THIS WEEK

Sunday, October 24

8:50AM—Orthros &

Orthodox Education

10AM—Divine Liturgy

UofM vs MSU Youth

Programming Fundraiser

during Coffee Hour

7PM—Adult Education

Class

Tuesday, October 26

8:30AM—Orthros of St.

Demetrios @ Holy Trinity

9:30AM—Divine Liturgy

of St. Demetrios

@ Holy Trinity

6PM—Middle Eastern

Dinner Committee

wrap-up meeting

Wednesday, October 27

Family Night

6PM—Dinner

6:45—Meetings/classes

Thursday, October 28

10AM—Bible Study

7PM—Ministry of Fun

Leadership meeting

LIFE AT ST. NICHOLAS THE SUNDAY BULLETIN OF

ST. NICHOLAS ANTIOCHIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

OCTOBER 24, 2021 (616) 954-2700 ▪ info@stnicholasgr.com ▪ stnicholasgr.com

SEMINARY COLLECCTION SUNDAY

Next Sunday, October 31st, our parish will be receiving a

collection which will go towards supporting all of our North

American Orthodox seminaries. The Archdiocese annually

commits itself to supporting all of our Orthodox centers for

advanced theological education and calls upon all of its members

to rise to the opportunity in offering financial support to help

invest in our Church’s future leadership. Please consider offering

a donation!

FAMILY NIGHT

Each Wednesday

6 PM: Dinner

($1 per person)

6:45 PM: classes/activities

Youth opportunities:

Teen SOYO, JOY and

Pre-K –grade 3

Adult opportunities:

Parenting Plus and

Orthodoxy 101

Special thanks to the

Choir and Chanters and

the Men of St. Nicholas

for hosting the last two

dinners.

JOY and SOYO will host

this week’s dinner!

STRATEGIC PLANNING UPDATE

Wildly Important Goals – WIGS

Where We Want To Be

A WIG creates the discipline of focus on “the THREE things that

will change everything”

So, let’s review:

We started with a SWOT analysis in which the parish, as a

whole, completed a survey of our Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities and Threats.

Based on the data from that analysis, the strategic planning

team (SPT) came up with three Wildly Important Goals

(WIG). The first WIG is:

WIG #1 - Build “True Community Ministry”

Develop and implement the following effective ministries:

a) Total Welcoming Ministry in which 100% of visitors who live

in the area will actively complete the parish comprehensive

welcoming process.

b) A Personal Engagement Ministry in which at least 30% of

parishioners are actively engaged.

(NOTE: This goal will be much more specific after our second

strategic planning retreat and will be presented to the parish in

January 2022) Next Week’s Strategic Planning Article: we will get very specific

on the WIG #2 - stay tuned!

Saturday, October 30

4PM—Icon Decorating

6PM—Great Vespers

followed by Confession

Sunday, October 31

8:50AM—Orthros &

Orthodox Education

10AM—Divine Liturgy

Special Collection for

Seminaries

7PM—Adult Education

Class

SEPTEMBER’S

FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT

Income: $44,671.50

Expenses: $49,158.37

TASTE OF GREECE

Pre-order Only by This Friday October 29

Pick-up on Thursday, November 4 @ 11:30AM-7PM

Holy Trinity's Philoptochos (the women-led philanthropic arm

of the Archdiocese) is taking orders for "Taste of Greece", a take

-out meal on All of the proceeds go to charitable organizations.

The meal includes pastitsio, spanakopita, Greek salad, and

baklava. An assortment of Greek cookies and other baked goods

are also available. Place your order online (https://greek-ladies-

philoptochos-society.square.site) or call the church office (616-

454-6563). ST. NICHOLAS

CHRISTMAS CARD

The Advent season is fast

approaching! It is time to

prepare our St. Nicholas

Christmas card. Save

yourself countless hours by

allowing us to mail a

Christmas card including

your family name to our St.

Nicholas clergy, all

members of our parish, our

diocesan deaneries, and our

Blessed hierarchs. This

beautiful practice has been

a tradition at St. Nicholas

for many years!

Forms are available on the

parishioners’ table in the

Narthex or at the

Christmas card table after

Liturgy today and at the

following link: https://

stnicholasgr.com/christmas-

card/. The cost is $20.00.

The absolute last day forms

and online submissions will

be accepted will be Sunday,

November 7. Checks should

be made out to St. Nicholas

and include “Christmas

Card” on the memo line,

pay by Venmo or by credit

card. Thank you!

PARISHIONER

UPDATE

Bob & Denise Golm

2524 Ravines Trail Drive

Byron Center, MI 49315

PARISH COUNCIL

Your Parish Council is here

to serve you. If you have a

question or comment, email

them by clicking on any of

their names below.

Mike Simon Chairperson

Sam Bander Vice President

Joe David Treasurer

Greg Lambert Secretary

Melissa Powell Assistant Treasurer

Dan Abraham

Mark Ansara

Roger David

Rami Haddad

Yuri Kazarov

Nick Nicola

MISSION STATEMENT

St. Nicholas Church is a

worshiping community,

living and sharing the

Faith Christ gave to the

Apostles.

Our parish exists to seek

and share Christ’s love so

that ALL will find Eternal

Life in Him.

MOM’S NIGHT OUT RECAP

We want to give a big O.K. Mama thank you to Christine Elias

for so graciously teaching us the mysteries of Holy Bread making!

We had a wonderful and enlightening time! (Also thank you to

Fr. Elias for considering taking on this tremendous task) We all

learned so much and we probably will never look at Holy bread

with anything less than respect and awe! If you didn't make it to

our group, we missed you and hope you can join us next time!

SHEPHERDS OF INDEPENDENCE HOCKEY GAME

November 12 @ 7PM

Hockey season is back! The

WHOLE church is invited to

join residents from the

Shepherds of Independence

at a Grand Rapids Griffins

hockey game at the Van

Andel Arena.

Please contact Scott Storey (srstorey@umich.edu) with questions.

Please visit our parish website to buy your families’ tickets

($17.00/each) as well as to sponsor a resident by purchasing their

ticket and a concession stand card for them ($27.00/each).

COFFEE HOUR

We are now back to hosting Coffee Hours. Consider hosting a

Coffee Hour in memory of a departed loved one, in honor of a

special occasion--anniversary, birthday, name day, etc., or for no

other reason than because you are a member of St. Nicholas. Feel

free to sign-up as a family or invite another family to host with

you.

As a host, you can either pay $60 for Krispy Kreme donuts

(contact Kim for details) or simply supply food items of your

choosing. The church has all of the paper products and coffee

supplies. The sign-up sheet is available on the Parishioners' table

in the Narthex.