September 2017 Growing Together in Christ

Transcription

1 September 2017 Growing Together in Christ September As our beautiful Fall season begins let s consider beginning a new season here at church. There are a lot of opportunities to try a new adventure this month. Prayer The Prayer Team invites you to join us Sunday, September 3 and Sunday, September 17 from 9-9:45 am in the prayer room where we pray for our church needs. The first Wednesday of every month is set aside for Fasting and Prayer for all those who feel led. This month Fasting and Prayer is on Wednesday September 6. Inside this issue Updates & Opportunities.2 &3 Children s Ministry Elders Report Thoughts From Pastor Greg..6 & 7 Missionary Focus..8 Save the Date Women s Pajama Party Brunch- Saturday, September 9 AWANA volunteer training- Wednesday, September 13 AWANA begins-wednesday September 20 Oil Change-Saturday September 23 Revive Simulcast- September 29 & 30 Men s Breakfast Saturday, September 2 at 7:30 am at the Golden Corral in Grand Chute. Join us for great food and fellowship. Women s Bible Study A new study will begin Monday, September 11 at 6 pm. We also will begin the Tuesday morning study on September 12 at 9 am. Details are on page 2. Oil Change Saturday, September 23 from 9:00 to noon. Join us to serve those who need this ministry. Men s Bible Study Wednesdays at 6 am. We meet at church for study and fellowship. All men are invited. Revive Simulcast This is a special opportunity for us to join with other women across the country and around the world. Details are on page 2. AWANA Begins Join us Wednesday, September 20 as we kick off another year of AWANA fun and learning. All children are welcome. 1

2 Updates and Opportunities Men s Breakfast We meet the first Saturday of each month at the Grand Chute Golden Corral. The doors open at 7:30 and we are usually done by 9 am. The cost is $8.49 plus tip. Hope to see you there soon! Please contact Marv Schauland for more information. Women s Bible Study We will begin a new study on Monday, September 11. We will be taking a journey through the Land of the Psalms looking at selected psalms and the settings in which they were written. This study will stir your imagination and help you to experience your favorite psalms in a deeper, more powerful way. We meet Mondays from 6-7 pm and Tuesdays from 9-10:00 am. Books for the study are available at church. Cost is $ Men s Bible Study We meet every Wednesday morning at 6:00 am to study God s word and encourage one another. Coffee and Donuts are provided! Please join us. Sunday Morning Fellowship Those of you who like to bake and are willing to share with the rest of us, are encouraged to sign up for one of the upcoming Sunday mornings. See the sign up sheet on the table near the doors. Thank you. Women s Ministry Kick-off Brunch Saturday, September 9, 10-noon. Go bananas and come in your pajamas to our Women s Ministry annual Kick-off Brunch! Enjoy yummy food! Learn more about what great thing's are being planed for you this year. It will be the perfect time to catch up with friends and make new ones. And we'll hear what God has to tell us about our insecurities, from two special 'secret' guests who will share what they've learned. Please sign-up or rsvp to office@applefreechurch.org. Revive'17, Adorned: Women Mentoring Women the Titus 2 Way Friday-Saturday, Sept Revive'17, Adorned...is coming to Appleton via LIVE stream from the conference in Indianapolis! Friday, Sept. 29, 11:30 am through Saturday, Sept. 30 at 4 pm. Come, explore how the Lord desires us to live out the beauty of the gospel together-woman to woman, older to younger, day to day, life to life! This event is FREE! Complete schedule at Revive17.com and more at Reviveourhearts.com. (note: they are one hour ahead of us) We will have water, coffee and goodies for snacks. Plenty of time for meals on your own during conference breaks! INVITE your friends! RSVP today to office@applefreechurch.org 2 2

