Good Shepherd Update Thursday August 12th, 2010

Dear Good Shepherd,

Good morning. There was no Update last week so there will be a lot of news to pass on this morning. So, without any more verbiage, let’s get started:

Mission Groups: I’ve spoken two Sundays in a row and written in past Updates about the mission groups that will be starting up this Fall. This note is to put in writing some of the things I have already said about mission groups and some of what I have written before but perhaps less concisely.

God very often chooses to do very big things through small groups of people. Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives, were chosen by God to repopulate the earth after the Great Flood. God chose Jacob’s 12 sons to become the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. God chose Moses and Aaron to lead his people out of bondage in Egypt to his Promised Land. Gideon was chosen by God to rescue Israel from a vast army of Midianites with a small group of 300 men. God took David and his 600 men, outcasts all, from the wilderness where they lived in hiding to Jerusalem where God established the line of kings that ended with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Lord Jesus himself, one man, chose only 12 men to be his disciples. After his Ascension, 11 of them turned the entire world upside down through the proclamation of the gospel. God obviously works through small groups

Imagine what God might do through small committed groups of believers planted in homes all across the city devoted to worship, studying God’s Word, sharing their lives together, loving and serving the people in their neighborhoods and seeking ways to share the gospel of Jesus Christ—each group, in other words, acting as a missionary outpost of the kingdom of God.

Not only would we grow deeper in our own relationships with each other and with Jesus Christ, lives and entire neighborhoods could be transformed.

Below is a very brief outline of the mission purpose and vision for mission groups. Keep in mind that this is a vision. It takes time and lots of small steps before visions become realities. We’ll necessarily start small but that’s okay. I believe this is the direction God would have us go and so I see what is small today becoming big in the coming years.

Please take the time to read the very brief outline below and please feel free to contact me with any questions, suggestions, or comments:

What is the Purpose of Mission Groups? To extend the kingdom of God by planting small mission groups in neighborhoods throughout Binghamton committed to deepening their own faith
and to neighborhood transformation.

What About the Vision Thing? Each mission group will operate like a small church plant, a missionary outpost in neighborhoods throughout the city by:

1. Being disciples (studying the bible, enjoying fellowship, praying and worshiping together)
2. Making disciples: looking and working for opportunities to invite neighbors to the group where they will encounter the gospel
3. Discovering and then serving the needs of
each neighborhood
4. Building relationships with each other
5. Offering a welcome entry point to the wider church fellowship

What does a mission group do?
1. Worship/prayer

2. Bible study

3. Fellowship

4. Plan and engage in regular periodic neighborhood Outreach/Service projects

5. Seek the lost and present the gospel.

Who will be in each ideal mission group?
1 leader
1 assistant
1 or 2 hosts
3 to 5 more

Multiplication:
When a group in a neighborhood reaches 14 it is time to split into two groups. The new group will be led by the assistant leader who will need to identify and raise up an assistant.

I pray that you will join the mission group that will be meeting in your area and commit to growing in Christ and living out the gospel together in your neighborhood. Next week I’ll outline some of the benefits of small groups for the individuals who take part in them.

News from the Outreach Committee The Outreach Committee met last Saturday and agreed upon following mission statement and objectives:

The Mission: To demonstrate Jesus’ love to our community by building relationships and by addressing needs.  In so doing, we hope to lead people to Christ/to a closer walk with Him.

Our immediate objectives are the following:

1. To build a relationship with the neighborhood by initiating new outreach efforts and assisting in already established church and community efforts

2. Improve, evaluate and promote various outreach efforts already established at Good Shepherd   (Health Fair and Ice Cream Social, VBS, School Supply Giveaway, Christmas Outreach, Red Cross Drive, etc)

3.  Experiment with new ways of outreach

4.  Monthly meetings to assess tried and ongoing efforts, initiate new efforts, maintain regular outreach efforts

Here is a list of already existing outreach ministries at Good Shepherd:

Outreach of Church of the Good Shepherd
Prayer Shawl Ministry:  Women of Good Shepherd meet regularly to knit prayer shawls for those within the parish and beyond who are going through difficult times.
Shepherd’s Bowl:  Free hot dinner every Thursday 5:30-6:30
Health Fair and Ice Cream Social
Red Cross Blood Drive
AGW Socks and T-Shirts -  We contribute socks and t-shirts to Ben Franklin School
School Supply Give-Away (in conjunction w/flea market & chicken barbecue)
Food Pantry -  Food available for the needy of our parish firstly, but also available to others
Blessing of the Beasts (Humane Society)
Christmas Outreach (Salvation Army/Family Enrichment)
Halloween Outreach (planned for October 31)
International aid:  Kwenda + Haiti
Basketball: We’ve invested in a mobile basketball hoop that we will set up in the parking lot encourage relationship building between church and neighborhood

Ideas for the future:
Community/Church Garden
Outdoor movie
Job fair
Mentoring Ministry
Neighborhood Church Picnic
Bottled water giveaway
All Fund raisers should have an outreach component (complimentary tickets provided, funds raised for a cause not our own)

Food Pantry I need to make a few notes and corrections about the pantry:

1. How many times a person in need takes from the pantry is nobody’s business. If you are keeping track of this and/or talking about it to others, please stop. The pantry is intended to be used by any parishioner who needs it at any time. If a family or an individual needs (need being the operative word) to come three or four times a week, he or she may without question. Even the pantry organizer (Christine) does not keep track of who comes and who does not. All parishioners in need are welcome.

