Someone on my social media feed asked earlier this week for people to share the gospel in a single post. Following are a few of the answers:

• God restoring the broken image in His creation and redeeming it back to Himself. Accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the work of His Spirit empowered faith community. Enabling our true flourishing in right relationship with God and others.
• God’s renewal of the cosmos through His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Jesus is Lord
• God loves you so much that God came in the form of a man to reveal God’s true nature and love for you and bring you into relationship with him.
• “God was pleased to have all fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to him all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:19-20)

Later in his life, the great 20th century theologian Karl Barth was asked to summarize the gospel in a single sentence and as the story goes, he responded with this beautiful children’s song: Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.

How would you summarize the gospel, the hope we have in Christ?
– Greg

Connect to God


This Sunday we will gather in person at 9 am and online at both 9 and 11 am. You can find the services either on our Facebook page or at zionreformed.online.church. We will also rebroadcast the service on WCET at noon on Friday and 4pm next Sunday.

Christianity at its core is not about thinking the right things about God or knowing our Bibles inside and out, but about following Jesus. The earliest believers were called Christians because they looked and acted like little Christs, little Jesuses. In Mark 6, Jesus goes home to Nazareth and receives less than a warm welcome. The people think they already know Jesus and so reject his teaching. The disciples, however, trust Jesus and in trusting him are sent out to teach, heal and cast our demons. One group puts Jesus in a box of their own making and another lets Jesus run wild over their life and sees the power of God at work in them. Where might we need to let Jesus out of our boxes so we can see the power of God already at work around us?

We will also celebrate the ordination of Jeremy Zoet to the office of Elder during worship. This is one step in Jeremy’s journey to become a Commissioned Pastor in the Reformed Church in America.

Grow in Community

If you would like to keep up with Steve Landstra’s health journey as he battles lung cancer, the family has set up a CaringBridges page and you can find it here.

In the last decade, a giant cultural wave has swept the North American church into a brand new world — a pluralistic, complicated, high-tech/low-touch world that has only been accelerated during this Covid-time. Facing the challenge of engaging a jaded world, a fresh expression has emerged alongside the traditional church. If you have any interest in church planting or how to reach new generations, join us for a 3 week discussion led by Andrew Moore of the book Fresh Expressions of the Church. You can sign-up for this book discussion by e-mailing Pastor Greg at gbrower@zionreformed.org.

We are reading through the New Testament over the next year as a congregation. The reading schedule for this coming week is below:
Monday: Luke 22
Tuesday: Luke 23
Wednesday: Luke 24
Thursday: Luke 25
Friday: Luke 26

You can also find the reading schedule on our website under the Ministries tab.

Serve the World


We received an update recently from Jibit Asha (our church planting partner in Nepal). Following is just a brief lightly edited excerpt:

One of our church planters from west-north of Nepal  trained three Timothies with Jibit Asha multiplication training. He sent them into three different villages after the training. After about the six months of continuing mentoring and discipleship, God began to work through these three Timothies. Last week, these three Timothies brought 22 new believers in one place for the baptism. What a way to reach the least reached people. Multiplication happens when Timothies are raised.

Your financial and prayer support is leading to lives and whole communities changed by the gospel in Nepal.

If you need help, either with food, personal care items, help grocery shopping, or with financial needs, please contact Chip Harkes, our chair of deacons, and he can help connect you with the appropriate resources at Zion. His e-mail is chip@harkeslandscape.com and his phone number is 616-299-4804.



Administration

Willingness to serve on Consistory forms are due this Sunday. Please make sure to drop them off at the office or place them in the box at the welcome center by this Sunday.

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:  $399,238.64
Fiscal Year to Date Contribution: $393,375.47
Giving Last Week: $8,677.00

The season of Lent, the 40 days (not including Sundays) before Easter, began yesterday. They are an opportunity to prepare ourselves to celebrate Easter, to remember our need for a savior, and to take new steps of obedience to God.

For many people, Lent is a season of self-denial, of giving up a habit or small treasured treat like chocolate or caffeine. For the last several years I have practiced some sort of fast during Lent. One year I gave up pop and another year caffeine and then pop again. There may be a theme here.

But this year, I decided to give up a different activity. I am going to try to not be hard on myself. I have noticed in myself and in others lately that we are often hard on ourselves for simply being human. We get down on ourselves for not being able to be with people we love during a pandemic. Or, for not anticipating things that could go wrong. Or, for getting tired and worn out. Or, for getting discourage and or emotionally frayed. But, all of these are things people with finite minds and finite bodies do. Our frail bodies get hungry, grow tired, and cannot predict the future. So for Lent, I am going to try to not be hard on myself for simply being a finite person.