3 Missions and Outreach Updates and Opportunities-continued We will need help on Saturday, September 23 for our fall oil change. We need people willing to change oil, help in the kitchen and donate breakfast items. The breakfast items can be fruit, muffins, breakfast casseroles, etc. We will need help from 8:00-12:30. Please sign up on the table by the front doors. We would love to have you join us as we serve our community and show the love of Christ. Questions?? Contact Tim and Sue Diestler or We are in the first stages of planning a trip to Texas early in We will be helping with Reach Global Crisis Response (part of the Evangelical Free Church) serving those affected by Hurricane Harvey. If you want more information please contact Tim and Sue Diestler or diestlerts@aol.com. More information will be coming MISSION OF THE MONTH This month we are collecting flip-flops and foot powder for the Emergency Shelter. Donations can be placed in the box marked Donations by the Prayer Room. Thank you so much for your wonderful generosity. It is the little things that can make a big difference in someone s life. Small Groups Ahead! T-Shirts For Sale-Only $5.00 Please let Lisa know what size you want ordered. If you don t see your size in the lobby display. Orders need to be in by September 6. If you will not be in church Sunday Lisa at: lschodorf0419@gmail.com 3

4 Growing God s Way Youth and Children's Ministries What s Happening in Growing God s Way Children s and Youth Ministry Move ups, children (going into kindergarten, or 6 th grade) will be moving up to the next room on September 10. Bibles will also be handed out to the children/youth that are moving up. Lil Sprouts, will start using the Surprise Bag. Each month the Lil Sprouts will explore one of God s wonderful creations with hands on learning using the items in the Surprise Bag. September, God Made the Sun. Items in the bag will be yellow balls, Bibles, and a picture of the Sun. Starting September 10. Toddler/Pre S room will continue with the Bible Basics. Teaching the children in two groups has been a very positive experience for the children and volunteers. K-5 will continue in the New Testament using The Gospel Project. Don t forget to download The Gospel Project For Kids Family App or Gospel Project Family App. Have your kiddos bring their Bibles! Youth will continue to use The Gospel Project on Sundays. They start meeting on September 10, 9 am! Youth Group will meet the 2 nd and 4 th Wednesdays, 6:00-7:45. They will start the evening with video and discussion using Alpha for Youth series. The evening will end with fun, games, and snacks! Youth are encouraged to invite their friends. Mark your calendars, DISTRICTS FOR YOUTH the REAL JESUS Conference will be January 5-7! More information coming. Need ideas for Room Names K-5 Room and Youth. Our new Tag Line READY (clear your mind of destructions) Romans 12:2 SET (set your eyes on Him) Proverbs 4:25 GROW (grow in your relationship) Joshua 1:8 and 2 Peter 3:18 Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. Lisa Schodorf Children s and Youth Ministry Director Welcome back to AWANA! We are so excited to be kicking off another year of AWANA. This year we will begin club on September 20 with a kickoff dinner at 5:30 pm, followed by club and a parent meeting. You can find our club registration form on our website and our AWANA Facebook page. We are anticipating and preparing for a good group of clubbers this year and are seeking a few additional volunteers to serve as leaders and substitutes. Commitments range between serving weekly and serving monthly. You won't regret joining us on Wednesday nights! If you or someone you know would like to serve, please contact Lisa or Pam MacDonald (pammysue728@yahoo.com). AWANA leaders, we would like to invite you to dinner and an orientation meeting on Wednesday, September 13 at 6 pm. Come ready to kick of another great year! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. Pam MacDonald 4

