Followby Dan Amos
I grew up with church on Sunday mornings and Sunday and Wednesday nights and Sunday School all year round. Even in Germany we had everything except Wednesday nights; we had something called AWANA then. So, when we came to Washington 16 years ago it was a bit of a shock to find pretty much everywhere that things seemed to shut down in the summer, even here at Elim. Appearances can be deceiving!
It’s true we don’t have those regular events that I grew up with, but I never said I actually liked them either. Wednesday nights were excruciating and, truthfully, soured me on corporate prayer. I think it is God’s sense of humor that he took one of the least in prayer to be part of The Gathering where we have a good time worshiping him in prayer. So if you feel like I did, come join us during The Gathering and see if God doesn’t change your mind (and heart), too.
It’s also true that many of our community groups take the summer off and Women’s Bible Study takes a break. Sure, there are lots of youth activities and families do a lot during the summer, but what about our church family? This was brought to me as a need and I took it to the Elder Board. Very shortly the building that Elim calls home is going to get torn up during construction and re-carpeting. We call Sunday morning “church” and we call the building “the church” but really collectively we are the church and church meets whenever we do.
Below you’ll find a list of the group activities when our church has plans to meet this summer. If I added Sunday mornings to it, it would be even longer. I also left out 5-day clubs, youth, and young adults. The women have coffees and Connecting Hearts events. The latter alternate between evening and morning meetings to allow more women to participate in at least some of them. The men even have a couple of events in there, too.
“Family Time” though is something the Elder Board added to get our whole body, the church, together four times during the summer. The idea is to come together, eat together, and play together. Pretty much everyone I know eats on Wednesdays, so instead of eating at home, bring your dinner to the place we call “church” and eat it together with the people we call “family” who are the church at Elim. We’ll have more details in the coming weeks and hopefully by the end of June we’ll have some dry weather.
The calendar is packed and our first Family Time will be while our youth and their leaders are at Challenge in Ohio. We’ll still have a good time, but if you have any ideas for pick-up activities, like volleyball, please let me know.
I know many are looking forward to our summer Sunday morning schedule with just the single service (starts at 9:30). We are excited because our whole family will worship together at the same time. We’ll get to see everybody together and get acquainted but only if you’re there. And if the sun finally shines on Sundays, we will start our mornings worshiping the Son indoors with our church family in the building Elim calls home.
Date – Target Group – Event
6/6 – All – Farewell to Champneys
6/12 – All- Workday
6/12 – Women – Coffee
6/13 – All – Picnic
6/19 – All – Yard Sale
6/19 – All – Gathering
6/30 – All – Family Time
7/7 – Men – Shooting Range
7/10 – Women – Coffee
7/10 – All – Gathering
7/14 6 pm – Women – Connecting Hearts
7/14 – Jr High/Parents – Family Fun Center
7/17 – Sr High/Parents – Hike
7/21 – All – Family Time
7/28 9 am – Women – Connecting Hearts
7/28 – All – Feed the Homeless
8/4 – Men – Batting Cages
8/6-8/8 – All – Family Camp/Gathering
8/9-8/13 – All – Soccer Camp
8/11 6 pm – Women – Connecting Hearts
8/14 – Women – Coffee
8/18 – All – Family Time
8/25 9 am – Women – Connecting Hearts
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