7 July 2022, Good Day Yorkshire Church!
What a great day of Worship we experienced this past Sunday as we acknowledged the great gift of freedom that God has provided to us as Americans. It was a blessing to give God thanks through some patriotic music as well as honor an Air Force veteran who worshipped with us who recently celebrated his 102nd birthday. It is always a blessing to meet and worship with a member of the Greatest Generation- especially a WWII veteran!
It has been an exciting few weeks at the church! Our renovation project is well underway now! There has been some preliminary grading work outside and our interior perimeter drains have been installed. You can see pictures in this week’s announcements. I met our contractor team members from Keller Construction, Fitz & Smith, Dietz & Nauman and American Waterproofers as they endeavor on our project and have been impressed by their professionalism. We are blessed to have a great team working on our behalf!
Over the next few days, as weather permits, there will be a great deal of excavation occurring at the church. During this time, we may experience breaks in our internet service as Comcast will be working on relocating our lines which will require interruptions in service. If you find that you are unable to contact the church or if you have problems with viewing the livestream over the next week or so, please be patient with us as we work through this phase of the project. I can promise that any interruptions will be brief.
As I mentioned in my last What’s Brewing, we have a new VBS-style Sunday School program starting in the next few weeks to serve our children’s ministry. This is requiring additional time spent by many of our teachers and volunteers. We are very thankful for their commitment of time and energy! Please note Rick Focht’s article in this week’s announcements. With this program, many of our folks are taking on additional volunteer responsibilities which is taking them from other volunteer positions. We currently have need for more volunteers to serve as Greeters, Media Center Support, Teachers and Teacher Assistants, Youth Group assistants, and Nursery Care. I would ask you to pray about participating in some of these great opportunities to serve our church! If you would like to serve in any of these areas, please contact me, the office, or any of our ushers and/or Greeters on Sunday mornings. They will let us know of your interest and we can contact you to get you plugged in! These are exciting times at Yorkshire and I believe the only limitations we may face in the future will be our ability to support our ministries from within.
The Nominations & Leadership Team will be holding a meeting in the next few weeks to discuss our leadership slate for next year. If you have an interest in becoming involved with the leadership of the church, please let me know so we can find a way to get you on board. I will also be speaking with our current leaders to gain an understanding of their interest in continuing in their roles. This is a very important process within any church.
What makes a great church? Well, there is really only one answer for that from a theological standpoint, and that is the worship of the church. Is the church a Bible-teaching, Christ-centered church that loves one another as Christ loves the church and is growing in their relationship with Him. This is the true measure of an effective church. Read Acts 2:42-47 to validate this point.
An element of Yorkshire church that is important to consider as we strive to be “great” as described above is theparticipation of the body. Whether in leadership or as a volunteer, each part of the church brings something with them that results in our ability to worship as we are called to do. The apostle Paul teaches this in his letter to the Christian church in Corinth. I see his words as an affirmation of how the church is to carry out its love and devotion to Jesus Christ as a result of the gifts that He gives us. Consider this as we look at Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians 12:4-14:
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.”
(Consider this in context with John 14:12-31 from our Sermon series)
So, as we plan for the future, part of what we can plan to accomplish through the programs we support will be based on how the body of church feels called to use the gifts and talents that have been bestowed upon them. If we have 15-20 volunteers that are handling the various needs of the church, then we will be able to support programs that require 15-20 volunteers. If we have 25-30 volunteers, then we can plan on programming and ministries that have a need for this many folks and so on. Currently, we are looking to grow into ministries to serve the Yorkshire fellowship which are requiring more volunteers than we have, which over time will lead to burnout. It is important that our leadership evaluate all that we are doing based on our real capabilities and adjust accordingly. I have sometimes heard that a person does not get involved because they have not been asked, so I want to make it official, I am asking each of you to pray about how God may be calling you into service in the church!
Holly and I are looking forward to our vacation which will be from July 9th through the 17th. The church will be blessed as Reverend Bud Bish will be providing the message on Sunday the 10th and the 17th. I look forward to enjoying worship on the livestream from the Finger Lakes of New York!
Have a great day and a great week! Peace and Blessings!
-pastor dave. dkominsky@susumc.org 717-858-5870
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