Author: ctpressADMIN

Dear Friends,

This Sunday I am beginning a sermon series on the book of 1 John. This letter by one of Jesus’ closest disciples was written in response to some very dangerous teaching that was getting attached to the gospel. It was so pervasive and appealing that it took generations for the Church to effectively counter it. It is called Gnosticism. Ironically, Gnosticism is a problem for us even today.

Whenever you hear someone question when something can be objectively true (especially spiritual matters or religious doctrine) or that someone claims something is “true for me,” you are encountering Gnosticism.

I haven’t given the series a title, but if I did, I would be inclined to call it “The Gospel of Jesus Christ: True or False?” I hope you will plan on coming to hear this series, which will take us to advent.

I am also excited about Sunday, October 2. We have a busy day that day. During the Sunday school hour, George Tabb will be giving a report on the adult mission trip that happened in late August. Students from grade 6 and all adults are welcome and encouraged to come to that report.

We will also be hosting the Eastern Panhandle Mission Community fall music festival. The EPMC is the community of Presbyterian churches from Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson counties. This annual festival features individual choirs of singers and ringers. The program will be followed by a reception in the fellowship hall.

As you can see, some exciting things are happening at Charles Town Presbyterian Church. Please plan on joining us as we continue doing God’s work.

Blessings,

Pastor John

On Your Marks, Get Set…

With the summer unofficially over following Labor Day, we are on our way into a schedule with more activities and opportunities. I’d like to highlight just a few happening this weekend and next week:

• Youth Sunday/Rally Day
  • This Sunday, September 11, we are celebrating what God is doing through the educational and youth ministries of the church. The youth group will be leading worship and sharing stories about the mission trip they were part of this summer.
• We return to our regular Sunday schedule of:
  • Worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
  • Sunday School at 9:45.
• September 11
  • This Sunday marks the fifteenth anniversary of terrorist attacks that claimed thousands of lives. We will acknowledge this anniversary at both worship services. I encourage you to consider participating in some of the community activities marking this significant remembrance.
• Playground Dedication
  • On Sunday we are dedicating our newly-installed playground equipment following worship. A potluck lunch will follow the dedication in the Fellowship Hall. Hot dogs will be provided. The congregation is asked to bring a side item or a dessert item.
• Bible Study
  • After some discussion with others, I have decided to change the time of the weekly Bible Study from the noon hour to the evening. The Wednesday evening Bible Study will meet in the church parlor at 7:15pm. We will study Galatians, and we will meet through mid-November. If you have no other commitments that evening, I encourage to come and learn more deeply about this short but significant book of the Bible.

As always, if you have any questions about any of the activities in the life of the church (or want to receive the complete CTPress newsletter), please contact the church office and we will be happy to answer any questions.

Blessings,

Pastor John

Philippians 4:8
Finally… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Brace yourselves. Pumpkin spice everything is coming.

In fact, it’s already here! Pumpkin spice, the popular flavor that defines the fall season, can be found at your local grocery store in coffees, baked goods, and many other variations. And if you’re willing to wait a little longer, most coffee shops will have some kind of exotic coffee drink featuring pumpkin spice. For a limited time only, of course.

As a user of social media, the advent of pumpkin spice season has been popping up on various feeds, and I started thinking about why. Pumpkin Spice is popular and many people like it. I’m one of the rare ones that don’t care for the flavor, but I harbor no ill-will for those that partake.

People get excited for the things they like, and not only with foods. As Christians who are part of a church family, we get excited about the things we like. With the world changing so rapidly, with so much negativity in the world, it is an easy thing to carry that negativity into our faith journey and into our church. As the father of one of my best friends likes to say, “Life is 90% attitude.” If our attitude is not good, it’s very likely our experience will disappoint.

As we begin this new month and start thinking about the fall I’d like to suggest an exercise for all of us. First grab a piece of paper and something to write with. If you use a journal, find a blank page. Second, make three headings:

• Ways God has Blessed Me,
• Ways God has Blessed Others,
• Ways God has Blessed My Church.

Third, spend some time making a list under each heading. The reason I encourage us to do this is because all too often these good things get overshadowed by the negative. It is okay to be excited about good things! We must make a conscious choice to be positive. When we are negative, people don’t want to be around us or the things we are part of.

