Weekly Newsletter
January 15, 2025
This Sunday
This week Michael Vaughan will be returning as a guest preacher as we continue in the book of Luke. We’ll find the boy Jesus growing in wisdom and stature as the grace of God is upon him in Luke 2:39-52.
Join us this Sunday at 10am for worship. Come to renew your heart with the promises of God!
QUICK LINKS: Children's Ministries | Outreach | Sermons | Giving | Sunday's Service | Worship Music Library
Activities & Announcements
2025 Sunday School
Hunter Herndon is teaching a Sunday evening class on Spiritual Formation. Spiritual Formation is the process and practices by which we engage in the Holy Spirit’s work of shaping our hearts and lives after the likeness of Jesus. Over the course of 14 weeks we’ll learn about how God does this work in us and how by his grace we participate in it.
The class will meet on Sundays at 5pm starting this week on January 19th. You can learn more about the class and let us know you’re interested in joining here.
Leadership and Restorative Work
The elders are prayerfully considering candidates for elders to fill vacancies in leadership and meet CityChurch’s need for leaders of diverse experience, backgrounds, and stages of live.
The elders have sought outside counsel from various sources including the Institute of Biblical Leadership to offer insight as we prayerfully consider a vision for CityChurch into the future.
You can read more about these things and other steps here.
Congregational Survey
The elders have invited the Institute of Biblical Leadership to conduct a congregational survey in order to facilitate communication and understanding between the congregation and church leadership. We hope for a better understanding the collective mindset of our church community that will aid in casting vision for the future of CityChurch and planning steps forward.
Dave Deets and Joel Tetreau from IBL will be with us February 6th through 8th to hold interviews with members of the congregation. If you are willing to be considered for an interview as a part of this survey, please reach out to one of the elders. The elders will work to create a schedule of interviewees that reflects our congregation’s diversity with consideration to factors like age, family status, and length of time at CityChurch among others.
Texts from CityChurch
Our Daily Sermon Prep text messages have been discontinued until further notice. However you can still receive daily texts with the readings from our CityBible Reading plan sent straight to your phone each morning. You can learn more about CityChurch communications and sign up for text messages here.
Local Disaster Relief:
Bristol Motor Speedway
One of the ways we can all be involved in helping with disaster relief in our region is by helping to load trucks and trailers with donated supplies. At this point, local donations at the Speedway are overwhelming the ability to transport them into the affected areas. This web site will direct you to a volunteer sign up form where you can choose a 4 hour block to come help with these efforts by loading vehicles with supplies. Please help out if you can!
Ministry Help
Several of our ministry teams are in need of more volunteers to help serve the needs of our congregation.
If you are interested in helping with…
Sunday morning set-up (refreshments, communion), talk to Wesley or Kayla.
Sundays’ Safety Team, talk to Lance.
Kids ministry, talk to Lauren.
Relational outreach with the folks coming in off the street, talk to Burt.
Church communications and social media, talk to Taylor.
Small Groups
Small groups are the place where life happens together. Sharing our struggles and pointing each other to Jesus is our primary agenda. If you're not part of a small group, just ask! We have a variety of groups that meet across the region, including at the church on Sunday mornings before church.
If you’re looking for a group to join, talk find Lisle Whitman at church or fill out this form
Outreach
We are still collecting non-perishable snacks for Anderson Elementary School. If you need more info about this, contact Kayla Reasbeck.
There is a bin in the 3-4 room to put the non-perishable items.
Committing to the Family
If you are interested in joining the City Church family, please let one of the elders know, and they will arrange a time to meet with you!
We essentially want to hear your spiritual story and how you came to faith in Christ. We look forward to hearing more stories and receiving more into membership!
Membership has nothing to do with being in a club, but merely affirms your commitment to City Church and your willingness to submit to the spiritual leadership of the elders.
Church Finances
Last Week's Giving: $1,429
Weekly Financial Need: TBD*
MTD Giving: $3,601
MTD Target Giving: TBD
YTD Giving: $9,417
YTD Target Giving: TBD
YTD Actual Expenses: $9,417
*The budget for 2025 has not yet been finalized.
Reflections from…
Paul Tripp
Four Words (Plus Four More Words)
Have you ever read anything by Charles Dickens? He is the legendary author of A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and many more. What he is perhaps most renowned for is his creation of some of the greatest fictional characters in literary history, like Ebeneezer Scrooge.
In his novels, Dickens would dedicate a significant amount of ink building out a character in detail. After you’re done reading page after page after page describing the character, you’ve almost forgotten what the original plot of the story was!
That’s sometimes how reading the Bible can feel. You’ll come across a portion of Scripture—maybe a genealogy or law or map or list of numbers—and you’ll have forgotten what you had read previously. Because after all, what in the world did all those outdated historical details have to do with anything you’re facing in life today?
But the Bible is not a historical textbook. And while it’s not a novel either, the Bible does have a plotline. The plot of the biblical narrative can be summarized with four words. I briefly referenced these last week, and I want to expound on them further.
Creation. Slavery. Redemption. Restoration.
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