The South Sider. Remember to set your clocks forward an hour Sunday, March 11th!

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1 The South Sider 201 E Markland Ave. Kokomo, IN 46901~ March 5, 2018~Volume 5 Mark Your Calendar 3/11 Daylight Savings Time Begins Lenten Series 9 AM 3/14 Bible Study AM Prayer 11 AM-1 PM Lenten Worship 6 PM 3/15 Baby University 9-11 AM Pastoral Relations Meeting 11 AM W.I.P. 2-4 PM Woodcarvers 2-4 PM 3/17 Oven Steak Dinner 11 AM-2 PM 3/18 Lenten Series 9 AM Board Meeting Bible Basics 4 PM Youth 5 PM 3/21 Bible Study AM Prayer 11 AM-1 PM Lenten Worship 6 PM 3/22 Baby University 9-11 AM Woodcarvers 2-4 PM Remember to set your clocks forward an hour Sunday, March 11th! Stepping out in Faith...Sharing the love of God Recently the Kokomo Urban Outreach food pantry closed. Pastor Jeff and their board decided to distribute food in a different manner. While this is a great program and will help many people stretch their food dollars, there will be still be large section of our community that this program will not work for and will still need some sort of food assistance. This is where South Side comes in. We have been very successful in helping those in need have warm items during the winter with The Giving Tree. We have had great success with The Little Library. Now, we will have a Little Pantry. Sometime in April we will have a nice wooden pantry along side the tree and the library. The plan is to fill the pantry with food staples so that those who might need just a few items to make a meal will be able to get them. This, by no means, will be like the larger KUO pantry. This is just to give a helping hand. How we fill it???? The answer is we don't honestly know except by faith. The items we have needed for the other two Outreach programs have come from our congregation, friends and families and many unknown people in Kokomo and surrounding areas. We truly believe that God will provide. South Side Christian is a Missional Church. We are known for Sharing the Love of God through our Outreach Projects. Stay tuned as we plan for our new Little Pantry. The next issue of the newsletter will give a list of items that will be included in the pantry. STAY TUNED!!!

2 Pastor s Column~ How much does it cost? is a question church leaders often ask. How much does it cost to print in color? How much does it cost to heat the sanctuary and other rooms used for events? Balancing budgets weighs heavily on the minds of church leaders. We count the monetary costs, but how often do we ask about the true cost of ministry? In addition to money, ministry has costs less easily counted costs such as the expenditure of time, labor, trouble, health, and opportunity. Let me give some examples: 1. Ministry costs time. The time spent on hospital and nursing home visits, preparing and conducting worship services, and on the church s outreach activities is shared by salaried staff and volunteers, but ministry does not happen without people having spent time. 2. Ministry has a cost in health spiritual, mental, physical, or financial health. This cost is borne by individuals and by the congregation as a whole. Volunteers involved in too many activities may pay a physical health cost. Staff paid minimal salaries may pay a financial health cost. Church members mired in conflict may pay a spiritual health cost. Stress of overwork by staff and volunteers may incur spiritual, mental, and physical health costs. 3. Ministry also involves opportunity costs. The opportunity cost of something is the value of the best opportunity foregone in a situation involving choices and limited resources. The opportunity cost of any ministry decision is the other important things that could have been done with the resources now irrevocably committed to that decision. There are also costs of what we choose not to do the financial costs of choosing not to maintain the infrastructure in which the church is housed, or the spiritual costs of choosing not to engage in a ministry to which the church feels called. Do you consider these costs when you plan? Are they costs you are willing to pay? How often you ask the same question about discipleship, How much does it cost? For the early Christians, the cost of discipleship was high lost income, lost status, even loss of life. We rarely face costs such as these in in today s world. I often hear: Jesus paid it all. God s grace is freely given, but there is a cost we often fail to consider. Dietrich Bonhoeffer described the cost of Christian discipleship in terms of cheap grace and costly grace. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ... Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. It is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: My yoke is easy and my burden is light. 1 Maundy Thursday Service will be on March 29th, at 7 PM 1st Evangelical Presbyterian Church 2000 W. Jefferson St. will be the site of the Community Good Friday Service on Friday, March 30th 11 AM 1 PM The doors of our sanctuary will be open for prayer & reflection during the season of Lent on Wednesdays 11 AM-1PM Lenten Worship Services Wednesdays at 6 PM March 7th, 14th & 21st Rev. Peggy will be conducting a series, Final Words from the Cross On Sundays during Lent At 9-9:45 AM In the Gathering Place What is the true cost of being a disciple of Christ in today's world? Is it a cost you are willing to pay? I invite you to take time during Lent to reflect about the costs of discipleship and about what you are willing to give in grateful response to God's gift of grace. Blessings! Rev. Peggy 1Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 3rd. ed. (London: SCM Press, 1948, 2001), p. 39

