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CHILDLIKE FAITH

Yeah, I’d Give Him a Mulligan

A mulligan is a second chance to perform an action, usually after the first chance went wrong through bad luck or a blunder. Its best-known meaning is in golf, whereby a player is informally allowed to replay a stroke, even though this is against the formal rules of golf. The term has also been applied to other sports and games, and to other fields generally.

Brent Kelley is an award-winning sports journalist and golf expert with over 30 years in print and online journalism. He says, “A mulligan, most simply put, is a ‘do-over’ in golf. Hit a bad shot? Take a mulligan and replay that stroke. Drop a ball on the spot from which you just played, and re-play. The first (bad) shot is not counted.”

So, why didn’t God just take a “mulligan” when things in the Garden of Eden went south? That’s a pretty good question. As a matter of fact, our children in church basically asked that same question. “Why didn’t God just start over when Adam and Eve sinned?”

We all like a “do-over” don’t we? One more swing of the bat, one more chance at the competition, one more opportunity to make that perfect landing. But not everything in life offers you a “mulligan.” Some things are classified as a “once in a lifetime” experience or opportunity.

So, since God is God and He can do what He pleases, why didn’t He just start over?

Sunday morning, we’re going to explore some answers for that question. If I don’t get it right, maybe we’ll look at it again the next week.
 
John

DATE NIGHT

WELCOME TO DATE NIGHT!

You are invited to join us here at First Christian Church on Friday, February 12 at 7:30 PM for what we are calling Date Night! 

We believe that building a strong marriage is essential for the life of the church and for our families. We know that life is hard and marriage can be quite challenging, but we also know that marriage can be a huge blessing and joy. But how can you build a strong marriage?

Date Night is a free event that we will be hosting every quarter this coming year. That’s  Date Night’s that you and your spouse can schedule, plan, learn, grow, enjoy and have fun! Each date night will consist of a few giveaways, fun and engaging games, and a time of teaching by pastors and authors like Paul Tripp, Tim Kimmel, Matt, and Lauren Chandler, Francis and Lisa Chan and more.

Most marriages don't fail because they lack love…they fail because they lack grace.

Couples come to the altar bursting with love for each other. Yet, based on how many marriages are unfulfilling, unhappy, or worse yet, end in divorce, it would seem that the love that gets couples married isn't enough to keep couples married. Maybe if we had the ability to love unconditionally, like God does, love would be enough…but we don't. Therefore, love falls short. Love isn't enough to save struggling marriages.

Grace can make good marriages into great marriages. Grace can bring intimacy and restoration to broken marriages. Grace means giving your spouse something they desperately need, but don't necessarily deserve…things like kindness, forgiveness and the benefit of the doubt. And the best part is that if we focus on grace, the love we so desire with our spouse will naturally follow.

Save the Date 

Put the dates on your calendar, call your sitter, and make dinner reservations and we will do everything else. This is a great opportunity to invest in your marriage and spouse and have a great time doing it. Our first scheduled date night is on Friday, February 12 at 7:00 PM here at First Christian Church. 

We are planning and scheduling the other three dates and will have those posted as soon as possible. If you have any questions, please call us at the office or email Rob Rash at robrash@fccunion.org.

JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE 

Jesus Storybook Bible - Family Reading Plan

Hi parents! This week's Jesus Storybook Bible reading is week three, The Terrible Lie! You can find it on page 28 of your book. Gather the kids around and have fun reading this story. 

Keep it simple. Read the story and ask your kids what their favorite part of the story was? Or what picture did you like the most? And then say a short prayer. That's it!

We pray this is a blessing to you and your family. 

NEW CITY KIDS

We love having kids' classes, and we, also, love having your kids in our services, too. We understand that for some parents this can be a tough challenge, but we want you to know that 1) we love your children and they are never a distraction and 2) we are working on adding more classes for both services, in the weeks to come.  This is where YOU come in…We need YOU and many more people serving in our kids' ministry to make this happen. 

What Should You Expect?

Happy Room (otherwise known as the cry room): The Happy Room is available all of 1st and 2nd services for nursing moms or any parents who feel more comfortable watching the service live on the tv, while their babies, toddlers, or preschoolers play.

We love seeing the littles in service and learning how to worship our Savior. What an example for them to see their mommas and daddies worshipping and hearing the Word, BUT we, also, understand that sometimes parents feel more comfortable with their kiddos in a room with toys. So, the Happy Room will be available whenever you might need it.

