Zion E-News (11-21-2018)

Tomorrow our nation celebrates Thanksgiving. While not a Christian holiday, it is entirely Christian to give thanks to God for all he has done and given for us. On that note, following are 10 things for which I am thankful this year, not necessarily my top 10, but 10 things.

1. My wonderful wife who is one of the hardest workers I know, a great mother to my children, and laughs with me more than my jokes rightly deserve.
2. Four healthy children who ask great questions, tease me more than I probably deserve, some of whom will still snuggle on the couch with me, and make being a dad a delight and joy.
3. The staff at Zion who are not only great people to work with who love Jesus, but also dear friends
4. An amazing Consistory who impress me, and others, over and over with their heart for mission and willingness to take risks in pursuit of God’s mission for his church.
5. Doug McClintic and Randy Weener, both of whom are moving into new roles that will give them new and greater platforms to serve God. They have been wise mentors, counselors and friends, not only to me but also to our church. I will miss our regular connections, but pray for their continued service to the church.
6. All of you. Zion is a great church and you are all so much fun to share life with. I am thankful I get to be your pastor.
7. Shoes. I have had foot pain for several months and recently got some new shoes that make my feet feel way better. Good shoes matter.
8. My favorite authors like Scot McKnight, Timothy Keller, and NT Wright who nourish my soul and deepen my knowledge of scripture.
9. My discipleship triad group. For the past 9 months, I have been meeting with 2, now 3, men from our church. We read a lot of scripture and talk about what God is doing in our lives together. These times feed my soul.
10. Jesus who died for me.

For what are you thankful?

Connect to God
This Sunday, the church celebrates the final holiday of the Christian year, Christ the King Sunday. Next Sunday, the year starts over with the first Sunday in Advent when we begin to look forward to the coming of the Savior King. But on Sunday, we remember Jesus as the true King of the Universe whose kingdom will have no end. Of course, it doesn’t always feel like Jesus is king. We live in a world filled with violence, corruption, oppression, disease, and death. It is far from the world pictured in either the Garden of Eden or the New Jerusalem of the book of Revelation. But, though we cannot see it yet, scripture is absolutely clear that Jesus is indeed ruler of the world. In Daniel 7, we are given a brief glimpse into the cosmic struggle between the forces of chaos and evil and the good creator God. This vision ends with one like the son of man enthroned and ruling. We long for that day and until it comes, we work as ambassadors of this heavenly king.

During worship Sunday, we will celebrate communion on this Christ the King Sunday. In preparation for this joyful celebration, the Elders urge you to examine your life to see where you need to confess sin, where you need to apologize and make amends, and where you need to forgive so that we can come to the table truly as one united people, join together by the Spirit in Christ. Children are welcome at the Lord’s Table, at their parents discretion, but they must remain with their parents throughout the service as we will not bring them back into the sanctuary from Children and Worship during Communion.

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
In early January, we will be starting a new women’s exercise class on Monday nights. It will be a great time to both get some exercise and connect with other women at Zion. If you are interested in learning more, you can sign up on the Connection Card on Sunday.

Mark your calendars to join us for our annual Sunday School Christmas program on December 9 during our morning worship. This is a great tradition and the kids have been working hard to present us with the story of the true King who is like King David.

Serve the World
We received a new update from Jibit Asha (our church planting partner in Nepal). The planter we support in focusing on planting churches in three new communities and has found a space to gather for worship in one of those villages. They also asked for prayer for a recent converted family who have been denied access to the public well in their village and now have to walk over an hour to get water each day. Please join in praying for a new well in this village and others as clean drinking water is hard to find and for open hearts in these villages to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow, we will once again gather on Thanksgiving morning at 9:30 am to worship and thank God for all he has provided this year. As is our tradition, we will have an open mic time for people to share their personal thanks as well.

We also collect a special Thanksgiving Offering each year. This year, the Thanksgiving offering will go to support local families (identified by our Hand2Hand ministry), Good News Nepal, and Hurricane Michael relief efforts coordinated by the Reformed Church in America. This offering will be collected on November 18, Thanksgiving morning, and November 25.

Administrative Details
As many of you may know, in September our Consistory went on a retreat together to discern God’s call for Zion in the next several years. We will be sharing this vision in more detail early next year, but the core of our vision is a desire to raise up Christian leaders in order to plant new churches in the Grandville and Georgetown Township communities.

As part of this visioning process, we also have been assessing our ongoing needs at Zion in order to continue welcoming new people into our congregation. As one significant example, in the past three years, we have seen the number of kids participating in our Christmas program grow from 30 children in 2015 to 68 children this year. We thank God for the gift of these children and their families. And, this growth has put a strain on how we use our building.

Currently, the Consistory is interviewing potential architects to help us better use the footprint of our building to more effectively welcome more people to our church. We are asking specifically for help in rightsizing our children and youth spaces and improving the traffic flow in the building on Sundays. (You may have noticed our hallways can feel a little congested and some Sunday school classrooms that can comfortably hold 6-8 children, but regularly have 10 or more.)

As you think about your upcoming end-of-year giving, please consider giving to our new Church Remodel Fund. Going forward, we will involve the congregation in both the design and decision process of any remodel, but wanted to share this opportunity to financially support this effort as we begin dreaming of how we can use our facility even better to reach people for God.

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.
Fiscal Year to date budget: $271,880.00
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $268,945.82