CONSISTORY NEWS

Congratulations to Tony Chapman who was elected to represent our Classis as the elder delegate to the RCA General Synod, which will be held June 21-26 at Trinity College in Palos Heights, IL. Pray for Tony as he prepares for this upcoming trip. Elder delegates are usually asked to spend a lot of time studying and praying about the various issues to be voted on at General Synod.

Much of our February meeting was spent refining our 2012 goals and reviewing the notes from the evening meeting on History Sunday. Pastor Steve shared about the three questions Jesus applied to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 – 3:

What were the churches doing well?

What were the churches not doing well?

What would the Lord have them do differently?

We decided to ask these questions about New Hope as a way to guide our planning.

What are we doing well?

We felt that the Lord was pleased that we work hard, we rally around building projects, we are good cooks, and we share with the needy, care for each other, we have reached out to our neighbors through servant evangelism and respect his Word. In these and other areas we have done well.

What are we not doing well?

It was hard but we had to be honest about the areas where we have not done as well. Even though we care for each other, we do not always handle conflict well. Even though we have much to be thankful for we have often been critical of each other and the church body. Even though we have shared with the needy, we haven’t been consistent in giving to our own church. Even though we have reached out, we are still disconnected from our community. In these and other areas we have not done as well.

What would the Lord have us do differently?

After much prayer and conversation the consistory felt strongly that the Lord would have building a culture of edification be our church’s main goal for 2012. Edification, is a word that means “to build up”. For background look to Ephesians chapter 4, where Paul uses this word several times to speak about how we are to “build up the body of Christ”.

Building a culture of edification at New Hope means: We desire to be a thankful, joyful church where we deal with our conflicts in a healthy loving way, build each other up in the faith and practice generosity. Building up the Body of Christ means: New Hope is a church where it is safe to share your hurts and flaws because we are committed to helping each other grow in our faith and heal from our wounds and brokenness. We hope to create a culture of edification through worship, discipleship groups, small groups, peacemaking and new ministries that help people find healing and recovery from past hurts. We have other goals pertaining to specific ministries and projects that will be listed in an upcoming handout. The consistory invites prayers, comments and questions concerning our 2012 main goal. Thank you consistory for your love, care and discernment.

The consistory also made their annual calls to our church leaders to check in, confirm their commitment to serve for another year and to thank and encourage them. See page 4 for a list of who does what around New Hope.

2012

CONSISTORY BOARD

Elders Class

Steve Wyllie 2012

Richard Lax 2013

Corrie Klein 2013

Mary Hoey 2014

Deacons Class

Mike Nelson 2012

Virginia Snyder 2012

Dianne Chapman 2013

Tom Chitwood 2014

2012

CONSISTORY OFFICERS

President : Pastor Steve

Vice President : Corrie Klein

Clerk : Virginia Snyder

Treasurer : Dianne Chapman

2012

DEACONS OFFICERS

Financial Secretary  : Tom Chitwood

Recording Secretary : Virginia Snyder

2012

ELDER OFFICERS

Clerk : Steve Wyllie

       

We extend a special thank you to our outgoing officers, Elder’s Joyce Springsteen and Jim Olsen and Deacon Kathy Belden, for their leadership and serving faithfully in office.

Meeting Times:

Elder’s: 2nd Tuesday of the month @ 7:00 PM

Deacon’s: 3th Tuesday of the month. @ 6:30 PM

If you would like to attend:

Any guest who wishes to attend Consistory meeting needs to contact Bonnie Coleman (510-739-0430) no later than the Thursday before the meeting to let her know they will attend and to give her any information on items you’d like added to the agenda.