Let’s make a conscious choice to be positive and excited as we begin this season. Even if that means putting “pumpkin spice” all over your list!

Blessings,

Pastor John

As we make our way into another school year next week, I thought I’d let you know about some of the exciting events coming up. First, our late summer mission trip w ill be happening August 26-September 3. Five people from our congregation our spending the last week of the month helping victims of the flooding in the central part of our state. Please keep George and Jeannette Tabb, Jim Bovard, Stephen Bossung and Jason Mullens in your prayers.

The Stewardship and Vision team has been working on the budget for 2017, and they will be collecting pledge cards on Sunday, August 28. Please be in prayer about your financial support of the mission of this congregation. I spent much of the early summer preaching about offering, and if you need some passages to review, I encourage you to read over:

• Genesis 4 : 1-16; 8 : 20-9:9; 22 : 1-19
• Joshua 7
• 1 Samuel 1 : 1-18
• Malachi 3 : 6-15
• Romans 12 : 1-2

On Sunday, August 28, we will also have a hymn sing as part of our morning worship. In the weeks ahead, please think about what you want to sing that morning. Sunday, September 11, is Rally Day and Youth Sunday (**ALSO CTPC resumes the school season services schedule). In addition to kicking off the school year for Christian Education, the youth will be leading the worship service at both services. As part of the sermon that morning, we will get a report on how the mission trip went in June. On Sunday, September 18, we will hear a report from the late summer mission trip to Webster County. May God continue to bless us as we busily serve him!

Blessings,

Pastor John

In Matthew 25, Jesus paints an interesting picture of God’s judgment. On one side are those who clothed the naked, fed the hungry, and visited the imprisoned. On the other side are those who did not engage in those kinds of activities. Paraphrasing, Jesus says, “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me. Whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me.”

For the past few years, CTPC has opened its doors a couple time each month to feed those who are without food. A faithful team of volunteers has been helping out with this ministry.  As is the case with many commitments, some of the people who have been doing this for a long time are stepping down and taking a break. This forced us to make a decision – we either stop our involvement with the program altogether, or we find a way to continue.

The folks who wish to continue have decided (with the concurrence of the session) that we will commit to one evening per month – the first Saturday.  Right now we have two teams helping out. We’d like to get that to at least three, and ideally four, that way, each team would cover only three to four nights per year. If you are able to help out, please contact me or Gary Scott.

Blessings,

Pastor John

In most churches in the summer, congregations face the dreaded “summer slump.” This is usually a reference to giving – people go away, get busy and as a result, the offering tends to go into a slump. And while that is true for us this summer, there are still good things to be celebrated. In June, we changed the Sunday morning schedule for the summer. Any time leaders make a change to the schedule there is a risk that the change will be met with disagreement, usually shown in the form of absence. In reviewing our attendance records for the last three years, we’ve learned that in spite of making this change, the attendance has not dropped.

We also launched a refreshed website. If you have not been to www.ctpres.org, I urge you to do so. We have a new look, new content and a new feel to the site. This may not seem like a big deal, but some of our summer visitors have indicated that the website is the reason they visited.

Our youth group went on a mission trip at the end of June. Since Christmas, the youth have been planning a mission trip, and they partnered with YouthWorks to serve near Charleston. The youth plan to share more about their trip during worship on Sunday, September 11, which is also Rally Day.

In July, we had a great Vacation Bible School. So many people were helping and making the week great for kids. We were able to share the gospel in a fun and exciting way with a great curriculum and an awesome program. We even had a parenting class three out of the five nights. This weekend we are hosting one of the missionaries we support.  Drake Williams, who serves at Tyndale Seminary in the Netherlands will be joined by his family to preach at worship and lead a Sunday School class to explain how he is seeing God work.

Finally, why have one mission trip when you can have two? We are sending a small team to Webster Springs, WV, to help with the aftermath from the flooding earlier this summer. They will serve August 28-September 3. The deadline for signing up is Monday, July 25.

Summer slump? I don’t think so! God is at work in a variety of ways in and through our congregation!

Blessings,

Pastor John