Zion E-News (10-31-2019)

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During my devotion time this morning, I was reflecting on the last 15 years. I became the pastor of Zion in November of 2004 and I have been feeling a little nostalgic lately. In those first few months, people told me lots of stories. I heard of a VP and Clerk of our Consistory standing in the narthex on a Sunday asking each other if our church was going to make it and deciding to be the cheerleaders for our church. I am so thankful for their faithful courage. I heard of painful losses and strained relationships as our church tried to adapt to the changing realities of our culture. Some people let me know, after the fact, they were giving it about 6 months to decide whether or not to stay. We were a church with a lot of anxiety and fear of the future. Everything felt a little tenuous.

And, I remember vividly counting the kids on the steps when I first visited and being pleased we had 13 kids ages 3 through 3rd grade. I saw people willing to set aside personal preferences for the sake of mission. People willing to take risks and try new things if it could help us reach our neighbors with the gospel. I saw a church of so much potential and a missional heart. I still see so much more God is ready to do in and through us.

Over the years, we have tried some things. We started a Christmas Giveaway that at times almost overwhelmed us as a church. I know the needs broke many of our hearts. The giveaway led to the Personal Care Pantry. Our youth urged us to start Camp Zion and 5 years later it has become a bit of what we are known for in the community as 50+ kids are loved and cared for by our church every summer. We have helped plant two churches. We welcomed women into ordained leadership roles and had 3 female seminary interns. We transitioned to a contemporary worship style and welcomed the gifts of many teens to our worship and sound teams, while continuing to enjoy the gifts of those paved the way (here’s looking at you Fred VanderWall and Rick Steenbergen).

In just a few weeks, our Sunday school students will lead us in worship with their annual Christmas program telling us about the God who loved us enough to come and live among us. This year we will be led by 75 kids ages 3 through 5th grade. Only four years ago there were just under 30 kids in the program. In December, we hope to continue conversations with Community Reformed in Zeeland as we determine how to partner together in planting a new church in Grandville. The following month we hope to begin a new partnership with Bursley Elementary through Kids Hope that is already showing signs of blossoming into a deeper partnership. God is still on the move at Zion calling us out to join him in reaching our community with the good news of Jesus.

All of this is to say, at the end of Pastor Appreciation month, I appreciate all of you, too.

  • I am very thankful for our longterm members who took a chance to call a young pastor with little experience. (Seriously, I wonder sometimes what you were thinking. You created a bold search team.)
  •  I am thankful for those who set aside their preferences in worship style to help us reach the next generation.
  • And, I am thankful for those who have given generously and sacrificially to bless us with this big old building. It isn’t perfect for how we do ministry now. It creates bottlenecks to continued growth due to a small lobby and our kids space. But it is great to have the freedom to use it and not worry about people being upset it gets messy during the week. Did you know, not counting out staff working here, our building gets used for ministry purposes on average about 25 hours every week?
  • I am thankful for new people who have come with their energy and new ideas and a willing to try new things.
  • I am thankful for the pastors and leaders who came before me and made some hard decisions and beat the drum of outreach and evangelism and nurtured the seeds planted by our founders in 1955.

If you are new to Zion in the last 5 years or so, I urge you to find a longer term member and thank them for all they have done to create the church we all get to enjoy.

When I first came to Zion, people from outside the church would ask if we were going to make it. Some of you asked me that question, too. Today, I get asked how we did it. How have we reached so many millennial families and continued to change and adapt? I want to give them some really cool answer about what we are doing, but the truth is: we pray, we do our best, we try and fail at stuff, we apologize and forgive when we mess up. and God moves and continues to call people back to him. We haven’t done much. God does it all and lets us come along for the ride. And it continues to be a great ride.

Thanks for letting me be your pastor.

Connect to God
These days it’s easy to see life the way we want to. We can filter our images, pick the news we want to hear, and listen only to the viewpoints that agree with us. When we do that, we start to distort our view of the world. The same thing can happen to our view of God. We reshape our perception of Him into what we want to believe, or what we want to think about others. Jesus came to bring us the truth about God and His plan for us, and it doesn’t always sound like what you may think. While some have taught God never gives us more than we can handle, scripture reminds us God is with us in the midst of our suffering.

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
Are you interested in joining Zion? If so, we will be holding a new members class for those interested in learning more about joining Zion on Sunday, Nov. 3 following worship. This is a great chance to learn more about Zion, its history, mission, and values, get to know some new people, and is also a requirement for joining the church.

Is the child check-in line too long? Are you feeling crowded by the check-in stations? Then check out our new child check-in station in Room 205. This station will not be staffed on Sundays, but if you are comfortable signing your child into our system without assistance, this is a great option to decrease congestion and the wait near door ‘D.’

On November 9, from 9-3 pm, we will be hosting a day of learning, listening and discussing the work of the Vision 2020 team for the Reformed Church in America. In response to ongoing tensions and dialogue around different understandings of how to properly respond to the changing cultural views of human sexuality, the Vision 2020 team was formed to imagine how our denomination can or should stay in relationship given the wide ranging views on these issues. The work of the Vision 2020 Team is to identify and explore possible scenarios, strategies, and consequences for these future options for the Reformed Church in America: (1) staying together; (2) radical reconstituting and reorganization; (3) grace-filled separation. This event is designed to help understand and process through the ramifications of the potential changes for the denomination and the local church. If you are interested in attending, you can sign-up here.

Serve the World
We continue our conversations with Bursley Elementary and Jenison Public schools as we anticipate starting a Kids Hope program with the school early next year. The school is already seeing other opportunities for us to serve the students through the Personal Care Pantry and Camp Zion. We look forward to seeing how God uses this new opportunity for us to bless our neighbors and invite people to meet Jesus.

Administrative Details
Our next Leaders Meeting will be on November 17 from 5-7 pm. In addition to enjoying a meal together and meeting in ministry teams, Jon Sherrill from Fifth Reformed will be sharing with us ways to more effectively listen to God in our lives. Child care will be provided for kids from birth through 5th grade.

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: $244,020.04
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $198,108.37