Thursday, July 9, 2009

Touching Base! Part 46

Seasons of Church Life

As you can tell Bethel has entered into the season of, “Where did everybody go?” People head out, hoping to enjoy some summer sun and down time. With Kingston being a popular tourist destination, we no doubt will see visitors to Kingston in several of our Sunday morning services. Personally, I love the summer season as it allows me some down time but also the summer months are great months of long-term planning and working with leadership to make sure we are ready for the fall rush, the jolt back into reality.

Now don’t misinterpret me, much ministry happens in the summer, but the rpm’s definitely slow down as many people check out. I think the summer represents an excellent time for new people at Bethel to get assimilated into the community. With one service, it is much easier to meet people and establish some key relationships that will be the doorway into deeper community as the Fall approaches. I would strongly encourage you to be looking out for new faces and using the summertime to help these new folks connect. We are all responsible for building community at Bethel.

I just wanted to update you briefly on some of the things on which we are working. You can pray about these issues as God brings them to mind.

Internship. Joanna Moon will be joining us this Fall for eight months. She will work at Bethel ten hours per week, ministering in the areas of compassion and justice. She is a graduate of Queen’s who is taking a year off to serve with us. We are excited about partnering with her and seeing her partner with various organizations in town.

Family Ministries. Jamie Stinson is the newest addition to our staff. As the Family Ministries Director she is busy building teams, painting rooms and settling into her new ministry at Bethel. If you attended her presentation on June 28th then you will know the vision that we are pursuing and praying towards.

Teaching Series. This Fall we are doing two series that I am very excited about, “Faith and Doubt” and “Letters To The Next Generation”. Faith and Doubt will run for three weeks and culminate on Oct 4 with Dr. Craig Evans, a leading apologist, who will address Biblical origins. Letters To The Next Generation will start after Thanksgiving and be a study in Deuteronomy, looking at important themes that Moses felt needed to be passed on to the next generation. Also this Fall, we will be continuing to raise the bar in our prayer focus on Sunday mornings and having people tell the stories of their “God journey”.

Leadership Culture. On September 13th (Sunday) in the evening, we will be running an event called Together for all who are involved in ministry at Bethel. We want this to be a kick-off event that celebrates our partnership in ministry.

Small Groups. It is our desire to see more people involved in some kind of small group outside of Sunday morning. We are putting together a team that will consist of some of the elders to help us grow this very significant ministry.

Building Community. On September 27th (Sunday) we will be having a Potluck dinner at the church for the new people at Bethel to connect with all of us who have been here for a while. We have found Potluck dinners to really help people get better connected. Also on that day for our newcomers, one hour before the Potluck, we will be running a quick class to familiarize new people to Bethel.

Many more things are happening but these are just a few that you can pray about and be aware of. Please also pray for Carmen our administrator as she continues to work on almost anything and everything so as to ensure that we are safe, sound and secure. Also pray for Fred our Youth Director as he is working up at IAWAH this summer. Our partnership with IAWAH continues to be an important one as we seek to make disciples not only of all nations but of all generations.

Please contact me either by email (markkotchapaw@gmail.com) or by phone
(542-2990) or if you have questions. Your input helps contribute to our being a stronger team!


Mark

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Mark - just caught up with your recents posts and at the same time was listening to an artist interview on Klove radio. In their church, members shared 'recovery' stories - and as the congregation listened to the story shared, when something was said that they could relate to, some struggle or shared battle, for instance, the audience raised their hands. This show of support encouraged the speaker and others, who might not feel safe raising their hand. Just a thought on how we might further build community and encourage one another when sharing our stories.