Children's Ministry Project

Our Children's Ministry is participating in a project to prepare 43 "Bags of Blessings", a bag of simple food for children who have limited food supply especially during the weekends where school meals are not provided. To kick off this project, our children went shopping (and learned how to shop with the sales flyer to get the best price) to fill a few bags. They had a great time looking for and working to fill a need.

Funny for the Day

Top 10 reasons God made Eve

1. God was worried that Adam would frequently become lost in the garden because he would not ask for directions.
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3. God knew that one day Adam would require someone to locate and hand him the remote.
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5. God knew Adam would never go out and buy himself a new fig leaf when his wore out and would therefore need Eve to buy one for him.
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7. God knew Adam would never be able to make a doctor, dentist or haircut appointment for himself.
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9. God knew Adam would never remember which night to put the garbage on the curb.
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11. God knew if the world was to be populated, men would never be able to handle the pain and discomfort of childbearing.
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13. As the Keeper of the Garden, since he didn’t have metal sheds or greenhouses, Adam would never remember where he left his tools.
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15. Apparently, Adam needed someone to blame his troubles on when God caught him hiding in the garden.
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17. As the Bible says, “It is not good for man to be alone!”
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19. When God finished the creation of Adam, He stepped back, scratched His head and said, “I can do much better than that!”

Small Group Bible Study

We are excited to begin a small group Bible study in March!  This is a brand new ministry and is open to church family who are interested.  

 As a church, we are always looking for a way to encourage intimacy within the congregation.  Small groups offer a place to connect with other believers in fellowship; to grow in our understanding of the Bible, as Jesus' own small group of disciples did; to meet the needs of others in your group in ministry; to become equipped for evangelism; and to worship God through practicing godly behavior. 

Small Group Bible Study - It Will Transform Your Life!

A small group Bible study offers a place to connect with other believers, making you part of a family. And when you're in a family you learn to love others, for better or worse. You can't learn how to love on your own. 

In your small group, you can also share your needs.  But small group members exist to care for one another and to join in lifting one another's burdens before the Lord.

Small Group Bible Study - Praying Together And Sharing Victories

Week after week, as group members share answers to prayer, you'll be built up in your own personal ability to trust God to meet your needs. And as any small group veteran will tell you, the greatest blessing comes in ministering to the needs of another small group member. 

Watch for more details coming soon and be in prayer for our small group ministry. 

Funny for the Day

The Highest Power

Carolyn Heap, another Sunday School teacher, said to her children, 'We have been learning about how powerful the kings and queens were in Biblical times.  But there is a higher power.  Who can tell me what it is?'

George blurted out, 'I know, Aces.'

Something Missing - Missing Something?

Going over our church finances I found a receipt from a local paint store signed by someone named Christian. I wasn't aware of anyone buying paint, so I called the store to point out its mistake

'I'm sorry,' I told the manager, 'but there are no Christians here at St Mary's Church.'

Valentine's Is Over, But Love Never Ends

By now, all the mushy love feelings, balloons, flowers and candy are diminishing. But true love isn't just a feeling, it is a commitment lived out in our day to day lives.  Here are 23 things that bring out "What Is Love"

1. LOVE IS... being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of others without impatience or anger.
2. LOVE IS... actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental toward another while looking for ways to encourage and praise.
3. LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that come from pointing out and responding to minor offenses.
4. LOVE IS... being lovingly honest and humbly approachable in times of misunderstanding.
5. LOVE IS... being more committed to unity and understanding than you are to winning, accusing, or being right.
6. LOVE IS... a making a daily commitment to admit your sin, weakness, and failure and to resist the temptation to offer an excuse or shift the blame.
7. LOVE IS... being willing, when confronted by another, to examine your heart rather than rising to your defense or shifting the focus.
8. LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to grow in love so that the love you offer to another is increasingly selfless, mature, and patient.
9. LOVE IS... being unwilling to do what is wrong when you have been wronged, but looking for concrete and specific ways to overcome evil with good.
10. LOVE IS... being a good student of another, looking for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs so that in some way you can remove the burden, support them as they carry it, or encourage them along the way.
11. LOVE IS... being willing to invest the time necessary to discuss, examine, and understand the relational problems you face, staying on task until the problem is removed or you have agreed upon a strategy of response.
12. LOVE IS... being willing to always ask for forgiveness and always being committed to grant forgiveness when it is requested.
13. LOVE IS... recognizing the high value of trust in a relationship and being faithful to your promises and true to your word.
14. LOVE IS... speaking kindly and gently, even in moments of disagreement, refusing to attack the other person’s character or assault their intelligence.
15. LOVE IS... being unwilling to flatter, lie, manipulate, or deceive in any way in order to co-opt the other person into giving you what you want or doing something your way.
16. LOVE IS... being unwilling to ask another person to be the source of your identity, meaning, and purpose, or inner sense of well-being, while refusing to be the source of theirs.
17. LOVE IS... the willingness to have less free time, less sleep, and a busier schedule in order to be faithful to what God has called you to be and to do as a spouse, parent, neighbor, etc.
18. LOVE IS... a commitment to say no to selfish instincts and to do everything that is within your ability to promote real unity, functional understanding, and active love in your relationships.
19. LOVE IS... staying faithful to your commitment to treat another with appreciation, respect, and grace, even in moments when the other person doesn’t seem deserving or is unwilling to reciprocate.
20. LOVE IS... the willingness to make regular and costly sacrifices for the sake of a relationship without asking for anything in return or using your sacrifices to place the other person in your debt.
21. LOVE IS... being unwilling to make any personal decision or choice that would harm a relationship, hurt the other person, or weaken the bond of trust between you.
22. LOVE IS... refusing to be self-focused or demanding, but instead looking for specific ways to serve, support, and encourage, even when you are busy or tired.
23. LOVE IS... daily admitting to yourself, the other person, and God that you are unable to be driven by a cruciform love without God’s protecting, providing, forgiving, rescuing, and delivering grace.

Children's Ministry Day Project

Every February, our children participate in Children's Ministry Day - an opportunity for children to be engaged in a hands-on project that ministers to others.

The project this year will be to assist a local ministry "Bags of Blessings" where bags of food are given out each week to children who may have a food shortage in their homes over weekends when school meals are not provided. 

We would like to provided 43 'bags' which will include peanut butter, jelly, bread and snacks.  Our children will go to the store this Saturday at 9:30 AM and purchase a few items to begin the project. On Sunday morning, our children will share about the ministry and offer the church family an opportunity to participate and donate some needed items to fulfill the bags. 

Stay tuned for more information and be encouraged to support our children with your prayers and donations for this ministry. 

Young Adult Fellowship

Antioch loves our young families! We understand that they are the future of our church and seek many ways to involve them in not simply church attendance, but connecting together as a church body. A recent time of fellowship was held to promote that time to gather, enjoy a meal, fellowship and fun! This was very well attended and an enjoyable time!