Zion E-News (3-7-2019)

(Friendly public service announcement: Don’t forget to set your clocks one hour ahead this Saturday!)

Carey Nieuwhof is a prolific blogger on church planting, church culture, and all sorts of things church. Recently he shared a post about the difference between church shoppers and the unchurched when they visit a new church. You can read his whole post here.

I found his thoughts spurred in me some consideration of the difference, not between unchurched and church shoppers when they visit a church, but between church consumers and missionaries who attend a church.

Consumers look to the church to meet their needs. Missionaries see the church as a place to serve.
Consumers evaluate a church to see if the needs of their family will be met. They look for an active singles group or youth group or growing kids ministries or great music. Missionaries look for those needs to be met too, but they also loo for how they can contribute to the life of this local community of believers.

Consumers wait for other people to befriend them at the church. Missionaries look to make friends with new people.
Consumers are looking for other people to take the risk and read out to them. When that fails to happen, they blame the church for not being welcoming. (And to be clear, sometimes churches aren’t very welcoming.) But as sometimes happens, these people are the same ones who are gone multiple weekends for travel sports or to go hunting or to spend time at the cottage. They may only be in church 12 times a year. 
Consumers want to be fed. Missionaries want to be sent. Missionaries come to church looking to see who they can befriend and include in their circle of friends.

Consumers criticize. Missionaries help improve.
Consumers see the flaws and have no problem pointing out how others should fix them. Missionaries try o help improve what isn’t yet working at the church. I love a comment Roxie VanderHeide made in a meeting recently with the architects from Elevate Studios. We were talking about several areas of church that could be better and she said, “We’re doing the best we can.” Missionaries do the best they can and don’t expect perfection from other people or the church. 

Consumers look for the church to evangelize. Missionaries evangelize and look to the church to equip them for mission work.
Consumers want the church or the church staff to do the work of telling people about Jesus. Missionaries see their neighborhood and school as a mission field ripe for the harvest. They want to be equipped and encouraged to reach their near to them, but far from God with the gospel.

You may have a slightly different list. As I look my list over though, I have to admit that I drift between the two poles. Sometimes even as a pastor I can think like a consumer, but I try to think more and more like a missionary. How about you?

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 light of the world in John 8.

After an illness last week, this Sunday we celebrate with Chip and Becky Harkes the baptism of Evelyn Rebecca. As they celebrate her life, we give thanks to God for the gift of new life he has made available to all who believe. We thank God as well for the covenant he has established all the way back with Abraham to include children in his family. We honor this faithful God as we welcome Evelyn into the covenant community at Zion.

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
Jed Gerken continues his struggle with cancer under hospice care. the family asks for continued prayers for strength and comfort during this time.

This week Sunday is another “Say It Day” for our Sunday school kids. The 1st through 5th graders are saying: Return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and compassionate and slow to anger and abounding in love. Joel 2:13
The 3 year old through kindergartners are saying: Return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and compassionate. Joel 2:13

A huge thank you to all who came out to Panera Bread on Monday to support our Middle School youth! We do not yet know how much was raised through your purchases at Panera, but additional donations of over $1,000 were given to the youth. You are an amazingly generous congregation who continue to support the growth and development of our youth.

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 on 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, intergenerational 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: $435,008.00
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $427,817.23