May 2012 Newsletter 

Greetings!

Flowers blooming, leaves returning, and people outside are signs of Spring, which reminds us to reflect on the triumph and new life of Easter. We also celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit to bring us together as a church. Faith is best expressed as we worship, serve, care, and share in the good news of Jesus together. We support each other (like bricks in a building). We work together (like systems in the body),  and we are deeply connected because we mingle our plans and goals with the unity we have in Christ. As we encourage one another in faith, remember that we don't go to church, we are the church! Our charge as God's people is to be involved in the loving care of one another for spiritual support, correction, and guidance. God uses his church (one another) in this process of maturation.

We need each other. This interdependence is achieved as we deepen our connections with each other. Often our work, responsibilities, and hobbies battle against this command to be in each others life. It can be inconvenient or even scary to trust God to realign our priorities when it comes to people in our church, but this path to deeper love and commitment blazes the light of the gospel in a world darkened by the lie of self sufficiency and dimmed by frantic, over-scheduled loneliness. Inviting someone new for lunch after church, participating in different service days, volunteering in different areas throughout our church are all ways to get connected and to commit to the spiritual growth of brothers and sisters in our church.  

Throughout the month of May we will again be taking sign ups for those interested in joining a new small group. This is another practical way to build deeper Christian connections into your life. I hope as you read through this newsletter and think of all the different aspects of our church life, that you will pray for a deep love for our church, and a closer connection with other believers. This will encourage your faith, bolster your hope, expand your love, and lead to maximal joy in our worship together.

Pastor Kevin

Youth Pastor  

Kevin Baird    

Capital Campaign Update

Last September, when FCCH announced completion of the Fellowship Foyer with the new Welcome Center installed, it seemed there was no money left over in our campaign coffers to address the next phases of the building program: the Lower Level children's space and a new Chapel and Prayer Room on the second floor. Yet, here we are on May 1, with the classrooms and Prayer Room complete and in use, and the Chapel carpeted and ready for use in its "interim" state with furnishings in process. Your generosity, guided by God's provision, supplied the additional funding needed to continue the remarkable progress on our building renovations, all without incurring any long-term debt! The Chapel is another example of flexible, usable space designed to accommodate as many needs as possible, and we eagerly await its completion and dedication to the Lord's work.

We are now seeking donations toward the $90,000 needed to complete the remainder of the Chapel and Prayer Room phase: moving the stained glass windows into back-lit frames in the Chapel interior, and replacing all Sanctuary windows with meetinghouse style, period-appropriate clear glass windows. This is the last possible sub-phase before tackling the final Sanctuary renovation. We know how God has provided for us every step along the way, and we are confident that He will continue to bless this project through your prayers and sacrificial giving to Him through For Such A Time As This. Thank you for your prayers and participation to complete the Chapel interior and Sanctuary windows this summer!

Sincerely in Christ,

The Vision Team

Feel free to contact your campaign co-chairs with any question:

Phil Best:bestpa@msn.com or Doug Birdsall:doug.birdsall@lausanne.org 

Along the Way

Reflections on faith and life from members of our church family 

As I emerged from the childhood umbrella of my parents and began to own my faith on a personal level, the work that God was doing in me was so transforming that I soon desired that all those around should have the same experience; they too should be Christians. As I stepped forward to become a co-laborer with God, I did as all great heroes that I had seen do: I went through a grueling training montage, searched deep within myself during hard times, picked myself up, grabbed my weapon, scripture, and emerged into the clearing with epic music accompanying me, ready to take on a whole army single handed. It was Christ and I that would save this world. Rambo, Batman, Rocky, and Zorro had nothing on me.

To an extent victory was had. Several of those friends I had I managed to bowl over said the sinners prayer and became Christians. Following their prayer, I then picked up their bowed heads and said in a deep tone, "It's between you and God now. Go. Read. Pray. Worship. Become like Christ." Even as I heard their insistence for help on this new journey, I held the party line that Christianity is a personal pursuit and all that you need, God will provide. We were protestants, a priesthood of all believers; able and commanded to read and interpret the only real thing needed for spiritual formation-scripture. My understanding of Christianity was a product of two forces: 1) the scriptural

The Niermann Family

understanding that God calls us back into right relationship with him by accepting the sacrificial work of his Son, and 2) a mandate from culture, both Christian and secular, that the means and pursuit of spiritual formation were strictly a personal endeavor. For years, this idea of religious individualism was standard operating procedure. And why should I have thought differently? Both those in my personal sphere and those in the Christian community at large lived this way. Yet, as I pursued scriptural teachings during my personal quite time, I found a much different picture of the necessity of community within spiritual formation.  

The process of spiritual formation is such that we re-tune our lives via God's regenerative work back to his intention for us. However, unlike religious individualism of our day, this intention includes restoring and returning to a right relationship with God AND also includes a restoration of our relationship with others. If we look beyond individual salvation as the complete end goal of Christianity, and take into account the whole perview of scripture we find that the epic history of salvation unfolds the restoration of community between God and humanity, and between the individual and the rest of human society. Genesis 1-3 and Revelation 21-22 frame this history of redemption, in the contrast between paradise lost and paradise restored. Parallels between Genesis 1-3 and Revelation 21-22 reveal that the formation of a redeemed community is at the heart of God's plan.

So as we move in the following weeks to greet new members to the church, let us seek to go beyond saying, "Hi". Instead, let us view these new members with an understanding that the process of bringing them into community is a vignette of God's master work, a work of redemption for the church; a work of redemption for the world; and God's provision for a work of redemption in each of our personal lives. To that we say, "Rejoice and Amen".

Matthew

Matthew Niermann 

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This FCCH Newsletter is e-mailed on a monthly basis. If you would like to submit information for inclusion in the next edition, please e-mail Cece Gough at cmgough@fcchamilton.org.