Good Shepherd Update Thursday July 8th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good Morning, this week’s update is once more largely all about Vacation Bible School which is coming up NEXT WEEK July 12 through the 16th, but there are a number of newer and important items so please read carefully.

Anne and I have completed the fourth installment of the “Leaving Home” series describing the experiences of losing and then gaining church and home. You can read it all here

As I said this Sunday during announcements, this is not like some VBS programs—a canned curriculum tangentially related to scripture. One of our parishioners, Anna Dreher, has created this program herself and it is one of the most biblically solid programs for introducing children to Jesus Christ that I have seen. And its also a lot of fun. Because this program is so good at communicating the gospel to children, I’m asking everyone who is not already involved in the effort, to commit in some way to help get the word out and/or support the effort in prayer…preferably both.

Volunteers needed to pass out VBS material This Saturday and next Saturday: As I mentioned in the sermon last Sunday we had a great turnout last Saturday to distribute flyers and registration forms for VBS. Eleven volunteers made it out to help and we made a good deal of progress in the neighborhoods around the church. This Saturday we’ll finish up in the areas we started last week and extend our reach further toward the Weis and Franklin school. We hope to get as many kids on the south-side signed up as possible. There are so many kids in our neighborhood and many of them already like playing on and around Good Shepherd. I pray that this program will help us begin to make some inroads here with the gospel. But we need your help. The most important thing you can do right now (aside from praying) is step forward to walk door to door with information and registration forms. Door to door, person to person contact is so important in building relationships with people. These kinds of things are why we are here. They are why the church exists…to bring lost people to the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. Having ourselves been lost and found by the Lord, everyone should be willing to help with this and I look forward to your full joyful support and participation.

Volunteers needed to make VBS materials: We need some volunteers to help make materials for Vacation Bible School after the 10:30am service This Sunday July 11th. There will be a sign up sheet for this downstairs.

Good Shepherd needs Three Leaders: Good Shepherd is in the beginning stages of a transition from a “pastoral” sized church to a “program” sized church. You can read about the difference here (please do, it is a very very helpful article), but basically, a pastoral sized church is one that is small enough for the pastor to be at the center of everything. He is the one who takes a primary role in administration, planning all events, greeting all newcomers, organizing all outreach and evangelism efforts, leading all bible studies, doing all pastoral visits…everything essentially centers on him. But when a church grows to about 150 active participants, the pastor can no longer fill all of those roles effectively and it becomes necessary for people in the congregation, lay leaders, to take ownership of many of the ministries of the church—this is called a program sized church. The transition from pastoral to program sized begins at about the time the church reaches 100 to 120 active participants. Good Shepherd has grown to that point. For that reason, if you haven’t noticed, many other leaders have stepped forward to teach bible studies, for example. We’ve had to hire a secretary to do administration, a youth minister for the youth, and a choir director for our music program.

Often what happens during the transition period is that people are so used to being a pastoral sized church that they do not step forward to lead when leadership is desperately needed and so ministries falter and the church becomes far less effective and the growth stops.

I don’t mean that people stop volunteering. People at Good Shepherd especially always volunteer to help out when needed. But a program sized church doesn’t just need volunteers, it needs leaders, people who envision ministries, plan for them and organize programs. Pastoral sized churches wait for the pastor to do all of that and then jump on board. In a program sized church, leaders with vision step forward and seek to create ministries to support and further the God given mission of the church to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Good Shepherd is presently in dire need of visionary lay leaders in three areas: 1. Evangelism, 2. Social Outreach 3. Hospitality/integration.

We have no real evangelism committee or program at the moment and most of our efforts are randomly tied to the various events that we do. The outreach committee is full of people who are way overstretched which means that no one can take full leadership and, it also means, that our efforts are disorganized and somewhat random. We have a great hospitality program when it comes to greeting people at the door, making them feel welcome and following up during the week…but when people actually start coming to Good Shepherd, we don’t have a plan for or way of integrating people into the congregation.