Should we also repent of genuine sin? Of course! But we do not need to repent of being weak and frail humans. God knows we are. Being frail is and not invincible is not sin, just part of being human. Adam and Eve got tired and hungry and worn out sometimes, too.

This is part of the lesson of Ash Wednesday. We are frail. We are weak. We are finite. We all die. We are dust. We are not God and do not need to pretend we are. So be soft on yourselves friends. It’s OK to be human.

From dust you are and to dust you shall return.

– Greg

Connect to God
This Sunday we will gather in person at 9 am and online at both 9 and 11 am. You can find the services either on our Facebook page or at zionreformed.online.church. We will also rebroadcast the service on WCET at noon on Friday and 4pm next Sunday.

Christianity at its core is not about thinking the right things about God or knowing our Bibles inside and out, but about following Jesus. The earliest believers were called Christians because they looked and acted like little Christs, little Jesuses. In Mark 5, we find a crowd around Jesus, following to see what he will say or do next. And a woman who, for twelve years has been declared unclean, sneaks onto the scene to show us what what reaching out to Jesus in times of heartache and pain, loneliness and isolation, can result in. What will we learn as we join the crowd and witness Jesus’ interaction with this woman?

Jeremy Zoet will be preaching this Sunday. We look forward to hearing what God has placed on his heart.

Grow in Community
Please keep Clyde Francisco, son-in-law to Jim and Barb Overweg, in your prayers as he experiences complications after open heart surgery on Monday.

In the last decade, a giant cultural wave has swept the North American church into a brand new world — a pluralistic, complicated, high-tech/low-touch world that has only been accelerated during this Covid-time. Facing the challenge of engaging a jaded world, a fresh expression has emerged alongside the traditional church. If you have any interest in church planting or how to reach new generations, join us for a 3 week discussion led by Andrew Moore of the book Fresh Expressions of the Church. You can sign-up for this book discussion by e-mailing Pastor Greg at gbrower@zionreformed.org.

We are reading through the New Testament over the next year as a congregation. The reading schedule for this coming week is below:
Monday: Luke 17
Tuesday: Luke 18
Wednesday: Luke 19
Thursday: Luke 20
Friday: Luke 21

You can also find the reading schedule on our website under the Ministries tab.

Serve the World
Several people have asked about the homeless people living under 196 near church. We have contacted Dégagé Ministries and they have reached out to offer support to them.

While there is nothing we can do directly as a church, let us all pray for those in Texas without power, water, or heat.

If you need help, either with food, personal care items, help grocery shopping, or with financial needs, please contact Chip Harkes, our chair of deacons, and he can help connect you with the appropriate resources at Zion. His e-mail is chip@harkeslandscape.com and his phone number is 616-299-4804.

Administration
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:  $388,732.36
Fiscal Year to Date Contribution: $386,794.47
Giving Last Week: $23,192.00

One of the values of Zion I love the most is our commitment to raising up and developing people in our church to become ever more effective servants in God’s kingdom. It is why we allow teens and preteens to lead worship, run sound, cameras, and slides, and teach in our kids ministries. We recognize they are not only the future of the church, but they are the present. Many studies show involving teens early in the church, giving them genuine responsibility, and even having them serve alongside adults makes a significant impact on their commitment to Christ as they enter adulthood. The time invested in these students will bear fruit 10 or 20 or even 50 years down the road.

It is also why when Sarah McAnally accepted a position as a worship leader at another church, we celebrated and formally sent her. It was at Zion she learned she could lead in the church and first developed those skills and now another congregation is blessed through her because of your investment in her. And, why I can’t wait for Julianna Kempema to preach at Zion on March 21. She was raised by Zion and now as she attends Calvin Seminary, it is a privilege for us to be blessed by her as she explains God’s word to us.

And, it is this commitment that has led Jeremy Zoet, Youth and Worship Director, to Western Theological Seminary. He will be graduating this spring with a Master of Arts degree. He has also entered the Commissioned Pastor process with our Classis and anticipates being eligible for commissioning as soon as June this summer. As part of that process, Jeremy was appointed as an Elder at Large by your Consistory this week. He will be formally ordained on Sunday, February 28. We are excited to see how God will continue using the many gifts he has given Jeremy to bless God’s church.

And, this commitment to developing leaders new and old has led Rachel Brower, Children’s Director, in her little bit of free time, to be a part of a new denominational leadership team focused on supporting and equipping Children’s ministry leaders across our denomination. In another nod to your commitment to developing leaders for God’s kingdom, joining her on this team is Rev. Kara Lepley, former seminarian intern at Zion.

