Zion News 4/5/18

Last week Monday, Jeremy and I had the privilege of eating lunch with Wes Granberg-Michaelson. While likely unknown to most people in our church, Wes is something of a legend in our denomination. In the early part of his career he was a chief aide to Senator Mark Hatfield during the Watergate scandal, spent the rest of his career working for the World Council of Churches of finally the General Secretary of the RCA for 17 years. In those roles, he was instrumental in beginning Christian Churches Together that brought Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians all to the same table for the first time in history. He also helped start the Global Christian Forum that includes Catholic, Pentecostal and Evangelical churches from around the world. He seems to know just about everyone in the Christian world and many in the political world as well. 

On Ash Wednesday this year, Wes was on a retreat with retired leaders of the CRC (Peter Borgdorff), the Episcopalian Church, several Methodist denominations, and evangelical leaders. Together they wrote a joint Confession of Faith in a Time of Crisis. I offer it to you to read and reflect on, not because I either agree or disagree with their statement, but because i think it wise to listen to our elders, especially those from across the Christian spectrum and with hundreds of years of leadership between them in the church. You can check out their statement here.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of meeting with our Middle and High School students to talk about faith, the Bible, human sexuality and other questions on their minds. It was a truly great night to get to know our students and think with them about important issues in their life. As I thought about their questions, I was reminded of a Catechism recently written by Branson Parler for the Regional Synod of the Great Lakes on Marriage and Sexuality. It too is a great resource. So, if you are thinking through issues like marriage and sexuality and how the church should be engaging these issues in our culture, you should check this Catechism out. You can find it here.

If you would like a copy of the worship service, you can receive a complete copy by contacting Tom Verbrugge or you can find the weekly messages on our website.

Grow in Community
Teresa Beute’s  open heart surgery went well. Continue to pray for her as she begins the recovery process.

Barb Peterson is scheduled for a cardioversion on Tuesday to get her heart back in rhythm. Pray that the procedure is successful and that her heart will stay in rhythm.

Gert Brink went to be with her Lord and Savior on Wednesday, April 4. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 7, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. at Zion Reformed Church. Visitation is scheduled for Friday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Matthysse-Kuiper-DeGraaf Funeral Home (Grandville)  and Saturday from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. at church prior to the service.

Serve the World
As CityFest kicks off a 6 month period of serving our community and training churches, there is a great opportunity for members of our church to learn more about evangelism and how to share our faith with others. On April 17, Mark Mittelberg, author of Becoming a Contagious Christian, will offer a free training at Fairhaven Church in Hudsonville at 7 pm. If you are interested in attending, you can sign-up through the Connection Card on Sunday.

The names of those willing to serve as Elders and Deacons were recently distributed to members of Zion. We encourage you tp pray for God’s guidance in choosing our leaders and then prayerful fill out a nomination ballot and turn it in through the pink box in the narthex. These nominations will be considered by the Consistory as we determine the final slate of Elders and Deacons of our congregation meeting in May. Nominations are due this Sunday.

We continue to thank God for his provision of all of our needs and for the generous support of our congregation with their time, talent, and treasures.

Year to date budget: $467,056.04
Year to date contributions: $469,112.08