Top Ten - March 30

"Centered" night of prayer and worship - next week Wednesday April 5 at 6pm!

If you’d like to help out in some area in the church contact Pastor John at john@northgatefmc.com.

If you’re interested in a small group, contact Angelique at angelique@northgatefmc.com.

1. Pray for Our Rwanda Team! They’re back! Mark, Lukas and Allison got back Wednesday night and are resting up now after a long trip. I know that they experienced some incredible, God-at-work things and we’ll be hearing about them soon. Thank you so much for praying for the team throughout their trip and thank you for supporting our Connected Community in Gahanda, Rwanda. With God’s leading and help we are making a real difference in that area.

2. Easter Schedule Easter is coming quickly – just days away.  Here’s the schedule for the services we’ll be holding during Holy Week…

  • Maundy Thursday Service, April 6 at Arbor House – A self-guided stations of the cross event. Come anytime between 6 and 8pm
  • Good Friday Service, April 7 at Arbor House at 7pm
  • Saturday night service at North – 6:00pm
  • Easter Sunday sunrise at the North Campus pavilion – 6:30am
  • Easter Sunday Celebration at North – 9:30/11am
  • Easter Sunday Celebration at Arbor House – 10am

3. St. Paul’s School Are you familiar with St. Paul’s? It’s a Christian school at St. Paul’s Lutheran church here in Batavia. Several Northgate families send their children to St. Paul’s and our own Susan Wakefield is the principal. St. Paul’s offers education from Preschool through 6th grade and the curriculum matches or exceeds New York State standards. If you’d like more information about St. Paul’s and how this school might benefit your family and your children, you can contact Principal Wakefield at 585-343-0488 or stpaulbataviaprincipal@gmail.com.

4. Save the Dates There are some events coming up for which you may want to save the date.

  • The “IF” Gathering will be held here (by video) on Friday April 21 and Saturday April 22; Registration is available on the Northgate website
  • A young adults picnic is being planned for April 21 at the Pavilion/North
  • Phyllis Sorter – a Free Methodist missionary who survived a kidnapping in Nigeria, will be with us June 21 at 6pm to share about her experience
  • Family Life Network Youth Theater Camp – At Northgate June 26-30
  • Kid’s Summer Camp at Northgate will take place from July 17 to July 21  

5. Baptisms/Dedications/Membership If you are interested in joining Northgate as a member, or being baptized, or having a child/infant baptized or dedicated, please contact one of the pastors and let them know. We are planning a weekend of baptisms/dedications on April 15/16 and will schedule a membership class as needed.

6. Host Family Needed Northgate will be hosting a Family Life Network Youth Theater Camp the week of June 26-30 this summer. We’re excited to be part of this great camp! One of the things we are looking for is a family that can host the leaders who will be coming – two women and one man. They will be here starting Sunday night (June 25). If this is something you’d like to do, please contact the church office at office@northgatefmc.com. Thank you!

7. Pray First! Over 100 people of our church have joined in to read Pray First by Chris Hodges this Lenten season! Angelique also wants people to know that there is a Pray First app that you can download, and she has begun a Pray First Facebook group which anyone can join. To find it look for Angelique Spring and “friend” her or email her at angelique@northgatefmc.com.

8. Midweek Group Will Be Discussing “The Chosen” Beginning Wednesday April 5 Robin Woodam’s midweek Bible study will be viewing and discussing episodes of “The Chosen.” Please note this is a women’s only group. If you’d like to join them, they meet at 2pm in Room 1 at North. And for more information you can contact Angelique at angelique@northgatefmc.com.

9. Listening to the Language of the Bible Rick and Sara Kent are leading a study of some Hebrew words that Jesus would have used, which, by understanding their meaning better will enrich our understanding of the Bible. This will be a fun and informative study and it begins this Sunday at 9:30. For more information contact Angelique at angelique@northgatefmc.com.

10. Phyllis Sorter is Coming to Share Her Story Phyllis Sorter was serving as a Free Methodist Missionary in Nigeria in 2015 when she was kidnapped. She was eventually released and is sharing the story of how God looked after her throughout her ordeal. She will be doing that here at Northgate on Wednesday June 21. We hope you’ll join us for a wonderful time of worship and testimony at 6pm that evening!

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You Can Count on This – Ephesians 6:10-11 – Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. (Read Ephesians 6:1-24)


Are you aware that the devil is a schemer? And that he is always at work seeking to keep people from God, and to tear Christians away from God, and to cause rifts and disharmony between Christians?

The devil uses a variety of means to achieve his goals, including casting doubt on God’s existence or goodness, encouraging people to feel unworthy of God’s love or enticing them toward sinful activities that will not ultimately satisfy, using gossip, hurts and resentments to create relational problems between followers of Jesus.

Watch out! Don’t let Satan get any kind of foothold in your life. He is a liar and a thief and is pure evil. But he’s also cunning and crafty and we have to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” to thwart his efforts to damage us or our relationships with God and each other. So “put on the full armor” (prayer, scripture reading, healthy fellowship including seeking and offering forgiveness and making sure we don’t let petty issues divide us) and let’s keep building Jesus’ kingdom!

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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