2. If you are not in need but just forgot to get something at the store or want to be able to afford to go out for the weekend, please refrain from the pantry. It is for those who cannot afford groceries.

3. It was announced Sunday, and well intentioned, that the pantry will be receiving donations from grocery stores. That is not correct. If the pantry were for community use, we might consider asking for help but because it is for our own parish use, it would be not be appropriate to ask for help. If part of our mission is to reach out and serve the community, it would not be in keeping with that mission to ask the community to serve us.

4. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the pantry. You are truly meeting a need.

School Supply Outreach: In conjunction with our Flea Market and Chicken Barbecue, we will be hosting a School Supply Giveaway.  If you are willing and able to contribute funds toward this outreach effort, please see Kay or Carmen. We will be giving out backpacks, folders, boxes of crayons, and pencils.

Acolytes: We’ve had a couple of false starts with make-up practices this month and I think it is probably better not to try again until September since August is usually a big vacation month.

In any case, you might have noticed that we are getting a little bit sloppy out there and I think it may have been premature to move to quarterly practices. Beginning in September we will restart monthly practices. We will meet the last Sunday of every month after the 10:30am service throughout the Fall and then we will revisit the question of practice frequency in the Spring. The next practice is on Sunday September 26th

For now, it is very important to attend every practice and for acolytes to be in church when not out of town. Acolytes are called to be models of faith for other kids and for the church in general. Regular participation in corporate worship is part and parcel of being a believer in Jesus Christ—it is in fact one of the vows you take at baptism.

We have made great progress since last year and with God’s grace we’ll continue moving forward. 

Thursday Night Bible Study: is back on for tonight. We’ll finish John chapter 11 and hopefully move into chapter 12. This bible study starts at 6:30pm and meets downstairs in the parish hall.

Men’s Breakfast and Bible Study: The Men’s Bible Study meets at 6:30am every Friday morning for breakfast and discussion. We will continue in chapter 2 of Revelations. Tom and Brian are cooking.

Women’s Bible Study: (from Carmen) There will be no women’s bible study on Saturday due to the bbq.

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. This study is led by Chris Vail. It meets every Tuesday morning at 9:00am in the parish hall. Currently 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: This group meets every Tuesday evening at 6:30pm and 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 exegesis. 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. Her number is in the directory if you need it.

Sunday School (Catechesis) Work Day: Sunday, August 15, that’s this Sunday, and I would LOVE for whoever is able to stay a little bit longer after the 10:30 service to have lunch and help make some of the materials still needed for Sunday School this fall for the little ones. You don’t have to particularly skilled to help, but if you are, that’s great too. We need every variety of help. I will have a variety of stations set up in the parish hall. As soon as the service is over you can get coffee and lunch and pick a project or part of a project. You can spend as long as or as little as you like. I imagine that we will need at least two of these work times to be ready for the fall. Please mark your calendars and consider helping. Thanks so much.Anne

Kenyan Liturgy: A number of people have expressed interest in the Kenyan liturgy we used last week. We’re using for the whole month and we’ll keep it in the liturgy rotation permanently which means we’ll use it one out of every three months.

Blood Drive: The Red Cross Blood Drive was a big success. 24 pints of blood were donated. Thank you to all who helped and to all who donated.

Prayer List Clearing: Hi, this is Kellie. We did a little bit of parishioner-prayer-list tidying last summer and this fall I’d like to clear the whole list and start from scratch. Don’t worry, anyone whom you want put back on the list can be put back on, but you’ll need to contact the church (723-8032) or me and tell me that you want him/her/them on. This will happen effective next week. Thank you!

Church telephone number: Just a reminder that at the end of the year, the 773-4810 number will no longer be in service. The primary church number is 723-8032 and will be the exclusive number after December of this year.

Last Sunday’s sermon, Last week I preached a sermon entitled: “Does Prayer Change God’s Mind?”It was the second part of an ongoing series on prayer based on Luke 11:1-13. You can read it here and watch it below:

This Sunday’s Sermon: This Sunday we’ll start talking about how the Lord’s prayer, will change us and change the world. Here’s the text we’ll cover:

“When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. [3] Give us each day our daily bread, [4] and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.  And lead us not into temptation.”  (Luke 11:2-4 ESV)

Christian Education: The Thirty Nine Articles: The Freedom of the Will. Last week we introduced the topic of the fall and the way the fall shaped our ability to do and choose the good. We discussed article 9. This week we’ll move to article 10 which opens deals with the subject of the will more directly

Article X: Of Free Will

The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God. Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will.

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