A few of our church ladies got together and were able to sew 50 vests for RAs and GAs, our children's mission groups! We are so thankful that they took time out of their days to make these for the children of our church so they can wear and display their badges on them!
Ash Wednesday Service
Join us this on Wednesday, March 1st, for Wednesday Night dinner at 5:30 PM in the Mission and Fellowship Center followed by our time of checking-in and prayer at 6:00 PM. Children and youth will go to their respective classes as usual, but will join the adults in the chapel around 6:30 PM for a special Ash Wednesday service.
This 25 minute Ash Wednesday service will include object lessons and experiences that will provide new meaning to our understanding of the season of Lent.
Whether We Like It or Not, the Church Matters
Why bother? Why stay connected to a faith community? Why choose church when there are so many other things we can do with our time?
Good questions, all. They’re not mine. They have been raised countless times over the years because of our largest generation’s notable absence from church. No, Millennials—that is, those who came of age around the turn of the century (think your 20- and 30-something children and grandchildren)—are not the only ones who are not coming to church. Baby Boomers long ago began to check out of our congregations and Gen Xers, mainstays in the glory days of the youth group era, have become disconnected as well. What makes Millennials unique is the unprecedented number of them who are apparently done with church.
Since our young adults are the best expression of our culture, it would be good of us to listen to them. If we are going to be the Body of Christ, we cannot be satisfied with a paraplegic expression of Christ’s presence.
I cannot begin to capture the level of dissatisfaction and frustration that young people have for the church. As a member of the smallest generation in American history (and in full disclosure, a member of a generation known for its angst and cynicism), I’m not able to speak for Millennials. But a quick online search will yield a bumper crop of thoughts on the matter. Here’s just a sampling of their essays and blog posts:
“Five Things Millennials Wish the Church Would Be”
“Dear Church: An Open Letter from One of Those Millennials You Can’t Figure Out”
“10 Reasons Millennials Are Sick of Church”
“Want Millennials Back in the Pews? Stop Trying to Make Church Cool”
“The Loneliness of Being a Millennial in Church”
“12 Reasons Millennials Are OVER Church”
Depressed yet?
Well, I am. Daily, if not hourly, I am confounded, frustrated and dismayed by the Church’s (think Church universal, not necessarily our local church) apparent disconnection with 20- and 30-Somethings. But in truth, while Millennials seem to be the most accurate expression of our culture, they are simply exhibiting symptoms that we all have. Our church’s relationship with the American culture is complex at best and hostile at worst. Regardless of how we got here, empty pews, vacant parking lots and missing people groups trouble me.
One particularly frustrated voice that I heard recently (see the blogs noted above if you want the gory details), reminded church leaders that Millennials (and the rest of us, for that matter) have at our fingertips a vast collection of sermons and services ready for download, streaming and podcasting. Technology enables us to be able to eliminate the voices of preachers and would-be prophets who we’d rather not hear. We can hone in on the best, the brightest, the most articulate and the most entertaining when it comes to exposition of scripture and life application. I report these facts dispassionately, for this is the world that we live in. And none of this is bad, except for the fact that it can lead us to the inevitable question: With all of these resources, why bother with church at all?
Having spent the overwhelming majority of my ministerial career working with and serving the Millennial generation, I tend to see them from the vantage point of a concerned older sibling. Our young people are supremely gifted and uniquely skilled for the world in which we live in. They are motivated and passionate about making a difference in the world. Their enthusiasm for life is infectious, and their capacity to love the ‘least of these’ is unmatched. This is why I’m sad that they are not more represented in our churches. This is why my heart hurts when I read such angry ‘open letters’ to the churches who taught them about Jesus in Sunday School, chaperoned their youth retreats, cried with them when their boyfriends broke up with them, prayed for them when their best friend was hospitalized, and sent them care packages when they went off to college.
So what do I think? Why should any one of us bother with church? We should care about the church because the church is how we encounter God. The church provides multiple voices, experiences and perspectives that help us to understand scripture and life. The church is an intentional community, charged with the responsibility of carrying us from our birth to our death—framing our experiences with the love, grace and convicting words of Jesus.
We bother with church—regardless of our age—because of community. When young people are not with us on Sunday mornings, they are often investing in community that encourages and sustains them…whether on a disc golf course or at a chic restaurant serving brunch. But what our church community has to offer that these other (often healthy and well-intentioned) communities do not have is a commitment to hear and follow the commands of Jesus, the Christ. And as followers of Jesus, we stake a claim on the fact that Jesus makes all the difference in our lives, in our relationships, and for all of eternity. So, we choose church because we choose Jesus, remembering that Jesus chose us, even to the point of death.