MarketPlace is Back!

Hey, parents and downtown kids, our MarketPlace is back! What is MarkertPlace? It’s our very own store downstairs where the kids can earn MarketPlace money and make fun purchases like Bible covers, lanyards, and more!  The Marketplace will be open on the last Sunday of every month.

All children can earn MarketPlace money by bringing their Bibles, wearing their lanyards, and memorizing the Bible verse. If your child does not have a Bible and you are unable to get one for them, please let us know and we can make that happen.


1ST SERVICE:

  • Check-In ALL kiddos when you arrive.
  • ALL kids go to family worship together, until just before the message.
  • After the worship in song/just before the message, kids will be dismissed.

UPTOWN:

  • Parents of 0-5-year-olds will walk kids to their class to drop them off.
  • Nursery- 0-2-year-olds.
  • Pre-K- 3-5-year-olds.

DOWNTOWN:

  • Our K-5 kiddos will head to the lobby, where their teachers will walk downstairs to class with them.
  • At the end of the service, all kids can be picked up in their classrooms. Please bring a pickup tag to give to the teacher. K-5 kiddos will be in the large group room downstairs.

2ND SERVICE:

  • Check-In ALL kiddos.
  • All kids go to family worship together until just before the message.
  • After the worship in song/just before the message, nursery age kids only will be dismissed. Parents of 0-2-year-olds can walk them back to the nursery.
  • Nursery- 0-2-year-olds.
  • Pre-K- 3-5-year-olds.
  • K-5- No Class.
  • Midtown: 3 years- 5th grade This is only available for the kids of parents who are serving that specific Sunday. 


*Reminder: All teachers and helpers need to check-in prior to service when they are serving. Thank you!

Midtown is available ONLY during 2nd Service and ONLY for kiddos whose parents are serving either 1st or 2nd service that week. These kids need a place to be since they will have already been to 1st service, and, in some cases, their parent is serving during 2nd service, leaving them with no one to sit with.

All kids can be picked up in classrooms after service. Please bring the pickup tag to give to the teachers when you pick up your child. Midtown kids will be downstairs.

I hope that helps! Please don’t hesitate to ask, if you have any questions. We are excited to get to spend time with your children, as we point them to Jesus and His Word and teach them who God says they are. 

Kids Sunday Video

We are always looking for more families to help us create our Bible story video. If your child (or children) would like to participate, please contact Shanda Ratcliff, or email us at kids@fccunion.org.

212 STUDENT MINISTRY

Greetings 212 Family, I pray this finds you and your families doing well. We will once again be meeting Wednesday, January 20, 2021. As you all know we have seen an increase in COVID cases in the past few weeks, and as such we have adjusted our rules to help ensure the safety of students and volunteers. The following is the new list of rules that we have come up with to ensure that 212 continues to be a safe place for students to come fellowship and grow together in their faith in Jesus Christ.

  1. Social distancing will be observed to the extent possible by staff, volunteers, and students.
  2. Café will be limited, and any food or drink distributed will be handled by masked and gloved sponsors so as to limit the threat of contamination of any kind.
  3. We will continue to begin 212 meeting outside, weather permitting, and then ask that all students and sponsors use hand sanitizer upon entering the building, as well as upon entering and exiting restrooms.
  4. Masks will be required for staff, volunteers, and students, as we seek to limit the spread of germs.
  5. Tuesday Night Jam is canceled until further notice; however, we will continue to have worship practice from 6-8:30 PM on Tuesday evenings.


We are asking parents to help go over these rules with their kids prior to their arrival Wednesday, so they have a good idea of what to expect. We are also returning 212 to our normal hours, from 6:00 PM until 8:20 PM until further notice. As we have learned over the past few months, everything is subject to change in the event the State or County change their guidelines. Again, we are excited to begin gathering together, but again we want each of you to know that we are doing everything in our power to ensure the safety and well-being of your students, your families, and our sponsors. If you have any questions or ideas you’d like to share, please don’t hesitate to contact me at shaunratcliff@fccunion.org or 636-583-5839 ext. 104.
 
Last week we continued our series from the Sermon on the Mount, The Christian Manifesto, by looking at Matthew 7:13-14, and Christ’s demand that we make a decision in response to the gospel. We continue our series this week with a lesson on Matthew 7:15-20: Christ’s instructions on false teachers. In a world with a whole lot to say about the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church, this practical lesson will help empower students to make sure the people they look to for instruction are in fact shepherds and not wolves.

