The SPIRIT - September 1, 2022

THOUGHTS FROM OUR SENIOR MINISTER

Recently, I have found myself in a number of conversations in which the question arises, “How do we get people to come back to church?” To be honest, I’m not sure I have an answer. If I did, we would certainly be doing it or trying to do it. However, in one of these conversations I mentioned that I thought the church has been struggling for some time in answering the question of why people should come to church. In great Disciples of Christ fashion, the individual I was speaking with said, “That’s a great point.” Then they asked me, “How would you answer that question?”

If I’m perfectly honest, I struggled more than I care to admit with attempting to try to come up with a reason for why people should come to church. I thought I would take this space to try and put some of my ramblings and thoughts to paper. Here are some of my thoughts:

My initial reaction is that people should come to church because it’s what God wants. I could quote scriptures that call God’s people to worship or remind us that Paul’s letter to the Hebrews reminds us not to “forsake the assembly.” However, I have never been a big fan of the theological “because God said so” argument. Even if true, it often comes across as holier than thou or hypocritical to those outside the faith.

I would also point out that, as Christians, we gather for worship as a celebration of the defeat of sin and death. Many Christians believe we gather for worship to honor the Sabbath in following the commandments. However, the Sabbath is on Saturday (the last day of the week—which honors God’s resting at creation). Christians gather on Sunday; the day Christ rose from the dead. The more liturgical churches actually teach that their Sunday worship is a reenactment of Christ’s death and resurrection. Thus, we gather for worship in celebration of the grace and mercy we receive from Christ.

While both of these thoughts are truths of our faith, the reality is that we do not go to church. The church is not our building or our worship. We are the church—the united body of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, what are we really asking when we ask why people don’t come back to church? Did we lose a part of our body? I think for some of us, it certainly feels this way. Here we are attempting to live into the calling Christ has for our community of the faithful and we are missing some fingers and toes.

Many of us have reasons for not being in church. I’ll even admit that your pastor sometimes struggles to get to church on Sundays. However, Christ calls us to live a certain way of life. That way includes relationship not only with Christ, but with our neighbors. For me, the church is a place to learn and practice the way of Jesus Christ. We share in our joys and grief together. We share our pain and encouragement with one another. But we also learn to live life together. We learn how to forgive when we have to forgive our fellow church member for hurting us. We learn how to love when we have to love that one church member we struggle to get along with. We get to practice the way of life Christ not only teaches us, but commands us to live as we go out into the world.

I hope you will spend some time contemplating why you should come to church. I pray you can find an answer that makes sense for your own faith journey, theology, and interpretation of the scriptures. More importantly, I pray you will share your answers with others as a way of encouraging them to come to church. I hope my own answers are helpful as you seek Christ’s call to community for your faith.

Peace Always,  

Rev. David Clifford

Reorganizing and Renewing

Our Church’s Shepherding Program

During the past few months, a group of elders under the leadership of Barbara Chaney and Debbie Enyart have worked to reorganize the elders’ Shepherding Program. The pandemic caused disruption to the program’s ministry and left a need to assure that all active participants in the church’s programs were served by a shepherd. When the counting was done, 225 participants needing shepherds had been identified with 18 shepherds committing to serve. Since the pastor is shepherd to elders, David was also identified as a shepherd.

The Shepherding program is a ministry of the church’s elders, some of whom volunteer to serve as shepherds to individual participants in the church’s programs. Its existence and philosophy is rooted in Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) belief that we all minister to each other.

 Participants assigned to shepherds include those who are a part of the church in the following ways: in-person attendance, social media participation, financial support or those who cannot attend because of illness. Shepherds commit to build relationships with their flock, provide support and encouragement on the faith journey and to pray for them.

Soon, church participants should receive notice of who their shepherd is and how to contact them. “Then,” Barbara Chaney explains, “we ask that you step out in faith by praying for the program and your shepherd and helping to build your relationship together.” If you have not received your notice within the next two weeks, please contact the church office.

 Disciples Class Resumes September 7

The Pastor’s “Bible Study” will resume Wednesday, September 7. The second series, however, focuses on Discipleship and uses the Disciples of Christ Covenant Curriculum as a source guide.

