January 26 - March 16
If you had no fear of failure, what would you attempt for God?
When your life is done and you stand before the Lord,what would you like to lay at your Master's feet?
Whether you are 5, 25, 65, or 95 we all have hopes and dreams. But I ask you, where are yours right now? In a closet hiding on a dusty shelf? On a back burner with an empty and rusty gas bottle? Shattered like crystal across the kitchen floor? Floundering in murky water, on the brink of drowning? Dreams, vision, hope. We all have had them, we all need them.
God is a God of vision and hope. He never gives up- on Himself or you. The dreams He has planted in your heart are there for a reason. He can resurrect them, restore them, and bring them to fruition. Interested in giving God the opportunity? Its a little scary but thats OK. Taking godly risks builds faith, and adventurous faith results in God-given miracles.
You are invited to come along with us on the Fifty-Day Spiritual Adventure: Daring to Dream Again, Overcoming Barriers that Hold You Back. Beginning this coming Sunday, January 26, we will study 8 different biblical personalities and see how each overcame incredible odds and broke through immense barriers that could have kept them from embracing the dreams and hopes God called them to. In studying these biblical examples we will learn how to leave our frustrations and failures behind us, renew our vision and hope, trust God again, and daily live new and dream-driven lives. Sound too good to be true? Its not, if youre willing to daily invest in reading Gods Word, pray hard, work through the challenges raised in your journal, and take purposeful action steps to overcome the barriers. Heres who and what well be looking at:
Week of Jan. 26- Gideon in Judges 6. Let God heal your painful past. Its too easy to dwell on past negatives, so lets learn how to get past that barrier and take action by adopting a new, healthy identity in Christ.
Feb. 2- David in 1 Samuel 24. Discover Gods present involvement in your life. Avoid the mistake of assuming that God isnt interested in you todayright now, and lets take action by going on a daily God hunt.
Feb. 9- Judas in John 12 and Matthew 26. Avoid the painful mistake of self-centered goals and establish godly goals for your future.
Feb. 16- Hannah in 1 Samuel 1. Empower everything you do for God with prayer. Prayer is the hardest, yet the greatest work youll ever do. Take action by personalizing the Dare to Dream Again prayer.
Feb. 23- Peter in Acts 10. Confront your ungodly prejudices and release mental bondages. Take action by widening your circle of friends.
Mar. 2- Jonah in Jonah 3-4. Identify with Gods heart for the world and take action by becoming a world-class Christian. How to develop a harvest mindset.
Mar. 9- Mary in Luke 1,2 and John 19. Move with God beyond your comfort zones, stop playing it safe . . . and go for the gulp.
Mar.16- Jesus in John 20. Believe that with God all things are possible and dare to dream again. Focusing on the negatives can bring you to unbelief. Let Jesus set you free from that.
Heres what you can do to participate. Remember, the more you put into it, the more you will get out. 1. Work with the journal every day. 2. Read the adventure guidebook, a small paperback by David Mains called Never Too Late to Dream. Each chapter addresses a weekly theme. 3. Participate in one of three weekly small groups- Sunday mornings adult class led by Joe Charleman at 9:15; Wednesday nights small group discussion after the Alpha dinner, led by Ed Weinberg. Come for dinner at 6:30! Wednesday mornings young mens Bible study at the Ramapo Forum Diner, 6:45. Pastor Allen and group members will lead. 4. Come to worship on Sunday mornings at 10:30! Cost of books and journals is $5 each, $20 maximum per family. Pick one up at church or call the office.
50 Day Adventure Starbucks Challenge
Anyone up to it, anyone bold enough and brave enough is challenged: complete 95% of your journal, read all of the guidebook (David Mains paperback), participate in a small group each week, and come to church each week (one absence allowed), and Pastor Allen will treat you to a gourmet coffee at Starbucks.
Children and Youth
Camp Adventure is our 50 Day Adventure theme for the children. The weekly themes will track with the adults but are put on their level of understanding. Children and youth will be given journals as part of their Sunday School program. (Those able to pay the cost of $5 for each book are encouraged to do so). Each day kids and parents are encouraged to do the lesson in their journal at home and discuss the topics as a family. Special incentives are being offered for the kids, too: complete your journal at home and attend Sunday school each week and you will get to go bowling- possibly cosmic or night bowling for the youth and a daytime trip for the children.
