Three New Things Happening at Zion

What’s Happening at Zion:  Three New Things

Wanted to draw your attention to three new things we’re involved with this year.

1.)  Marriage Class:  How Do We Think?  Men, Women and Marriag
Everyone agrees that men and women just think differently-right? Emotions and decision making are part of a marriage-right? Know any “Christian” marriages that have grown apart?

Join Dr. Richard Newkirk as he presents an overview of just how the brain impacts our thought process - both men and women. Dr. Newkirk will discuss some of the common problems experienced in marriage as well as the importance of encouragement and communication. Learn how to keep your current or upcoming marriage strong and vibrant. This class is for all (not just those married) who desire to learn more about healthy relationships.

Dates: Sept. 12  and 19 2012
Time: 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.
Cost: None
Presenter: Dr. Richard Newkirk

We started this class last week on September 5.  The feedback has been amazing.  As a church we hope to offer more to our community about how to have a healthy, successful marriage.  When I think about what would really impact our community for good, strong marriages top the list.  Strong marriages produce healthy families and healthy families make our whole society better.  Feel free to come to the last two sessions.  You are most welcome.  

2.)  58: The Film

Coming to Zion September 23

5:00 potluck dinner, 6:00 showing

I’m really excited about showing you this film.  It shows followers of Jesus all over the world doing things that impact their communities for good.  I’m particularly fascinated by the suggestion that we could end extreme poverty globally in this generation.  When I see the how much the participation of the church in the AIDS crisis has done, I really do believe that this idea is more than pie in the sky.  Come and see the movie and find out.  

Here’s the promo information:  

58: THE FILM is the inspiring true story of the global Church in action. Witness bravery and determined faith in a journey from the slums of Kenya to the streets of
New York. Confront the brutality of extreme poverty and meet those who live out the True Fast of Isaiah 58 and create stunning new possibilities for the future.

Travel from the sun-scorched plains of rural Ethiopia to British shopping centers, from Brazilian ganglands and the enslaving quarries of India to western churches, businesses and conferences.

58: invites audiences to discover the incredible work of God through His people in our hurting world. Meet ordinary people, hear their stories, and see their struggles and their victories as 58: shows the relentlessly loving God at work through His Church bringing hope to the darkest challenges of our day. Experience eye-opening reasons to lift our expectations of the future.

Woven with Biblical truth, this film draws audiences into life-changing examples of the True Fast of Isaiah 58 - a young British woman prevailing over the pressures of consumer society, Ethiopian Christians working to restore their environment, an American business owner promoting Fair Trade coffee and connecting his local community with the work of ending poverty, a local pastor in India working to be a Good Samaritan to those enslaved by bonded labor, and the sacrificial generosity of New York youth giving up their own food for the sake of those with even less.
These impatient revolutionaries and ordinary prophets present viewers with an empowering vision of the Church rising up to its remarkable potential to end extreme poverty, by bringing God's words through Isaiah to life in our time, in our day.

3.)  Unpacking Atheism Seminar/Webcast

Coming to Zion October 14th at 6:00 p.m. 

Increasingly, our own neighborhood is becoming the mission field.  The days of counting on people to at least know their Bible stories or even what a church does are gone.  We need to train our congregations to be able to engage the world and people around them.  And increasingly, this means training them how to respond to those who believe there is no God.  I really hope that you’ll attend this seminar and that if you have teenagers, you’ll bring them along also.

Here’s the promo:

Join us as Lee Strobel, Mark Mittelberg and William Lane Craig as they offer a balanced and accurate assessment of Atheism through their own personal experience, interviews, and the riveting stories of Atheists that have converted to Christianity.

What could be more important than arming your congregation with clear and compelling answers to the questions of our times?

Atheism is on the rise! If you haven't been confronted by it, you will be! 

Your children are already being challenged by it. Here are some sobering facts:

• 1 in 4 Americans under 30 now describe their religion as “atheist,” “agnostic,” or “nothing in particular”

• young people are dropping out of church at 5-6 times the historic rate, often because of intellectual doubts

• books by the New Atheists have gone mainstream, many becoming international bestsellers

Even if you and your church have not yet run into militant atheism head-on, the effects of it are seeping into our culture and, increasingly, into the church. We must confront this challenge! We need to be ready — and help our church members become ready — to not only “give an answer” (1 Pet. 3:15), but also to “take every thought captive” for Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).