Congregational Life
Music & Fine Arts
We are a church that believes in artistic expression! With choirs and instrumental enesmbles for all ages, Plymouth Church offers a great variety of opportunities to sing, play and create. Oppurtunties also include fine arts, culinary arts, and dramatic arts.
Choirs
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The Plymouth Chancel Choir welcomes all singers from 8th grade through adults. This non-auditioned ensemble sings at the 9:30am worship service, sings two major choral works each year accompanied by orchestra, and participates in community musical events. The choir sings anthems from Chant through contemporary.
Rehearsals are Thursday evenings from 7-8:30pm.
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Plymouth has three children’s choirs:
Cherub Choir: PreK through 1st grade
Carol Choir: 2nd-5th grade
Chapel Choir: 6th gradeAll children’s choirs meet from 10:30-1am on Sunday mornings as a part of the Sunday School schedule. Each choir sings for the 9:30am worship service multiple times throughout the year. The Carol and Chapel Choirs also sing at the 6pm Christmas Eve service and produce a yearly children’s musical.
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Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord
-Ephesians 5:19
The choirs and instrumental groups of Plymouth are committed to the worship of God through beautiful music. All are welcome; no audition required. Please email our Minister of Music and Fine Arts, Kim Manz, with any questions: music@plymouthlawrence.com.
Ensembles
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This ensemble rehearses Wednesday evenings from 7-8pm and plays periodically at the 9:30am worship service and other speical services.
All string players playing at the high school level and above are welcome. -
Plymouth has multiple handbell choirs:
Middle School
High School
Adult Choir
Small EnsembleReading music is not necessary. We’ll teach you everything you need to know to ring successfully!
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This large ensemble rehearses as needed and provides music for Easter, Harvest Sunday, Independence Celebration, and other times.
This non-auditioned group welcomes players from high school through adults. -
Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord
-Ephesians 5:19
The choirs and instrumental groups of Plymouth are committed to the worship of God through beautiful music. All are welcome; no audition required. Please email our Minister of Music and Fine Arts, Kim Manz, with any questions: music@plymouthlawrence.com.
Plymouth Arts
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This group of performers and musicians produces a minimum of two Dinner Theater events each year. Past productions have included murder mysteries, musical revues, and comedies.
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Art Classes are offered at Plymouth every other year during the spring, summer, and fall to build excitement and involvement in the Art Show.
Instructors are always needed for various mediums. Classes are structured for children, adults, and intergenerational.
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Plymouth offers Culinary Arts classes the opposite year of the Art Classes. We are always looking for instructors in any area: baking, bread, vegetarian, ethnic, candy, basics, etc.
Faith Formation & Youth
From Sunday School to Confirmation classes, youth service work, in-service learning trips and fellowship groups, to adult Covenant Groups, Bible Study Gatherings, and Plymouth Academy, we embrace the life-long journey of learning and growing in community at Plymouth Church.
Family Faith Formation
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Begin your child’s faith journey with Sunday School for PreK through high school; students learning together in age appropriate ways to grow in their faith with an emphasis on community connection.
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Confirmation is one of the significant milestones in a young person’s faith journey. The process of confirmation transitions our young people (7th-9th grade) into Christian adults. As a church, we take our responsibility seriously to give our young people the opportunity at confirmation to say “yes” or “no” to the vows you made on their behalf at their baptism.
During confirmation, the class will learn about our faith and Plymouth history. They will learn about other faith traditions, participate in worship, have a mentor from within the church, and most importantly, support amazing teachers and pastors.
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Our Whole Lives (OWL) is a comprehensive age-appropriate sexuality education program created by the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association. Plymouth has been offering OWL classes since 2008. Plymouth currently offers OWL classes for four age groups in alternating years. If you would like more information about OWL, visit this link.
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Plymouth provides opportunities for service, fellowship, and faith formation with unique programming like Valentine outreach, 3rd grade Bible class, birthday bags for Head Start, Climate education, participation in the Christmas pageant, serving in worship, and other opportunities.
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Stepping Stones is a three-session mini-course on raising a healthy baby. Study the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of your little one. Share joys and struggles with others going through the same phase of parenting.
Plymouth Youth Ministry
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The Middle School Program is rooted in God’s love and the service of all.
We offer vibrant small group community for Confirmation (6th-8th grade) students who need a village in these formative years. Small group leaders guide our confirmation students through service projects, fellowship nights & inspiring teaching/theme nights.
We also gather in a large group monthly with friends from the community to have meaningful fellowship opportunities.
Contact Rev. Caroline Dean for more information!
Click here to receive Plymouth Youth Ministry emails.
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The High School Youth is rooted in God’s love and the service of all.