How can we better reach a world, a community, or a neighborhood when they couldn’t care less about the church? Well, for one thing, we should seek to be as healthy a community as we can be without sacrificing the prophetic reality of Jesus’s message. A healthy community welcomes all (First Baptist, we are uniquely gifted at this as our newcomers routinely report how hospitable we are), and invests their time, energy and attention in all. Hill Harper captures the core of this well: “Fundamentally, we all want the same thing. We want to love. We want to be loved, and we want to matter.” Since Jesus taught us what love looks like, the church is well situated to provide this kind of community.
Have I oversimplified this? Oh dear Lord, yes. But I don’t think that negates the truthfulness of my claims. Yes, we should talk about ‘how’ we do things. We absolutely want our worship and discipleship efforts to be representative of our community. Yes. But this should never be the main thing. The main thing is Christ revealed in community—what Paul calls the Body of Christ. And our goal together is to keep the main thing the main thing.
The final moment in worship on Sundays is to grab the hands of those with whom we have been worshiping and to pray together. The answer to our questions—as it has always been—is that we must do far more than simply clasp one another’s hands. We must hold fast to one another, to one another's lives, to our terrors, to our disappointments and to our triumphs. It’s Christ that holds us all together in life, and we’re all the stronger for it.
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of NC 2017 Gathering
Join the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of NC March 30-April 1 in Hickory for our 2017 Annual Gathering (General Assembly). This year our meeting includes traditional components such as workshops, worship, and partner exhibits. We've added new components such as the Laugh in Peace comedy tour; a Leadership Institute; and the "All Are Called" Forum designed to encourage and empower laity. Gather with Cooperative Baptists from across NC to celebrate the ministry of all of God's people and our shared mission together. See you in Hickory in 2017!
Balance Series Starts March 6th
As part of WMU's ongoing commitment to promoting health and wellness in our congregation and in the community, a new program is being offered. "A Matter of Balance", an evidence-based, award-winning series, will be offered on Monday mornings, starting March 6th and running through April 24th. The program will be in the Mission and Fellowship Center, from 10:00 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.
A Matter of Balance has been shown to help reduce the fear of falling and increase the activity levels of older adults who have concerns about falling. Exercise will be used to help increase strength and balance. Sherrie Peeler from NC Cooperative Extension and Jeannie Mathews from the Area Agency on Aging will be the instructors. Please contact Cheryl Beck at cheryl_beck@ncsu.edu or 369-6909 to register to attend. There is no charge.
Vest Sewing Marathon!
Come to the Mission and Fellowship Center on Friday, February 24th, any time between 9:30 and 3:30 to help finish the vests for the RAs and GAs. This has been an ambitious project with a few faithful women making over 50 lined vests for our children to use in mission education projects. Your help is needed to complete the vests as soon as possible. Bring your lunch and basic sewing equipment. Let's finish those vests!
Spring Break - No Weds. Night
We will not be having any Wednesday Night Programming on Wednesday, March 8th due to Spring Break. We will, however, still be holding a Budget and Finance Meeting that evening.
Parents Night Out Care
Parents Night Out will be on February 24th from 5:30 - 9:00 PM. Sign your kids up so you can go out on a well-deserved date night! If you're interested, you can sign up here: http://firstbaptistsylva.com/giving/
Mission Moment from China
Our Church is pleased to support CBF Global Missions in moments like these where unity and love are modeled and shared.
"Many years ago, Macau was given the slogan 'Macau, city of God, there is none more loyal!' Today, Macau's loyalty is to false gods and the immoral things of man. The city seems to have been sealed up by the evil one, but we must not give up hope. Hope for change, hope for a new day, hope for Macau's people to be truly loyal to God. It is our hope that the Gospel message will gain momentum and soon be multiplying throughout the population resulting in a vast harvest of people for the Kingdom of God."
- Larry and Sarah Ballew, CBF field personnel in Macau, China
Baby Shower for Elise and Caleb Parham
Please come to a baby shower honoring Elise and Caleb Parham on Sunday, February 26th from 2:00-3:30 PM in the Mission and Fellowship Center. Baby Joanna Ruth Parham is registered at Babies R Us and Walmart.