible School! We need Pre-VBS Prep Help & Decorators, Registration Helpers, Crew Leaders, Bible Story/Drama Participants, Craft Station Leaders, Science Station Leaders, Music Leaders, Recreation Leaders, Preschool Leaders & Snack Helpers. Contact Jill Reichert TODAY to let us know you can be a HERO, too!

April Collection: Cheyney University Campus Pantry

Westminster is extending its Campus Ministry partnership to Cheyney University. Founded in 1837, and located less than 4 miles from WPC, Cheyney is the first Historically Black College and University in the nation. In September 2022, Cheyney Received PA Hunger-Free Campus Certification in recognition of its efforts to combat food insecurity. However, students have many needs, particularly with non-food items. During the month of April, Westminster will be collecting: toilet paper, paper towels, tissues (these are not provided to students on campus),

laundry pods, feminine products, packaged snacks and drinks. Please drop off donations in bins located in the Heckert Center (Near Cafe 10 West) or mail to the church. Questions? Contact Ann Hatfield

New Journey Class: Encountering the Old Testament

10:45 am Sundays, April 23 - May 21 • Hybrid (Spellman Jr & Zoom)

In this five week hybrid series with Dr. Manfred Brauch, we will seek to engage the Old Testament, as well as to be engaged by it. We will survey the story of Israel and its faith traditions via an overview of its “birth” over the course of a 2000-year history, the content of the Old Testament, the great variety of its literature, its history and cultural contexts, its major themes, its importance for our understanding of the New Testament, it’s problematic dimensions for the Christian faith, and its continuing significance for Christian faith and life. Click here to register. Questions? Contact Jennie Clark.

 

April 23          Introduction

A Historical overview of Israel’s story and its faith traditions -- within the larger context of the history of the ancient Near East -- as expressed in the great variety of the “Library of books” that make up the Old Testament.

 

April 30          The Cultural/Social/Historical Contexts of the OT

In this session we will explore how the OT reveals that Israel’s history and faith traditions contain both aspects of it’s historical-cultural contexts and ways in which her faith, her understanding of the nature and purposes of God stands over against aspects of that context.

 

May 7             The “Problem” of the Old Testament

There are matters within Israel’s faith traditions and history – as articulated within various parts of the OT – that have raised serious issues and indeed objections throughout Christian history. Already within the OT, there are significant voices, especially in the prophetic literature, which raise objections to, and in some cases reject, theological convictions and religious/social practices in earlier eras of Israel’s story. That “critique” continues in the teaching and practices of Jesus and in the writings of his earliest followers. That reality raises the question: What are the implications of this “internal critique” for Christian life and faith and for our understanding of Scripture as “Word of God”?

 

May 14           The OT is Indispensable for Christian Faith and Life

Much of the New Testament is inexplicable apart from the faith traditions of Israel in which the NT is grounded, and which it completes. As Paul puts it, “Christ is the end (goal, climax, completion) of the law.” (Romans 10:4). We will explore the continuity within the unity of the Old and New Testaments.

 

May 21           The God of the Old Testament

In this final session we will explore the central understanding of the nature of God and God’s purposes for human life, as these emerge from the various dimensions of Israel’s faith traditions. It turns out that “the God of steadfast love and faithfulness”, revealed in the pages of the OT, is indeed the God whose nature is fully and completely disclosed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and that “the way of Jesus” is indeed the “way of Yahweh”.