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CHURCH
The Salem Presbyterian Church
Welcome to Venedocia! Salem Presbyterian Church
extends a warm welcome and hopes you will come join us in worship and service.
Our Vision: Rooted in our heritage and called
into God's future, we proclaim in new ways the unchanging Good News of Jesus
Christ in a changing world.
15240
Main St
P.O. Box 678
Venedocia, OH 45894
419-667-4142
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Sunday Schedule
All year: 9:30am. Worship with nursery.
During the school year: 10:45. Sunday school (including 2 classes for adults)
Fellowship Sunday: occasionally throughout the year we have refreshments in the prayer room following worship.
Salem
Presbyterian Church is a part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The
Presbyterian church traces its roots to the Protestant Reformation and John
Calvin. A Presbyterian minister, John Witherspoon, was among the signers of the
Declaration of Independence.
On the local level, the church is governed by the Session, which consists of the pastor and elders elected by the congregation. We have Trustees who take care of financial and building matters. The Music Committee plans special music for worship throughout the year and the annual Gymanfa Ganu.
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Activities
Junior
Choir is
part of our Children's ministry which begins during worship and continues
during Sunday School. the children sing and play hand bells at least once a
month in worship.
Youth Group is open to all youth in junior high and high school. They meet twice a month during the school year. they have devotions, snacks, and a program, which varies from crazy games to discussing videos and popular music. Most of their meetings are on Sunday Evenings, but occasionally they meet for projects and other events at other times.
Women's Association meets once a month on Thursday mornings. They are involved in study and mission. They prepare funeral dinners and cook for the Lions Club meetings.
Alpha Kappa is open to all women. They meet once a month for programs and go on occasional outings.
Senior Luncheons: On the last Wednesday of most months we serve a meal for seniors at the Lions Club through the Community Care Team, a joint project with the Lions Club.
Vacation Bible School is held for a week every June. children 3 years old through 6th grade spend the morning exploring God's Word through stories, music, crafts, and science.
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Special Worship Services
January
Prayer Service.
on one or two Wednesday nights in January we have a prayer service at 7pm. It
is preceded by a dinner, one of which is a potato supper sponsored by the youth
group.
Lenten Worship. We gather in worship at 7pm Wednesday evenings during lent, beginning with Ash Wednesday. Different groups and families in the church prepare a meal for us prior to each prayer service. We also have a meal and special service on Maundy Thursday.
Easter. The youth group leads us in worship at 7am on Easter Sunday. During the worship service we celebrate Easter by transforming the cross from an instrument of death to a sign of hope as we place flowers on it. Following the Sunrise Service, we have a breakfast.
Thanksgiving Eve service is at 7pm the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
Blue Christmas is a service designed for those who have difficulties with the holidays, for whatever reason. It will be at 7pm early in Advent.
Christmas Eve Worship. At 10pm on Christmas Eve we gather for worship, which features communion and ends with candlelight.
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History
Salem
Presbyterian Church was formed by the first three families who came from Wales
to settle in Venedocia in 1848. While there are still some descendants of these
founding families active in the life of the church, our members come from a
variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds. Originally we were the Salem Welsh
Calvinistic Methodist Church. In 1920 the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church
merged with the Presbyterian Church.
Salem continued to worship in the Welsh language well into the 20th century. Our current building, which was constructed in 1898, is the third building the church has used for worship. Over the years, the Horeb Presbyterian Church, Bethel Presbyterian Church, Venedocia Presbyterian Church, and Zion Presb yterian Church have all joined us.
We celebrate our Welsh history and culture annually with a St. David's Day dinner and program on a Sunday afternoon in early March. St. David was the patron saint of Wales. the biggest event of the year is our Gymanfa Ganu (Festival of Song), which is held on the Sunday evening of Labor Day weekend. People come from all over the country as we sing Welsh hymns (in English) in four part harmony.
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Beliefs
The
Bible is the ultimate source of our faith and beliefs, and we believe it to be
the authoritative word of God.
We baptize both infants and adults, and celebrate baptism as the Sacrament in which God marks us as his own.
We believe we are justified by faith through grace.
We believe in the priesthood of all believers.
We celebrate communion about 6 times a year. In the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper we remember Christ's death and resurrection.
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Missions
In
addition to missions in the Presbyterian Church, we support an evangelism
school in the Caribbean as well as Chad and Andi Irwin's work through the
Mission Aviation Fellowship in Ecuador.
Throughout the year we receive special offerings for the Gideons, the Lincolnview Bible Program, peacemaking, disaster assistance, and various other causes.
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For additional information, contact the pastor, Wendy Pratt, 419-667-2408