24 June 2021 Good Day Yorkshire!
It has been a week full of great times and good tidings! Some of the most exciting news is that we now have two of the four Joyful Noise Preschool vacancies filled! We have two Teacher Aides on the roster, and I am very happy to let you know that our own Tiffany Ivie has answered the call to be one of them! This is great news- we are excited to have Tiffany on the preschool staff and I know she will be a blessing to all of the children we are called to serve! We are in final negotiations with a teacher this week which leaves us with one vacancy to fill. We can use any assistance as you pass the word to everyone you know. Joyful Noise is a very exciting ministry of Yorkshire Church! We will provide full introductions to our new staff as we move forward.
Our new custodian has been on board for a few weeks now and is doing a great job as she familiarizes herself with our facility. Her greatest challenge this week has been juggling her efforts around all of the activity at the church. Ad Council meeting Monday evening, Joyful Noise Preschool Board meeting Tuesday evening, Scout activities out in the garden to transform it into a play area for the preschool, Men’s Fellowship Wednesday morning (6AM) and evening (6PM) and starting this week, we have our Youth and friends in the building from 10AM to 2PM… and wow are they noisy! What a great time yesterday as they enjoyed fellowship with one another throughout the building, fellowship hall and outdoors. It is a blessing to hear their laughter and carryings-on (they’re kids, right?), and what a blessing to have been extended the offer to join them for lunch and have some great conversations. They even helped out with some grounds work picking up sticks and yard debris! They are an incredible group of kids that are building relationships that will last a lifetime. I look forward to interacting with them on the Wednesdays that they are at the church and at our home this Sunday evening.
Another exciting event in the world of our youth is a Bible Study fellowship that started this past Monday evening led by Sarah Berman. This study focuses on “relationships” and how to nurture Godly relationships in our lives and is targeted at our Middle School and High School youth. Although it is important for our church to provide upbeat and exciting activities for youth and children, it is also important to take time to share in biblical study with one another. For our youth and now young adults, this discipline is of vital importance and I can’t tell you how excited I am to see this time of study grow. I wish I would have had such an opportunity when I was in High School, but it wasn’t until many years after I graduated that I experienced the joy of group bible study which occurred while I was serving in the military at Fort Polk, LA. So kudos to our Youth and Sarah Berman for beginning this element of fellowship. Great thanks for Pastor Megan in her mentoring and role to all of our youth and young adults! Great things are happening at Yorkshire!
Last evening at our Men’s Fellowship, we were having a great discussion about how we, as a fellowship can reach out and make a difference to those around us. It is easy for us to say that our mission as a church is to “make disciples” and serve our community. But how do we do this? Our “Stepping Up” study speaks to the needs of men in our culture that are hurting or who may be stalled as a result of various factors in their lives. One of the things that we discussed is that as a church, everything that we do needs to focus on our mission. Although our “formal” mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, it is not like we can open a can of Playdough and mold out some Christ followers, right? We need to meet folks where they are and let them know they are welcome; let them see that we are a group who care deeply for one another and finds strength in being together. We need to show others that we support one another, laugh together, and share areas of our lives where we need help, advice, and guidance. To see the element of trust in one another is a powerful thing for folks who don’t know it, or are struggling with trusting others due to their personal life experiences.
As Yorkshire begins to have events and activities over the next few months, we have to remember that everything we do must be done as a ministry to reach others. When our youth meet at the church, it is an opportunity to invite someone, share it with a friend. When we have our Spoken outdoor concert in July, it is an opportunity to share with our community and invite a friend who may come to such an event before they entertain the idea of coming to worship. In the fall, when we have our Rally Day programs (Sep 12- more info to come!), it is not an event to simply let us have fun and enjoy our day- but it is an opportunity for us to do that and share it with those who do not understand such joy in fellowship. Bible studies, prayer fellowships, and everything we do must be viewed through the lens of how can we share this with others. How can we use the blessings that God has provided us for a time such as this to reach others with our witness? We don’t have to preach, pray or open a bible to demonstrate the blessings of a relationship with God. Actually, Jesus told his disciples that it would be their love for one another that would provide a desire in the hearts of others to belong (John 13:34-35). So many times in the scriptures we can see that God added to his church through the fellowship of believers.
Our door project is moving along and we now have a target install date which should be in the August timeframe. Unfortunately, a graphic rendering of what the doors will look like once they are installed is not available. But here is a picture of the type of doors we will be installing.
They are glass, which is different than what we currently have, but they will make accessibility to the church much easier for many of our folks because they are ADA compliant (Americans with Disabilities Act). We will be upgrading the Preschool and Office entrance with a similar style door, as well. I am looking forward to these improvements as the need to replace and upgrade our doors was first identified over ten years ago! (My dad always told me, “Everything comes to those who wait!”). If you would like to help offset the expense of this project ($21,000.00), you can make your contribution out to “Building Fund.” This will be very helpful as we continue to address our facility maintenance issues.
So, as we move forward and open our new doors, lets focus on everything we do being a ministry, and not an activity. Even our maintenance and upgrades have a purpose to serving others. Our fun and enjoyment in fellowship may simply be the best way to invite someone into a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is not about us, but it is about how God will use the blessings that He has given us through our open hearts and desire to serve Him!
Have a Great and Blessed Day!
-pastor dave.
dkominsky@susumc.org
125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952 • www.yorkshirechurch.org
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