Welcome!

Youth Group

Monday, 28 November 2011 00:00

Join us on Sunday, February 26th for a bowling trip to Roseland in Canandaigua! We will meet at the Stein's at 2:00 to depart and return at 5:30. We won't have a meal together this Sunday, but there are plenty of snacks available at the bowling alley if you are interested. If you can, please bring $5 to cover the cost of bowling and shoe rental. RSVP to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to let us know if you can make it! Parents who are able to drive a few kids are welcome to join us as well.

Our next regular Youth Group meeting will be on Sunday, March 11th from 6:00 pm to 7:45 pm, at the Steins'. Come on out for food, fun, and another lesson from The Story. Bring your friends, a Bible and a dollar to help support Penina!

The Parables of Jesus

Wednesday, 11 January 2012 16:06

For the next twelve weeks (leading up to Easter) we are going to look together at parables of Jesus from the Gospels. Parables are short stories which take inanimate things, like faith or salvation or the kingdom of God, and make them easier to understand by animating them. To put it another way, they are earthly stories with a heavenly meaning, providing timeless principles in the context of contemporary circumstances. The following is a statement of faith based on a summary of each parable, followed by the Scripture references for each week:

The evidence of the kingdom of God and heaven working in our lives on earth starts out small but grows over time as we mature in our faith.[1] Finding and becoming a part of that kingdom is worth trading everything else we have.[2] This pleases God, who delights in bringing every lost soul into His kingdom.[3] He will give the same gift of salvation to all who earnestly come to Him in faith, no matter how late or undeserving they may seem.[4] Those who put their faith in Him will be rewarded in this way; those who do not have saving faith, even what they have will be taken from them.[5]

God has temporarily and graciously entrusted the earth and his word to us, even though He knew that some people would reject the gift of His Son.[6] We receive the message of God according to the condition of our hearts,[7] so show humility through how you present yourself and how you treat others.[8] Remember that what goes in your body does not make you unclean—what comes out of your heart proves what is on the inside.[9]

As recipients of such immeasurable grace, we are always to forgive because of the extent to which we have been forgiven by God.[10] We ought to always persevere in prayer and our work for the Lord, never giving up,[11] because we know that we are part of the new covenant that Jesus is ushering in.[12]

A Pastor's Reflection - On Communion

Monday, 28 November 2011 15:02

We share the Lord's Supper together every week as a congregation and there isn't a week that goes by when I am not drawn to the power of the Spirit as we gather in this manner. This week was a little different, but only in the circumstances, not in the presence of God. This week, for whatever reason, the bread was particularly crusty and the juice was particularly jumpy. By the time I was halfway through serving, I had bread crumbs all over one arm and juice running down the other. On a normal day at my house this sort of thing is, well, normal. Feeding a toddler requires wearing some of whatever he is eating that day.

This was different though, because it wasn't just about food. These elements of bread and juice represent to us the body and blood of Christ. To see them scattered across my body made me acutely aware of the fact that I walk around each day with the evidence of Christ's death covering me, like crumbs stuck to a shirt sleeve or juice stained skin. The Apostle Paul put it this way: "We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." And it reminded me that I, as much as anyone else, am responsible for Christ's death since He paid for my sin on that cross. Pilate ceremonially washed his hands of the blood of Jesus; I never can, nor do I want to. His death leads to my salvation.

Maybe by the end of communion I just looked sloppy, but I didn't even want to clean myself off because of the beauty that was represented there. May we all walk through this life wearing the body of Christ on our sleeves.

Volunteer Schedule Online

Thursday, 31 March 2011 14:49

To all of our volunteers - thank you! Whether you hold the door for somone, bake a treat, read Scripture or any number of other things, our church wouldn't be the same without you. Thanks for what you do, both for us and for the Lord.

To help you do your job better, the volunteer schedule is posted on the 'Serve' page of the website, up through September. This includes those who are helping with hospitality for that Sunday as well as our nursery "supervisor." If you have any questions, scheduling conflicts or just want to get involved, contact Pastor Adam right away!