Top Ten - August 11
1. Worship Outdoors – Mark your calendars for Friday, August 19. That night we are planning to hold an outdoor worship service at our North Campus. This might be a great opportunity to invite a friend to come and see what Northgate is all about.
2. Can You Help A Family Move? – A Northgate family is moving from Batavia to Bergen next Saturday, August 20th. If you can be part of their moving crew, please contact Pastor Marsha (marsha@northgatefmc.com).
3. Case For Christ Book Study – I am starting another book study on Sundays at 12:15 (following second service). We’re going to be studying The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. If you are interested in joining us please let me know at vern@northgatefmc.com. We’ll get going on Sunday September 18.
4. Missions Update – Mark Logan, our Director of Operations, his daughter Elise, and two Free Methodist pastors (Wally Fleming and Doug Cullum) are currently in Rwanda. They’ll be visiting several locations where the FM Church has Connected Communities, including ours in Gahanda. While in Gahanda the team will be present for the dedication of a new church building which was made possible due to the generous giving of our congregation, and which will be dedicated to the memory of Mark’s wife, Ruth. Please keep this team in prayer throughout their journey!
Also, we are looking for someone who might like to spend one, two or even three months in one of the locations where we support FM missionaries. Those locations are Japan, Ecuador, Spain, Hungary and Rwanda. If you’d like to know more about this, please contact Pastor Vern at vern@northgatefmc.com.
5. Men’s Campout – We have a group of men planning a campout to be held in the woods behind our building at North. This is scheduled for September 2-3. This will be a wonderful time of fellowship and worship and we’d love to see a great group of guys participating. For more information, please contact Pastor John at John@northgatefmc.com.
6. Grief Share and Divorce Care – If you or someone you know has experienced a loss and is walking through the feelings of grief or has experienced a divorce and is coming to terms with that, and would like to know how to handle grief or divorce from a Christian perspective, we have a group for each here at Northgate. New sessions of Grief Share will begin on September 20 at 6pm, meeting at 34 Williams St. in Batavia.
And new sessions of Divorce Care will begin on September 24 at 6pm at our North campus building (8160 Bank St. Rd. Batavia). For more information contact Pastor Vern at vern@northgatefmc.com.
7. Meeting for All Interested in Being Part of the “Set Free” Movement – Inspired by recent presentations at our church by Free Methodist missionaries Gerry McNamara and Kevin Austin, a Set Free Team has formed at Northgate. This group is considering how to be part of helping people to “live in the direction of freedom" together. If you want to help end human trafficking in our time and in our region, please attend one of the monthly meetings, held on the last Sunday of the month at 12:30p.m. in Meeting Room 2/3, North Campus. For more information, visit setfreemovement.com and/or email Pastor Marsha marsha@northgatefmc.com.
8. Would You Be Interested in Taking a Trip? – Some people have asked me about the possibility of making an excursion to a couple of places here in the U.S. I’m wondering who else might be interested. One of those trips would be to Sight and Sound in Lancaster, PA. Next year they’ll be putting on “Moses.” If you’ve never seen one of their live shows, I can tell you that they are spectacular. The other trip would be to see the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter, both located in Kentucky. I have not been to either yet, but people from our church who have tell me they are worth the trip. If you’d be interested in us putting together a group trip to either Sight and Sound or the Creation Museum/Ark Encounter, please let me know. I would be planning these trips to take place in 2023. You can reach me at vern@northgatefmc.com. Thanks!
9. Looking for Small Group Leaders – I’m beginning to think about the Fall and one of the things I’d like to begin to plan for is resuming small groups. Connecting with others and helping each other to grow in our faith is an important part of what we are to do as a church body, and a small group is a place that can happen. If you are interested in being part of a small group, or if you are interested in leading a small group, please let me know. I’d love to hear from you and I’d love to help with either of those things. You can reach me at vern@northgatefmc.com.
