Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

8/14/2026

Photo by Pete Godfrey on Unsplash

In This Week's E-pistle, You'll Find:

This Week's Service: Reconciliation, Forgiveness and Redemption
Two Summer Services - 8:15 & 10:15! Please, Join Us
Jody, Dan & Claire's Office Hours This Week
We Knead You! Help Us Bake the Communion Bread!
Social Justice - Summer Food Ministry, Look for Update Every Week
Creation Justice - Prairie Restoration Project
Memorial Garden Updated on Find A Grave
Prayer Requests
Birthdays & Anniversaries This Week
Financial Stewardship
Reports & Minutes
Coffee Hour Volunteers Needed
Last Week's Service: Pits Are Inevitable
Church Calendar

THANK YOUs

Kudos to All the Volunteers involved in the Douglas Social!

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST NEWS

Grand West Association Prayer Circle, Newaygo Congregational UCC

CLASSES

Qigong & Tea! Tuesdays at 3pm, Friendship Hall

COMMUNITY EVENTS

West Shore Aware Fundraiser, This Saturday, August 15
DUCC's Afghan Family is Growing - A Used SUV/Minivan is Needed
Stand in Protest - Holland, Fridays from 12-1pm
Men's Coffee and Conversation

This Week's Service: Reconciliation, Forgiveness and Redemption

Photo by Naoki Suzuki on Unsplash

In a continuation of last week's story, Joseph lands in Egypt, is seduced by a mucky muck's wife, gets thrown in prison, interprets dreams and comes to the attention of the Pharaoh. The story has all the makings of a musical - oh, right, it was made into a musical. So you know then that Joseph is reconciled to his brothers - a whole other story of intrigue that we'll explore this week. Filled with political savvy, a famine that compels a surprise visit, and a vulnerable ruler. Theologically: reconciliation, forgiveness and redemption, all in one event. And who does what might surprise you. Who are you in the story?

Please join us, Sunday at 8:15 or 10:15 am in our Sanctuary, or 10:15 am online, live on our Youtube Channel.
Message: Rev. Jody Betten
Music: Peter Black, Jeff Spangler, Lauri Donaldson

DUCC Bulletin/Hymns August 19 2026
File Size:	953 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Two Summer Services - 8:15 or 10:15am
All Are Welcome!

Jody, Dan & Claire's Office Hours This Week

JODY'S EMAIL

DAN'S EMAIL

For The Week of August 16:
Wednesday: 10-3pm, Jody & Dan
Friday: 10-3pm, Dan & Jody

Claire's Office Hours:
Tuesday: 12-4pm
Wednesday: 9-4pm
Thursday: 10-5pm
Friday: 9-4pm

Dan and Jody each work half time. Some of their hours each week are worked in their home office. Some of their hours are spent in Douglas. Some of their hours in Douglas are in the office and some are in the community. If you would like to meet with one of them, please contact them directly by text or email to set up a time.
Jody: 616-706-3549; Dan: 616-828-2293;

If you receive an email from Jody or Dan asking for money, this is a scam.

Communion Bread Bakers Needed
We Knead You!

Photo by Kate Remmer on Unsplash

Our Communion Bread is specially baked by members of DUCC. We are looking for a few folks who want to learn this recipe of unleavened bread. It's a one month commitment for about 90 minutes to 2 hours and with enough people only 3 or 4 times a year. If this is something that inspires you, please talk to Jody. We'll schedule a time for instructions when we have a few people available.

JODY'S EMAIL

Social Justice - Summer Food Ministry
Look for Updates Every Week

Thank you for the continued and amazing generosity of the DUCC congregation. We have been able to fill 20 bags of groceries for the past 8 weeks. With approximately 4 weeks to go, we are hoping to continue the support for the volunteers of St Felipe De Jesus. The following is a list of items to fill the 20 bags per week. Value of each bag is approximately $28. Changes are in bold.

