This fall two new ministries will be starting that you need to be aware of. One is designed for education and the other for evangelism. Both are important pieces in trying to accomplish our mission (Reaching up to God, reaching in to each other, and reaching out to others) and vision (Growing in spiritual maturity, growing in service, and growing in evangelism).
The first is a new track that’s being added to our Adult Sunday School lineup. We’ll continue to have one track that focuses on bringing outside speakers on a variety of topics. A number of those sessions will have profs from Calvin Seminary coming in to speak about books of the Bible, Postmodernism, Missions, etc. The new track will be taught primarily by our pastoral staff and will have a more practical focus. Some of the topics will be, “How to Study Your Bible,” “The Prodigal God,” and “When Sinners Say I do”- How the Gospel Impacts Marriage.” In this new track, some of the studies will be book studies and others will be a presentation by a speaker. Finally, on the first Sunday of each month one of our pastors will be hosting, “After Dinner Dessert.” These sessions will be an open question and answer time meant to give you a chance to ask questions about the sermon that morning or some other topic.
The other new program starting this fall is a Wednesday evening program. A flashier, more catchy title will be coming. This program is starting to help us with evangelism, although all of our members are invited. Over the last few years our staff has detected a gap between our Kids Hope program and the other children’s ministries of our church. Kids Hope runs from K-4. The only children’s ministry we have in those years is Sunday school, but attracting Kids Hope kids on Sundays has been difficult. Therefore, we’re going to start a Wednesday night program for kids in K-3. We hope in 4th grade that they’ll move into GEMS and Cadets. We especially want to draw in Kids Hope families, but as I said earlier, all of you are invited. This program will meet on the first Wednesday of each month. The evening will begin with a meal from 6:00-6:30 with the kid’s program running from 6:30-7:15.
I hope that many of you will participate in these new opportunities, and I especially hope that all of you will pray for them. Be on the lookout for schedules and information. If you have any questions feel free to ask any of our staff.
Looking forward to learning and reaching out with you,
Pastor Tom