Zion E-News (2-21-2019)

Sometimes it can feel intimidating to know how to teach our older children about the Bible. We can be tempted to hand off this responsibility to Sunday school teachers or Youth leaders. We can hope listening to sermons will be enough. But, talking about their faith, hearing us talk about ours, is vital for older kids and teens to be help the, grow stronger roots of faith that will stick with them into adulthood. 

Recently, our older boys and Rachel and I have been watching some videos from the Bible Project as out devotions at night. This is a great free resources providing video summaries of books of the Bible, Biblical themes, and even some Hebrew words. 

The videos are free and very well done. We often have moments of laughter in the midst of some really solid Biblical teaching.The bets part of you don’t have to be a Biblical expert to give your children top notch teaching and create opportunities for you to have spiritual conversations with them. 

In the midst of all the news about abuse in Southern Baptist churches, riots in Haiti, aid blocked from helping people in Venezuela, and more, I have been reminded of a video from the Bible Project on the theme of Biblical justice. It is well worth the 5 minutes it will take you to watch it. So check it out, here.

Connect to God
While Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell many of the same stories of Jesus, John tells many different stories and in the process give a unique theological view of who Jesus is and how he now calls us to live. We begin our study of John this year by studying the 7 signs of John. The sixth sign occurs on the Sabbath Day as Jesus meets a man born blind. Suffering was common in the ancient world, death, disease, and disability were simply an expected part of life. Still today, we struggle and we suffer. As Jesus confronts the suffering of our world, what might we learn from him to better witness to the hope of the gospel in light of the suffering of today?

This Sunday we celebrate with Hope Eriks as she makes profession of faith. We are thankful not only for her decision, but all the people from parents and grandparents to Children ad Worship leaders and Sunday school teachers and youth leaders who have invested in her faith development.

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
A few weeks ago, all members of our church received a letter in their mailbox asking them to prayerfully consider their willingness and ability to serve as an Elder or Deacon. We ask that the whole congregation be in prayer during this season of discernment and that everyone remember to turn in their responses in the pink box at the welcome table by Sunday March 3.

We also extend our congratulations to Ron and Anna Radcliffe (church planters for City Chapel) as they recently announced they are expecting a child later this year.

Serve the World
Do you have a heart for people in need? Looking for a place to serve with a great group of people? Consider joining our Personal Care Pantry team. 

Do you know a great way to serve others? Go shopping! Seriously. Lifeline Community Church is currently planning a mission trip to Guatemala with members from the church from June 19-26. The trip will cost an average of $2,000 per person which for many of their members is a huge cost. To help defray these costs, Benefit Twice will be holding a special sale from March 20-23. This will only be at the Wyoming store in Rogers Plaza, so mark your calendars and do a little shopping for a great cause and some good deals!

Administrative Details
Our next Leaders Meeting, on March 3 from 4-7 pm, will be an opportunity for everyone in our congregation to have a voice in planning the remodel of our building. Everyone from 5th grade and up is invited to participate in this Congregational Workshop of dreaming and imagining what might be led by Elevate Studios. Child care will be provided for children 3rd grade and under. We will also provide a meal. Mark your calendar and plan on joining us on March 3 at 4 pm. Please sign up today on the back of the Connection Card.

As we continue working with Elevate Architecture to develop a plan for remodeling our building to create a larger gathering area and children’s spaces, the Consistory has formed a building remodel team. The team includes: Pastor Rick, Andy Boeskool, Brian Davis, Sandie Dunn, Kyle VandePol, , Roxie VanderHeide, and Arlyn Zoet.

Rachel Brower has begun the research portion of her sabbatical as she works with a team to imagine new possibilities for our Children’s Ministries. The team includes Rachel Brower, Sean McAnally, Heidi Ondersma, Jackie Deiter, and Megan Taylor. Currently they are doing some benchmarking of best practices of other churches as they consider the best way to position our church for both future growth and planting new churches.

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: $413,257.60
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $398,614.23