The Topic for this series are:

September 7: God’s Covenant of Love: Recognizing What Binds Us Together

September 14: A Movement for Wholeness: Seeking Covenantal Relationships with a Living and Loving God

September 21: The Light of Scripture: A Bible Study on Romans 8:38-39

September 28:  God’s Limitless Love: Covenant in Practice

You are each invited to join this conversation as we explore some of the history of our denomination, the ways in which we govern our common life together as part of the denomination, and explore the ways that we live out our called lives together. Each Wednesday evening from 6-7pm we will gather as Christ’s church and explore our shared faith.

Nominating Committee Named for 2023 Board Positions

The FCCH transitional board has selected the following individuals to serve on the nominating committee: Barbara Sprague, Ronnie Moore, Zack Womack, Taylor Womack and Paul Bird. The committee will be making recommendations for the positions of Board Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasure. If you have any recommendations for these positions, please let a member of the nominating committee know.

Thank You from Scholarship Recipient

We recently received a Thank you letter from one of our prior scholarship recipients.

Dear First Christian Church,

I want to start this letter off by thanking you for the Scholarship awarded to me in 2020 and again in 2021. I am extremely grateful because of the scholarship I was awarded; I was able to complete classes such as medical microbiology, writing II, Algebra, Biology, etc. January 2022, I was accepted into the nursing program at Henderson Community College. This program is a two-year program, where I will graduate with my Associate as a Registered Nurse in December of 2023.  After I graduate, I plan to transfer to Midway University to further my education to obtain my bachelor's degree in Nursing. After Graduation I plan to sign on with Deaconess to be a nurse on Neuro Med ICU at midtown hospital. My goal is to work there for at least 5 years and then become a travel nurse. I currently work as a Patient Care Tech at Deaconess Midtown and Gateway hospital. I am also in the Student Nurse Academy program at Deaconess in the Neuro Med Intensive Care Unit at Midtown Hospital. As a student nurse, I have a preceptor I follow around in the ICU and perform nursing tasks for critically sick patients under my nurse's supervision. I have learned so much on this new journey of life and I cannot wait to see what my future holds for me. Thank you, First Christian Church, for allowing me the financial blessings to be able to achieve my academic journey.

Tiffani Deno

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Rummage Sale Plans Going Well:  Debbie Enyart, President of Christian Women’s Fellowship, reports that plans for the Fall rummage sale and the Christmas bazaar are coming together. The rummage sale is scheduled for the first Saturday in October (Oct. 1, 8 a.m.) It is at this time we ask that you bring your items for donation to the church that can be sold in the rummage sale.

Sunday School class every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. with Bill Aldridge leading the class.

 CWF will have their monthly general meeting on September 6 at 11:00 a.m. in the Followship Hall.

The Deacons will meet September 11 right after Sunday worship service to discuss final details for the Pork Chop fundraiser. 

Calling all choir members!!!! Choir practice will resume Wednesday night, September 14th, at 7:00 pm. We welcome all new members.  I hope to see you then!!                               Chanda

 Commodities This month’s date September 14.

 Senior Luncheon will take place on September 20. We will be going to Cates Farm. We will need to leave at 11:30 a.m.   Please rsvp!

During the month of July, the CWF will be collecting Ramen Noodles for Christian Community Outreach.  They have a container in the Narthex if you wish to help with a donation.

When the budget was approved at the beginning of the year, we knew our offerings would need to be supplemented from the Permanent Fund to sustain operations.  That time is fast approaching.  If you would like to give an over & above gift aside from your regular giving, it will help in reducing the amount required from the Permanent Fund.  If you feel led to do this, just mark your check as “Budget Deficit.” God Bless each of you for your faithfulness to FCC.

I want to thank The Elders – Sandy Hester and Bill Aldridge – and Rev. David Clifford for arranging the delightful ceremony after the worship service on August 14 to give me the honor of becoming an Elder Emeritus.

It was a joy to receive the church blessing and to have many of my family members join me in the celebration.

                                                                                                                                                                   Theo Huber

                                                               *********************************************

Engage your spiritual side. Attending religious services four time per, month has been linked with four to fourteen years of increased life expectancy. In interviews conducted by National Geographic and Blue Zones organizations, 258 out of 263 centenarians said they belonged to faith- based communities

                                                                                                                                                                    Lisa Fields