From the Diaconate Ministry Team
July 2010
From the Diaconate Ministry Team
Pastor Peter will be away July 5th through July 31st enjoying his vacation with his family and attending the 4C’s Annual Meeting in Springfield, MA. The following deacons will be in our pulpit:
July 11h – Sandy Lehtonen
July 18th – Bob Wooster
July 26th – Dan Fellhoelter
If a need should arise during Pastor Peter’s absence, please contact your deacon. The following individuals may also be contacted if you cannot reach your deacon:
Dan Fellhoelter, Diaconate Chair, (603) 878-4874, teddybeardan@comcast.net
Geri Nelson, Church Secretary, (603) 878-1327 church office, gerin@ni-cc.org
Jim Forest, Trustee Chair, (603) 878-4358, blackhawkinvestigations@comcast.net
May 2010
On the First of April we held a Christian Seder Meal hosted by Peter Wood. There were about 50 people that attended the service. Peter did such a wonderful job teaching all that attended all of the different aspects of the Passover Supper and all of the traditions that have been passed down along with it each year. We hope that you will consider joining us next year if this service is presented again.
As you all know that our church has a team of “Reaching, Building and Serving for Christ”. Our church actively supports the individuals that are doing their part to fulfill these goals. In the last couple of months you have heard several members of our church family talk about two organizations, Tres Dias (Three Days) and Kairos (Gods Special Time). These two organizations came from the Catholic program called Cursillo do Cristiandad (short course in Christianity). Cursillo came to the United States from the Catholic Church of Spain through Mexico up into Texas. In 1972 Tres Dias was born out of the Cursillo organization as a non-denominational organization that is open to all Christians who wanted to attend. In October of 1981 the first Tres Dias weekend was held in NH at the Deering Conference Center. Today they are held at the Sarto Center in Hooksett, NH. Cursillo and Tres Dias programs are for the most part identically the same program except Cursillo is focused on Catholicism where Tres Dias strives to be non-denomination in its focus. The Kairos organization is a non-denominational program focused on the needs of the residence in the prison system both at the state and federal levels.
In all three of these organizations the purpose is to bring folks to Christ if they are not already a believer or renew their beliefs in the church. These weekends are all lay people lead by ordained clergy to discuss the sacraments and lead in communion and handle any counseling that might arise from the individual talks during the weekend. The weekends are filled with scripture based talks about many of the different aspects of our walk with Jesus Christ. If you have any questions about Tres Dias our church family has many folks that have been through the program and they are listed down stairs on the bulletin board. You can also read about Tres Dias from the States Web site www.tresdiasnh.org,
In our church family we have members who are active in the Kairos organization. These men and women support both of the NH state prisons, in Concord and Berlin, NH. We also support the Maine State prison in Warren, ME. If you are interested in reading about Kairos you can go to www.kairosprisonministry.org. When these weekends are being held we need your prayers for the team of men that go into the prisons along with 24 residences that attend the 3 day weekends. One of the gifts of love that we bring into the Residence of the prisons is place mats. These place mats will be used at meal times and placed on the walls of the meeting room. Please see Dan Fellhoelter or Bobby Wooster if you would like to make some place mats to be brought into the prisons. This is a good project for your children in Sunday school classes.
These are just two of the programs that our church members are involved in to support the goals of our church. Just like each of us, we are the only light on the path in this world that some folks see. So use the opportunities to “Be a Friend, See a Friend and Bring a Friend to Christ”.
From the Diaconate Ministry Team
March 2010
As we start the New Year we would like to welcome our three new Deacons, Debbie Eaton, Linda Kivela and Ted Cunningham. All three of them have been a deacon in the past so they come to us with much experience and ready to join the ministry team running.
The leadership team of the Church will be meeting with John Kimball of the 4C’s for a meeting about the Church Renewal Program. This is the program that will be using the results of the survey that a lot of our small groups took part in. John will speak to all the leadership teams on the February 25th about the results. This will help the church better meet our goals and meeting our Mission Statement of
“Reaching, Building and Serving for Christ.”
The Diaconate is in the process of planning for the Passover Seder meal. This will be held on Maundy Thursday, the 1st of April. Please put this date on your calendar and come celebrate a traditional Passover meal with us. Please let your deacon know if you plan to attend so we can prepare a place for you and your family at our table.
Dan Fellhoelter, Chair
October 2009: From the Diaconate Ministry Team
NEW DEACON
Over the last several months, the Nominating Committee has been diligently working toward the nomination of two new deacons so that the number of families in each deacon's care is 8 to 10, in line with the By-Laws. Right now, each deacon has 11 to 13 families/individuals in their care groups. After much prayerful consideration, Linda Kivela has been nominated to the Diaconate and at the Executive Ministry Team meeting on Monday, September 21st she was voted in. Welcome, Linda.
The addition of a deacon will dictate changes to our Care Group lists. If your family's deacon is changed, you wil receive a letter in the mail. Otherwise, your deacon will remain the same.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT FELLOWSHIP
Please prayerfully consider joining us for our Wednesday Night Fellowship at NICC. In our study of the research behind the Church Growth redevelopment process that we will begin this fall, we have found that one of the eight quality characteristics of a growing church is Holistic Small Groups. A healthy, growing church has a membership that regularly takes part in small groups. This is an opportunity for each of us to do our part in beginning this process.
6:00 to 7:00 Supper
7:00 to 7:30 Prayer & Praise
7:30 to 8:30 Bible Study
You can come for any one of two of the events or for the entire evening. Either way, it is a blessing! There are four different studies going on at the moment. Two of them (Women's and Weight Control) are studying books. The Youth Study (with Karen Veeser) and the Adult Study (with Pastor Peter) are studies that people can join at any time. If you can't commit to coming every week, that's okay. Come when you can.
OTHER FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
If you can't take part in the Wednesday Night Fellowship, please consider one of these other opportunities:
Monday morning Bible Study at Betsy Thoms' home - give Betsy a call for details.
Saturday morning Men's Breakfast - 7:00am at the church.
Women's Christian Fellowship on the first Friday night of each month - contact Heather Long.
If you should have an idea for a small group, please let us know.
OCTOBER IS PASTOR APPRECIATION MONTH!
The Diaconate would like to take this opportunity to thank Pastor Peter for his love and commitment to our church family. We appreciate and value his wisdom and sense of humor! And we praise and thank God Almighty for the gift He has given us in bringing Peter, Diane and June into our midst.