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