Sunday, October 25th,2015
9:30am Worship

Praise the Lord

Scripture Reading for this Sunday:
2Samuel 5:1-5, 6:1-5

 Adult Faith Conversations is now Bible Conversations. After worship, we are offering three opportunities to gather in small groups around the Bible. These conversations will run through Nov 22nd. All you need to bring is your Bible and a desire to get into the conversation!

Exploring the Questions
Chris Moore will be facilitating a small group that will explore the questions they have about the Bible - questions like, “If Adam and Eve were the first (and only) people on Earth, where did their kids’ spouse come from?” or “Does God condone violence?” No question will be off limits. There will not always be easy or simple answers to the questions that are raised. Sometimes our faith grows best simply living with the questions together in community.

Nooma Inspirations
Rhonda Eppelsheimer will be facilitating this small group that will explore various texts of the Bible through the lens of Rob Bell’s Nooma videos. In these short videos, Pastor Bell explores important themes of the Christian faith such as forgiveness, evangelism and loving our neighbor. Heather’s group will use these videos as springboards for engaging conversations about life and faith.

Sneak Peek!
I (Pastor David) will be facilitating a small group that will be digging in to the Bible text that will be the centerpiece for the following week’s worship. In other words, the preaching text for next week will be the conversation text for this week. I am looking forward to the opportunity to learn from and with each of you how these stories speak to our lives and our world today.

These Bible Conversations are a wonderful way to grow in our faith through our conversations with Scripture and with each other. It is my hope that you will take advantage of these opportunities to get to know the Bible and each other in a new way. See you on Sunday!

A Celebration of Life service for Julie Casey, long time friend of the DeMarre family and frequent worship attender here at ChristChurch, will be held on Saturday, October 24, 2015 at 1:00 PM at the Mt. Olive Lutheran Church @ 2327 17th Avenue in Forest Grove, followed by a reception in the Fellowship room at the church. Julie was a long time member of Mt. Olive and had many close connections with the people there. We give thanks for Julie's life, grieve her loss and keep the DeMarre family and all of Julie's relatives in our prayers.

                                                God's peace,
                                                Pastor David

ORBIDA Seminar & Resource Fair

October 24, 2015

Beyond Words: Providing Comprehension Strategies for
                          Readers with Dyslexia.

Presenter:         Sasha Borenstein

This active seminar will teach participants the strategies that students can use in class and with homework assignments to understand relevant ideas, to look for text structures, to pose questions and read to answer those questions and to create book notes.

When:   Saturday, October 24, 2015
Time:      8:45am to 12:30 pm
Where:  Community of ChristChurch
                5170 NW Five Oaks Dr.
                Hillsboro, OR 97124

Cost: $40 for IDA members; $45 for non-members

 

            Dyslexia Awareness Resource Fair

Time: 1pm to 4:30pm

This afternoon event is FREE and open to the public.

Support organizations, businesses, tutors and educational institutions in the Greater Portland area, Oregon and SW Washington will share what they have to offer with workshop attendees and members of the public.

Link to register:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-words-providing-comprehension-strategies-for-readers-with-dyslexia-registration-18198506222

We will begin our worship next Sunday (November 1st) with thanksgiving and remembrance of those who have gone before us.

Worship Team Update

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
                                                                                                    Psalm 98:4

The Worship and Tech Teams met recently to put together a plan for growing our team and inviting others to participate in providing musical leadership in worship. Part of that plan includes placing the following ad on Craig’s List:

Looking for skilled musicians to be a part of a church worship team. We have a small committed core of volunteer musicians looking to grow our team to allow for rotation of both instrumentalists and vocalists. We play contemporary Christian worship music. We rehearse for 90 minutes Tuesday evening and one worship service on Sunday morning, a two and a half hour commitment. If you play drums, bass, guitar, keyboard, other instruments and/or sing and are looking for a welcoming community of musicians, and an opportunity to gain experience performing live, please contact us at 503-617-9526 or pastordavid@comchristchurch.org.

However, before we look outward, we want to start here at home with the members and friends of ChristChurch. Do you play an instrument? Do you sing? Do you have a passion for using your musical gifts to praise God? Would you like to be part of creating a Sunday morning experience that welcomes others into that worship and praise as well?