The High School Youth “Service Learning Trips” sponsors service projects in our local community & beyond so we can learn and explore about different social justice issues that we and our neighbors face.
High School Youth is broken into two different sessions each month. We meet on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month, with Youth Service Corps held on the 2nd Saturday of each month.
The two sessions focus on learning and fellowship. Topics that have been covered during the learning sessions are: mental health and anti racism conversations and how these things relate to our faith. On our fellowship night we go outside the walls of the church to deepen our connection with one another.
Contact Rev. Caroline Dean for more information!
Click here to receive Plymouth Youth Ministry emails.
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Our Plymouth Service Corps Teams meet once a month to perform direct service in our wider community. These groups engage in various service projects such as gardening, trash pick up, painting, and small construction projects. In addition, we work with mission partners throughout our community, including Family Promise and Just Food. Anywhere we can make an impact, that's where we want to be!
Adult Faith Formation
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Fellwoship Forums span a variety of topics from Biblical study and current events special interest. Typically gathering between worship services on Sunday mornings, these forums often offer opportunites for personal growth and going deeper with culturally elevant themes in community.
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Most groups meet every two weeks, on a day/time that is convenient for you. We will do our best to fit everyone into a group based on scheduling and preferences.
Sometimes scheduling with a group can be tough! But we will work with you to check out the best options.
If you are interested in joining a group, you can let us know here! -
Plymouth Academy is a seasonal program of learning, mostly on Wednesday evenings, connecting mulit-generational learning opportunites around a variety of topics.
Upcoming Plymouth Academy “sementers” are well publiciblicized with a community wide invitation to sign-up for groups and classes.
Mission & Service Work
We are a commutity that believes in speaking out, speaking up, and rolling up our sleaves to do the work to which we are called. The needs are great, but we don’t do this work alone!
Community Mission Partners
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Plymouth Church is proud of our partnership with Family Promise of Lawrence. Family Promise supports families who need housing by partnering with churches and other local organizations.
If you are interested in volunteering to support our Family Promise partnership at Plymouth, click here. -
At Plymouth, we are pleased to be able to share our building with a Head Start school as we have since the 1960s. We have a team of volunteers who support the teachers and students during this formative time in their lives.
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The Lawrence Interdenominational Nutrition Kitchen (“LINK”) feeds our community lunch four times a week. Plymouth Congregational Church supports LINK monthly (on the third Thursday of the month).
We are always in need of volunteers to help serve and make food. Sign up here! -
Just Food is the food bank of Douglas County, supplying 29+ partner agencies with fresh produce, dairy products, meat, bread, and pantry staples. Plymouth Church collects donations for Just Food. Use the link below to visit Just Food’s site. To learn more about Plymouth’s partnership with Just food, contact Rev. Caroline Lawson Dean.
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Plymouth is a member congregation of the Lawrence Justice Matters chapter. Justice Matters is an Interfaith non-profit organization consisting of religious congregations joined together to fulfill the following mission: To move Lawrence toward a city where justice rolls down like a mighty river. To surface, understand, and address issues of justice in the region. To strengthen understanding of the scriptural imperative to do justice.
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ECM is a progressive, non-denominational meeting space for students and the community to connect, engage, eat, study, garden, and serve. Plymouth Church has supported ECM since the 1960s. Learn more about ECM below. You can also contact Rev. Caroline Lawson Dean.
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Plymouth offers free English language classes to non-native speakers and Spanish classes for those interested for a reasonable fee.
Justice Advocacy
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Plymouth’s “Open & Affirming” Team explores ways that Plymouth can be more inclusive and do intentional advocacy for our LGBTQ+ community and allies. Contact Rev. Caroline Lawson Dean to inquire about joining this team’s efforts to make our church and our local community a space where LGBTQ+ friends and neighbors can thrive.
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We have an active, trained team of leaders who facilitate excellent Racial Justice programming throughout the year at Plymouth. If you would like to join our Racial Justice email-list, use the link below, or contact Rev. Caroline Lawson Dean for more information.
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Plymouth is a member congregation of the Lawrence Justice Matters chapter. Justice Matters is an Interfaith non-profit organization consisting of religious congregations joined together to fulfill the following mission: To move Lawrence toward a city where justice rolls down like a mighty river. To surface, understand, and address issues of justice in the region. To strengthen understanding of the scriptural imperative to do justice.
Community Meeting Space
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A non-partisan movement of Americans demanding reasonable solutions to address our nation’s culture of gun violence.
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NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness – the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization.
NAMI is dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. Their Alliance includes more than 650 NAMI State Organizations and Affiliates who work in the community to raise awareness and provide support and education to those in need.