Weekly Visitor Online Edition
Decatur-Trinity Christian Church 2449 Altruria, Bartlett TN
38134R. Scott Pricer, Sr. Minister
www.decaturtrinity.org901/388-4511 FAX 901/388-1049
|
August 21, 2001 |
From
the time I was a child growing up in the Church I can remember the congregation
singing a song written by Fanny J. Crosby titled "Redeemed."
I know those words by heart and I hope you do as well. "Redeemed-how
I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed thro' His
infinite mercy, His child, and forever, I am."
That is a story that appears to have become more distant from our
thoughts these days. Richard Hamm
in his book 2020 Vision reminds us
all that "The core of revitalization is recommitment to the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the story of redemption." He
quotes Paul who says: "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,
not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of
reconciliation to us. So we are
ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us."
Hamm's point is that we as God's people have largely
forgotten that it is through the power of redemption that we are made whole.
For many of us, we begin to think that Church is a nice place to be, if
there isn't something else that needs to be done and it certainly is a place
where others need to be. But we
have lost the sense that we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
The excitement that we, as sinful men and women have been forgiven, is no
longer present. The urge to tell
others about the saving grace of God is a story that the Church is forgetting to
tell. As Hamm again reminds us:
"…God has called the church to both be and do the gospel of Jesus
Christ." Somewhere during the
past 50 years the Church has lost its vision of winning the world to Christ.
We have forgotten what the Church is about and have devoted too much of
our energies to feeding the membership rather than reaching out to a community
that still needs to hear the gospel.
The
scriptures are about men and women's lives that have been transformed by the
power of the gospel. It isn't about
people who thought that what they hear was nice and that if they had time they
would give more thought to what was said. Somehow
there needs to be an urgency put back into our gatherings that we are commanded
to reach out and tell others about the good news of Jesus Christ.
This is the only way that Decatur Trinity Christian Church is going to
see significant growth. But we must
first sense the wonderful feeling that Fanny J. Crosby must have felt when she
wrote "Redeemed how I love to proclaim it!"
See
you all this Sunday for another Lord's Day experience.
Your
Pastor
FALL SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN LEARNING
Grab the excitement of Wednesday evenings this fall at DTCC! Enjoy the $5 catered meal at 6 p.m. followed by a variety of interest groups from 6:30 – 7:30. YOU choose what interests YOU! THE FALL SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN LEARNING begins Wednesday, September 5 and completes 12 weeks later on November 28. An insert in next Sunday’s bulletin will give a better description of each group. Only the four topics of greatest interest will be included this first semester. Come Sunday and choose your area of interest. Your input counts! Possibilities for Wednesday night study groups include the following.
· GRIEF SUPPORT (for those struggling to overcome the pain of loss either from death or divorce)
· REACHING OUT FOR JESUS (how can we share our faith in the workplace or at school in a loving, non-judgmental way?)
· HOPE – EVEN IN DYING (learning ways to support terminally ill friends and family
· HELP? I’M ON THE EDGE OF CRAZY (Christian parenting skills for the desperate)
· HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE (a 12 week overview to jump-start your Bible study)
· MORE MONTH THAN MONEY (learning how to stretch those dollars – money management from a Christian perspective)
· DISCIPLE IDENTITY (from past to present and future, who are the Disciples of Christ? Introduction to our denomination’s beliefs and strengths)
· JUST A LITTLE TALK WITH JESUS (you aren’t interested in a class? How about a time of prayer and praise? This will be a quiet time in the middle of the week to take our prayer requests straight up to God’s throne.)
Interest groups are open to all ages from CYF and up. Info on Children’s programming will be shared next week! THE FALL SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN LEARNING is a new idea for our church. Please plan on joining us and sharing in the excitement!
Lem Gorden -- Methodist Central
Ray Payne – surgery Thursday at Baptist East.
Don Morris – additional tests this week.
Bessie James.
Mary Beth Esgro.
We extend our Christian love and sympathy to the family of Mary Elizabeth Acred who died early Friday morning. Graveside service was Monday.