Fellowship Groups

Why is it so easy for Christians to forget the Holy Spirit?
I don’t mean that we forget the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Most of us are grounded enough in a Trinitarian belief system never to do that. We are all aware, at least on a cognitive level, that the Third Person of the Godhead exists.
But, nevertheless, we forget him....

I’m involved in two of our church’s Fellowship Groups on a regular basis. But I’m taking time this month and next to visit groups I don’t normally attend. What a blast! If you are not in a group, I’d encourage you to find one. If you are in a group, I’d encourage you to pop in on another group once in a while for a surprise visit. (Don’t bail out on the group you’re committed to. Just go hang out with some new people for a change.) It’s a lot of fun! You get to know new people and there’s usually some good food involved.

At one of the groups I visited this week, somebody shared something in the Bible study time that really gave me new insight into the goodness of Christ....

In anticipation of our all-church prayer meeting (Sunday, January 27, 6pm, ACI synagogue), some of our Fellowship Groups are planning to set aside a time this month to fast. In case you have questions about fasting, here are a few brief thoughts ...

Charles Spurgeon, a Baptist pastor in 19th century London, was renowned for his preaching abilities. Thousands of people flocked to his church on Sundays to listen to him speak. 25,000 copies of his sermons were sold every week. But when visitors came to see Spurgeon’s church building, rather than showing off the pulpit, he would take them down to a room in the basement where a group of people were on their knees praying and say, “This is the powerhouse of the church.”...

I received a statistical report from one of our ESL volunteers this morning containing data from that program for 2007. It was great to see how God has used this ministry.

For 40 weeks this last year, ESL volunteers from our church ran free English classes for foreign-born residents of our neighborhood. They taught our neighbors the words, grammar and pronunciation of the (complicated) English language, and spent many hours with them forming meaningful friendships. The seating capacity of our office suite was often completely filled with students eager to learn...

What does God want Astoria Community Church to look like five years from now?
That is the question our elders and pastors asked during a planning retreat we attended in August. With much prayer we reviewed the history of ACC, studied information about Western Queens and discussed the mission and core values of our church. Then we set out to form 1-year, 3-year and 5-year goals. During the months of September and October, we shared our thoughts with other church leaders, asking them to help us discern the will of God for our church.
Here is what we sense God calling us to do. In the next five years we want to work toward three basic goals ...

There is a scene in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick in which Fleece, the cook on a whaling boat, starts preaching to a bunch of sharks. The sailors are annoyed by how much noise the sharks are making as they devour a whale carcass tied to their ship, so Fleece gives the sharks a lecture. “Stop dat ... noise dare. You hear? Stop dat ... smackin’ ob de lips!” He tells the sharks that if they would only alter their voracious nature, then their behavior wouldn’t be so unruly. If they would just control their appetite, they could be angels instead of sharks. Of course, the sharks cannot understand a word the cook is saying, so their feeding frenzy continues undisturbed. One of the sailors cheers the cook on. “‘Well, done, Old Fleece!’ cried Stubb, ‘that’s Christianity; go on.”

But that is not Christianity at all....

As I write these words, I can overhear the English as a Second Language (ESL) class that is taking place in the room next to my study. I hear a young man from a Muslim country reading a Bible story to his discussion group. This past year dozens of immigrants, from all over the world, have come to our church office to be trained in English by our volunteers. It has been exciting to see them form solid friendships with members of our church.