Union Church of Hinsdale

Thanksgiving Offering, Nov 17-Dec 5
2023-11-17 - 2023-12-05
For our Thanksgiving Offering this year, we encourage you to make a special contribution to our Ministry for Change partner, DuPage PADS, which strives to keep families and individuals safely sheltered while ending homelessness in DuPage County. As you may know, in 2022 PADS purchased and converted a motel in Downers Grove into its Interim Housing Center (IHC). PADS continues to transform the space into a nurturing place for residents, including many families and seniors, as they focus on locating permanent housing.
Once checked in, clients can focus on their wellness and stability, moving forward using the suite of resources and support provided by DuPagePADS to regain their independence. The IHC also provides community partners a centralized destination for delivering support services that align with ending homelessness. Since beginning this model in 2020, PADS has observed a 500% increase in the utilization of case support services by clients in interim housing.
Click here to learn more.
For the Thanksgiving Offering (running November 17th through December 5th), you may donate to DuPage PADS or make a special contribution to the church – or do both! You have two easy options for giving:
1) Give online through the church website. On the giving page, under “fund,” select either “Thanksgiving Offering – DuPage PADS” (all amounts donated under this selection will be donated to DuPage PADS) or “Thanksgiving Offering - Union Church Ministries” (all amounts donated under this selection will be shared by ministries of the church generally) and complete the rest of the information. To give to both, please complete two separate donation transactions.
2) Deposit a check in the offering basket during service OR send in a check. If some or all of your donation is intended for DuPage PADS, please tell us the split in the memo line or in a separate note. If all of your gift is intended solely for Union Church, just send the check.

Children’s Bell Choir/Chimes Rehearsal
2023-11-15 16:00 - 16:45, 2023-11-08 16:00 - 16:45 (America/Chicago) | Union Church of Hinsdale, 137 S Garfield Ave., Hinsdale, IL, 60521, United States
4 – 4:45 in the Sanctuary.

Gather + Grow Youth Group
2023-11-15 16:00, 2023-11-08 16:00, 2023-11-01 16:00, 2023-10-25 16:00, 2023-10-18 16:00, 2023-10-11 16:00, 2023-10-04 16:00, 2023-09-27 16:00 and 1 more date | Union Church of Hinsdale, 137 S Garfield Ave., Hinsdale, IL, 60521, United States
Gather + Grow Groups are for 2nd through 8th grades and are created to foster important connection and mentorship. Throughout the year the group does mission work, plays board games, has church-wide scavenger hunts, engages in deep discussions about our faith and plays music that is performed in church from time to time.
*2nd – 5th graders are from 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Middle School is 4:00 – 6:30 (with a fellowship dinner served) or anytime within that time period. They are welcome to bring homework too.

Exploring Koinonia and the Healing Effects of Social Connection
2023-11-12 11:00 - 12:00 | Union Church of Hinsdale, 137 S Garfield Ave., Hinsdale, IL, 60521, United States
Sunday, November 12, immediately following 10:00 worship in Rowell Hall
The CE Ministry will host a discussion on how social connections and participating in a community can help combat the loneliness epidemic that has been identified by the Surgeon General and discussed widely in the media & recent UCH sermons! Topics will include how to build and strengthen social connections, how these connections can influence our physical health, and how our Union Church community can help each other feel more connected and strengthen our Koinonia. No advance preparation is necessary, as short news stories and highlights of the Surgeon General’s report will be presented. We hope you can join us!

Worship in the Woods
2023-10-29 09:00 - 10:00, 2023-10-22 09:00 - 10:00 | Fullersburg Woods, 3609 Spring Road, Oak Brook, IL, 60523
at the 9:00am service

Fall 2023 Coat Drive
2023-10-27 - 2023-12-01 | Union Church of Hinsdale, 137 S Garfield Ave., Hinsdale, IL, 60521, United States
October 27 through December 1, 2023. Please drop your coats off in the purple bin by the Third Street doors.

PADS 2023 Meal Packing and Delivery
2023-10-24 17:00 - 18:30, 2023-09-26 17:00 - 18:30
Union Church provides a healthy meal delivered to each client on the 4th Tuesday of each month. We are looking for volunteers to shop for healthy sides for the meals and to hand out and meals to the clients in the Interim Housing Center in Downers Grove. Please use the link below to sign to shop for sides or to distribute meals, or both!
Sign up here!

Ostrega Uhl Project: Mozart and Musicals
2023-10-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Union Church of Hinsdale, 137 S Garfield Ave., Hinsdale, IL, 60521, United States
Friday, October 20, 7:00 p.m., in the Sanctuary
Join The Ostrega Uhl Project in its premiere performance of its second season! Mozart and Musicals will begin with Mozart’s famous Piano Quartet in G minor followed by string quartet performances of popular selections from Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music, and culminating with a medley of great tunes from West Side Story. With concerts that always deliver on variety for everyone, this is a season opening concert you don’t want to miss! Guest Artists include Stephane Collopy, Violin Oana Tatu, Viola, & Brian Gaona, Cello.
An in-kind donation is greatly appreciated, kids attend free with accompanying adult!

