Worship and Nurture Committee

Adult Education & Discipleship Ministry Team 2006

As part of the vision for establishing Ministry Teams rather than committees, Adult Education and Discipleship was spun off from the former Worship & Nurture Committee. Though few in number (Linda Schmidt, Ed and Lee Ann Weinberg have been involved so far) the Ministry Team is privileged to have oversight of the adult Sunday classes and mid-week small groups as well as for the arrangement of occasional seminars during the year. Please consider getting involved in this vital ministry on the next Ministry Team meeting night … Wednesday, February 7 at 7:30pm in the Pastors’ Study. (Dinner is provided at 6:30.)

At “visioning” meetings in April, a few goals were initially established:

1. to annually offer two or three seminars or special, short educational series

2. to annually offer (in conjunction with the Community Outreach Ministry Team) at least one study series or

seminar that might be attractive to non-believers

3. our Big Hairy Audacious Goal … to ultimately have half of the adults in the church regularly attending either

a Sunday class or mid-week small group

Special events and weekends: March: twenty-some SPC ladies laughed and cried their way through a weekend away in the Poconos arranged by Laurie Mouacdie. “Heart Spa” was the theme led by Pastor Debbie in which an extended study of the story Jesus and the woman at the well was intermixed with “spa” treatments the ladies provided for each other. April: Kristin Johnson, Executive Director of OneByOne Ministries, provided a half-day seminar attended by SPC members and people from other churches highlighting God’s intention for sexual wholeness with a discussion of sexual conflict, the transformation process, preventing homosexuality in children, sexual addiction and abuse and reaching out to adult children in the gay lifestyle. Ms. Johnson shared her personal testimony and offered a message of encouragement to the Church during the Sunday morning worship service. May: SPC hosted the final PRMI Dunamis Project workshop for churches in the northeast region, “Evangelism in the Local Church”. In a series of messages over the course of the weekend, the Rev. Dr. Tom Swieringa challenged the assembled group to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and draw on the example Jesus set in reaching out with the love of God to those people placed in our path every day. September: our Wednesday night program kicked off with a two-night personal financial management seminar based on biblical principles led by Christian financial planner, Ms. Kerry Kirk.

New for 2007: interest has been expressed in developing a women’s discussion group similar to the men’s group that meets on the first and third Saturday mornings of each month. Please get in touch with Linda Sukenik if you might be interested as they look for a workable meeting day/night, time and frequency.

Rick Shaffstall led the Sunday morning adult class the first half of the year in a study and discussion begun in fall ‘05, “The Divine Humanity of Christ: how Jesus was like us; how like Him we need to be”. In the fall the Sunday class took a new direction for the 06-07 school year with the discussion series, “S.A.L.T.: Seven Areas of Life Training”, helping participants learn how to live victoriously in seven areas of life. With discussions led by Ed Weinberg and Rick Shaffstall, each topic is covered in four or five sessions so that no one has to make a long-term commitment to be involved. Give the class a try beginning February 4 with the new topic, “Social: enjoying dynamic relationships that once seemed impossible” dealing with rejection, judging others, forgiveness and loving others.

There were two Wednesday evening small groups in the spring. A number of adults completed Francis Frangipane’s 26 week course, “In Christ’s Image” begun in fall ’05. The small group Bible study tackled three 8-week studies. January: “Why We Believe What We Believe” as Christians in a world that has come to question and re-examine many beliefs and attitudes that were once taken for granted. March: “Ignite: Refining and Purifying Your Faith” … God doesn’t want us sitting on the sidelines when it comes to our faith, but wants us to have a passion to serve Him completely. May: “Fatal Distractions” examining the areas of sin that often still plague us as Christ-followers and how God can strengthen and mature us to become more sin-resistant and be overcomers. October: Just Walk Across the Room … a study that coincided with the pastors’ Sunday messages based on Bill Hybels’ book. The challenge: to realize that pointing people to the God who created them, loves them and has a purpose for their lives is something all of us can do. Consider joining the group meeting on Wednesdays from 7:30-9:00pm through Easter as Pastor Allen teaches a fascinating course on Revelation in the Memorial Chapel.

In His service, Lee Ann Weinberg

The Worship & Nurture Committee Report

The year 2005 was a busy one for the Worship & Nurture Committee. Current committee members include: Janet Marsalisi, Laurie Mouacdie, Peggy DeKramer, Pastor Debbie Kemp, and Victoria Shaw.