We invite you to a special Worship Team Open Doors Event on Friday, November 13th at 7pm. The evening will include appetizers, wine, non-alcoholic beverages, an informal jam session, and an opportunity to make new friends. If you are interested, please RSVP by Sunday, November 8th at 503-617-9526 or pastordavid@comchristchurch.org.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
                                                                                                   Psalm 100:1

News from Church Council

Greetings Community of ChristChurch Family,

I am writing to give a recap of our church council retreat that took place a couple of weeks ago. Chuck and Julie Morgan offered the use of their lovely vacation home at Eagle Crest in Central Oregon and it was a great to have a couple of days away from the distractions of home where we could continue to get to know each other better, pray and brainstorm about where God may be leading us as a congregation.

Our field trip to Nativity Lutheran Church in Bend was a highlight of the weekend as we were able to see how God is at work in the congregation, using the church’s location and gifts of the members to reach out to the surrounding community through special ministries. These include a wood-cutting ministry for those who can’t afford to heat their homes, a food pantry, a food forest (ask us about that if you are curious – it’s really cool!) a beautiful prayer garden and a choir that performs Christmas concerts in which people from the surrounding community are drawn to each year. It was inspiring to see the vitality of that congregation and to hear the stories about people in the community who have not only been served but are giving back themselves now and relationships that have been built.

Time was spent reviewing the results of the church vitality survey. Copies were also made available to the whole congregation last Sunday, but if you did not get one yet, there will be more available this week. Also, Pastor David announced that at worship on December 6th, Pastor Mike Keys from the Oregon Synod office, will come to preach and to give us more insight about the results of the survey.

We also spent time talking about our current and past mission statements and discussing new ideas as a group and in one-to-one conversations. As this process continues to unfold we will be inviting the whole congregation to get involved.

Better communication is also on our radar, both in letting the congregation know what is happening in the council meetings and in better publicizing upcoming events, posting photos and information on recent events, and what outside groups are meeting in our building under WithOut Walls. We want to make sure the congregation knows that the council members are accessible if anyone would like to share ideas or concerns with us at any time and will also plan some special opportunities for members to meet with us in small groups or one-to-one.

There is a lot of excitement about the potential for ChristChurch and I’d like to encourage you to pray about where God is leading us and how you might become involved. Also please support the Front Porch Team by filling out their Participation Survey. This will be a big help to them as they plan and prioritize fellowship and community events and activities in the coming year.

Blessings,

Jill Bierman
js_bierman@outlook.com

SAVE THE DATE!
Saturday, November 21st
ChristChurch's Annual Potluck Thanksgiving Dinner.

Learn more details beginning this Sunday!

               November / December Toy Drive
Throughout November and the first part of December Service &

Mission will be collecting new unwrapped toys for distribution in our  community. Any toys are welcome and there is especially a need for toys for very young children (babies and toddlers) and for teens (gift certificates are also welcome).

WINGS will again host monthly BUNCO nights this year, with our first   BUNCO night TONIGHT.  Each month we will meet at  ChristChurch on the 3rd Thursday (except for this month) at 6:30pm for snacks & conversation, with BUNCO beginning at 7:00pm. We invite everyone to be part of our BUNCO group, whether it's as a monthly player or a substitute player. We have a lot of fun! And it’s a great way to meet new people, relax and enjoy our friendships!!! The more the merrier, so please feel free to invite any friends you think would like to join us.

We encourage monthly players and substitutes to come to this first BUNCO evening. It’s not too late if you haven’t yet signed up.

Please let Kris Hoggard know if you will be coming. Bringing a snack to share is optional - tea, coffee & water will be available.

Upcoming dates:
Saturday, November 21 - WINGS will help with the ChristChurch Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner

Friday / Saturday, December 4 / 5 - Women of Faith at the Moda Center

Saturday, December 12 - Advent Breakfast and Ornament / Small Gift Exchange ($5 - $10).

We hope you can join us!

Peace,

Kris Hoggard
khpigsfly@msn.com


 

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