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Newark Central - Church Cancelled
January 20, 2019
Worship + Serve + Grow

The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

~ Deuteronomy 33:27 (KJV)
The church parking lots are still at this time unplowed. Roads are mostly unplowed except for main arteries under about 5 inches of snow, with a layer of ice below that, and the temps have already dropped below where salt will work.

So, 8:30 & 10:30 & 2:00 pm Brookdale services are cancelled -- Please stay home, pray together from there, read something out of Joel (try chapter 2!), or any other book of the Bible and we will join together in worship next week. PLEASE BE SAFE!

Our pastor emeritus, Rick Rintamaa, extends an invitation for anyone at home who would like to worship with him and Sue at their son's church, where he's Music Director. That's at Central Christian in Lexington, and if you are wondering how to do that, their service is at 11:00 am and Rick says around 11 just watch for a link next to "Videos" or on their feed as a new "post" at that time on their Facebook page which you can reach (even if you're not a Facebook user on any browser, just ignore requests to start an account) -- what a lovely idea! Thank you, Sue & Rick for the idea & inspiration:

https://www.facebook.com/CentralChristianLex/

Be blessed today, and tomorrow with the commemoration of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sunday worship at 8:30 & 10:30 am,
      both services with Communion -- all are welcome in Christ's name to receive!

Our 8:30 worship is shorter, without children's message & choral anthem/special music . . .
  We also hold simple worship services every 1st Sunday at 2 pm for Altercare Newark South (Forry Ave. just off Union St. & Wehrle St.), & each 3rd Sunday at 2 pm at Brookdale on Goosepond Rd. We're also experimenting with a fourth Monday at 7 pm service called "FaithForward" held at Newark Central, and after Nov. 4 time change, a "SonLight" service on Wednesdays at 2 pm!

Welcome to worship & service with us!

If you come to join in worship & service with Newark Central, we welcome you because Jesus told us to expect visitors. The family of God is big, and we haven’t met everyone yet! You may be looking for a “church home,” a place where you and possibly your family can find the teaching and preaching and opportunities you seek to live out your faith.

As a church, we do have membership, but that's a step that comes after your faith commitment, which we believe is primarily between you and God.

We practice believer’s baptism, or adult baptism by immersion (there’s a big baptistery up behind the communion table in the sanctuary), and welcome baptism as practiced in any other Christian tradition if you’ve already had that faith experience. It is also an important part of who we are that you are invited to join us in communion, whether you are a member or not, of this or any other church: if you feel God calling you to share this meal of remembrance together with us, then you are welcome to participate.

Members are invited to serve in ministry leadership here, as part of the Diaconate -- “deacons & deaconesses” who gather the offerings and distribute communion -- and some are asked to consider being set apart by the congregation as an Elder, providing spiritual leadership at the Table, and with the pastor through the week. Both members and friends of the congregation have many other opportunities to serve on teams, working groups, and committees of church life.

Newark Central feels a very strong call from God to emphasize “mission” projects, which is how Christians see our service to others. God’s mission to transform the world, “on earth as it is in heaven”, is our mission. We model the love of God through acts of care and compassion. Our prayer is that this way of sharing God’s love, the “good news” which is the meaning of the word “Gospel” will demonstrate to a hurting world what God’s healing power looks like, and will serve as an invitation to jump in with us as we “get our hands dirty for Jesus.”

There’s the Medical Loan Closet out back open three days a week, the East End Food Pantry we support through the market basket in the narthex, the Mission Team which builds ramps in Licking County through the year, and at least once a year goes somewhere outside of Ohio with a group of a dozen or more. We partner with our friends at Moss Point Christian Church in Mississippi on these adventures, from Kansas to Alabama . . . and who knows where God will send us this year? (That's a rhetorical question: they're going to New Orleans in October!)

We hope you are blessed in your faith journey in whatever time you spend with Newark Central and our church family, and if there’s anything we can do alongside you, from prayer to carpentry to singing about God’s transforming love, just let any of us know! Whenever God sends a question, we’ve found that the answer is usually already somewhere nearby.

Grace and peace to you!