* 1 can of pinto beans (6 cans needed for Aug 18th)
* 1 can of Diced Tomatoes (12 cans needed for Aug 18th)
* 1 lb bag of white rice.
* 1 small btl vegetable oil. (18 bottles needed for Aug 18th)
* 1-2 cans of diced/sliced fruit. (5 cans needed for Aug 18th)
* 2-4 potatoes   (3-5, 5lb bags for Aug 18th)
* 1-3 yellow onions.  (1-2, 5lb bags for Aug 18th)
* small tooth paste   (20 small travel tubes for Aug 18th)
* 1 can of Tuna or Chicken (12 needed for Aug 18th)
* 3-5 bags of Ramen Noodles. (40-60 individual pkgs for Aug 18th)
* 10-12 soft corn tortillas
* 1-2 rolls of toilet paper

The St Felipe De Jesus volunteers have requested long sleeve T-shirts. Once again, thank you for your generosity!!

Questions, please contact Rich Marth or Pete Mueller

RICH'S EMAIL

PETE'S EMAIL

Creation Justice - Prairie Restoration Project

Prairie Restoration Project
The Creation Justice Team is spearheading a project to restore a piece of our land to a prairie. If you were one of the 30 people who visited Anne Dooley’s garden, you have some idea of how it might look. If you happen to see the area around our local Saugatuck Douglas Library or the area around the Holland Aquatic Center, you have an idea of what the area will look like in a couple of years.
Lawns are fun for kids to play in, but they are considered wastelands for birds, butterflies and other creatures. The CJT has spent about a year researching good proposals and settled on Outdoor Discovery Center to make the plan, prepare the space, plant the plants, and maintain the area. It will take about a year to remove the lawn and begin to plant plugs. It will look like a pile of weeds and dead plants. Not very appealing at first. But after a while, the native plants will slowly take over and produce a beautiful array of native plants, inviting to butterflies, and birds. Our expectation is that this space can be an education tool for our members and the larger community. There will be signage explaining what is happening, articles in the Commercial Record, maybe even a radio interview or two. We are certain this project will make a great addition to our campus and hope you will enjoy watching as it comes to life.

Memorial Garden Update on Find A Grave

The Douglas UCC Memorial Garden is now much better represented on the Find a Grave website. Thirty-two memorials were added, and they can be found by family historians and genealogists around the world.
Find a Grave is a free, volunteer-run resource with more than 265 million memorials. Now that the basic information is in place, anyone who wishes can add photographs, biographies, or other memories to a loved one’s memorial. If you’d like help doing that, Chris Clark can assist—or you can create a free Find a Grave account and make the additions yourself.

CHRIS'S EMAIL

Prayer Requests

August 9 Service: Betsy for prairie restoration project, Anne for husband & friends on sailing trip, for Peter organizing Two Baroque Girls event, for peace, Pete for Dicks hole in one, Shirley for Jeff's healing.

Ongoing Prayers: Anne Hopkins and the family of Jim Hopkins; Bev & Orie Hawkes; Jenny O'Neal (friend of Laurie VanDenBelt & Shirley Lawson); Family of Alan Gibson (Kirsten Stannis's Father); Adelle Van Daalen and the Family of Jay Van Daalen; Charlene Burdick (Paul Burdick's mother); Elinor Hite (Virginia Stuart’s sister); Dave Lawson; Christine Kerney; Ruth Fahlstrom (Tom Fahlstrom’s daughter); Mikey (friend of Ruth Fahlstrom); Eric Cooley (Jo Cooley's brother); Ian Blumer (C. Blumer's nephew); Newaygo Congregational UCC

Birthday's & Anniversary's This Week

BIRTHDAYS
August 16: Mary Fechtig
August 18: Kathleen Mueller, Nancy VanDyke
August 20: Kenneth Whitcomb
August 21: Kathy Davelaar Van Rees, Roxann Overweg

ANNIVERSARIES
19: Sheryll & Greg VanPortFleet
20: Chris & Karen Clark, Jody Betten & Dan Plasman

Birthday and Anniversary cards are a great way we can reach out to one another. If you wish to mail a card to one of our church members, addresses can be found in our Church Directory.

Financial Stewardship

August 9 In-Person Attendance : 8:15 = 25, 10:15 = 66
August 9 Total Views for worship videos: 64

Weekly Offerings: $4,577
Weekly Budget: $4,615
Weekly to Budget: -$37

Thank you!!
Your generous giving allows us to sustain our church community
and our mission of service in the world.

