Several months ago now, Carey Neiuwhof came out with a blog post entitled “5 Hard Truths About Healthy Church Growth.” In the post he argues that:

1. Healthy churches grow, but not all growing churches are healthy.
2. Healthy small churches usually don’t stay small forever.
3. An outward focused church ultimately creates the healthiest insiders.
4. Decline can happen for a season in healthy churches.
5. Healthy leaders produce healthy churches.

You can read the entire blog here.

Knowing most people won’t follow the link, I wanted to share his third point and it follows below.

So what creates a healthy church?

Many factors, but outward focus is non-negotiable.

It’s a bit of a paradox, but an outwardly focused church ultimately creates the healthiest insiders.

Why is that?

An inherent part of the Christian faith is death to self. And that also means death to selfish preferences.

In an insider-focused church, no one sacrifices anything for the sake of others, because people believe others ought to sacrifice to please them.

If the church exists to make you happy, why wouldn’t people sacrifice more to make you happier?

In outsider-focused churches, the opposite is true.

Insiders sacrifice for the sake of outsiders. They realize that when they give, others live. That when they decide the church isn’t about them, they find a joy that is so elusive to selfish people.

Externally focused churches realize that sacrifice for the sake of others is a pathway to joy.

When you die to yourself, something greater rises.

Connect to God
After God rescues the Israelites from their captivity in Egypt, he brings them to Mt. Sinai where he gives them the law, which includes the 10 Commandments. These commandments are not guidelines for all humanity, but a call from God to live as a counter-cultural community. They produce a people who in our daily lives live as a sign, a signal, and a witness that God has not left the world to its own devices. Instead, God has come to rescue, save, and restore all that has been broken and marred by sin. This fourth week of our series, we consider the invitation/command to honor the Sabbath day.

During worship Sunday, we will join with the church throughout the world in celebrating communion on World Communion Sunday. In preparation for this joyful celebration, the Elders urge you to examine your life to see where you need to confess sin, where you need to apologize and make amends, and where you need to forgive so that we can come to the table truly as one united people, join together by the Spirit in Christ. Children are welcome at the Lord’s Table, at their parents discretion, but they must remain with their parents throughout the service as we will not bring them back into the sanctuary from Children and Worship during Communion.

The second offering this Sunday will be for benevolence needs within our congregation. The Deacon’s urge you to give generously to those in need as our God has generously given us all we need in Christ.

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
Larry Westra underwent back surgery last week Thursday and is currently recovering at Brookcrest, Please continue to hold Larry and Marge in your prayers as he undergoes therapy and hopes to return home soon. 

You may have noticed over the past few weeks and months that it is harder and harder to read the screens in our sanctuary. Don’t worry. It is not your vision, but the slow death of all three projectors. They have all developed a significant shadow and slowly faded in brightness. As I write, a team of people are putting in three new projectors so we will be able to read and sing confidently. The new projectors are a generous gift from an anonymous donor.

Serve the World
City Chapel will officially launch with weekly worship this Sunday! They are hoping to “pack the house” so to speak and will be doing some significant advertising and marketing, but also wanted to invite each of you to join them this Sunday to celebrate the official birth of this new church. Unfortunately, I will be preaching, but you should go! Support Ron and Anna and their entire launch team as they begin this new journey together.

In addition to the official launch of City Chapel, Lifeline Community Church will celebrate their 5th anniversary this Sunday with a potluck/dinner following worship. As Lifeline begins the process of formally organizing, we celebrate not only their 5th anniversary, but also their support of a new Congolese Church plant in their facility on Sunday afternoons. God is certainly on the move and we are privileged to join him.

Administrative Details
Our next Leaders Meeting will be on November 4 from 5-7 pm. We look forward to a great evening of fellowship, worship, and some training. Details for the night are still being worked out and will be shared as they are finalized.

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: $195,753.60
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $179,430.21

“Tear off your masks. The church was never meant to be a masquerade!” – Charles Spurgeon

100 years ago. 10 years ago. And, today. People struggle with being honest about who we are, what we feel, and what we’ve done with other people. It is simply who we are.

Sometimes we struggle to be vulnerable because we may feel ashamed of what we have done or the situation we find ourselves in. I know of one family who needed food, but would first drive by the food pantry to see if anyone they knew was volunteering. If they knew people, they would go back home hungry. It was simply too hard to admit to others their need. And we keep on the mask.

Other times, we keep on the mask because we don’t trust the people we are with to treat our true selves carefully. We worry what we share will later be used against us or spread widely among our friends. And we keep on the mask.

