Service

I mentioned this morning that Deuteronomy gives us seven principles in building a community of concern, a community of people who are caring for one another's needs in ways pleasing to the Lord. Here are those seven.

One of the realities of this COVID season is that we'll each be impacted uniquely. Even as we talk to different people within this church we're seeing it. Some are experiencing significantly reduced hours, others have had their jobs doubled. Lou Gregus, who helps organize our Side-by-Side Ministry dedicated to building bridges between our church and ministry in the community (and beyond), passed along a prayer that helps us remember how others might be faring in this season:

Many of our shoeboxes we packed last year were tracked to Togo and included a soccer ball and other items identical to the items in Kevin's shoebox. Through an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift and The Greatest Journey discipleship program, God opened the hearts of Kevin and his family to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why we love Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes which are effective tools to not only reach children but to multiply the Gospel to family and community.

“We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done” (Psalm 78:4)

Each week dozens of men and women (and young men and women) give up hours of their Sunday morning to minister the Word of God to the next generation of the church. Why go to such effort? There are (at least) four reasons.

Thank you to all those who participated in the initial information meeting about Safe Families For Children!

Read below for the next steps for those who continue to have interest in helping with SFFC.

We'd like to know your level of interest and to get you on our email list. You can also RSVP for the training event at the Auer's Home this Saturday.

"I'm Interested" Form

We are excited to tell you about an opportunity to get involved in our community through a ministry called Safe Families for Children. Safe Families is a volunteer ministry that exists to provide biblical hospitality, love, and support to families in crisis, largely through providing parents with safe places for their children to stay while they work to resolve whatever crises that they are experiencing, such as unemployment, homelessness, or financial difficulty. This ministry equips churches like ours to create support networks for desperate people in our community who have no one to turn to in times of crisis. They do this through creating teams of people to come alongside of these families in various roles. This is one of the really neat things about Safe Families - that there are many ways to be involved.

Last November our church members sponsored 100 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for boys ages 10 -14. OCC receives the least number of boxes for this particular group so we choose to focus solely on packing quality boxes that included school supplies, comb, soap, socks, small toys, and either a soccer ball and pump or a small tool kit. The Mike Noel Home Group hosted a packing party and all 100 boxes were registered to be tracked as to their final destination. So where did they go?

Sunday we looked at the shocking act of service Jesus did when he washed the feet of the disciples. We considered the marvel of God in Christ stooping to wash the dirty feet of creatures he had made, the humility of Jesus cleaning and drying the feet of Judas Iscariot, the one who would betray him.... And at the end we read through a set of questions to help us evaluate our own service of others.