This Week’s Bulletin

3-17-19 Bulletin

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

This Week’s Bulletin

Zion Reformed (2-28-2019)

In his book, Gaining by Losing, J. D. Greer (current President of the Southern Baptist Convention), says many people think of the institution of the church like a cruise ship or a battle ship, but we ought to think of it as an aircraft carrier.

Those who think of the church as a cruise ship look to the church to meet their needs. They may even have a checklist of the programs and services they need the church to offer. They may even switch cruise ships to pick and choose the programming they like. Worship on ship A, youth group on ship B, and a small group at ship C. For these people, the church is a deliverer of religious goods and services and they are very willing to take their business to another cruise ship if this one stops meeting their needs.

Other people see the church as a battleship. The church is made for a mission and success is measured by how loud or dramatically it fights the battle. But it is in the institution that does most of the fighting. The pastors or staff are responsible to go into battle and the members gather each week to watch and cheer them on. For them, the programs, services, and ministries of the church are the primary instruments of mission.

He argues we should really see the church more like an air craft carrier. Like a battle ship, an air craft carrier is made to fight in the war. But, an air craft carrier is successful when it stays out of the battle and sends it air planes into the conflict. The air craft carrier is their to refuel the planes, to rearm the planes, to fix the planes if they get damaged, to support the planes in their mission to win the war, but the air craft carrier doesn’t actually do the fighting. The church should be equipping, healing, strengthening, and sending its members into the battle know that not even the gates of hell can withstand the onslaught of believers equipped but he church and empowered by the Spirit to shape a community with the gospel of God’s love.

Our vision as a church is to become more and more an air craft carrier that equips you to effectively reach the people whoa re near to you, but far from God with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have a lot of projects going on at church. Some of them are really obvious, like thinking through a potential remodel to make our facilities more useful in training our children and youth and in welcoming new and “not yet” believers into our community.

But some of the most important work is happening behind the scenes. In the past few months, we have conducted an audit of our Outreach ministries to more intentionally align them with a vision of evangelizing our community and equipping you to be effective ambassadors of God’s kingdom. Rachel Brower is leading a team working to align our Children’s ministries with our vision. And, Pastor Jeremy is anticipating a similar effort in youth ministry at some point in the future. The goal of this work is to make sure we are all pulling in the same direction, that all our ministries are equipping our members for the mission, and also preparing us as a church to launch new aircraft carriers (churches) to send even more airplanes (people) into the field to win their neighbors to Christ.

Please hold all these efforts in your prayers as we seek to follow God in mission and life as a church community.

Connect to God
While Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell many of the same stories of Jesus, John tells many different stories and in the process give a unique theological view of who Jesus is and how he now calls us to live. We begin our study of John this year by studying the 7 signs of John. The last sign occurs in Bethany, at a tomb, as the crowd and Jesus grieve over the death of Lazarus. But then the stone is rolled away and Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb and back into life. Both we are the crowd are left with one simply decision: what will we do with someone who can raise even the dead?

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.

Join us for worship on Wednesday March 6 as we begin the season of Lent with both a celebration of Communion and the Imposition of the Ashes. Nursery is available for children 3 and under.

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
A few weeks ago, all members of our church received a letter in their mailbox asking them to prayerfully consider their willingness and ability to serve as an Elder or Deacon. We ask that the whole congregation be in prayer during this season of discernment and that everyone remember to turn in their responses in the pink box at the welcome table by Sunday March 3.

Mike MacGraw has knee surgery on Monday and is hoping to return home today as he continues his recovery. Please hold Mike and Kathy in your prayers.

We also have many members coming from and going to warmer climes during these winter months. Continue to keep them and their safety in your prayers as well.

Serve the World
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
Our next Leaders Meeting, this Sunday from 4-7 pm, will be an opportunity for everyone in our congregation to have a voice in planning the remodel of our building. Everyone from 5th grade and up is invited to participate in this Congregational Workshop of dreaming and imagining what might be led by Elevate Studios. Child care will be provided for children 3rd grade and under. We will also provide a meal. Mark your calendar and plan on joining us on March 3 at 4 pm. Currently about 120 people have signed up to attend. If you are still interested in attending, please contact Pastor Greg.

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 has begun 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: $424,132.80
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $415,114.23

THIS WEEK’S BULLETIN

Zion E-News (2-21-2019)

Sometimes it can feel intimidating to know how to teach our older children about the Bible. We can be tempted to hand off this responsibility to Sunday school teachers or Youth leaders. We can hope listening to sermons will be enough. But, talking about their faith, hearing us talk about ours, is vital for older kids and teens to be help the, grow stronger roots of faith that will stick with them into adulthood. 

Recently, our older boys and Rachel and I have been watching some videos from the Bible Project as out devotions at night. This is a great free resources providing video summaries of books of the Bible, Biblical themes, and even some Hebrew words. 

The videos are free and very well done. We often have moments of laughter in the midst of some really solid Biblical teaching.The bets part of you don’t have to be a Biblical expert to give your children top notch teaching and create opportunities for you to have spiritual conversations with them. 

