Thankful for: Our Church

I wanted to do a little mini series of posts on some things that we are thankful for as we head toward a future in missions work.

The first one I want to talk about is our church, Christ's Covenant Church. When we got married and moved close to Warsaw, Ben and I began looking for a church close-by to attend and be a part of. We visited a couple but felt right at home when we attended Christ's Covenant Church. Since beginning to attend there in August 2008, we have served in several different areas. But CCC and its people have served us in far more ways than we could ever count! We are so thankful for this church and its incredible body of believers.

We are thankful for:
-Our pastors who spend much time in the Word so that they can most effectively teach, guide, and serve the people
-The music which often ministers to our hearts
-Their children's program and nursery- Sophie is well-cared for
-Their passion for missions- not only did they encourage us to really become serious about our interest in missions, but they continuously encourage us on this journey by praying for us, financially supporting us, providing us with wonderful mentors, reminding people of our future plans, and reminding the church of God's passion for missions
-MOMs group that Alisha attends
-Small men's group that Ben attends
-Our Life Group- we joined this group shortly after joining CCC, and while the people in the group have changed quite a bit, we never fail to be encouraged by them. Over the years they have continued to pray with and for us, financially encourage us, discuss the Word with us, celebrate new life (babies!) with us, have fun with us, serve with us, and much more!
-They have challenged our hearts to love better, to serve more, to give more, to openly look at the Word of God, to spend more time with the Lord in the Word and in prayer, to be involved in community (Life Group, etc), and to be open to whatever way God might want to use us.

We certainly couldn't be on this journey without our church.

[The sanctuary]

[The back of our church bulletin]

[Part of our Life Group]

[Another picture of our LG that include people not in the above one]

[The sweet ladies of our LG threw me a baby shower]

While we're talking about how thankful we are for our church, I think it's necessary to also mention Merriam Christian Chapel. This is the church Ben grew up in, and I went to from 8th grade until we got married. His parents and my brother and his wife still attend here. This church supported us on our first missions trips and taught us the Word of God when we were young. The church continues to encourage us on this journey by giving us the opportunity to share about what we plan to do, and the people continue to support us financially and through prayer. We have great friendships with many people from this church. Thank you Merriam Christian Chapel!

[MCC Sanctuary]