10. Salvation Army Food Pantry – The Salvation Army is looking for some help restocking their food pantry. They are especially in need of the following: cereal, canned fruit, mac&cheese, pasta meals, pasta and soup. If you can help out you can take items directly to the Salvation Army between 9 and 3, Monday through Friday, or bring them here to Northgate and we’ll deliver to the Salvation Army. Thank you.
Two seats still available… I have reserved a table for the All Babies Cherished banquet taking place on Thursday, September 8 at 6pm in Batavia. There will be a nice dinner (no cost) and a speaker, and an opportunity to make a pledge/donation to ABC. I still have two spots left at my table. If you’d like to join me, please let me know! Thanks! (vern@northgatefmc.com)
To learn more about these opportunities, or to suggest an idea for a group or a gathering, or to inquire about reserving space at the church or the pavilion you can always email the office (office@northgatefmc.com) or call 343-4011. You can check out our website too (northgatefmc.com).
******************************************************************************************************
You Can Count on This – 1 Corinthians 11:28 – Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. (Read 1 Corinthians 11:17-34)
This is a verse that we probably need to think about more than we do. The context for it is taking communion – the bread and the cup. In the verse before this Paul has pointed out a real problem in the Corinthian church. When the church gets together to observe communion, some are apparently bringing their supper with them and eating in the presence of others, and not sharing, so that the poorer attendees were going hungry. Others were actually getting drunk at the gathering! And then they were
observing communion, the commemoration of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for us, the supreme act of love.
In this context Paul says that people need to examine themselves. They need to look into their own hearts and ask themselves if they are coming to communion with the right attitude, an attitude of humility and love. If not, it would be better for them to not take communion until they get their hearts, and relationships right. In fact, Paul notes that the reason some of the Corinthians are experiencing sicknesses is because they have been hypocritical in their attitudes and behaviors.
We take communion weekly at Arbor House, and monthly at Northgate North. Before the next time, it would be good for us to ask ourselves, “Is my heart right with the Lord? Is my heart right with others? Is there anything I need to confess to God, or make right, so that when I come to communion I know I’m coming with a sincere appreciation of what communion represents… the sacrifice Jesus made so that I can be right with God and with others.
When you’re not sure what you can count on in the world around you, know this: You can count on God keeping his word. So read what God has to say in scripture! And count on it.
2. Can You Help A Family Move? – A Northgate family is moving from Batavia to Bergen next Saturday, August 20th. If you can be part of their moving crew, please contact Pastor Marsha (marsha@northgatefmc.com).
3. Case For Christ Book Study – I am starting another book study on Sundays at 12:15 (following second service). We’re going to be studying The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. If you are interested in joining us please let me know at vern@northgatefmc.com. We’ll get going on Sunday September 18.
4. Missions Update – Mark Logan, our Director of Operations, his daughter Elise, and two Free Methodist pastors (Wally Fleming and Doug Cullum) are currently in Rwanda. They’ll be visiting several locations where the FM Church has Connected Communities, including ours in Gahanda. While in Gahanda the team will be present for the dedication of a new church building which was made possible due to the generous giving of our congregation, and which will be dedicated to the memory of Mark’s wife, Ruth. Please keep this team in prayer throughout their journey!
Also, we are looking for someone who might like to spend one, two or even three months in one of the locations where we support FM missionaries. Those locations are Japan, Ecuador, Spain, Hungary and Rwanda. If you’d like to know more about this, please contact Pastor Vern at vern@northgatefmc.com.
5. Men’s Campout – We have a group of men planning a campout to be held in the woods behind our building at North. This is scheduled for September 2-3. This will be a wonderful time of fellowship and worship and we’d love to see a great group of guys participating. For more information, please contact Pastor John at John@northgatefmc.com.
6. Grief Share and Divorce Care – If you or someone you know has experienced a loss and is walking through the feelings of grief or has experienced a divorce and is coming to terms with that, and would like to know how to handle grief or divorce from a Christian perspective, we have a group for each here at Northgate. New sessions of Grief Share will begin on September 20 at 6pm, meeting at 34 Williams St. in Batavia.
And new sessions of Divorce Care will begin on September 24 at 6pm at our North campus building (8160 Bank St. Rd. Batavia). For more information contact Pastor Vern at vern@northgatefmc.com.