In the midst of all the news about abuse in Southern Baptist churches, riots in Haiti, aid blocked from helping people in Venezuela, and more, I have been reminded of a video from the Bible Project on the theme of Biblical justice. It is well worth the 5 minutes it will take you to watch it. So check it out, here.

Connect to God
While Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell many of the same stories of Jesus, John tells many different stories and in the process give a unique theological view of who Jesus is and how he now calls us to live. We begin our study of John this year by studying the 7 signs of John. The sixth sign occurs on the Sabbath Day as Jesus meets a man born blind. Suffering was common in the ancient world, death, disease, and disability were simply an expected part of life. Still today, we struggle and we suffer. As Jesus confronts the suffering of our world, what might we learn from him to better witness to the hope of the gospel in light of the suffering of today?

This Sunday we celebrate with Hope Eriks as she makes profession of faith. We are thankful not only for her decision, but all the people from parents and grandparents to Children ad Worship leaders and Sunday school teachers and youth leaders who have invested in her faith development.

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
A few weeks ago, all members of our church received a letter in their mailbox asking them to prayerfully consider their willingness and ability to serve as an Elder or Deacon. We ask that the whole congregation be in prayer during this season of discernment and that everyone remember to turn in their responses in the pink box at the welcome table by Sunday March 3.

We also extend our congratulations to Ron and Anna Radcliffe (church planters for City Chapel) as they recently announced they are expecting a child later this year.

Serve the World
Do you have a heart for people in need? Looking for a place to serve with a great group of people? Consider joining our Personal Care Pantry team. 

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
Our next Leaders Meeting, on March 3 from 4-7 pm, will be an opportunity for everyone in our congregation to have a voice in planning the remodel of our building. Everyone from 5th grade and up is invited to participate in this Congregational Workshop of dreaming and imagining what might be led by Elevate Studios. Child care will be provided for children 3rd grade and under. We will also provide a meal. Mark your calendar and plan on joining us on March 3 at 4 pm. Please sign up today 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.

Rachel Brower has begun 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: $413,257.60
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $398,614.23

THIS WEEK’S BULLETIN

Zion E-News (2-14-2019)

Last summer, a woman came to our church a few times. She had started a Bible study in her neighborhood with some friends who weren’t yet believers. She and her family were looking for a church closer to their home to make it easier to invite her friends to come to church with her. She wound up staying at her home church, which was a great place for her and her family. But, her story has stuck with me. 

Often we can think our ministry is tied to a role in the church. Serving as an usher or Deacon. Teaching Sunday school or handing out bags of food. Playing in the praise team or watching babies in the nursery. And, all these acts of service are important for us as a community to teach our children, mentor our youth, serve the community, and welcome new people into our midst.

For most of us, however, our primary place of ministry is not the church, but our workplace, school, or neighborhood. Everyday we come into contact with people who are near to us, but far from God. Sometimes they are family members, others times a co-worker or neighbor. But we all know people whoa re far from God.

Imagine what God could do if we didn’t settle for just praying for people (though this is important and vital), or inviting people to church (this is a great idea too), but what if we took the first step and told them about Jesus or invited them to consider the Bible with us. And then, we stayed in relationship and were willing to help them learn to follow Jesus like we do? What might God do with a people like that?

Connect to God
While Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell many of the same stories of Jesus, John tells many different stories and in the process give a unique theological view of who Jesus is and how he now calls us to live. We begin our study of John this year by studying the 7 signs of John. The fifth sign occurs immediately after the feeding of the 5,000 near the time of Passover. The disciples are caught up in a storm on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus comes to them walking on the water. Jesus still comes to us in the midst of the storms of life bringing calm and rescue to those in need.

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
Please keep Jed Gerken in your prayers as he has been hospitalized due to complications caused by his cancer and is currently considering palliative care options. He is hoping to return home sometime today.

This week Sunday, February 17, is “Say It Day” for those attending Sunday School. If you have a child from pre-school through 5th grade, don’t forget to help them review the verse to they are reading next week.

Our new members class, which began last week, will meet in the Library following worship. This class is for anyone interested in joining Zion or who simply wants to learn more about our church and its life and ministry. If you missed the first week, there is still time to join us.

If you signed up for a 729 group, you should have been or will soon be contacted by your group coordinator. If you are not contacted by next Thursday, shoot Pastor Gregand e-mail and he will get right on it.

Serve the World
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
Our next Leaders Meeting, on March 3 from 4-7 pm, will be an opportunity for everyone in our congregation to have a voice in planning the remodel of our building. Everyone from 5th grade and up is invited to participate in this Congregational Workshop of dreaming and imagining what might be led by Elevate Studios. Child care will be provided for children 3rd grade and under. We will also provide a meal. Mark your calendar and plan on joining us on March 3 at 4 pm. Please sign up today 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.

Rachel Brower has begun 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. They are meeting together as a team for the first time tonight. Please join me in praying for them and our building redesign team.

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: $402,382.40
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $388,627.23

This Week’s Bulletin