SPCs 100th Anniversary weekend June 7-8
Calling on the class of 1903! You and everyone after you are invited to a reunion of reunions. Spend a weekend with old friends and make some new ones at SPCs Centennial, our 100th anniversary! A covered dish dinner to cap all covered dish dinners will be served up on Saturday night, June 7, and well have a great worship service with loved ones on Sunday morning. Rev. Bob Shannon, our pastor from 1982-1988, will speak.
We need your help! We want to send notices to as many moved away members and former members as we can. If you have contact with anyone not listed in our current phone directory, please snail mail, email, or call in their name and address right away so we can notify them of the upcoming date and plans.
Also, we will be making a memory book for the occasion. Please let us borrow your photos from the past. We will scan them and return them to you right away. Please get them to us now so we have time to produce a really good book.
Young Life WinterCamp weekends at Lake Champion are coming up. Save the dates, send in a $25.00 deposit.
Senior High: January 24-26 (deposits due immediately)
Junior High (Middle School): March 7-9 (deposits due Feb. 15).
Alpha Celebration Supper Wed., Jan. 22
Come on the Alpha Course, so they say in England. What is Alpha about? Its about dinner with friends, new and old; some good singing; funny jokes (and thats a promise); an intriguing video talk by Englands newest rave, Nicky Gumble; delicious desserts; open discussion where everyone is loved and accepted.
Lots of us have been blessed in Alpha. Lets share the blessing and bring a friend to the Celebration Supper on Jan 22. Alpha grads can join the 50 Day Adventure group and newcomers can take the Alpha course. Remember, this is the last Alpha until September.
New Members and Inquirers Meetings
Young adults (senior high and college age) along with other adults are invited to come to the Kemps home for three Sundays in March to discuss what it means to be a member of Suffern Presbyterian Church. Well have dinner together and then have each group meet for teaching and discussion. Dinner will be at 5 pm and well meet on March 16, 23, 30.
Young Life in Suffern
We are still pursuing bringing Young Lifes ministry to Suffern. Please pray for Gods provision of 1. The right staff person. 2. A group of 8-12 committed adults who will serve as the steering committee to help launch the ministry. We need adults with a heart for youth and a vision for churches to break down denominational barriers, and come together in prayer, and reach our kids at Suffern Middle and Suffern High with the Gospel. 3. Finances and housing. We have significant seed money and can start this ministry up soon. So please pray for adult volunteers and Gods anointed full-time staff person. Please call the church office if you know of Christians who may wish to help get this ministry going.
A New Name
Looking back with gratitude for the last hundred years and looking forward with hope and vision for the next hundred years, the elders have been sensing God wants a new name for our church. Over the last three years Session has discussed ideas for a name that expresses who we are as a worshipping community and what we believe as Christians, a name that will tell our community who we are as a church. We wanted something relevant, Biblical, meaningful, and that honors Jesus. Unfortunately the word Presbyterian just isnt in most peoples vocabulary anymore. If we polled even our own membership, probably less than half of us could accurately define the word. How much less for the community at large which we are trying to reach with the Gospel?
Last fall Session decided to present to the congregation Living Hope Church. We sense this a good expression of who we are. Its Biblical (1 Peter 1:3), the words are relevant and clear, and the name expresses our mission to tell people about Jesus who is our Living Hope.
We would like to hear from you about this. What do you think? How does this sound? We will still legally be Suffern Presbyterian Church and we will still be in the PC(USA), we would just be doing business as Living Hope Church. Please speak to an elder or call the church if you have some ideas you want to share. Come to the annual meeting on January 26 and we can discuss this in detail.
Sat. March 1 Talent & Services Auction with dinner at 6:00pm.
Wed. March 5 Ash Wednesday Service, 7:30pm (no Alpha).
Fri.-Sun. March 7-9 Middle School Lake Champion trip.
Fri.-Sat. March 14-15 Alpha weekend away.
Sun. March 16, 23, 30 Visitors and inquirers dinners @ Kemps, 5pm.
Sun. March 23 Imperial Brass Band Concert at SPC, 7pm.
Sat. March 29 Cumberland Quartet Concert at 7:30pm and all church dinner at 6:00pm.
Fri.-Sun. April 4-6 SPC Dunamis Conference weekend with Brad Long teaching on Healing.
Sun. April 13 Palm Sunday.
Sun. April 20 Easter.
