The Early Service @ Newland Presbyterian Church ~ 9am
See! I am Doing a New Thing…(Is. 43:19)
Dear friends at Newland Presbyterian,
I’m really grateful for the ways that God has been moving at NPC in the last year.
Some really wonderful things are now in their beginning stages. Discipleship groups are meeting. New folks continue to make their way into our church family. Our youth are putting their faith in Christ and are desirous of baptism! And a new contemporary worship service is taking shape, to be added early on Sunday mornings. Your Session has been working hard to hear how and where Jesus is calling us further into our community with the Good News of salvation in Christ, and this contemporary worship service is one of those avenues.
We hope to launch “The Early Service” this October 14, 2018 at 9am!
Through this additional service we hope to fulfill Our Mission at NPC, which is to lead all people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
Our Strategy for that is to create environments where people can grow in love for God and neighbor.
So, The Early Service will be a space (an environment) that we are intentionally cultivating so that we might lead more people into a relationship with Jesus.
Our 11 o’clock Service features what most would call a Traditional Reformed Worship environment. I am deeply grateful for the ways that God has used this service to form me and to form you. We will continue to maintain this 11 o’clock Service, unchanged.
The Early Service will be more of a “Seeker Friendly” service, featuring contemporary praise and worship music, a less “formal” (yet still reverent) atmosphere, and will emphasize the building of authentic relationships founded upon the life-giving Word of God (i.e. – Jesus : ).
Joy Pritz is going to be our worship leader. She has many years of experience leading praise worship and we are grateful for her gifts. The Dave Calvert Collective will be our praise band (Dave is the owner of Carolina BBQ in Newland and his band plays all over the High Country and recently opened for “Singin’ on the Mountain,” a Grandfather Mountain tradition held at McRae Meadows). We are equally delighted that God has given Dave a desire to participate in this work!
Our great hope is that, through this Early Service, we will be able to reach folks in Newland and in Avery County that we are not presently connecting with, and we hope to do all of this for God’s glory.
A little background:
Most of you know that last year was our 100th Anniversary here at NPC. We celebrated and gave thanks and did a lot of remembering. Part of what we remembered was the dream God gave to a man named Rev. Edgar Tufts, who, in 1912, sat atop the hill where our church now rests and dreamed of a day when our congregation might serve God and the people of this community. And we also remembered Mr. RE Piercy, the Sunday School extension worker, who for 5 years walked every Sunday from Banner Elk and back so as to lead Sunday school and preach as our church was getting off the ground. And we also remembered the many local chapels started by our parents and grandparents in the faith, and the deeply creative ways that they followed Christ’s command to GO! and to make disciples of all nations. These people were willing to take risks and to blaze new trails and to put themselves out there in obedience to God and for the sake of his Kingdom.
And now, as we begin the next 100 years of the life of Christ at Newland Presbyterian Church, I think that the question has now become even more pressing for us, because we stand in such a long line of people who have given themselves and their church over and over again to be used for God’s purposes. And the question (for me and for the Session and now for you) has become: how are we going to respond to God’s call, creatively, in obedience, and with joy? How are we going to follow Christ and those who have gone before us as we continue to be a congregation who serves Almighty God and this mountain community?
I believe, in The Early Service, we may have the beginnings of an answer.
So, in the days ahead, expect to hear more. Expect to hear more about how YOU can contribute to the work of this outreach worship service. Because we’re going to need you to invite people! And pray. Please pray that God would use us as a place where many might come to know his love and his goodness and the grace of Jesus Christ.
And thank you. Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your willingness to try new things as we seek to share a reason for the hope that is within us.
May God bless you and the work He has given us to do here in this place we call home.
In Christ,
Michael