– Greg

Connect to God
This Sunday we will gather in person at 9 am and online at both 9 and 11 am. You can find the services either on our Facebook page or at zionreformed.online.church. We will also rebroadcast the service on WCET at noon on Friday and 4pm next Sunday.

Christianity at its core is not about thinking the right things about God or knowing our Bibles inside and out, but about following Jesus. The earliest believers were called Christians because they looked and acted like little Christs, little Jesuses. In Mark 2, we learn this kingdom of God Jesus proclaims will be more inclusive and diverse than anyone first thought. All the disciple’s categories of who is in the kingdom and who is out get tossed out the window when Jesus calls a hated tax collector to follow as well. This kingdom will stretch us to love and understand those our world tries to paint as enemies.

Grow in Community
We extend our sympathy to Jeff and Roxie VanderHeide and Justin and Amanda Vasquez in the passing of their grandfather Gerald Duffield last weekend.

Please keep Steve and Shawn Landstra in your prayers as well as Steve undergoes surgery tomorrow to address the recently discovered lung cancer.

In the last decade, a giant cultural wave has swept the North American church into a brand new world — a pluralistic, complicated, high-tech/low-touch world that has only been accelerated during this Covid-time. Facing the challenge of engaging a jaded world, a fresh expression has emerged alongside the traditional church. If you have any interest in church planting or how to reach new generations, join us for a 3 week discussion led by Andrew Moore of the book Fresh Expressions of the Church. You can sign-up for this book discussion by e-mailing Pastor Greg at gbrower@zionreformed.org.

Would your child like to go to camp next summer?  Our church offers a 50% off scholarship to any church member who would like to send their child to camp. Many kids from our church have gone in the past, and it’s been a great experience for them, and they’ve grown in their faith. Camp Geneva is a Reformed church camp on the shores of Lake Michigan. They offer day camps for kids going into 1st-4th grade, and overnight camps for kids going into 3rd grade through High School. You can check out their website here.   Please contact Connie Stegeman, our church secretary, or Children Ministry Director Rachel Brower for the discount code that you’ll need for your registration. Please do not share the code with others, but rather encourage them to contact our office.

We are reading through the New Testament over the next year as a congregation. The reading schedule for this coming week is below:
Monday: Luke 12
Tuesday: Luke 13
Wednesday: Luke 14
Thursday: Luke 15
Friday: Luke 16

You can also find the reading schedule on our website under the Ministries tab.

Serve the World
If you need help, either with food, personal care items, help grocery shopping, or with financial needs, please contact Chip Harkes, our chair of deacons, and he can help connect you with the appropriate resources at Zion. His e-mail is chip@harkeslandscape.com and his phone number is 616-299-4804.

Administration
Our denomination, the Reformed Church in America, is experiencing some tension between congregations and regions of the country over a variety of issues including: the ordination of women, infant baptism, the place of racial reconciliation in the gospel, discipline between churches and local governing bodies, and changing views regarding sexual issues in the broader culture. Over the next year, we will likely see many congregations leave the denomination over one or more of these issues. I know of at least one congregation that has begun the process of leaving the denomination. They have been frustrated for many years that our denomination allows the ordination of women and approved the Belhar Confession (a document from South Africa that says racism, both individual and systemic, is sinful) as a statement of faith. You may hear of churches making similar decisions as well.

If the General Synod (our national governing body) meets this summer, there is some hope that we will reach clarity in particular on issues around human sexuality and make clear a path for staying together as a denomination or separating graciously. We had similar discussions almost 50 years ago now as some churches in our denomination did not want to stay in relationship with others that were active in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Thankfully, after a year to calm down, most chose to stay together.

Our Consistory has been watching these debates for some time now and has chosen to stay focused on our local ministry rather than spend inordinate time considering what some other churches we do not personally know may be doing somewhere else in the country. We also believe it wise to wait until decisions are made at General Synod before considering how we might respond as a church.

Personally, I do not think decisions by General Synod will have any direct impact on how we do ministry at Zion. One of the strengths of our denomination is that most power and authority is delegated to the local level in Consistories and Classes. I am, however, intrigued by some initial plans for how we might function as a denomination moving out of General Synod this summer. You can read of some initial efforts to sketch out a vision for the RCA by our staff at this link.

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:  $378,226.08
Fiscal Year to Date Contribution: $362,762.47
Giving Last Week: $9,337.09

2-7-21 Bulletin

01-31-21 Bulletin