Church Secretary

Peace Lutheran Church

Purpose of position: The secretary’s primary and most basic job is to oversee all activities of the main church office, and to offer a warm and gracious welcome to all those having business with the church.

Qualifications:

College graduate or equivalent work-related experience.
Minimum typing 65 WPM.
Strong computer skills (MS Windows, Word, Excel)
Proficiency in use of standard office tools (copy machine, etc.)
Strong organizational skills
Excellent command of English composition and punctuation

Job duties include, but are not limited to:

Maintain and organize reception area and office
Answer and route incoming phone calls, and return phone messages as appropriate
Prepare and print weekly service folders and bulletins
Edit, produce and mail monthly Tidings newsletter
Collect, edit and produce annual congregational report
Maintain church master calendar and schedule rooms for meetings as necessary
Check and respond to email messages
Maintain church membership records, including preparing or processing membership transfers
Prepare new member information packets
Handle requests from outside groups for use of church facilities
Maintain petty cash with accurate records and receipts
Process bi-monthly payroll
Oversee maintenance of office equipment
Provide secretarial support to pastors as requested
Administer “lost and found” center
Oversee inventory of office supplies
Recruit and supervise volunteer office help
Maintain personnel records
Supervise church key sign-out system
Prepare letters to visitors at services
Record checks received in the mail
Print and distribute materials for Congregation Council meeting.
Prepare and post “sign up sheets” for various events as requested
Prepare and print annual Peace Lutheran Church Women booklet
Order and prepare offering envelopes for members
Keep church directory and office rolodexes current
Acknowledge memorial gifts
Order supplies as requested
Receive deliveries to the church
Keep pastors informed of hospitalizations or other pastoral needs
Maintain subscription list for The Lutheran magazine

Some bookkeeping and web page maintenance experience would be useful, but not required.

Other matters: Because the church secretary will often need to handle confidential and personal information, it is essential that the person in this job be able to maintain strict confidentiality.

Hours: 30 hours per week; currently 9-3 Monday through Friday (but that could be negotiable)

Starting wage: $14.50/hr.

Benefits: Some allowance for medical benefits (negotiable)

403(b) retirement account available

Send resume to:

Peace Lutheran Church, attn. Shirlee Bartoli

828 West Main St./P. O. Box 1394,

Grass Valley, CA 95945

secretary@peacelutherangv.org

530-273-9631

Fax: 530-274-2772

Interviews will not be scheduled until early August. Position begins September 1 (with some training hours in late August).

Second Mile Giving during July:

Second mile giving during July will be directed to Hospitality House, our own local ministry to the homeless. If you’d like to give a special "second mile" gift to this important ecumenical program in Nevada County, use one of the blank lines on your offering envelope and designate "Hospitality House."

Arts & Antiques at Peace

This is an opportunity for members of Peace and others to donate art and antiques for our sale / auction in support of children’s and youth ministries, to be previewed on Friday, October 8 and the sale on Saturday, October 9. We are asking for those art, decorative and antique items you have stashed away in closets, basements, attics, and maybe even storage units that are no longer of use or value to you. Items such as paintings, silver serving pieces, antique lamps, china, vases, bowls, crystal, statuary, antique dolls, old toys and train sets (wooden or metal), coin collections, stamp collections, etc. If you are not sure whether an item is appropriate, call Lois Studt or Pastor Judith.

The procedure is for you to bring them to us on Sundays before or after each service. The office will receive them during the week. Sundays there will be a person at the display table to receive the items and help you fill out a form with background on the item and your preferences for pricing. The procedure during the week is the same. We can provide you with a receipt for tax purposes if you wish.

PLC Book Group

Peace’s book group is taking a break for the summer and will resume meetings Thursday, September 16 at 2 p.m., when we will be talking about what we read over the summer.

Here are some suggestions for summer reading: For light fiction, anything in the Masie Dobbs series; for great writing, T. C. Boyle, especially “The Women” and “Tortilla Curtain.” Books by a woman from India: “The Space Between” and “First Darling of the Morning.” Historical stories: “The Mayflower” by Nathaniel Philbrick and “The Mongol Queens” by Jack Weatherford. For the spiritual journey: “Dakota” and “The Cloistered Walk” by Kathleen Norris, and “Seeking God” by Esther de Waal.

For more information call Pauline Crawford.

SAVE the dates for

Vacation Bible School

Grass Valley United Methodist Church

August 2-5, 9 a.m. to Noon

Evening program on Thursday, August 5

Sponsored by GVUMC, Peace Lutheran and

Emmanuel Episcopal Church

We need some volunteers to add to the VBS

staff in August, this way we can work in partnership with the

Grass Valley United Methodist and

Emmanuel Episcopal churches. Please

contact Myrna Heppe if you

are able to help.

"Have Faith. End Hunger."

[In June, Johanna Johnson was one of a select group of young adults brought to Washington DC by Bread for the World, an ecumenical group dedicated to fighting hunger, for a training session on how to have an impact on public policy regarding hunger issues. Bread for the World, along with Heifer Project International, is the most recent recipient of the prestigious World Food Prize. This prize was conceived by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1986, The World Food Prize has honored outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions to improving the quality, quantity or availability of food throughout the world.]

If you were walking down the street and someone got hit by a truck, you’d help that person, tend to their needs, call 911, whatever. And then if someone else got hit by a truck, you’d help him, too. And then if someone else got hit by a truck, you’d help her. But you would be insane not to walk up the street and see where all these trucks are coming from! (Paraphrased from Dorothy Day)

This is not unlike solving the problem of world hunger. While a food handout is a wonderful thing, it alone cannot fix the problem. The systems that cause the hunger in the first place have to change. We have to see where the trucks are coming from, and get them to stop hitting people.

This is what Bread for the World, a non-partisan Christian organization begun by a Lutheran pastor in 1972, is trying to do. Each year they tackle one problem that causes hunger to persist in this country and abroad, and bring it to the attention of people who can change that system: the US Congress, and more importantly, the people who vote for them. Through lobbying and hand-written letters, Bread for the World supporters communicate with their representatives, urging them to remember the often voiceless contingent of low-income people who live all over the world, including this country.

Did you know that hand-written letters are still the most effective way to communicate with your representative in Congress? Every letter they receive is counted and recorded, and if a member of Congress is vacillating on an issue, 96% say a hand-written letter will make a significant difference. You have the power to change lives – for the price of a stamp!

Another effective way to influence your representatives is to make a visit. This, in part, is what Johanna Johnson had the opportunity to do in June: she joined with hundreds of others and met with Florida representatives on Capitol Hill, speaking on behalf of the poor and hungry in this country, urging them not to forget those they cannot always see. What an extraordinary way to live out her Christian calling to care "for the least of these" (Matt 25:40), and be sure that all are filled.

Johanna will be speaking at Peace about her experience with Bread for the World while she is home this August. If you would like to learn more about this organization, or learn about this year’s issue and how you can write a letter (including a sample letter), visit their website: www.bread.org.