WE NEED YOU: As I Am Music, our student-led worship band and music ministry, has grown so has our need for leaders and teachers. If you are musically gifted and would be willing to spend Tuesday evenings from 6-8:30 PM pouring into our students, I Am Music is looking for you. Even if you could only spare one Tuesday a month, please contact Shaun at shaunratcliff@fccunion.org so we can work together to help our students grow as musicians, Christians, and leaders.

CIY 2021: CIY MOVE is a 5-day event where students are challenged through intense, interactive worship, dynamic preaching, small group study and community building. Students at MOVE not only learn and worship together – they spend quality time with their church youth groups, discovering ways that God will use them to impact the world. This is a life-changing experience for students, an opportunity to get away from the distractions of day-to-day life to find themselves and their purpose in Christ Jesus.
 
This year’s CIY Move youth conference will be held this year from June 21-26 at Milligan Christian College in beautiful Johnson City, TN. The cost of this year’s event is $294, or $370 for students wishing to participate in our extended rec-time activity: white water rafting through the Nolichucky Gorge with USA Rafting. Students should arrive at FCC at 8:00 PM on Sunday, June 20th, so that we can head out around 3:00 AM Monday morning via 12 passenger vans. We will return around 10:00 PM Saturday the 26th.
 
Due to COVID CIY campus events across the country were canceled last year. What that means is there is a great deal of excitement and high demand for events this year, which means events are filling up quickly. As it stands FCC has secured 30 spots for this event, with 6 reserved for Shaun and his team of sponsors, leaving 24 spots for students. With that in mind, we want to encourage students and parents to secure your spot as soon as possible. We are asking for a $50 deposit to be made for each student going by January 1, 2021. In the event we go over our number there may still be time to add students at the beginning of January, however, we do not expect to have that luxury for long.

One other note: 
Any donations or funds raised by students last year at the Super Chili Bowl Cook-Off will be applied to student’s accounts this year. We will also have additional fundraising opportunities (including our 2nd Annual Super Chili Bowl Cook-Off in February) in the months ahead, along with a limited number of scholarships available to help students attend. We as a Church are committed to ensuring that money is never a reason why students can’t attend CIY, as we believe this has been, and will continue to be an invaluable resource to help our students grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ, as well as their understanding of their roles in serving His Kingdom.
 
For more information, please reach out to Shaun Ratcliff at shaunratcliff@fccunion.org or 636-583-5839 ext. 104.
 
I’d like to leave you with a Word from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15-16)
 
Even at the very beginning of the Church, Christ warned His disciples that false teachers would creep into the Church. Here we sit nearly 2000 years later and it should come as no wonder that superstar preachers are out misleading people with false gospels selling the idea that what Jesus really wants for you is your “best life now”, or neo-pagan universalist claims that maintain every road is leading the same way, or the growing crowd of people who believe in “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism”, which maintains that God exists to help when you have a problem, He wants people to be good and nice, that the central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about yourself, and of course all good people go to heaven.
 
All three of these heresies make you the center of the story, appealing to our self-centered, self-serving natures, and as such carry with them a great appeal. The ministers pushing these beliefs are often well-liked, appear super successful, and are quite literally fleecing people, robbing them blind to the tune of millions and even billions of dollars, all while leading them headlong into hell.
 
The wolves are out there, and it is why we must take seriously the Word of God and the instructions of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do I know the Lord’s primary interest isn’t in providing me my “best life now”? Well for starters when I look at the lives of the apostles and the members of the early Church, most all of whom were martyred, murdered in horrific ways for their faith in Christ, it becomes readily apparent that Christ must have something else in mind. When Christ tells us in His Word that He is going to prepare a place for us (John 14:3), a place with no tears, death, mourning, or pain, and I live in a broken world full of these things, it becomes even more obvious that the Lord has so much better in store for us, that indeed, “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
 
How do I know that not all roads lead to heaven, besides the commonsense fact that every road leading to the same place doesn’t work here on earth? When I read the Words of Christ, that He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), that no man comes to the Father except through Him it becomes pretty clear. When He talks about the wide and narrow gates, finishing up with the proclamation that those who find the narrow gate to life are few (Matthew 7:13-14) again His Word leaves us no room for misunderstandings.
 