In January we kicked off another round of the Alpha Course with a Celebration Supper. We sincerely appreciate Joan Cox and all the volunteers she coordinated to provide dinner for everyone all those weeks. Peter Moore began a 6-week workshop on dreams—the importance of them and how God speaks to us through them. Another Wednesday night small group studied some of the more prominent people from the book of Genesis.

The Inner Healing Team continued to meet until the beginning of June. Although not currently meeting on a regular basis, the team is always available for ministry. Interested parties simply need to contact Pastor Debbie.

In April Rev. Brad Long came to present the fifth installment of the Dunamis series: Spiritual Warfare. The weekend was preceded by a 24-hour prayer vigil; and a team of prayer warriors climbed Torne Mountain to intercede for our community. Church dinners both Friday and Saturday nights afforded extra fellowship opportunities. The weekend was attended by SPC congregants as well as those from other churches. As usual, the “lectures” were informative, interesting, scripturally sound, and edifying. The Holy Spirit ministered to many people during the time periods designated for prayer.

Our Pentecost celebration in May was quite special as we had liturgical dancing, special music and banners. Artist Judy Rogers came and painted a picture as she was led by the Holy Spirit. This unique painting is hanging in the Wissler Room.

In November, Rev. Jim Logan returned to SPC for another Spirit-filled weekend conference. He taught about the “life cycle” of the maturing Christian (Growing Things Change) and the importance of allowing God to keep it going. The times of prayer ministry were very powerful.

The Advent season had an extra element of excitement this year. The pastors took advantage of the release of the feature film, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by incorporating lessons from that book into the readings and sermons and tying them together with Scriptural truths.

The month of December was filled with traditional SPC happenings: the Progressive Dinner, the Christmas Cantata, and the Youth Musical. SPC singers (adults and youth) participated in a multi-church Christmas musical event at the Palisades Mall. The Christmas Eve candlelight service was followed by a time of fellowship. We celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ with an informal, intimate Christmas Day service. Congregants selected a variety of favorite Christmas hymns and time was spent in corporate prayer.

In an effort “To Know Christ and Make Him Known,” Suffern Presbyterian Church continues to offer courses for adults on Wednesday nights that challenge, educate and enrich believers and seekers from our church and the surrounding community:

-- Study of Luke – a follow-up to the Alpha Course (May-September 2005)

-- “Tri-God” – (September-December 2005) the purpose was to help people gain a better understanding of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

-- “In Christ’s Image” Training – the purpose, as the name implies, is to help people become more Christ-like. (September 2005-April 2006)

-- “The Christian in the Post-Modern World” – (January-March) a study on why we believe what we believe in a world that has come to question many beliefs and attitudes once taken for granted

We are blessed to have faithful teachers and “meaty” subjects for adult Sunday School:

-- PRMI’s Spiritual Gifts curriculum was taught by Ed Weinberg (winter/spring)

-- “The Divine Humanity of Christ” was taught by Rick Shaffstall (fall)

The Saturday morning men’s group continues to meet twice a month. One of the weekly Wednesday morning men’s groups is “on hold” until after the In Christ’s Image class ends due to the extra time commitment required to read 2 chapters of material and listen to an hour-long CD message each week (in addition to the Wednesday discussion group). However, the men’s group meeting Wednesday mornings at Dr. Cox’s office continues its stimulating discussions.

And where would we be without the faithful warriors of the Wedndesay Intercessory Prayer group? They meet consistently week after week to keep us all covered in prayer and bring our requests before the Lord.

An equally faithful and vital servant of the body is our Music Minister, Karen Shaffstall. God inhabits the praises of His people and we rely upon her faithful obedience to the Lord to select music for the Choir and the Praise Team that will glorify our God and help usher us into His presence.

We are in awe of God and His grace and power to keep this congregation growing. This year we celebrated the baptism of one adult and two babies, and we welcomed 11 new members!

As we review the events of the past year, our hearts are filled with gratitude to all the people who so willingly helped us serve our church family. Plenty of hard-working volunteers came to help EVERY time we called. Successful events and programs require a lot of work behind the scenes if they are to be a blessing to others. Thank you everyone! We sincerely appreciate how generously you gave of your time, talents and energy to the body of Christ.

Janet Marsalisi, Chairperson