Busy Week at Faith Church

   Much is going on this week at Faith Church.
Sunday school begins at 9 a.m. for kids and adults.    Coffee time follows around 10 or so.
   Worship starts at 10:30 a.m.
   The message this week is Tenderness and Courage, and Pastor Jack will be in Luke 13.
   Hymns this week include How Firm a Foundation, He Leadeth Me and Lord of the Dance.

   After the service, there will be a congregational photo shoot for the next generation of coffee mugs.
   At 2:30 p.m., Faith Church opens its doors for a meeting about welcoming Christian Syrian Refugees.    Several area churches are interested in finding ways to help Christian refugees relocate to the area. Christian refugees are often not safe in Syrian refugee camps and as a result, are left behind when opportunities come for groups like the Red Cross to move people, since the organizations go to the camps to find those who need help.

   Pastor Jack also shared some information about weaving plastic bags into mats for the homeless:

PLASTIC BAGS BLESS THE HOMELESS IN THE BAKKEN AND BEYOND

If you are a homeless person sleeping outside on the ground during winter, a

blanket barely masks the frigid cold pressed against your body. The goal is to find

something to lie on top of that puts an insulated barrier between you and the

ground.

A group of women in Washburn, North Dakota discovered an innovative and

inexpensive solution, using plastic bags to make sleeping mats and pillows. Women

gather each Wednesday at Washburn United Methodist Church to weave mats on

homemade looms.

“This is God’s project,” said Peggy Hights, the group leader and member of

Washburn United Methodist Church. “The oil boom in North Dakota has created

an increase in the homeless. This is one way we can help.”

It all started in the winter of 2015 when Hights visited her family in San Diego

“My grandkids invited me to their youth group where they making the mats and

pillows. They knew I was a crafter and quilter. I went and within 30 minutes I was

hooked. What I saw was so neat.”

Hights returned to North Dakota with hope and passion to make mats and pillows

for those who were homeless in her area. Western North Dakota is home to the

Bakken Oil Rush where people are struggling with housing and basic needs.

Originally the housing market was pricing the average worker out of place to live.

Now the oil markets are in decline brought on by oversupply in the global energy

markets, fueled by a deep recession in China. As a result, companies started to lay

off workers or cut back on hours. The result has been an increased need for the

basics and a growing number of people who are homeless.