Sometimes, we are afraid that if people really knew us, the real us: the scared us, the angry us, the doubting us, they won’t like us anymore. We will be rejected. And we keep on the mask.

We can’t ever be known unless we dare take off the mask. And we long to be known.

But there are also people who use our longing to be known to manipulate and control. They use what Chuck DeGroat calls fauxnerability. A fake vulnerability. They speak in vague terms of their sinfulness or some sin in the distant past, but they refuse to acknowledge their present struggles or the way they can hurt and impact other people today. They share in order to manipulate and control a group or person, rather than to be known or to know. Chuck shares some of the differences between genuine vulnerability and this fauxnerability in a recent post that follows:

• Vulnerability offers specific and sometimes painful parts of oneself in service of connection and empathy. Fauxnerability offers general offerings (“I’m a sinner” or “My heart is an idol factory”) in service of maintaining an image of one who is safe and honest.
• Vulnerability responds to another’s pushback with curiosity and compassion. Fauxnerability responds with defensiveness and reactivity.
• Vulnerability speaks in present terms (“I am so scared because I self-harmed again this morning, and I feel the temptation again now”) while fauxnerability speaks in general or past terms (“I battled porn back in the day.”)
• Vulnerability is other-centered, focused on empathic connection to another. Fauxnerability does not breed connection, but actually distances oneself from another, as you may feel like you’ll never be as honest as they are.
• Both vulnerability and fauxnerability may come with tears or a palpable sense that the other is in pain, but those who are fauxnerable have an uncanny capacity to stage their emotions.
• Those who are vulnerable risk an encounter with shame for the sake of belonging and connection, but those who are fauxnerable are shameless, deeply self-protected and incapable of letting another behind the curtain.
• Vulnerable people share wisely and discretely, often with close, trusted friends. Fauxnerable people over-share, offering too much too soon, in a way that demands that you to be their confessor in a manipulative tactic of engendering your sympathy or inviting you to take their side.
• Vulnerable people don’t take up space but create it through their way of being in the world. Fauxnerable people tend to be self-referential, self-congratulatory, and take up too much space.

We strive to be a place where we can all be known. Taking off the mask is hard and often scary work. The next time you are in a group discussion, a small group, a prayer meeting, check yourself to see if you are being vulnerable or wearing a mask, are you being genuine or faking vulnerability? Are you creating deeper connections or simply wearing another mask?

You can check out Chuck’s entire article here.

Connect to God
After God rescues the Israelites from their captivity in Egypt, he brings them to Mt. Sinai where he gives them the law, which includes the 10 Commandments. These commandments are not guidelines for all humanity, but a call from God to live as a counter-cultural community. They produce a people who in our daily live as a sign, a signal, and a witness that God has not left the world to its own devices. Instead, God has come to rescue, save, and restore all that has been broken and marred by sin. This third week of our series, we consider the command of God to honor his name.

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
Larry Westra underwent back surgery today at Metro Hospital to repair deterioration from a surgery he had 46 years ago. Pray for peace and comfort for Larry and Marge and for a quick and complete recovery.

Teresa Beute was hospitalized yesterday with some chest discomfort. She is undergoing tests today and hopes to have a plan to address the issue with her heart soon. Please pray for patience and strength for both Rog and Teresa.

Serve the World
City Chapel will officially launch with weekly worship on October 7! They are hoping to “pack the house” so to speak and will be doing some significant advertising and marketing, but also wanted to invite each of you to join them on the 7th to celebrate the official birth of this new church. Unfortunately, I will be preaching, but you should go! Support Ron and Anna and their entire launch team as they begin this new journey together.

We held our Personal Care Pantry on Monday night and once again had a great evening of caring for and supporting people in our community. Prayers were offered. Personal items shared. Relationships built. Thank you to all who served. If you want to get involved in the Care Pantry please contact Luke Austin.

We support a couple of ministries engaged in church planting in Nepal. Currently, it is illegal to evangelize in the country and yet multiple church planters are courageously going into villages and towns to tell of the hope they have found in Christ. In the next several weeks, two different groups of leaders will be traveling from the US to Nepal to support, train, and encourage these planters. Please be in prayer for both of these groups.

Administrative Details
We give our first time visitors a new 30oz Zion travel mug and a free beverage at Biggby. But, you can get your very own Zion travel mug, too. We will be selling the mugs for $20 and you can buy as many as you want. They come in two colors, silver and gunmetal and both have a cool looking Zion logo. Cups will be available for purchase in the lobby following worship. (If you don’t want to buy one on a Sunday, they will also be available from the office during the week.)

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: $184,878.40
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $171,642.31

9-23-18 Bulletin