Upcoming Services

This Sunday - February 21, 2010

AM: Women’s Choral sings, the Lord’s Supper is celebrated -- It is good to prepare ourselves. Please take this week to examine your faith and life, confess your sins to God, and work on a closer relationship with him. Pastor Phil’s sermon is entitled “Communion is Forgiveness” and the scripture is: Luke 23:34 & Matthew 26:27-29.
PM: For part two of Pastor Phil’s sermon messages on NOAH, you can prepare by reading Genesis 8-10.

The people of Fellowship are committed to being...

a community...
Through worship and fellowship we glorify God in such a way that all may experience the excitement of Christ's presence. As a worshiping community, we will fellowship with joyful celebration and responsive involvement.
of caring Christians sharing God's love...
We will witness to and serve the community by caring for people as they are, starting with their needs as individuals. We will encourage each other to grow and walk with each other throughout our lives together.
and the good news of Jesus Christ!
Fellowship Church consists of people who come and invite others to experience and celebrate the Good News of Jesus Christ. We strive to be a community where people respond to Christ in faith, hope, and love.

Fellowship will develop the congregation and its ministry to become a more outreaching, caring, and discipling congregation with a heart for lost and hurting people at home and elsewhere.

Announcements

The Season of Lent

The Season of Lent begins this week on Ash Wednesday. During Lent, people around the world come together in remembrance, celebration, and response to the story of Christ with the desire to be changed not just for a season, but also for the rest of our lives. The ashes are a sign of repentance, dating back to the Old Testament when King David shed his regal clothes for sackcloth and ashes as a sign of repentance and mourning. The Lenten season falls for 40 days before Easter and doesn’t include Sundays which are days of celebration and not penance.

“During Lent, Christians are encouraged to focus their energy on three disciplines: prayer, fasting and almsgiving (sharing our gifts with the poor). The extra time spent praying during Lent can lead us closer to God. During Lent we are encouraged to focus our prayer on the places in our lives and in our world that need improvement. Our fasting isn’t about denying ourselves as a sort of punishment, and it isn’t even about food. We fast from television, food, video games, computers, and other simple everyday indulgences so we can literally hunger for God. Our fasting also puts us in touch with those whose hunger is never filled because they live in poverty. Finally, our praying and fasting lead us to action.”
—Tony Alonso, Return to the Lord: Praying and Living Lent

Upcoming Worship Services in Lent & Easter
1st Sunday in Lent - Feb 21 AM: Women’s Choral sings, the Lord’s Supper is celebrated -- It is good to prepare ourselves. Please take this week to examine your faith and life, confess your sins to God, and work on a closer relationship with him. Pastor Phil’s sermon is entitled “Communion is Forgiveness” and the scripture is: Luke 23:34 & Matthew 26:27-29.
February 21 PM: For part two of Pastor Phil’s sermon messages on NOAH, you can prepare by reading Genesis 8-10.
2nd Sunday in Lent - Feb 28 AM Choir sings
3rd Sunday in Lent - March 7 AM: Praise Band leads singing in morning worship, Stewardship message PM: Concert of Prayer in the evening worship
4th Sunday in Lent - March 14 AM: Choir sings, Scott Elgersma will preach in the morning ~ Pastor Phil will be here as the Dreams & Promises pledges are collected. PM: Pastor Darrin Compagner will preach in the evening
5th Sunday in Lent - March 21 AM: Women’s Choral sings
6th Sunday in Lent - March 28 AM: Palm Sunday
Maundy Thursday - April 1 7 PM: Tenebrae Service with the Lord’s Supper
Easter -
April 4		 Easter Sunrise service at 8 AM. Praise Band will participate. A Continental Breakfast will be served from 8:45 to 9:30 followed by a 9:45 AM worship.

Haiti

On January 12, 2010, the country of Haiti was struck by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. The capital city, Port-au-Prince, has been devastated and there is widespread damage throughout the country. The Christian Reformed Church has been working in Haiti for more than 30 years. Our ministries and partner organizations work collaboratively under the name Sous Eswpa (Source of Hope). The Christian Reformed Church of North America has set up a website where donations are being accepted at www.crcna.org/Haiti. Please consider giving what you can to help the citizens of Haiti. More information about Haiti and the work being done by the CRC is also available on the website.

Flu season:

The flu season is upon us and in order to preserve the health of the congregation, the administration council has asked for your cooperation in a few health-preserving tips:

  1. If you are sick, we ask that you stay home; we understand the desire to share in worship, but we have members of our church who can really have detrimental effects from the flu.
  2. Shortly, you will notice hand sanitizer throughout the church. We encourage you to use it. This will especially be encouraged upon entering and leaving the nursery.
  3. You have already noticed that the communion bread will be prepped in a way to require less handling.
  4. Cover your cough! If you do have that rattle in your throat, please cough into your elbow or a tissue, and then use sanitizer. Please try to avoid coughing into your hands.
  5. Lastly, we reserve the right of those staffing nursery to turn children away if they appear to be sick.

The flu season comes every year, but as many see in the news, this is a slightly different year. Many churches are restricting communion and welcoming handshakes. We didn’t want to do this; but at the same time, we wanted to encourage practices that will keep our church healthy. If there are any concerns, please direct them to the admin board.