FCC Family Focus Newsletter Blurb (5/19/08)
In case you missed it, here’s my latest newsletter blurb…Current Sermon Series: “Glorious Grace”May 25: “Healing Grace” (John 5:1-15)June 1: “Generous Grace” (Romans 5:12-19)June 8: “Our Hope is in Grace” (1 Peter 1:13-21)Scott’s Thoughts (in bullet point form this week!)
Thanks so much for everyone’s participation in our Carry-In Lunch this past Sunday. We’re proud of our moms, dads, and graduates! It’s important to gather as a community to congratulate and recognize such special people and moments in our lives. A special thanks to the Bond Between Us Class for food and room preparation, Roxanne Burchnell for decorating the bulletin board, and Chuck Bowlin and Jack Gardin for their leadership.
If you are undergoing any important tests or procedures, please don’t hesitate to call or email the church office to let us know about them so the church and the elders can pray and care for you appropriately. If it’s something you’d like to keep confidential, please feel free to contact me personally by cell phone (552-3438) or email (scott@fccgreeneville.org). It’s important for us to keep regularly updated on these matters.
If you have, umm, eyes that work, you’ve probably noticed the GIGANTIC Vacation Bible School banner on the front of the church building. It looks really great, huh?! As you can tell, we’re pushing really hard right now to invite friends, family members, neighbors’ kids, etc. to join us for VBS this year. We have a really great week planned (Sun, June 8 – Thu, June 12), a dedicated crew of volunteers, and a great theme about serving God in the community. We’re emphasizing reaching out to the community by registering kids from families who may not already have a church home where they are active. Please see Leigh Ann Arrington, VBS Registrar, or the FCC website to register. If you want to take a few yellow registration cards to hand to friends and neighbors, please pick up a few at an FCC Resource Table (outside the church offices and in the sanctuary lobby.)
Speaking of website… Those of you who are online can visit the FCC website for frequently updated information. It’s also a really great way to spread the word about the good things going on at First Christian Church. In 2006, 3 out of every 4 visitors to churches in the United States visited their website beforehand. Those same people also reported that they wouldn’t have visited the churches if there was no website to provide information. We live in a world where people want to know what they’re getting into before they’ll visit a church, and this is a great way to introduce people to your church. It’s as easy as, “Why don’t you check out our website?!”
“Join the Team” is a new 6-week class starting Sunday, June 4, during the Sunday School hour. It is something we will try to do a couple times a year, maybe once a quarter, depending on response to the class. This is NOT just a new membership class (only). It is for ANYONE who wants to know more about First Christian, whether you’ve recently become a member or been baptized, are interested in becoming a member or being baptized, have been a member 45 years and want a refresher course. It could even be for a friend of yours who doesn’t yet attend but might if invited. We’ll cover FCC’s history, affiliation, basic doctrinal beliefs (esp. baptism and Lord’s Supper), ministry structure, vision and values, expectations of members, spiritual gifts and their role in the church, becoming a Christian, etc. It will include plenty of opportunity for feedback and time for questions you want answered, as well as a chance to get to know some folks you may not already know. You can sign up on an FCC Resource Table (outside the church offices and in the sanctuary lobby) or online. The link is on the FCC website’s home page, found on www.fccgreeneville.org.
Memorial Day is Monday, June 26, so this next Sunday, June 25, we’ll be acknowledging men and women from among us who have served in the armed forces. We’d like to invite you to wear any uniforms and/or headwear and bring along pictures to share with one another. Thanks to the millions who have served over the course of our nation’s history, we enjoy many freedoms and a remarkable quality of life that many in our world still do not experience and that we do not want to take for granted.
“Glorious Grace” Sermon Series > Grace is defined, mostly simply, as “unmerited favor.” It is being counted righteous before God, even when we can’t possibly merit being treated as such! What a fantastic truth that is for us as Christians. This past week we studied Matthew 20:1-16 and how grace as a concept is so unnatural for us and so crazy in what it offers that it is practically a scandal! The idea that it costs the giver everything and the receiver nothing is a difficult truth with which to come to grip. This week we’ll study God’s “healing grace” at the pool of Bethesda, found in John 5:1-15, when Jesus healed the man who’d been suffering for 38 years! I’d like to encourage you to read ahead in preparation.