A lot happens in a typical week at Zion. On Monday night, the Personnel and Administration committee met to review the first draft of our annual budget while at the same time a group of women gathered in the youth room for exercise. On Tuesday, the Elders and Deacons met while someone else was unloading food for Hand2Hand, our back back food ministry for students in Grandville. And, after meeting at church, some women met for pie and to discuss scripture and their spiritual lives as part of a discipleship triad. On Wednesday, the Praise team met for practice, the Prayer team met to pray, the Gerken family was busy in the basement setting up for the funeral today, and a small meeting was held about our upcoming capital campaign. In addition, during the day on Wednesday, we hosted a group of social workers from Samaritas as they conducted assessments with children in the foster care system. Ministry activity happens in our building almost every day of the week and many of you are in and out throughout the week serving and working together. It is a joy to see so many committed and loving people working together for God.

As I was thinking about the last few days at Zion, though, I was reminded activity at church is not the primary ministry of Zion. Because while activity was happening here at church, you were working and attending schools in Jenison, Hudsonville, Holland, Grandville, Caledonia and Wyoming (and maybe some more). Others were caring for the sick in Spectrum and Metro and in medical offices around the area. Others were maintaining apartment complexes and ensuring people had safe and secure housing. Others were balancing the books and writing code to help businesses run more smoothly and make a profit form all their work. Others were working in the factory at Royal Technologies or Amway or Steelcase and numerous other facilities making furniture and car parts and the other things we need to maintain our daily lives. Still others were working in a retail store or restaurant serving people meals and helping them find the perfect outfit. Others drove for Uber of shopped for Ships and helped people reduce the busy-ness of their lives. You all contribute through your work and lifestyle to reflect just a little bit of the glory and kingdom of God where you are.

Sometimes in the church, we can elevate the role of paid professional Christians, like pastors. We can even talk about their calling as somehow more spiritual or important than someone’s call to be a hairstylist or a custodian. But the truth is that when I was called from a job in the consulting world into church ministry, in many ways, I was called out of the mission field. I was called into a ministry of equipping the saints for service (check out Ephesians 4:11-13). 

You are all the missionaries God sends out of Zion each week. If you are a stay-at-home parent, you have been called to evangelized disciple the little unbelievers in your home into the faith. If you are an accountant, you are called to not only do your work excellently and with integrity, but to use your gifts to bring about a little more of God’s justice and mercy in our world. And the same is true if you are a police officer, school teacher, doctor, lawyer, tool and die maker, electrician, custodian, baker, or whatever role you have been called to. You have called to be the salt and light of the gospel where God has placed you. This is not a call to hit people over the head with your faith, but to live lives that make others want to know the God you know and to be ready and willing at all times to give the reason or the hope that is within you.

I wonder sometimes how we might impact the world if every Christian began to see themselves as a missionary sent to the people they know to be a witness of the kingdom in their particular place. What if all of us have hearts that broke for those near to us, but far from God? What if we thought about our jobs not just as a way to make money or use our skills, but as a way to make an impact for God’s kingdom?

Connect to God
From the opening verses of the gospel of John, it is clear that Jesus is God. John stresses Jesus’ unique relationship with God so people would believe Jesus was who he said he was. In the gospel, Jesus claims his divinity by using the phrase I Am seven times, joining the phrase to tremendous metaphors, expressing His saving relationship toward the world and showing that He is everything we need. During this Lenten season we will look at each of these 7 I Am statements. We began on Ash Wednesday considering how Jesus is the bread of life and today we see how Jesus is the gate of the sheepfold protecting his people.

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
We extend our sympathy to the family of Jed Gerken after his passing last week Friday. May God give them comfort and peace in this time of grief.

Bev Nagelkerke is hospitalized with pneumonia. Please pray for continued healing for Bev that she might return home soon.

Serve the World
If you are or know a teenager, consider applying to be staff at Camp Zion this summer! Job descriptions and applications will be available this Sunday on the Camp Zion bulletin board near the church office.

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
We had a great meeting last week Sunday night led by Elevate Studies to discuss our possible building remodel. A little over 90 people participated in the event, plus the children and volunteers providing childcare. There was a whole lot of laughter, inter-generational connections, and excitement about what God is already doing here at Zion. Elevate will be sharing a report from the night with our building team in the next couple of weeks and we will share that information with the congregation as it becomes available. Thanks to all who participated!

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 continues 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: $445,883.20
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $431,959.23