Zion E-News (1-24-2019)

On Sunday, we will be talking about Zion’s 2025 Vision. In 2025, Zion will be 70 years old and we believe God has much he still wants to do in and through our community. 

While we will be talking about the vision during the worship service, as I have been finalizing the sermon, I realized I will not be able to share as much detail as I would have liked. The text is so rich and worth study that I don’t want to take away from our text for the day to talk nuts and bolts of vision and mission at our church. 

But, I, the rest of the staff, and Consistory are really excited to talk about where we believe God is calling us as a church. (My extended family may be tired of hearing me talk about our vision and all God is doing at Zion.) So, we will be having a Zion 2025 Vision discussion during the Sunday school hour in the Sanctuary. This will be time to learn some more detail, ask some questions, and pray together for God to raise up workers for his harvest. 

Join me this Sunday to dream a little about the future and seek our generous God’s blessing as we follow his Son’s command to go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything he has commanded us.

Connect to God
This week, we join Jesus at the Samaritan well as he meets a rejected woman and sends her out as a missionary into fields ripe for the harvest. As we look at our church and community through the lens of this story, we are challenged to embrace the vision of our church to saturate our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ by developing Jesus shaped leaders to go out into the field and join the Lord of the Harvest. The fields are ripe. Are we ready or getting ready to join the harvest work?

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
We express our Sympathy to Rick and Nancy Steenbergen, Mark & Kim Steenbergen, and Mike and Julie Bond and their family as they mourn the passing of their mother and grandmother, Marge Steenbergen who went to be with her Lord and Savior on Saturday, Jan. 19. Funeral services will be held on Friday, January 25, 2019, at 11 a.m. at Matthysse Kuiper DeGraaf Funeral Home in Grandville with Pastor Rick VanderWall officiating.

Throughout this fall, many people in our church have participated in a 729 Group. These groups commit to meet together for a meal once a month for three months. It is a great way to get to know some new people in church. I have heard numerous people tell me how much they have enjoyed getting to know people in their group. If you are looking to make some new connections over the winter, new to Zion, or wondering who some of these new people are, sign-up through the Connection Card on Sunday for our next round of 729 Groups.

Our next new members class will begin on February 10. This class is for anyone interested in joining Zion or who simply wants to learn more about our church and its life and ministry. You can sign-up this Sunday on the Connection Card.

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 January 23-26 and 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 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: $369,756.80
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $361,629.23