On Monday, all the news stations covered the shocking fire at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Over and over they talked about the terrible loss of this monument, how much this monument meant to the French people, how many people visited this monument, and how the people would grieve the loss of the sacred monument.

I have never been to the Cathedral in person, though I know some of you have, including my wife. And, from all I have gathered it is an impressive building. But, it is only a buildings. A building is not the church. Across Europe, there are many gorgeous buildings that in generations past were filled with people every week gathering to worship God. But those days a long gone.

In countries like Germany, France, England, and France, even self-reported church attendance is under 20%. Actual attendance numbers suggest it is actually less than 10% of people attend church on any given Sunday in these countries. Many of these great huge Cathedrals are mostly empty for worship services, but filled with tourists all week-long gaping at a faith they have left behind, if they ever knew it at all.

And so, while I grieve the architectural loss in Notre Dame with many others, even more, I grieve for the loss of the church in Western Europe. For it is not buildings, but the people who make up the church. But, I am also filled with hope. On Tuesday morning, many found their hope in the pictures that emerged of a cross, largely undamaged by the fire, in the midst of the devastation.

I find my hope somewhere else today. Our God has not given up on the people of Europe and we know he will continue to reach out to all he has called inviting them back into relationship with their Savior. I see signs of this faithful mission of God in my friend Doug McClintic who was instrumental in planting the first new Hungarian church in several hundred years and in only a few months will be moving to Hungary to lead the mission efforts of the RCA in Europe to plant more new churches and reach more new people with the hope of Christ.

May God bear much fruit in Europe and raise up this part of his church from its long slow death.

Connect to God
The deepest love poured out of the greatest sacrifice in history. A love that heals. A love that forgives. A love that reconciled. A love that welcomes. A love that calls into the family mission of God. This Easter we celebrate the power and truth of Christ’s resurrection! Join us on Sunday at 9:30 for a joyous celebration of our risen Savior.

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 Norm and Corinne Van Horn in the passing of Norm’s wife and Corinne’s mother-in-law Kay VanHorn last week Friday. Pastor Rick officiated at the funeral on Wednesday at 11. The family was very appreciative of both his care and the support of our congregation.

On a related note, I met with Ron Radcliffe, the pastor of City Chapel. as you may recall, he and his wife Anna recently suffered a miscarriage. They very much appreciated those of you who sent them cards and words of encouragement in this difficult time. he also shared that members of the three supporting churches (LaGrave CRC. Fifth Reformed, and Zion Reformed) frequently visit City Chapel and their community has noticed. It means a lot to this new church to both know and see the support of other believers as they take this step of faith. Keep up the good work in cheering on and supporting our partners in ministry.

Serve the World
We have a lot of updates related to church plants this week. Lifeline Community Church continues to experience growth in numbers and in-depth. They are also working toward formally organizing as a church in the Reformed Church in America and hope to have an official organizational service in early November.

Sean McAnally and I had a very encouraging lunch with Yakuv Gurung from Jibit Asha on Tuesday this week. Yakuv has recently returned from a trip to Nepal and share many stories with us about the evangelistic and church planting work occurring in the southern part of the country. included was a story of a teacher who prayed over a sick man (he was the last one the family approached after trying a doctor and multiple shamans). He prayed and the man became well and 22 people decided to follow Jesus. Another man came to faith and stopped building a temple in his backyard. The temple remains half-finished, but converted into a garden. We will be sharing a very short video of one of the 29 new worshipping communities they have established in the past 18 months in Nepal. God is on the move here in West Michigan, in Nepal, and around our world.

If you are interested in learning more about what God is doing in Nepal, there is an opportunity to travel to Nepal and meet with the church planters we support. Yakuv will be leading people from their supporting churches to Nepal from September 29/30 to October 10. If you are interested in going, please contact Pastor Gregsoon as participation will be set by mid-May.

Last Sunday Sarah McAnally shared a simple way during the Easter Season to create connections with our neighbors and create an opportunity to present the gospel message to children as well. You can check out her story at the  24:20 minute mark of this past week’s message, which you can find here.

Administrative Details
Our next Leaders Meeting, on April 28 from 5-7 pm, will be a great opportunity to reconnect with your ministry teams, review the past year, and look forward to how God will be working among us in the year to come. Everyone who serves in any capacity is welcome to attend the meeting. We hope to provide child care  for children 3rd grade and under. We are still looking for people to serve in childcare that evening. You can sign-up for both the Leaders Meeting and to provide childcare through the connection cards on Sunday. As usual, we will also provide a meal. Mark your calendar and plan on joining us on April 28 at 5 pm. Please sign up this Sunday on the back of the Connection Card.

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.

Our Children’s Ministry redesign team is wrapping up their work and will be presenting a proposal to Consistory at the April 9 meeting. Their goal is to reshape our Children’s programming to align more closely with a fiasco of raising up leaders in our church and reaching our community with the gospel through church planting. The team includes Rachel Brower, Sean McAnally, Heidi Ondersma, Jackie Deiter, and Megan Taylor. They presented their recommendations to Consistory and will be meeting with Consistory again in May to continue their productive conversation.

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:  $500,259.20
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $497,690.27

4-7-19 Bulletin

In my Discipleship Triad, we are still reading the book of Acts this week. This second time through the book, I have been struck by both the ongoing movement of the gospel to cross cultural barriers (Jews to Samaritan to Gentile) and the struggle of the church to keep up with the gospel.

First, the disciples are told to preach in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, but only leave Jerusalem when the persecution gets too hot.

Second, they go to a Samaritan village, but need to send for Peter and John to come pray one the people when many Samaritans come to believe.

Third, the church finally starts reaching out to gentiles only after God sends Peter a vision and literally sends gentiles to knock on Peter’s door and ask him to tell them about Jesus. (These are the worst internally driven evangelists ever.)

Fourth, when the church in Antioch sends out Paul and Barnabas to preach to both Jews and gentiles and many gentiles come to believe, the church doesn’t know what to do. They are Jewish. They don’t follow Jewish customs. They hold a special meeting to decide if these people can even follow Jesus without first becoming Jewish. Thankfully, cooler heads noticed these gentile believers had received the Holy Spirit and if God accepted them the church should, too.

For many of us, it is hard to befriend and welcome people are are new or different from us. Conversations are harder to start. We may stumble into some awkward social situations. We may not know what to say. But God continually calls his people out into the world to engage people who are different from them with them gospel of Jesus. It happens over and over again in Acts and it still happens. Well, it happens when God’s people are willing to go and take risks and make new friends and talk about Jesus and invite others to follow the God they love.

The disciples only went at first when they were forced to by persecution, but by the end, they had caught the vision and were scattered all over the world, from India to Rome telling people about Jesus. Where has God already sent you? Where might he be calling today?

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 resurrection and the life.

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
Conrad Burton, Tom & Marcia Verbrugge’s grandson, is having a bone marrow transplant tomorrow, March 27, for his leukemia. The donor is a woman from Germany.  Pray that his body won’t reject the bone marrow and he will have minimal discomfort.  The doctors say Conrad will feel really sick after the transplant. Please also pray for the donor as he will be feeling really tired for a week or so.

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.

Administrative Details
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.

Our Children’s Ministry redesign team is wrapping up their work and will be presenting a proposal to Consistory at the April 9 meeting. Their goal is to reshape our Children’s programming to align more closely with a fiasco of raising up leaders in our church and reaching our community with the gospel through church planting. The team includes Rachel Brower, Sean McAnally, Heidi Ondersma, Jackie Deiter, and Megan Taylor. They have one more meeting scheduled before April 9 and appreciate your prayers.

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:  $467,633.60
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $461,228.23