5 Elders Report Elder Report It is always hard to see summer wind down. Don t get me wrong. It is not that I don t enjoy the colors of fall with the vibrant shades of red, yellow and orange splashed across the north woods, especially when framed by the setting sun but it s the following five months of white and gray that gets a little long! These are exciting times at ACEFC. What beautiful work our decorating team has done! The sanctuary and new signs look fantastic. We are blessed to have such talented people. Speaking of signs, I look forward to seeing what our phase one building sign will look like. Thanks team. Our ministry teams continue to serve faithfully. Our Children s and Youth Ministry is bursting at the seams. One of my favorite parts of Sunday morning is just watching all the activity occurring in the gathering area at or slightly above floor level! Thanks to Lisa and all the volunteers who continue to teach and care for these precious little ones. A special thanks to Tim and Sue for the work they do with our Missions Ministry. They have really poured themselves into this work where the rubber really meets the road! As I write this it sounds like we will be serving many more people down south. Of course the Women s and Men s ministry teams continue to meet for wonderful times of fellowship and study. It was also exciting to see Tom introduce the Discipleship Ministry team and we look forward to seeing the fruits of their work. We truly are one body made up of many parts, none of which we can do without. Where would we be without Congregational Care, Sunday Hospitality, IT, Building, Security,.I hope I am not missing anyone! The bible teaches us not to become weary in doing good (Galatians 6:9) but we also know that we must seek his counsel for the strength and wisdom to be effective in doing this. Fatigue and stress tend to make us vulnerable. Let s be on guard against this and on our knees to keep on his path. When we find ourselves being too busy we often become frustrated, pointing horizontally at the sources of our stress rather than looking up to the source of our strength. Thanks to Pastor Greg who has been instructing us in the Basics of our Faith. Excellent teaching as usual. As we consider what the Bible teaches us about these truths I am reminded of what Jesus commanded us over and over regarding our brothers and sisters. Love one another. Period. In Mark (12:29) it is recorded that Jesus said there are no greater commands than to love God and to love thy neighbor. In the book of John (15:12, 17), Jesus repeats that His command is to love each other. In the book of Romans (13:8) Paul exhorts us to let no debt remain except the continuing debt to love one another. In his letter to the Galatians, he states that the whole law is fulfilled in this single command. In 1Corinthians (13:2, 3), he says that without love our gifts amount to nothing. How are we doing? Are we loving each other the way we ought to be, considering the price that Jesus paid while we were still sinners and the debt we owe but can never repay? The bible instructs us to love unconditionally, carrying each other s burdens, placing their needs before our own. Not what the world espouses. Jesus said in the book of John (13:35) his disciples would be known because of their love for one another. Let s remember the ransom that was paid to set us free from sin and death. Is His command too much to ask? I don t think so and I am sure you don t either. Let s serve and love each other as the day draws near. Ted Parrish 5

6 Some Thoughts From Pastor Greg Some Thoughts from Pastor Greg a note of gratitude info about Reach Global Crisis Response something else to ponder An Expression of Gratitude to Michelle & Ross Kaufman AWANA is a vibrant part of the ministry at Appleton Community EFC and preparations are being made for our clubs to begin their new year in September. Much of the reason why the impact of our clubs has grown over the past few years is because Michelle and Ross Kaufman were willing to become our AWANA Commanders in At that time there was a question whether our church would continue using AWANA and the Kaufmans said they would serve in this important role. However, over the past few months they ve prayerfully determined that they could no longer keep up the pace required by this task. Ross has experienced some changes in his work schedule and this forced them to reconsider how they could continue with this commitment. We want to express our most sincere appreciation for all the extra effort they ve made in both maintaining the AWANA ministry, but leading in a way that enabled the clubs to expand and become stronger over the past four years. Attendance has increased; involvement has grown; and AWANA has thrived! Thank you Michelle and Ross! An Opportunity to Help in the Relief Efforts in Texas Our Church leaders and Mission/Outreach Team have been planning to determine how we can best respond to the needs related to the devastation from Hurricane Harvey. We will be setting up a fund to be sent to Reach Global Crisis Response and will also obtain the necessary information to set up a trip to Texas (possibly instead of the annual trip to New Orleans that is normally set for February.) More details will be announced whenever we have enough to provide accurate information. If you desire to make a financial donation, that can be done by simply marking your gift to help designate it and placing it in the offering box at the rear of the auditorium. We recognize that in situations like this, it becomes very important that gifts are channeled through an organization that is trustworthy and Reach Global will make sure that your gifts will reach those in need! 6

