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CrossPoint Community News 11/03/2023

by | Nov 3, 2023 | Announcement, CrossPoint Community Ministry, FrontPage-News | 0 comments

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Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 
 
       This week, I’ve been privileged to be part of the Ockenga Fellows Program talking about the topic of Race Relations. One of our speakers, this morning, was Dr. George Yancey. He is a professor of sociology at Baylor University, who has done his doctoral work on race relations and anti-Christian bias. He wrote a book (which I haven’t yet read, but I hope to read) called “Beyond Racial Division.” He shared that two of the majority views tend to be colorblindness (not seeing color, aiming at equality) and anti-racists (who acknowledge racial differences, aiming at justice). [Admittedly, those are broad summaries of very complicated views]. But the problem is that both sides tend to say that the solution is to impose your views on people who don’t see things the way you do. But this doesn’t work. Instead, imposing your views intends to cause a reaction of the opposing side. You won’t get people to listen, you will get people to react. And when we react based on our feelings of others imposing their views on us, we tend not to react in helpful ways. Instead, we shut down or we ignore or we lash out. 
       To say that we have to do one or the other as we pursue reconciliation is not helpful. Instead, Dr. Yancey proposes a third way – called Collaborative Conversations. Basically, to move towards a solution when there is conflict requires us to listen to understand before we seek to be understood. It requires that we use active listening – putting things into our own words and ensuring that the opposing viewpoint agrees that we have understood. Then we want to work on solutions which enable us to maintain what is most important to us and to them. We can see if there are ways where we need to give up non-essentials so that we can maintain essentials. This approach allows for the possibility of shared solutions between two disparate views. Another added benefit to this approach is that listening to others allows us to ‘re-humanize’ them rather than dehumanize them (something we are prone to do when others disagree with us, or when we feel threatened by them). 
       There are solutions to racial division out there. With God, nothing is impossible. But we need to be willing to approach these conversations with a Christ-like attitude. How can we serve? How can we meet others where they are at? How can we seek solutions together? 
 
[Unrelated but important: Set your clocks back on Sunday – It’s Daylight Savings time. Get ready for the sunset at 4:30 pm on Sunday!] 
 
Also, please continue to pray for the nations of Israel and Ukraine. Pray that the wars would end. Here is a suggested list of prayers if you are at a loss for words in how to pray: https://send.org/story/hh_pray_for_ukraine. And https://worldrelief.org/blog-prayer-for-israel-and-gaza/ Thank you for kneeling on behalf of the people of Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine and taking a stand (or a knee in prayer) against the forces of darkness in this present age. 

This Week (Nov. 3 – Nov. 9, 2023):

1. Tonight, Nov. 3, 2023, the Living Stones Friday Night Bible Study is meeting from 7:30-9:30 to study the need to pray with passion. You can read Daniel (4 and) 5 to prepare. Join in person in Room A-216 or online via the following link at 7:30 pm:

https://zoom.us/j/685376249?pwd=cWtyUk1pckJiRHJxZVZCSGdJZWw2UT09  
Meeting ID: 685 376 249   
Password: 840840   
Join by phone:  +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)  

2. The Living Stones Sunday School and Grace Ambassadors Sunday School are meeting this Sunday. The Grace Ambassadors will continue a discussion of “The Pilgrim’s Progress” in the Community Hall (A-202). The Living Stones will be studying an Overview of the NT in the Koinonia Room (A-216). They will use the following link for those who wish to join online:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/491248585?pwd=RnpLcnpjQ01nTGZLSmhaZ3l4L3dKQT09 
Meeting ID: 491 248 585 
Password: 403767 
Join by phone: +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) 

3. This Sunday, Nov. 3, 2023, at 11:25 am, Pastor Nathan Willems will be preaching. Pray for him! Join us for worship at CBCGL!

Text: Mark 12:38-44
Title: Beware and Behold
Live stream via Youtube: https://www.cbcgl.org/live-stream/

4. Each Wednesday, such as this week (Nov. 8) at 7:45 pm, you are invited, encouraged, and requested to join our weekly prayer meeting. We will not grow in Christ without growing in our dependence on God through prayer. The link is found below in the section on prayer.

Administration / Events

1. We have a missions update (so check out the missions tab from the bulletin)! You can provide support for COCM (in England), for James Liang (at UConn), or Chris and Emily who are serving in Japan with OMF.

2. Baptism Classes are starting up in November. If you’re interested in the next baptism (which will be on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24) talk with Pastor Nathan! He is glad to lead a class covering why we baptize, what is required for baptism, what are your rights and responsibilities as someone who is baptized and more!

3. Community Grocery Gift Cards – As the holiday season is around the corner, we sincerely invite you to join the annual fund raising to support Community Gift Card Outreach Initiative. This initiative aims to provide small-value grocery store gift cards to families in our surrounding community who turn to our church for assistance. Through this initiative, we can extend a caring hand to our neighbors, sharing the abundance that the Lord has bestowed upon us and offering hope to those struggling in difficult circumstances. We encourage our brothers and sisters to help out on this initiative financially and/or keep this endeavor in your prayers. Check out the Local Missions Tab in our bulletin for more information.

4. Sunday Lunch Service is available at CBCGL with $5 lunchboxes. To place an order, please use the following link: https://forms.office.com/r/nCwQnMruKv Orders are preferred to be placed as soon as you know, but need to be placed by Saturday night so that the kitchen can prepare the correct amount of food. Note: The selection which states “Number of Meals” refers to the cooked food/lunch box/Chinese food option.

5. All other announcements can be found here (in our CrossPoint Community bulletin).

For Prayer

1. From Bishop J.C. Ryle – “To be prayerless is to be Christless, Godless, and in the high road to destruction…It will always be found that when prayers are few, grace, strength, peace, and hope are small.” Please join our Wednesday night prayer meeting (7:45 – 9:15 pm) even if you can’t participate the whole time.

https://zoom.us/j/758587937?pwd=aS9sZUdxcm1janNNM2I2aXJ6Smx2QT09
Meeting ID: 758 587 937
Password: 030086
Join by phone: +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)

2. We’d be glad to pray for you. If you need prayer, you can submit your prayer request via the following link: https://www.cbcgl.org/pray/

In Christ, your servant, SDG,
Rev. Dr. Nathan Willems
Associate Pastor of CrossPoint Community – A Ministry of CBCGL