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism collapses under the same scrutiny, as God’s Word speaks clearly about the heart’s wickedness (Jeremiah 17:9), our need for salvation in Christ because “none is righteous, no not one…no one does good,” (Romans 3:11-12), and that all things were created for Him and His glory; that existence revolves around Him, not you and I (Colossians 1:15-20).
 
At each and every point the Word of God has provided a clear answer, and therefore we have a Guide, a light to help us understand if those who profess to be teachers are in fact teaching God’s Word in accordance with God’s Truth. God’s Word serves to protect us from being misled by those who would attempt to do just that, to mislead us in order to build their own kingdoms, not to glorify and build the Kingdom of God.
 
It is my hope and prayer that each and every one of us would make good use of our Guide, that we would hold all of our teachers, myself included, accountable to properly teaching the Truth according to the Word of God, and all for His glory. Grace and peace to you friends; God bless and keep you in the week ahead.

Shaun

FISHING MINISTRY


The Men’s Ministry team is excited to invite everyone to our first event of the New Year, the 2nd Annual Cabin Fever Reliever Trout Tournament at Busch Wildlife Refuge in Weldon Spring, Missouri. This event will be held on February 6th, at Lake 28. Typically, we park at the gun range and then walk across Highway D to the lake. Participants are invited to meet us on-site at 6 AM for the event. Participants are also reminded that a trout stamp is required, along with a fishing license for those over 16, in order to fish. A trophy will be awarded for the largest fish. So, bundle up, grab your rod, some hand warmers, and join us for what promises to be a special day on the water (or ice!).
 
Directions:
Hwy 50 east, to left on Hwy 47 north
Hwy 47 to right on Hwy 94 in Dutzow
Hwy 94 to left onto Hwy TT
Hwy TT to left on Hwy T
Hwy T to right on Hwy D
Hwy D to Busch Outdoor shooting range on Right, Lake 28 on Left
 
(Maps will be available at the connection point)

PRAYER

Needs arise more than just on a Sunday morning. If you need prayer at any time, please know you can text ‘prayer2fcc’ to 94000 and a staff member will receive your request any time and be praying for you.

You can also email your request or call the church office to be placed on the prayer list. There is a prayer table in the lobby where you can place a prayer request in the box and we will pray for you! 

We are family, and we want to support you in any way we can and prayer is always the first and best place to start. Please feel free to reach out to us at any time.

WOMEN'S MINISTRY

Tuesday mornings from 9-11 AM. The Bible is always applicable, so even if you can't make it at the beginning, you are always welcome!  The gathering is in the Fellowship Hall downstairs.

MEN'S MINISTRY

Bible Study


Join us this Saturday, January 23 @ 7 AM for men's Bible study at Red, White, and Brew coffee house in Union.

CELEBRATE RECOVERY

Join us in the Fellowship Hall downstairs for Celebrate Recovery.  We will start with a time of food and fellowship at 6:00 PM.  We have childcare starting at 6:30 PM. Please sign your child in at the welcome desk and a team member will assist you in helping them to their class.

We know a lot of us are huggers...please ask before hugging, and maybe try to just offer a high five or fist bump for a few weeks.

We are LIVE!  Please check us out on Facebook to view our large group Live!  We want to spread the love of Jesus to everyone in recovery from life's hurts, habits, and hang-ups, and while we don’t share some things, we understand the others are uncomfortable in sharing space due to COVID.  At this time please feel free to worship at home and interact!  We love you all! 
 
Check out our Facebook page at @FCCUnionCR. If you have any questions, comments, or requests feel free to email us.

RIGHTNOW MEDIA


Have you ever wanted to do a Bible study with your spouse, kids or maybe a group of friends but you didn’t know where to start? Leading a Bible study can seem like such a big task. Planning what to say and what questions to ask can be one of the reasons people are so hesitant to lead a study. Well, what if we took all the planning and prep work out of it and made it easy for you to do right in your own living room?

As someone who attends First Christian Church you have access to RightNow Media, a website with hundreds of video-driven
studies. There are studies on just about every topic you may want; from parenting to having “the talk” with your older kids, marriage, studies on books of the Bible and so much more. There are even cartoons for the kids that teach Biblical principles. And the best part is, it costs you nothing! If you would like to check out this incredible resource you can sign-up here.
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150 Joel Ave
Union, MO. 63084

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