7 Some Thoughts From Pastor Greg Are We Being Distracted by Majoring on the Minors? Recognizing How Easily We Can Become Sidetracked Away from What Matters Most! This could be a very long article, but it won t be because time is limited the time I have to write as well as the time you d be willing to invest in reading what I have to say. These days it seems that far too often schedules are hectic and our priorities are hard to determine for a variety of reasons. Everyone faces and experiences a unique set of circumstances and situations that impact our day-to-day activities. Family matters, work responsibilities, ministry opportunities and things we enjoy along with the things we try to avoid all influence the routines we develop. The questions in my mind that motivate this article revolve around the tyranny of the urgent. What should we consider to be urgent? Why does it seem that so many people are overwhelmed by the items on their agenda? Why is it so easy to distract someone away from what they need to be doing by simply changing the subject? Why do we allow people to distract us away from the real message of God s grace and love by focusing attention away from their absolute need to trust in the Lord? Recently I read an article about a wealthy and famous person who grew up in a solid Bible believing, Christ centered home. This individual professed faith in Christ as a teen and after achieving success, began to challenge what he had been taught to believe. For some reason he began to question God s fairness in providing salvation from the penalty for sin. When asked if he sees himself as a Christian, he said he no longer identifies with any affiliation. It would be difficult to determine everything that led to this decision because it s always too complicated to clearly state exactly what steps were in the journey to that type of choice. However, from what this person said, an important factor was how God s absolute Truth became secondary when distracting questions were raised, causing him to search for answers from an unreliable source one that adapts God s character to fit with a non-biblical worldview. Please allow me to draw some conclusions that will attempt to tie all of this together. The faith we profess & proclaim should be personal it s not something we are merely taught to believe. Jesus died on the cross as a Substitute for each one of us. He took our punishment. Whenever someone asks whether it s fair and just for God to exclusively require a person to depend on what Christ did, they are diverting the focus away from God s mercy, grace, and love by creating a false narrative that suggests God doesn t have the right to establish the rules. The Gospel message recognizes God s justice as perfect. All people have violated God s perfect standard and everyone must answer for this. But in absolute mercy and grace, God provided the answer in sending Jesus Christ. No one deserves forgiveness and yet God demonstrated His own love toward us when Christ died for the undeserving. Let s obey God s instructions by making disciples! No distractions allowed! Please feel free to contact me to talk about this if you have any other questions or thoughts about what s being said. With prayer for God s glory and praise for His grace, Pastor Greg 7

8 Missionary Highlight-Nikki Tetschner with CRU Our team's goal is to give every college student in the state of Nebraska the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel. We are centrally located in Lincoln and branch out to all of the campuses in the state. Some campuses we coach from a distance others we visit on a weekly basis. My role is to coach all of the female new staff, interns and part-time field staff. This year I'm coaching 5 gals as they learn to do college ministry. I spend time with each of the gals on a weekly or every other week basis. We share our faith together, encourage each other in our walks with the Lord, pray together, and talk about how to grow in their job with Cru. This month is when most of our campuses begin their fall semester. Last week I spent most of my time with the gals I coach kicking off the school year at the university of Nebraska in Lincoln. This is our biggest school and gets the majority of our teams time since we all live in Lincoln. We took 1800 surveys at the student welcome back event and have been meeting with interested students, telling them about Cru and sharing the gospel when they are interested. I'm married to Andy Tetschner who is a conversion manager at a banking software company here in Lincoln. We have a 5 year old daughter named Hannah, a little boy due in December, and we are in the process of adopting from Burundi, Africa. We share a passion for international ministry and are praying that God would continue to bring international students into our lives and home so that we can share the love of Christ with them. Prayer Requests: -Pray that students would hear and respond to the gospel across Nebraska. -Pray for "Sara" who indicated a decision to receive Christ last week. Pray that she would grow and walk with Jesus for the rest of her life. -Pray for students to come to the Bible Studies that are kicking off on campuses. Pray that people would come and encounter Jesus through the Bible, and community. -Pray for me as I navigate life as a mom, coach to the staff women, and wife. Pray that I would walk closely with Jesus and rely on Him and not my gifting and talents. Pray also for continued energy as the pregnancy progresses. With Joy, Nikki Appleton Community Evangelical Free Church 2490 West Capitol Drive Appleton, WI Phone We re on the Web! applefreechurch.org Church Office Hours Closed Mondays Tuesday 10:00 am-4:00 pm Wednesday 1:30 pm-7:30 pm