User:Lcomfort07/Newberg Friends Church

Newberg Friends Church (NFC) is a Quaker church. NFC sits on the corner of 3rd and College. It is the oldest Quaker church in the Willamette Valley. The church was founded around 1876. NFC is the meeting place for the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends. The Yearly Meeting gathers around the last week of July on the campus of George Fox University. After the earthquake in 1993, the old foundation was severely damaged. The sanctuary was closed for awhile while it was being repaired. After the damaged supports were removed and new ones were installed, the church decided to install some new technology. The church now has a projector and has gone to a mostly paperless system. There are bulletins handed out but they only outline what will happen and are only a page. There are now personal PAs, for the hard of hearing.

Worship
Quakers believe that when they worship, they are called to celebrate God's presence in their lives and in the world. They tell others where we've seen God at work. They receive God's love, teaching, and guidance together, and they explore practical ways to respond. As they worship at NFC they use a myriad of musical, dramatic, and artistic expressions along with other ways of speaking and praying together.

Decorating Ministries
The Decorating Ministries group provides the flowers for the sanctuary every Sunday morning and helps to decorate our church building on holidays. Occasionally, they help to provide flowers for memorial services. Financial contributions for this ministry can be made at the NFC office (307 South College Street Newberg, OR 97132).

The Decorating Ministries group also decorates the sanctuary every year for holidays.

Drama Ministries
The Drama Ministries group meets on occasion to prepare and present drama as a part of the worship service.

Worship Ensemble
The Worship Ensemble is a vocal ensemble which performs from September to early June, they meet on a weekly basis. They rehearse Wednesday evenings and all singers are welcome to come.

Folk Ensemble
This group provides music and vocal leadership year-round during the Sunday morning services and meets on an as-needed basis.

NFC Brass
This group of musicians gets together to share a different aspect of worship with the congregation about every five weeks.

Bell Choir
This group performs with handbells on an average of once a month for Sunday morning services. The ability to read music is helpful, and high commitment to rehearsals is mandatory. The bell choir meets and plays September through June.

Young Friends Singers
A young choir made up of children ranging from 1st through 5th grade, the Young Friends meet for 10-week sessions in the fall and in the spring. They have chances to lead in worship gatherings as well as performing in other places.

Worship Ensembles
These groups lead music and vocals during the Sunday morning services and meet on an as-needed basis. These groups are open to keyboardists, guitarists, drummers, vocalists, and more.

NFC Big Brass
This group forms and meets once a quarter for specific ministry opportunities. It is open to all players, with the NFC Brass as the core.

Media Ministries
Alan Akins coordinates the Media Ministries and he is assisted by Mauri Macy, the worship ministry pastor, who helps with the setup of the audio equipment. Alan or one of the other sound techs then operates the sound board for every Sunday service. The other primary objective on Sundays is to make a CD of one of the services which is made available to purchase.

Newberg Friends Church began podcasting the Sunday morning services in mid-2005. Both MP3 and AAC-enhanced podcasts are available. These help church members who are traveling and missionaries overseas to enjoy feeling connected to the church by being connected into what was going on on a particular Sunday, wherever they may be. Hi-Tech Church

Most of the events held in the Sanctuary of NFC are recorded, including weddings, memorial services, and many other events.

As of April 5, 2009, NFC does not include copyrighted musical portions of Sunday morning worship.

Bridgetown Ministries
Bridgetown Ministries is a ministry to the homeless of Portland. Youth and adults gather under the Burnside Bridge and care for the homeless.

Faith In Action
Faith in Action is a partnership of faith congregations (including Newberg Friends Church), agencies, individuals and businesses who gathered in-order to address the needs of their feeble and vulnerable neighbors. Faith in Action serves older adults, children and families who face obstacles related to health or age by deploying volunteers who choose to show their faith through community service. Care is available through the following programs:

Family Friends
"Volunteers befriend a local family and child with special needs due to a chronic health condition or disability, offering love, companionship and support."

Strong for Life
"Volunteers of any age coach older adults, either individually or in a small group, three times a week in an easy to follow exercise routine designed to improve strength, function and balance in older adults."

Volunteer Caregivers
"Volunteers help older adults with light house work, gardening, minor home repairs, meal and library book delivery, transportation for appointments, and making friendly visits."

Bible Foundation
This group is committed to spreading the gospel around the community, country and world. They send scriptures in large print to those who have poor eye sight. They also distribute translated materials around the world, and they print a scripture oriented newspaper column in approximately 34 states, this Newberg-based ministry desires to see God's Word available to everyone. If you would like to donate a Bible, donations are available in the NFC library.

Serve and Celebrate
NFC works with the community for a day where they do a myriad of service for the community. Last year they worked several different places ranging from homes to businesses around the community.

Love INC
This agency provides residents nearby with the help that they need. The ministry is dedicated to finding help for people who need it. They provide a firewood ministry where they take firewood to those who cannot afford to heat their homes in the winter. They also donate items to people, if there is a donor.

YoungLives
This ministry to teen parents meets twice a month to help with child care, mentor the teen parent and prepare or serve meals. They meet together and do activities, dinner and offer practical and spiritual support.

Missions
NFC supports several missionaries from independent and denominational boards. Being a church which sends and supports missionaries involves a lot of prayer, support and gathering of information. The Missions Task Force is currently working in the following areas and welcomes any who wish to join.

Prayer / Missionary Care
This group is dedicated to praying for missionaries and more specifically, those who are representatives of the local church and denomination. They also help to provide support and care for missionaries whom are on furlough in the Newberg area.

Education
This group is dedicated to informing the missionaries of what Newberg Friends is doing within their curriculum to help the missionaries to shape their church around their support church.

Conference / Finance
This group is dedicated to planning NFC annual Missions Emphasis and coordinates the Global Outreach funds and their distribution.