Golden Friendship Dinner
2023-10-15 11:15 - 13:00 | Union Church of Hinsdale, 137 S Garfield Ave., Hinsdale, IL, 60521, United States
In the Dining Room

New Member Welcome Service!
2023-10-15 10:00 - 23:30 | Union Church of Hinsdale, 137 S Garfield Ave., Hinsdale, IL, 60521, United States

New Sermon Series: Koinonia
2023-10-15 10:00 - 11:30 | Union Church of Hinsdale, 137 S Garfield Ave., Hinsdale, IL, 60521, United States
September 17 at 10:00 in the sanctuary
Koinonia is a Greek work from the New Testament that is hard to translate into English. Perhaps the best way to capture it is with the phrase “a shared life.” However we word it exactly, the reality is that it was this koinonia that caused the thriving of the early church. As followers of Jesus, people found a community of connection, joy, meaning, and hope. It was not first of all beliefs about Jesus or God that mattered, but it was the unique nature of the community that was created in Jesus’ name that made all the difference in the early church.
In our fall sermon series, we are going focus on koinonia, both with regard to the church itself, and on what this concept might mean for our lives in our neighborhoods, our town, and the larger community around us. For example, studies find that participation in the life of a church helps create deep connectedness to others, and, gee, look what this study from Harvard University found! Be with us this fall, to worship, learn, and know real koinonia.

New Member Classes
2023-10-12 19:00 - 20:15, 2023-10-01 11:15 - 12:30 | Union Church of Hinsdale, 137 S Garfield Ave., Hinsdale, IL, 60521, United States

Used Eyeglasses Drive For Angola
2023-10-08 - 2024-01-31
PUT YOUR OLD EYEGLASSES TO GOOD USE by donating them to benefit our friends in Angola!

Glasses will be delivered to Dr. John Kakorio, ophthalmologist, to better serve his patients at the hospital in Dondi, which is supported by our congregation.

Donations are greatly appreciated and can be dropped off in the Gathering Place at Union Church starting Sunday, October 8. A plastic bin will be located underneath the bulletin board for collection.

The deadline for our first shipment is November 30, but we will continue to collect glasses into the new year!

Generosity Campaign
2023-10-08 - 2023-11-30
On Sunday, October 8, we are kicked off our annual pledge campaign for 2024! Please look for our mailing sent out this week. In the mailing is information that will help you make your pledge for next year. We thank you so much for taking the time to review the guidance for pledging and the FAQ, including electronic giving. Everyone’s pledge counts no matter the amount.
Our theme for 2024 is “Transforming Lives.” Seem overly dramatic for the life of a local church? Well, it doesn’t always happen all at once, but transforming lives is surely what happens through UCH, often one small bit of transformation at a time (think the growth of an oak tree, not a bolt of lightening). Year after year, our members transform lives by supporting the mission and ministry of UCH. We’ll even back up that claim with videos of members talking about transformation, starting with Penny Davey!
So many of you share the gifts God has given you and, as members to members, we are truly grateful. We encourage you to give at the most generous amount that is right for you. See the giving instructions in your mailing, or click here for the information letter and here for the FAQs about giving at UCH, including information about how much other members give.
If you can increase your pledge for 2024, please consider doing so. The basic costs of operation continue to rise in today’s economy, and our beautiful, but increasingly aging, church building requires significant maintenance, sometimes unexpectedly, despite our best planning. Just this past summer, the HVAC system, bell tower, and parts of the roof, have all needed various repairs. In simply truthful terms, the more generous your giving, the more we can do to transform lives.
If you can pledge via the online system, that’s fantastic. If you can set up automatic giving to pay that pledge the super easy way, that’s fantastic too. If you return the pledge card you get in the mail, great. But if you have any trouble, don’t let that stand in the way of pledging! Just call our bookkeeper, Ann Gleason, and she’ll make sure you can pledge hassle-free. Call her office directly at 630.590.6654, or email her at agleason@uchinsdale.org.
Our target date to have all pledges in is November 30. This helps us plan for next year. So, by all means, read through the materials, get inspired to give, and make a generous pledge for 2024 at your earliest convenience.
Thank you. Your pledge helps transform lives!
Gratefully, your Generosity Team

Union Church Annual Resale!
2023-10-07 09:00 - 13:00, 2023-10-06 17:30 - 20:30 | Union Church of Hinsdale, 137 S Garfield Ave., Hinsdale, IL, 60521, United States
Shop!
October 6: 5:30 – 8:30 pm
October 7: 9:00 – 1:00 pm
This huge bargain-packed sale includes clothing for men, women, teens and children, including infant and maternity wear as well as designer French Room items, housewares, linens, sports equipment, jewelry, collectibles, and some holiday items.
Proceeds benefit a wide variety of charities and social service agencies.

How To Be An Active Bystander
2023-09-17 11:15 - 12:30 | Union Church of Hinsdale, 137 S Garfield Ave., Hinsdale, IL, 60521, United States
September 17, 11:15 to 12:30, in Rowell Hall
What’s an active bystander?
An active bystander can be a lifesaver.
This event offers an opportunity for attendees to be educated and gain awareness about how to be an active bystander during violent situations, process the lingering trauma of such an event, and help while protecting yourself emotionally and physically.
This presentation will be conversational.
Attendees are invited to ask questions and share reflections.
Flyer: How To Be An Active Bystander

Sunday School Resumes
2023-09-17 10:00 - 11:30 | Union Church of Hinsdale, 137 S Garfield Ave., Hinsdale, IL, 60521, United States
during 10:00 worship only.
