News

• Approved baptismal instruction and baptism for five families to occur over the summer months.
• Approved several building use requests:
  • July 21, 2023 Fellowship Hall & Nursery. Requested by Lauren Talhelm on behalf of the Partners in Medicine group at Penn State Hershey.
  • May 6 & 17, 2024 Sanctuary & Fellowship Hall. Susquehanna Chorale 2024 spring
    rehearsal & concert.
• Approved the creation of the new staff role and position description for a Faith Community
  Nurse. To support this position, a subcommittee of the Membership & Involvement Committee, known as the Health and Wellness Team, was created. This group will work closely with the Faith Community Nurse to help facilitate the health and wellness ministries of the church. The Personnel Committee has formed a search team, which will be identifying and interviewing candidates for the position.
• Reviewed February’s financial reports.
• The Stewardship & Finance committee submitted a Capital Procurement Requisition for 
  replacement of the roof on the Mansion Road property. The cost of the replacement is $12,225. This item will be reviewed over the next month by the church committees and voted upon at the April session meeting.
• Approved dates to serve communion in 2024.
• The children in the Children & Sacraments class will be permitted to assist with serving
  communion (with their parents’ help) at the Maundy Thursday worship service.
• The Mission & Peace Committee has spent time considering several hands-on community
  projects to coincide with Derry’s 300th anniversary. They presented two local projects at the meeting, which the Session reviewed and approved:
  • The first project partners with Veterans of Pennsylvania in constructing a “tiny home” village in south Harrisburg (next to the PennDOT building) to house and support homeless veterans. Derry will be sponsoring one of the homes at a cost of $50,000 to be contributed by the end of 2023. We will have the opportunity to assist with the construction when it begins in 2024.
  • The second project is assisting with the construction of the 5th grade classroom at Logos Academy in Harrisburg. Derry previously helped the school’s expansion of grades 2 and 3. The cost of this project is $50,000 and fundraising will begin in 2024.
• More information on both projects will be provided to all along with ways that individuals can contribute to these community mission projects.

11:45 AM SUNDAY, APRIL 30 IN FELLOWSHIP HALL • $10 PER PERSON • TICKETS AVAILABLE THROUGH APRIL 23

Get on board for a tropical three-course lunch served by our kid’s fellowship! It’s for anyone who considers themselves a senior. You’ll enjoy fresh greens and fruit, chicken kebabs over rice, and assorted pastries for dessert — plus the chance to fellowship around the table with Derry Church friends. Purchase tickets in the Narthex on April 2, 16 & 23, or call the church office (717-533-9667). 

8 AM-5 PM SATURDAY, APR 29 IN GRANTVILLE

Many hands needed – skilled and unskilled – to build a handicapped ramp at a home in Grantville. Lunch provided. Contact Pete Feil for more information and to sign up.

• It’s time to start collecting items for the hygiene bags for the Domestic Violence Center in Harrisburg. Items needed are wide-tooth combs, washcloths, disposable razors, tissue packets, toothbrushes, sample or travel sizes of toothpastes, lotions, shampoos, soaps, and deodorants. These can be left in the PW basket in the mission closet in the atrium library.
• Sign up to model your bridal dresses for the Lasses and Lassies Banquet program on May 6! If you’d like to model your own bridal dress (or your mother’s or grandmother’s), or if you’d be willing to lend dresses for someone else to model, contact Jeanette Weaver by April 2.

Cash Flow – Operating Fund as of 2/28/23:

Note: Many of the church’s annual expenses are backloaded, so it’s not unusual to find expenses under budget at the beginning of the year. And we are not paying an Associate Pastor’s salary, although that is included in the 2023 budget.

Bring your coins for the Alliance for Children Everywhere (ACE) Change 4 Children on Sunday, March 19. ACE helps Zambian moms and caregivers to raise SAFE kids, grow STRONG families, and build sustainable communities. In 2020, they launched ACE Transition Partners to guide institutions toward family-based care for thousands of children in Africa and beyond. Based on ACE experience, the consulting team provides services to organizations during the transition, with custom plans tailored to the specific institutional, social, and political contexts in which the ACE partners work.

Bring your change in zip-closed bags, remembering to bag any foreign coins separately. Check that the bag is free of paper clips, pins, batteries, buttons — anything that is not legal tender — as these clog the coin sorting machine.  

Change 4 Children for ACE is collected quarterly at Derry Church. The next offering will be received on Sunday, June 18.

As of Tuesday, April 11, evening worship services will begin at 6 pm.

START TIMES: 3 PM FRI MAR 24 & 8 AM SAT MAR 25 

Join the Gardeners Of Derry (G.O.D. SQUAD) and Building & Ground Committee to prepare the church grounds for the growing season. Bring your rakes, shovels, gloves, pickup trucks and leaf blowers along with a lot of energy as we tidy up in time for Easter Sunday.

7 PM FRIDAY, APRIL 21 IN THE SANCTUARY • FREE WILL OFFERING • AN ARTS ALIVE EVENT

The African Children’s Choir melts the hearts of audiences with their charming smiles, beautiful voices and lively African songs and dances. The “Just As I Am” tour combines traditional hymns with African cultural sounds and a stunning visual story of God’s faithfulness.

A free-will offering is taken at the performance to support African Children’s Choir programs, such as education, care and relief and development programs.

Music for Life (the parent organization for the African Children’s Choir) works in seven African countries such as, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa. MFL has educated over 52,000 children and impacted the lives of over 100,000 people through its relief and development programs during its history. By focusing on providing education, MFL’s purpose is to help Africa’s most vulnerable children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow.

The African Children’s Choir has had the privilege to perform before presidents, heads of state and most recently the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II, for her diamond jubilee. The Choir has also had the honor of singing alongside artists such as, Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Keith Urban, Mariah Carey, Michael W. Smith, and other inspirational performers.

It’s time to start collecting items for the hygiene bags for the Domestic Violence Center in Harrisburg. Bags are being sewn and the goal is to deliver them by early summer. Items needed are wide-tooth combs, washcloths, disposable razors, tissue packets, toothbrushes, sample or travel sizes of toothpastes, lotions, shampoos, soaps, and deodorants.  These can be left in the PW basket in the mission closet in the atrium library.

10 AM TUESDAYS, APR 11 – MAY 30 • 8:30 AM TUESDAYS, JUNE- SEPT AT ROYAL OAKS GOLF COURSE, LEBANON

All skill levels welcome. If you have an interest in playing, please contact Ken Pearl or Dave Szczesny.

6:30 PM SATURDAY, MAR 18 IN ROOM 7

This presentation of “Engage: Stories” centers on the theme “I was wrong.” Each storyteller will share about a time they realized they acted wrong, thought wrong, or believed wrong and how that realization changed them.

• Andy Frieberg will share his desire to be different from others in his educational choices and how he learned that sometimes it’s okay not to be different.
• Andy Phillips will share about how he realized he was wrong to anchor his faith in the certitude of his belief system (the “what I believed”) rather than trusting in the God in whom he believed.
• Elizabeth Gawron will talk about the beginning pages of her journal from 2017 that speaks to marriage, motherhood and how wrong she was about her future. 
• Sandy Ballard will share she thought God had abandoned her to suffer at a big law firm.
• Charlie Koch will share about a time when work kept him from being where he needed to be.

Please join us for this special evening of storytelling, community, and questions.