I’m not asking for volunteers. These are not things you just volunteer for and I need to be very discerning about who fills these roles. I am asking you to pray that God will raise up workers for the harvest. Pray that God will call people to serve in these ways. If, in fact, you sense that God is calling you to any of these roles, please come and talk to me and we’ll pray and talk about it.

New Classrooms: You may have noticed a stack of cubicle walls in the parish hall this Sunday. They used to belong to BEA but they decided to give them away and Chris Jones managed to get a number of them for us…just in time for VBS. They will be extremely helpful also for Sunday school and nursery needs. 

Help needed: After the men’s bible study this Friday, Chris Jones is asking for volunteers to help construct the classrooms from the cubicle walls. If you would like to help, please come to the church between 8:30am and 9am or just stay after men’s bible study.

Thursday Night Bible Study: There will be Thursday night bible study tonight after the Shepherd’s Bowl at 6:30pm. We’ve moved into John 10. All are invited.

Men’s Breakfast and Bible Study: The Men’s Bible Study meets at 6:30am every Friday morning for breakfast and discussion. We started our discussion of Revelation in chapter 1 last Friday and we’ll continue this Friday…hopefully breaking into chapter 2. Joe Barham is cooking.

Women’s Bible Study: (from Carmen) We will continue our study of Isaiah on Saturday at 10AM when we will consider the 53rd chapter, one of the best loved chapters in the entire Bible. Isaiah predicts that the Servant would die in the place of the guilty in order to satisfy God’s judgment on sin.  An amazing picture of our suffering Savior!

Tuesday Morning Bible Study. This is Good Shepherd’s first bible study. It began 8 years ago and all the other bible studies grew out of it. Presently this study is led by Chris Vail. It meets every Tuesday morning at 9:00am in the parish hall. A basic but comprehensive verse by verse study of the scriptures. Presently this group is working through Acts in an effort to piece together Paul’s missionary journeys before turning to his Letter to the Romans. Ultimately, this group will work through all of the New Testament epistles and letters.  All are welcome!

First Light Bible Study: Meets every Tuesday evening beginning at 6:30pm. The First Light bible study is designed for intermediate and advanced students of scripture. The group takes the time necessary to delve as deeply as possible into the text, learning the art and science of biblical exegeisis. Ife Ojetayo leads the group which is currently working its through Acts. All are welcome.

Team Galatians: is up this week. Pauline King is captain

Red Cross Blood Drive- (from Carmen) August 5th 1:30-6:30PM we will again welcome the Red Cross Donor Van to our church.  If you are eligible to donate blood, please consider giving this gift of life.  Look for a sign-up sheet in the Parish Hall or call the church (607-723-8032) to set up an appointment.

10 Reasons to Give Blood (Red Cross):
10 -  You get to eat sweets for free.
9 -  You’ll weigh less - one pint less than when you came in.
8 -  It’s easy and convenient.
7 -  It’s something you can spare—-most people have blood to spare…yet there is still not enough to go around.
6 -  Nobody can ask you to do any heavy lifting as long as you have the bandage on.  You can wear it as long as you like.  It is your badge of honor.
5 -  You will walk a little taller.  You will feel good about yourself.
4 -  You’ll be helping to ensure that blood is there when you or someone you know needs it. (At least one member of our parish requires regular blood transfusions.)
3 -  It’s something you can do on an equal footing with the rich and famous—blood is something that money cannot buy.  And there is no substitute for it.
2 -  You’ll be someone’s hero—you may give a newborn, a child, a mother or a father, a brother or a sister another chance at life.  In fact, you may help to save up to three lives in one donation.

And the number one reason to give blood…by the time you’ve finished reading this list, at least three people will need blood.

Mark Your Calendar: On August 14, there will be a chicken barbeque, flea market, and school supplies giveaway! The flea market will have no clothes, but will have utensils, games, pots and pans, and other good items. 

Acolyte Makeup Practice: There will be a make up practice next Sunday, July 18th, for the seven-or-so acolytes who could not make it two Sundays ago.

Usher Meeting: All 10:30 service ushers should plan to meet for training immediately after the 10:30am service this Sunday July 11th.

