Zion E-News (12-05-2019)

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On Monday this week, Rachel and I had the joy of watching one o four children sing in the Jenison Elementary Honors Choir at Fountain Street Church with several high school choirs and a choir from GVSU. It was a night of beautiful Christmas music and a chance to see this child shine and be exposed to a broader world of music.

It was also a deeply sad experience for me. Fountain Street, if you are unaware, is a universalist church that according to the church strives to be a vibrant church community that challenges individuals to craft their own spiritual journeys, and to engage in creative and responsible action in the world.

Fountain Street started as a baptist church in the 1860s and had a long legacy of both evangelistic and discipling passion. They were engaged in caring for the poor and seeking a more just world. But over time, they slowly drifted away from their first love. It may have happened slowly as an effort to stay relevant to the culture or to reach unbelievers, but at some point, they started compromising the authority of scripture. They became less concerned with Jesus and his reign and more concerned with personal character and a secular humanist worldview.

And now today, rather than holding Sunday school, they have Character school where kids learn different moral principles from many religions of the world. They hold values for inquiry, love, justice, and community. But, there is no longer a passion for the kingdom of God, the gospel of Jesus, or even Jesus himself.

I love that at Zion we care about justice issues and caring for the weak and outsiders. We do this through Hand2Hand, Personal Care Pantry, Camp Zion and soon Kids Hope.

I love that at Zion we care deeply about discipling our kids, both children and youth, and are willing to invest deeply in volunteer time and our staff to raise these kids up in the faith.

I love that at Zion we care about evangelism. We plant churches. We support missionaries all over the world.

But what I love most at Zion is that I never doubt our motivation for all we do. We love Jesus and we want his name to be lifted high by our ministry. May he always be the center of our life together.

Connect to God
“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, all around the world.” At some point during the upcoming holiday season we will almost certainly hear those familiar lyrics on the radio, on a TV special, or at the mall. For many, Christmas means thousands of shimmering lights gracing trees, bushes, front porches, and sometimes entire houses, transforming the familiar landscape of our neighborhood into a cozy fantasy kingdom. Christmas means  scented red candles, the shining eyes and flushed faces of children as they come alive to the wonder of the season, and mustering an attitude of “good cheer” as we all strive to create an aura of serenity, stillness, and peace on earth. But what do we do when Advent doesn’t feel like Christmas? When life is not all warm and aglow with the joy of the season? This week, we hear the voice of John the Baptist preparing the way for God to come and be with us.

Join us next week Sunday, December 15, for our annual Sunday School Christmas Program. They have been working hard for weeks to learn lines and prepare songs. All to share with us the good news that God is indeed with us and the exile of the garden has ended.

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
Barb Overweg had open heart surgery this morning and is currently recovering, please continue to hold Barb and Jim in your prayers during this time of healing.

Serve the World
We are in the early stages of planning a trip to Kenya in June of 2021. While there, we will see the progress on Jeremiah’s church we have been supporting, have a project planned to work on, do some visiting and touring of Mahi Mahui where Jeremiah and Mary live, and finish off this trip with a Safari. If this sounds interesting to you, please contact Pastor Rick.

Jeremiah Kuria recently sent several pictures of their Sunday school rooms with a roof on thanks to the generosity of Zion. You can check out some of the pictures at the bottom of this e-mail.

Administrative Details
On Tuesday, December 10, our Consistory will be meeting with a consulting firm we have contracted with to help us both conduct and assess the feasibility of a capital campaign for our proposed building remodel. Please be in prayer for our Consistory as they consider this weighty decision next Tuesday.

We have recently begun accepting donations to the General Fund and Building Fund online or via text. If you are interested in supporting the ministries of Zion financially, you can do so from our website www.zionreformed.org by clicking on “Give Online Now” or text 1-616-219-2181 using one of the commands listed below:

  • Text ‘give’ to be prompted on how much you’d like to give.
  • Text ‘update’ to change the credit card or bank account you give from or to modify recurring gifts you’ve set up by text
  • Text ’50 weekly’ to set up a weekly gift of $50. Replace 50 with the amount you’d like to give. You can also replace ‘weekly’ with ‘biweekly,’ ‘monthly’ or ‘yearly’.
  • Text ’50 fundname‘ to give $50 to a specific fund. Replace ‘fundname’ with the keyword General or Building to designate to specific fund. Replace 50 with the amount you’d like to give.
  • Text ‘unlink’ to unlink your phone from the text giving service so that your phone is no longer authorized to make donations

You can also give directly from our website by clicking on the  “Give Now” button below.

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: $299,479.14
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $279,194.19
Thanksgiving Offering to date: $9,751.00