7. Meeting for All Interested in Being Part of the “Set Free” Movement – Inspired by recent presentations at our church by Free Methodist missionaries Gerry McNamara and Kevin Austin, a Set Free Team has formed at Northgate. This group is considering how to be part of helping people to “live in the direction of freedom" together. If you want to help end human trafficking in our time and in our region, please attend one of the monthly meetings, held on the last Sunday of the month at 12:30p.m. in Meeting Room 2/3, North Campus. For more information, visit setfreemovement.com and/or email Pastor Marsha marsha@northgatefmc.com.
8. Would You Be Interested in Taking a Trip? – Some people have asked me about the possibility of making an excursion to a couple of places here in the U.S. I’m wondering who else might be interested. One of those trips would be to Sight and Sound in Lancaster, PA. Next year they’ll be putting on “Moses.” If you’ve never seen one of their live shows, I can tell you that they are spectacular. The other trip would be to see the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter, both located in Kentucky. I have not been to either yet, but people from our church who have tell me they are worth the trip. If you’d be interested in us putting together a group trip to either Sight and Sound or the Creation Museum/Ark Encounter, please let me know. I would be planning these trips to take place in 2023. You can reach me at vern@northgatefmc.com. Thanks!
9. Looking for Small Group Leaders – I’m beginning to think about the Fall and one of the things I’d like to begin to plan for is resuming small groups. Connecting with others and helping each other to grow in our faith is an important part of what we are to do as a church body, and a small group is a place that can happen. If you are interested in being part of a small group, or if you are interested in leading a small group, please let me know. I’d love to hear from you and I’d love to help with either of those things. You can reach me at vern@northgatefmc.com.
10. Salvation Army Food Pantry – The Salvation Army is looking for some help restocking their food pantry. They are especially in need of the following: cereal, canned fruit, mac&cheese, pasta meals, pasta and soup. If you can help out you can take items directly to the Salvation Army between 9 and 3, Monday through Friday, or bring them here to Northgate and we’ll deliver to the Salvation Army. Thank you.
Two seats still available… I have reserved a table for the All Babies Cherished banquet taking place on Thursday, September 8 at 6pm in Batavia. There will be a nice dinner (no cost) and a speaker, and an opportunity to make a pledge/donation to ABC. I still have two spots left at my table. If you’d like to join me, please let me know! Thanks! (vern@northgatefmc.com)
To learn more about these opportunities, or to suggest an idea for a group or a gathering, or to inquire about reserving space at the church or the pavilion you can always email the office (office@northgatefmc.com) or call 343-4011. You can check out our website too (northgatefmc.com).
******************************************************************************************************
You Can Count on This – 1 Corinthians 11:28 – Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. (Read 1 Corinthians 11:17-34)
This is a verse that we probably need to think about more than we do. The context for it is taking communion – the bread and the cup. In the verse before this Paul has pointed out a real problem in the Corinthian church. When the church gets together to observe communion, some are apparently bringing their supper with them and eating in the presence of others, and not sharing, so that the poorer attendees were going hungry. Others were actually getting drunk at the gathering! And then they were
observing communion, the commemoration of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for us, the supreme act of love.
In this context Paul says that people need to examine themselves. They need to look into their own hearts and ask themselves if they are coming to communion with the right attitude, an attitude of humility and love. If not, it would be better for them to not take communion until they get their hearts, and relationships right. In fact, Paul notes that the reason some of the Corinthians are experiencing sicknesses is because they have been hypocritical in their attitudes and behaviors.
We take communion weekly at Arbor House, and monthly at Northgate North. Before the next time, it would be good for us to ask ourselves, “Is my heart right with the Lord? Is my heart right with others? Is there anything I need to confess to God, or make right, so that when I come to communion I know I’m coming with a sincere appreciation of what communion represents… the sacrifice Jesus made so that I can be right with God and with others.
When you’re not sure what you can count on in the world around you, know this: You can count on God keeping his word. So read what God has to say in scripture! And count on it.
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