Belief in the Age of Skepticism: This is an excellent example of Christian apologetics in a secular academic context. Tim Keller is a Presbyterian minister discussing the relationship between truth and belief in front of an audience of academics and college students. I referred to this lecture during class this Sunday (4th of July). Be sure to listen to the Q and A also

A Conversation with Tim Keller: Belief in an Age of Skepticism? from The Veritas Forum on Vimeo.

ACW Lunch Out: Please join us for a pleasant and fun lunch at Cortese on Saturday, July 24.  We will met at the Church at 11:30 to carpool!  Reservations will be made and separate checks will asked for.  Please let Kay Seaman or Pat Chaney if you are attending.  Everyone is welcome.

New Bibles: The new English Standard Version, ESV Bibles, as you may have noticed, are here. We forgot to put all of them out last Sunday, but they are all in the pews now. You can read about the ESV here. And here is an online version. The new bibles should arrive next week.

Changes in the Liturgy: Beginning This Sunday, the 12th of July, we’ll be rotating through three different Communion Prayers—a different one each month. The one we have been using, Prayer A, is great and will be a part of the rotation, but the Anglican tradition is a rich and varied one with so many different and good liturgies. So we’ll add Prayer D to our worship which you can find on page 372 of the Book of Common Prayer and the Kenyan rite which can be found in the Kenyan prayerbooks that are all over the place throughout the church…but all three of these liturgies will be printed in the bulletin too.

Last Sunday’s Sermon: Here’s the sermon from Sunday: “Showing up for the Harvest”

This Sundays sermon will be based on Luke 10:25-37, the Parable of the Good Samaritan:

 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” [26] He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” [27] And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” [28] And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
[29] But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” [30] Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. [31] Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. [32] So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. [33] But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. [34] He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. [35] And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ [36] Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” [37] He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
(Luke 10:25-37 ESV)

Adult Christian Education: The Thirty Nine Articles:Last week we discussed the doctrines of the Resurrection and the Holy Spirit and closed out the first five “catholic” Articles of Religion. The word “catholic” means “universal” and the first five articles are universally held by all Christian churches. This week we start the uniquely Protestant and Anglican Articles. Article Six deals with the sufficiency of the bible and the number of books in the bible. If you are wondering why Protestants do not have as many books as Roman Catholics do in their bibles, we’ll talk about why. Article 7 deals with the Old Testament and the levitical law. So why do we keep some of the commands of the Old Testament and not others? What on earth gives us the right to make that distinction. Is there any biblical reason for it? We’ll discuss these questions and more on Sunday between services at 9:15 am in the parish hall. Here are Articles 6 and 7

VI. Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation.
Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.

Of the Names and Number of the Canonical Books:

Genesis, The First Book of Samuel, The Book of Esther,
Exodus, The Second Book of Samuel, The Book of Job,
Leviticus, The First Book of Kings, The Psalms,
Numbers, The Second Book of Kings, The Proverbs,
Deuteronomy, The First Book of Chronicles, Ecclesiastes or Preacher,
Joshua, The Second Book of Chronicles, Cantica, or Songs of Solomon,
Judges, The First Book of Esdras, Four Prophets the greater,
Ruth, The Second Book of Esdras, Twelve Prophets the less.

And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following:

The Third Book of Esdras, The rest of the Book of Esther,
The Fourth Book of Esdras, The Book of Wisdom,
The Book of Tobias, Jesus the Son of Sirach,
The Book of Judith, Baruch the Prophet,
The Song of the Three Children, The Prayer of Manasses,
The Story of Susanna, The First Book of Maccabees,
Of Bel and the Dragon, The Second Book of Maccabees.

All the Books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive, and account them Canonical.

VII. Of the Old Testament.
The Old Testament is not contrary to the New: for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to Mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and Man, being both God and Man. Wherefore they are not to be heard, which feign that the old Fathers did look only for transitory promises. Although the Law given from God by Moses, as touching Ceremonies and Rites, do not bind Christian men, nor the Civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral.

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