Missions
“Pennies from Heaven”
$2,835.00 Total
Over the last three months, $62.00 has come in for our special project. This brings the total now needed to reach our 4 th mile mark to $547.70.
We were able to purchase items to put into the “Red Barrel” at the mall this Christmas Season - Christian Children’s DVDs, books and CDs for teens.
Keep those pennies coming – I know 2011 will bring with it many opportunities for plant God’s Word in
some wonderful ways.
A Blessed New Year - Lorraine
Meals On Wheels
Angels Needed....
Do you have an hour once a week, twice a week or even once a month? Bristol ’s Meals On Wheels program needs your help delivering hot meals and warm smiles to your elderly neighbors. Tuesday volunteers are urgently needed as well as hardy drivers to fill in for our snowbirds and those with very tired vehicles. Call the Champlain Valley Agency on Aging 1-800-642-5119 to volunteer and for more information.
Mothers Without Borders Vermont
Gets National Exposure! The Ladies Home Journal has an article in this month’s issue featuring MWB’s annual sew-a-thon which makes dresses for girls in Zambia. Nancy Luke and Darla Senecal are quoted as well. Check it out – either in the magazine, or copy this link and see it online!
http://www.lhj.com/volunteering/made-with-love/
This week, MWB was also featured on the Channel 3 News. Set aside the first Saturday in February for the next MWB Sew-a-thon in Bristol! Several of our church women have taken part in past years and will tell you it’s a wonderful time (and you DON’T have to know how to sew!)
Eagerly awaiting our next call !!!
What are your spiritual gifts?
Service, hospitality, faith, giving, organization, mercy, teaching, prayer, leadership, craftsmanship, evangelism?......We are looking for a few good women and men to serve.
Can you help with our spiritual life, be a witness to Christ and the church, promote missions and assist in our worship? The Board of Deacons and Stewards may ask you to consider how you can join their efforts.
Are you business minded, handy with numbers and a hammer? The Board of Trustees may be a place of service for you.
Are you a teacher, communicator and a person who nurtures – not just children, but all who are growing in their knowledge of God? The Christian Education Board needs a person like you.
Do you know your fellow members well enough to ask them to join our boards and committees as they work to build our church? The Personnel Committee may ask you to serve.
Would you work to support, care for and help our pastors be the best they can be? The Pastoral Relations Committee may offer you the opportunity.
Please consider with prayer and care how you are able to join in service.
God's Ministry when done through earthly means, costs money.
Some of us can’t begin to imagine giving ten percent of our earnings to the church. But many have chosen to do just that. Why Do You Tithe? This question was posed to a number of people in the church family......make no mistake – these folks are just like you, with the same financial commitments......here are a few responses:
“That's something the Lord God wants us to do that we have done for probably 50 years or so, and it is good for our Church and for us to keep on doing it.......if we were having some tough times it seemed that something always came along to help us make it, (even if it was just good advice...or a new tenant), and I've always believed that using envelopes is the best way of keeping track of it. It also makes me feel good...it's one area where I'm sure I'm not letting God down......”
“I tithe because I want to live BEING a person who trusts God. I believe God’s promise to supply all my needs. I believe that to do less than give a full tithe robs God. A full tithe communicates not only my trust, but also my thanksgiving. I believe that because I have been blessed I now have the responsibility to financially, and otherwise, further the ministry that is God’s church. I tithe because I want to be blessed and to be a blessing. ‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouses, that there may be food in My house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it’. Malachi 3:10
I encourage you to take God’s invitation seriously. Keep putting Him to the test over the course of a year and see what happens in your life because of it!”
“We tithe because we believe that is what the Bible tells us to do. God doesn't want us to get so involved in our money that we worship it instead of Him. He also wants us to understand that all we have came from him in the first place. It's His anyway. He's just letting us use it, hopefully in a responsible way.
We started many years ago tithing on our take-home pay, then on our gross pay. We now tithe on our gross pay to the church and do other donations beside. We say this only to encourage others. It's important that this is between you and God.
Sometimes it is hard to give that much back when we see the ways we could use it for ourselves, but we are so blessed with what we have. You might think you can't get by if you tithe. That was a concern of ours, but we have never gone without food, shelter, or clothing. At some point in your life, you have to decide to trust God. This is only one area and maybe the easiest.
There are so many in this world who are barely surviving. How can we who have so much keep it for ourselves? God gives us this prosperity as a test, and sometimes it feels like a burden. It's all a part of the free choice that we've been given. What will we do with what we've been given?”
“We try to make the commitment of tithing just because it is the right thing to do.
The ministry of our Church is an important and vital part of our lives. We have learned that when we make our Church giving number one priority, perhaps not all our “wants” are granted but definitely all are “needs” are met.”