CCC Gainesville | Blog
What great week!
VBS 2011
<> incredible decorations throughout the facility,
<> tremendously gifted, dedicated, and happy volunteers,
<> seventy plus kids and
<> 30 plus youth having fun and learning the gospel of Jesus Christ, and living as followers of him.
<> seventy plus kids and
<> 30 plus youth having fun and learning the gospel of Jesus Christ, and living as followers of him.
This week was a tremendous example of the church family coming together to serve Christ and His little ones. Harmony, Holli, and Nate, great job, your work is so appreciated. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Today concludes our wonderful, exciting, creative and crazy week of VBS. For those of you who volunteered we know you are tired and ready for a weekend of rest. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for giving the kids a wonderful week. Thank you for making it what it was, fun and meaningful. Thank you for putting your energy into every hug, every snack, every service project, every lesson taught, every song, every craft, every baby held, every bubble blown out on the playground, every game. We know it was fun, and we know it was a sacrifice of your time. Thank you.
Today we wrapped up with our Big Question “What does Jesus want me to do?” and our Big Answer “Jesus wants me to know and love him and get fired up about sharing Him with others.” Our verse was: Matthew 28:19-20 Go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always.”
Take It Home!
We shared a lot of good verses this week that can be a foundation for learning more about Jesus. Even though we packed a lot of scripture into one week, please take note of these verses and help your children learn them way beyond this week of VBS.
Enjoy the rest of your Summer!
Exodus 18 brings us into the topic of leadership in Christ’s Church.
“In evangelical circles today we are witnessing the abuse of ecclesiastical
authority in two directions. There is, on the one hand, an abdication of
church authority by some. Confronted with the individualistic, anti-law
spirit of our time, cowardly church officers refuse to exercise the biblical
oversight entrusted to them by Christ. In many circles authoritative preaching
and corrective church discipline are conspicuously absent. Equally dangerous,
however, is the tendency by others to overreact against such laxity.
Church leaders lose sight of the fine line between the virtue of biblical
counsel and guidance and the vice of usurping control over the conscience.
. . . Counsel becomes control, control becomes coercion, and coercion
becomes tyranny over the conscience.” –Roger Beardmore
When Jethro got saved he joined the church. Or to put it another way: I find it very noteworthy (and borderline instructive) that when he began being loyal to the one true God, Jethro “brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders to eat bread with him before God.” Honestly reading that text–and the rest of the Scriptures, lead me to the conviction that being a knower and lover of the one true God through Jesus Christ enevitably leads folk to a “HERE I AM! HOW DO I CONNECT AND SERVE?” relationship with a less-than-perfect flesh and blood gathering of people; i.e. A Local Church. Here is something from 9 Marks Ministries of Capitol Hill Baptist Church.
Membership
What is it?
According to the Bible, church membership is a commitment every Christian should make to attend, love, serve, and submit to a local church.
Where is it in the Bible?
Throughout Old Testament history, God made a clear distinction between his people and the world (see Lev. 13:46, Num. 5:3, Deut. 7:3).
Christ says that entering the kingdom of God means being bound to the church “on earth” (Matt. 16:16-19; 18:17-19). Where do we see the church on earth? The local church.
The New Testament explicitly refers to some people being inside the church and some people being outside (1 Cor. 5:12-13). This is much more than a casual association.
The church in Corinth consisted of a definite number of believers, such that Paul could speak of a punishment inflicted by the majority (2 Cor. 2:6).
Not only does the New Testament speak of the reality of church membership, but its dozens of “one anothers” are written to local churches, which fill out our understanding of what church membership should practically look like.
Why is it important?
Biblical church membership is important because the church presents God’s witness to himself in the world. It displays his glory. In the church’s membership, then, non-Christians should see in the lives of God’s changed people that God is holy and gracious and that his gospel is powerful for saving and transforming sinners.