3 Giving Tree Ending With the end of February we have ended our third season of The Giving Tree. What a successful outreach ministry! This year alone we distributed 1,564 items of warm clothing. We will continue to collect items. As you clean your closets or go to garage sales, look for items we could use. Especially needed are clip clothes pins. We also need larger sized coats and sweatshirts. We always need men s warm gloves and hats. We are also looking for someone to co-chair the project. They would work along with Sharon helping to package & put things on the tree. Many people have helped in so many ways. Thanks for the toothpaste & dry-cleaning bags. The list goes on and on. This has truly been a project of the congregation and the community. God bless you all! Prayer Concerns Jake Senesac Ron Senesac Hope Smith Esther Givens Carolyn Jones Scott Baer Suzanne Baer Melvin Petty Betty Maddox Mary Catlett Johnny Catlett Angie Catlett Joe & Carol Coate Beverly Weir Aiya Hubbard Bathany Morehead Robert Kellar Barb DeSoto Catherine Moore Audra Crispen Kathy Kirk Barbara Morehead Louise Cuttriss June Buchholz Melissa Etherington Phyllis Stucker Jeff Bagby Sarah Ferguson Jeanne Houser Dylan Ditty Betty Harris Mr. Jay CD Miller The Church Board is requesting your help with stewardship of our resources in the following ways: 1. If you are the last one out of the building, please make sure that all lights are turned off and all doors are locked. 2. If you pass by the building in the evening and see lights on (but no cars in the parking lot), please report the date and time that you saw the lights on to the office staff on the next work day. Thank you! Lauren Cory Carolyn Stewart Donna Roberts The family of Joe Hawkins, Jr

4 Oven Steak Dinner Bake Sale & Silent Auction Saturday, March 17th 11 AM-2 PM Oven Steak Dinner $8.00 each Includes steak, potatoes, green beans, roll & a drink Pie is available for $1.00 a piece Dine In~Carry Out~Delivery Silent Auction There will be a Silent Auction during the Oven Steak Dinner. We desperately need donations for the auction. Please drop off in the office any new or gently used (better than rummage quality) items to be auctioned. The items need to be at the church before 1pm on Friday, March 16. If you have questions, please ask Tonia at Bake Sale Baked items (cookies, brownies, candy, etc) are needed for the bake sale to run concurrently with the oven steak dinner. Please see Sue for information. Please bring pies on Friday 3/16 by noon! Thank you! Rummage Sale The spring rummage sale is approaching (3rd week in April). Start cleaning out your closets, garages, kitchen cabinets, etc looking for items you don't need that some one else will. As the old saying goes, "Our junk is someone else's treasure". Everything sells. We have a rummage storage room upstairs where you may bring items ahead of time. Please do not bring furniture until closer to the sale. Stay tuned for more information.

5 Daylight savings time begins on Sunday, March 11th. Don t forget to Spring clocks forward an hour! Habitat For Humanity Lunch Habitat For Humanity reached out to us & asked if we would provide lunch for their volunteers on Saturday, April 7th at noon. We are going to do this. What an opportunity to be a blessing to others. Those interested in helping to provide for this meal should contact Sue Silcox who will be coordinating the meal. Time To Order Easter Lilies It is once again time to order Easter Lilies! The order form is on the table in the Narthex. The lilies are $7 each this year. We will be placing the order on March 14th. Call the Church Office to order if you can t make it in. The Garden Committee is looking for a couple of volunteers to do some Spring work. During the 1st couple of weeks of March we need someone to pick up sticks & branches. They would need to be put into the dumpster. Please see Sharon if this is a job for you! Thank you to our Birthday Sunday Hosts so far this year! January Bob & Sue Silcox February-Don & Kathryn Harper March The Houser & Silcox Families Dear SSCC, Thank you for once again allowing me to receive your Valentine s Day gifts along with the children who attend your church. It is very generous that you allow me to receive gifts despite me not being a member. I cannot wait to enjoy the gifts that all of you gave me. Your Friend, Joey Lucas Summer Church Camp This year's youth church camp sponsored by the Indiana Disciples of Christ focus is: BEYOND BELIEF! The Universe of God. Attending church camp is a wonderful opportunity for children and youth. There are camps for ages 5 through High School. One camp in particular that is popular is YOU and ME camp where youth ages 5 and up can attend with an adult. This camp has two sessions available in June at Geneva Center (Rochester). With a shortened camp week, this is a great camp for first time attenders and less frightening with an adult along side. South Side has had several attend as campers as well as Counselors. Please see Tonia with any questions about this camp session or any other. There is also a poster in the hallway with additional information.

6 SOUTH SIDE CHRISTIAN PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT KOKOMO, IN USPS South Side Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) THE SOUTH SIDE CHRISTIAN is published biweekly by South Side Christian Church POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to: 201 E. Markland Ave. Kokomo, IN Volume E. Markland Ave. Kokomo, IN Phone: 765/ Rev. Peggy Hickman,,Interim Senior Minister Veronica David, Office Manager Emily Wheeler, JAM Director