Reports & Minutes

Photo by Justin Morgan on Unsplash

Church Council Minutes
File Size:	95 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Coffee Hour Volunteers Needed

Photo by Cindy Fernandez on Unsplash

Remote sign up method for DUCC coffee hour volunteers.
The coffee committee is hoping to get more volunteers involved in staffing the coffee hour after Sunday services. Making coffee takes only about 10-15 minutes of your time prior to church, or helping with the cleanup can take about 30 minutes. Once or twice a year, or as often as you'd like, helps to avoid burnout of the current volunteers.
You will be paired with a "buddy" to show you the ropes (and the coffee grinds!).
And now you can sign up remotely, from anywhere at any time. Easy peasy!

Many hands make light work. For any questions, please email Bert Hallewas
To sign up (or just to "look at") the remote sign up sheet, please click below, or use the QR code:

BERT'S EMAIL

Last Weeks Service: Pits Are Inevitable

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Nothing like a good story about family feuds, lots of jealousy, back stabbing intrigue,
and plenty of dysfunction! The stuff of daytime soap operas. It’s all pretty much there in the
stories we’ve been hearing about in the book of Genesis. Last Sunday’s story was a continuation of family messiness. Joseph, donning a coat of many colors, is tossed into a pit and sold to a bunch of Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt. Pastor Dan invited us to remember times when we reached out to someone, or they to us when we were in the "pits". Reminding us God is always present in the hand of a friend, stranger or family member. We also had a treat from the music team who played music from “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Watch the full service and/or Dan's message below.

FULL SERVICE

DAN'S MESSAGE

Church Calendar - Summer

Photo by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash

EXPLORE THE CALENDAR

THANK YOUs

Thanks to All the Volunteers involved with the Douglas Social! You Rock!

Special Thanks to Bert Hallewas as the organizer of the last two Douglas Socials. We are blessed to have Bert in our community. With appreciation to all the volunteers: Greggie G., Tom F., Gordon S., Kirsten S., Doug S., Brad H. Thank You!

UNIITED CHURCH OF CHRIST NEWS

Grand West Association Prayer Circle

Photo by Todd Kent on Unsplash

August - Newaygo Congregational UCC Church

The Grand West Association Council of the Michigan Conference UCC
facilitates a prayer circle for all our churches.
Thank you for keeping Newaygo Congregational UCC Church in your prayers.

NEWAYGO UCC

CLASSES

Qigong & Tea, Tuesdays from 3-5p

Photo by Brad Switzer on Unsplash

Qigong Winter Class
Tuesdays, 3pm - 4 pm
Followed by Tea/Chat 4 - 5pm
Friendship Hall
Led by Kat VanHammen

Qigong is a wonderful, 5,000 year-old practice from China, very much like Tai Chi. It involves simple movements that build strength, flexibility, balance and well being. It also employs visualization, breath, and mindfulness to integrate the body, mind, and spirit and develop our felt sense of Interbeing. Class is one hour long and involves both sitting and standing practice although it can be done sitting if needed. There is a requested donation of $10 per class but for those of you on limited incomes, any amount will be gratefully received.

AROUND TOWN

West Shore Aware, White Party Fundraiser
Tomorrow, August 15

WEST SHORE AWARE

WHITE PARTY FUNDRAISER

DUCC's Afghan Family is Growing
A Used SUV/Minivan is Needed

Photo by Padraig Treanor on Unsplash

A Used SUV is Needed. DUCC’s Afghan Family is a growing family of 6 and they have an immediate need for a larger vehicle than their Prius. If you are considering selling a used SUV at a reasonable price, they would be grateful to be considered. If you can assist, please contact Bob (312-636-7657) or Louise (847-800-4236) Kenny. Thank you.

Stand in Protest

Photo by Sandra Seitamaa on Unsplash

The protests against Huizenga and the Trump administration continue each Friday from 12-1 pm at 170 College Ave., the corner of College and 7th in Holland. We need more to demonstrate, so please come join us as we continue to bring attention to the wrong doing going on in our country. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Men's Coffee and Conversation

DUCC MEN, JOIN US!
Men's Coffee & Conversation
1st and 3rd Wednesday @ 10am

New Dates: August 5th and 19th
No Reservations
Blue Star Barns Coffee and Bikes
3483 Blue Star Hwy
Saugatuck, Michigan 49453