Zion E-News (3-21-2019)

Over the past few weeks, the Discipleship Triad I am in has been reading Philippians and Acts. On Wednesday, I read about Paul’s mission in Philippi and it reminded me of something JD Greear wrote once. He said that in Philippi, Acts gives us a picture of the three types of people our churches will reach.

There are people like Lydia, who is already seeking God when Paul meets her at a Jewish worship service. Some people we know are already seeking after God. They may be curious about Christianity or they may have left the church years before, but due to some life changes are starting to think more about God and their spiritual life. These people may be the easiest to reach because they are already looking to be found.

And then there are people like the demon possessed slave girl. She is literally enslaved and also tortured by demons. But when she meets Paul, he sets her free from the demons and she finds an entirely new life in Jesus. Similarly there are people who will become open to or interested in Christianity after they experience the love and help of the church. We seek to reach people like this through ministries like Hand2Hand, Camp Zion, and the Personal Care Pantry.

And then, there is the jailer. Jailers in that day were often retired Roman soldiers who were given these positions as a sort of retirement plan. They were usually pretty cynical and jaded after years of war. This jailer was won over by the joy and generosity of Paul and Silas even as they were unjustly imprisoned. Similarly, there are people in our community who are cynical about things of faith. They are not open to faith, but may become so as they see and experience the lives of believers who show the fruit of the Spirit.

While JD doesn’t mention a fourth category, I think there is a fourth category of people who did not yet exist in the 1st century: nominal believers. This may be the hardest group of people to reach with the gospel because they already think they are saved, if they think about matters of faith at all. This may also be the most common group of people lin our community. They may have grown up in church. They may attend a church on Christmas and Easter and maybe Mother’s Day. They may even own a rarely opened Bible. Dean Inserra in a recent article for the Gospel Coalition summarizes the typical beliefs of these nominal Christians as “a generic theism that mingles biblical concepts with a hope that one is a good person—all while maintaining autonomy over personal decisions and lifestyle.”

These people often think they are saved because they were members of a church as children, made confirmation as a young teen, or accepted Jesus into their heart in kindergarten, but they have long since stopped trying to follow Jesus. They need to hear the gospel again: that they are sinners in need of salvation, that Jesus offers forgiveness through his death the on the cross, and by his Spirit they can now follow him.

This is the gospel we all need to hear. There is grace for each of us no matter our past, no matter our mistakes, no matter our struggles and doubts. The grace of Jesus is available for all.

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 the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.

This Sunday we celebrate with Ryan and Rachel Kleinjans the baptism of Colton Robert. As they celebrate his life, we give thanks to God for the gift of new life he has made available to all who believe. We thank God as well for the covenant he has established all the way back with Abraham to include children in his family. We honor this faithful God as we welcome Colton into the covenant community at Zion.

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
This Sunday, we welcome 7 new adult members and their families into our community: Ryan Kleinjans, Rob and Sarah Olger (Autumn, Chase, and Zachary), Joe and Jill Sietsema (Ashley and Austin), and Matt and Sara Smith (Clayton, Gabriel, and Maxwell). We thank God for the gift these people are to our church and look forward to seeing how God will use all of our gifts to impact our community with the good news of the Kingdom of God in Jesus.

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.

In the past few weeks, Judy Mekkes has worked hard to redesign and organize our missions board outside of the church office. Every day as I walk into the offices, I stop by the wall and say a prayer for a missionary or two. I feel so blessed to serve in a church that has such a heart for missions both locally and around the world. Through your generous support, mission work occurs in Grandville, Wyoming, Grand Rapids, Peru, Kenya, Nepal, Bahrain, Ecuador, and around the world. When you have a moment take a look at the board and offer a prayer of thanks for those we support and all who came before that we might hear the good news as well.

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.

Rachel Brower continues the research portion of her sabbatical as she works with a team to imagine new possibilities for our Children’s Ministries. The team includes Rachel Brower, Sean McAnally, Heidi Ondersma, Jackie Deiter, and Megan Taylor. Currently they are doing some benchmarking of best practices of other churches as they consider the best way to position our church for both future growth and planting new churches.

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: $456,758.40
Fiscal Year to date contributions: $448,103.23