News and Events

Nik’s Nook- April

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As I write this, the full signs of spring are upon

us. The temperature is up and the trees are beginning

to leaf out. Everything seems to be growing. To make

that last statement gives me pause for the moment.

Can we apply the realities of spring to the life of

the church and where we seek to be moving? I believe

that we can. We have recently had three additions to

our membership by transfer of membership. Prayer

triads have completed their work and some are

continuing as we seek to birth new small groups to give

new opportunities for fellowship and growth.

We will soon have a congregational

mission/vision statement that will begin to allow our

church leadership to move to the next step of

transition, the search process. To do that, the

Reverend Steve Bentley, Associate Regional Minister

will be invited to meet with our Board so that he can

fully help us understand the next steps of writing a

congregational profile and moving ahead to designate a

search committee.

Let me invite you to prayerfully consider whom

you might bring to church to introduce them to First

Christian. You are Christ’s ambassadors to share the

good news of his saving grace. You do that simply by

touching another’s life in friendship and fellowship.

Allow me to close by saying how much of a

delight it is to be your interim pastor.

With His Love,

Pastor Nik

Easter Photos

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Easter Sunday at FCC!

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Easter is a full morning at FCC

7:30 a.m. Sunrise Worship (outside if weather permitting)

9:00 a.m. continental breakfast in our Fellowship
Hall,the children will have an Easter
Egg Hunt, our Easter celebration of worship will be

10:00 a.m. our Easter celebration of worship will begin

Invite family, friends, and neighbors to join us

Nik’s Nook -March

 

Holy Week is almost upon us and with that come
a variety of activities and opportunities for special
worship. On Palm Sunday, we will celebrate the day
with the parade of the palms. I will be ending my
sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer by addressing the
fuller meaning of the petition, “Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil”. The title of my
message may seem odd at first, yet without giving too
much away how can we shout “Hosanna” in one breath
and then “Crucify Him” with the next. By the way, that
title is “Shall We Dance?” You will just have to be here
to get the full impact of what Jesus intended.
On Maundy Thursday, we will gather near the
front of the sanctuary to experience some of the
symbols of betrayal, denial, and crucifixion before we
join together to partake of the sacred emblems of that
last supper of remembrance that our Lord gave to us.
This will also be a service of Tenebrae as candles are
gradually extinguished during our worship.
Easter is a full morning starting with our 7:30
a.m. Sunrise Worship (outside if weather permitting),
followed by a continental breakfast in our Fellowship
Hall. At 9:00 a.m., the children will have an Easter
Egg Hunt, and our Easter celebration of worship will be
at 10:00 a.m.
Invite family, friends, and neighbors to join us
for our Holy Week activities.
With His Love,
Pastor Nik

Nik’s Nook, February

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Well, it seems that winter is upon us as much as I hoped it would be minimal this year. El Nino’s and the like don’t always pan out the way you expect when it comes to long-term weather conditions. Despite the snow and bitter cold, we have had some great Sundays recently. It was a great delight to have the Boy Scouts with us a week ago and to see them participate in worship in such a great way. My hats go off to the leaders and the Scouts themselves. While they were with us, they cleaned our Fellowship Hall and set up the tables for our Souper Bowl luncheon. Our Souper Sunday luncheon was a rousing success. We have a lot of great cooks at First Christian and there were just too many soups and chili’s to sample. Congratulations to our winners, 1st place to Martin Schaefer, 2nd place to John Otis, and 3rd place to Larry Steele I love the idea of voting with your pocketbook. What a great way to add to our Outreach offerings. Speaking of Outreach offerings, we kick off our Week of Compassion offering this week and next. If you were present in worship yesterday, you heard me tell of the way that Week of Compassion came to the aid of the people of Hebron, Ohio. This incident with the freak flood that swamped the parsonage basement and many member’s homes or vehicles on the street behind the church was greatly helped by nearly $10,000 from the Week of Compassion. You never know when your offerings might alleviate a disaster that might strike Middletown. Join us each Sunday as we continue to explore the petitions that Jesus taught us as a part of the Lord’s Prayer. With His Love, Pastor Nik

Souper Bowl Sunday!

Join us after Worship Sunday February 7th for the Super Bowl! Bring a Soup to share. Voting will be held for the best soup. Also remember your muffin tin so that you can sample all of the soups.

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Celebrate Scouting!

Join us Sunday February 7th at 10:00A.M. as we celebrating Scouting. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts from within our congregation as well as special guests Boy Scout Troop 29 will be participating in worship.

 

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Join Us Ash Wednsday!

Ash-Wednesday2Join us Ash Wednesday, as we start the season of Lent, Leading up to Easter!

 

We will have Ash Wednesday Service in the sanctuary.

Wednesday February 10th at 7:00p.m.

 

 

Nik’s Nook- January

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Our New Year is off to a good start. Our worship order has been tweaked just slightly to make it flow better. Worship leaders have been recruited to the end of the year. A coffee fellowship time has been started and will be held every other Sunday. Our first coffee fellowship was on Sunday, January 10th. A Souper Bowl fellowship will follow worship on Super Bowl Sunday, February 7th. This will replace the usual chili cook off. Also, on February 7th we will observe Scout Sunday with Scouts assuming various worship leadership responsibilities. Our ministry to the homeless called Shalom will be the week of February 14th. It is good to see a congregation involved in so many different ways. Yesterday, I helped to lead members of the congregation into the next step of transition as seek to discern God’s direction and mission for First Christian. I have invited members to join together in prayer triads. This can be three people, three couples, but I cautioned against having more than nine in a group. Each prayer triad will have some designated passages of scriptures to study, to pray about, and to carefully listen for what God might be saying regarding mission and vision in the months and years ahead. What gifts and strengths will you offer to God to accomplish his vision and mission? I need to know the participants of each prayer triad and who you have designated as your recorder. Begin to think about where you would like to see First Christian in the next seven to ten years. There are exciting days ahead of us. Your love and passion of our Lord will help to bring that excitement to fruition.

With His Love, Pastor Nik

An Elder Moment for January 2016

Happy New Year!
It has been a wonderful time of celebration around First Christian over the last several weeks. Thank you to everyone who helped with all the decorating and un-decorating of our sanctuary. All of those who shared their musical talents over the holidays added to the special moments in worship as we prepared for the birth of our Savior. Our youth presentation of the manger time was one of the best. Please continue to share those gifts throughout the year!
For the last 6 months the Elders have been serving as Worship Leader. This was not meant to keep anyone else in our church family from enjoying serving in this position, it was a step in the transition process that we are going through. I want to extend to any of you who would like to serve as worship leader to let Ginger Alley, Tina Yarber, Larry Steele, or Cliff Thompson know so that we can add you to the rotation. Please ask if you have questions about the details of this and what is expected.
The Elders will continue to visit with our special needs members and deliver communion and companionship. If you would like to join and Elder on these visits, just ask! We would be happy to have you join us as would our friends that we are visiting. Remember that if you have a hospital stay, or a family member that does, we are available for prayer and support during that time, BUT WE NEED TO KNOW. The hospital or rehab center will not reach out to us due to privacy laws. We do not want to ignore anyone or let anyone be neglected in a time of need.
With continued Joy from serving,
Your Elders

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)