Announcements - March 18, 2018

Updated Church Directory Submissions Due Today: Take a moment today to email any updated contact info or picture to Melissa Johnson at mmjohnson512@gmail.com. She will take your picture after the service if you like.

Good Friday and Easter Sunday Services: Our Good Friday service will be March 30 at 6:00 p.m. Easter morning service on April 1 will be at 9:00 a.m. We will not have an Agape Meal in April.

Backyard Bible Clubs Training Meeting Thursday March 29 at 7 p.m.: Are you interested in participating in a Backyard Bible Club this Summer? Hosting? Helping? Teaching? If any or all of these is something that interests you, come to the planning meeting on Thursday, March 29 at the church office. This meeting will not obligate you to a club but it will equip you to begin planning for one.

All-Church Prayer Meeting Wednesday April 11: Join us for a time of corporate prayer at 6:30 p.m. at the Handke Center. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him (1 John 5:14-15). All are welcome!

Women's Retreat Coming Soon! Brochures are available on the information table. We look forward to getting away together April 27-28/29. This year's speaker is Lisa Howse and her mother Jan Goris. The theme is Hope in God (1 Peter 1:18, 21). See Susan Fergus, Claire Belknap or Shelley Herzog if you have questions.

Next Week’s Fighter Verse

...looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,

who for the joy that was set before him endured

the cross, despising the shame,

and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

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The Secret of all Failure is our Failure in Secret Prayer

“We may be assured of this—the secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer” (12). So writes the anonymous author of the classic little book on prayer entitled, The Kneeling Christian (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids: 1971). He means that the reason we so often fall into sin or live in discouragement or fail to bear fruit is because we do not cling to God in Christ above all things. We do not diligently seek him or lean on him or plead with him or draw on his strength. We give ourselves to busyness over communion with God and in this way we seek to accomplish in our flesh what can only be accomplished in the power of the Spirit. Giving first place to what our dear author calls “secret prayer” is indeed a key to the Spirit-filled life but let’s be clear: prayer is not magic, rather, it’s a relationship. It’s not as if we simply have to file requests with God, being careful to use just the right words so that we can get him to respond as we wish. God is not a vending m

Deacons - How They Serve and Strengthen the Church (Part 1)

One of the next important priorities for GCF is to establish deacons in the life of the church. On March 14, 2021 we were able to establish an elder team. Currently, we have a team of four elders overseeing the congregation of GCF. However, there is more work to be done. I have come to see that establishing an elder team was the bare minimum that needed to happen for GCF to survive. I believe GCF now needs to turn our attention to raising up a team of qualified and willing deacons to serve the congregation so that it will not only survive but thrive. I would like to begin a series of blogs on deacons to help us understand who they are and what they do in the life of the church. In this blog let me provide three reasons why I think deacons should be near our top priority. Number 1: It is Biblical. Paul instructs Timothy to install elders who will help him pastor the church. For whatever reason, it seems the churches in our circles treat the installment of elders as non-negotiable

Does the Doctrine Divide? by Patience Griswold

“Oh, I try not to talk about doctrine. It’s so divisive.” This is a sentiment that I’ve heard expressed, as well as implied, on many occasions, and one that raises the question, does doctrine divide? In answering this question, we must keep in mind a very important truth and that is that everyone holds to some sort of doctrine . “Doctrine” is defined as “a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a church, political party, or other group.” Regardless of whether or not someone publicly holds to a statement of beliefs from a particular church, every Christian, by definition, holds to a particular set of beliefs. As Carl Trueman observes in his book The Creedal Imperative , [W]hile Christianity cannot be reduced to doctrine, to mere teaching, it cannot be meaningfully separated from it, either. Even the most basic claims, such as “Jesus is Lord,” carry clear doctrinal content that needs to be explicated in a world where, as we have noted before, every heretic has his text and n

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