One Dark Night

The cover of darkness brings with it an abundance of opportunities, both good and bad. However, it seems that most things which are done in the night are a bit on the shady side of life. Darkness also has a way of bringing out our fears, even when we don’t think we have any. There is just something about being alone in the dark that can cause our minds to conjure up all kinds of intimidating thoughts.

Well, we don’t know how dark the night was that evening when Jesus and His disciples left the upper room after midnight. Singing songs as they made their way across the valley to the mount of Olives may have bolstered their courage, but Jesus’ mind was on something far more sinister, His death.

Yes, He knew that He came to Jerusalem for this very reason, but still His humanity brought forth some concerns. Wouldn’t yours? How could He not think about the beating that He was about to endure? How could He not focus on the pain that He was about to submit His body to? He knew not death but was about to run headlong into the greatest battle of His earthly life, His own death on the cross. Yet, to Him, could it be but a time of sleep? Possibly, but with the sin of all mankind upon His shoulders it would mean separation from His Father. That’s one He was struggling to embrace. So, His heart was heavy, even to the point of death before He made the journey down the Via Dolorosa.

One dark night, indeed, but there was so much more. This Sunday, we’ll spy on one of the most intimate moments in Jesus’ life as He prepares for our redemption.

John

MISSOURI CHRISTIAN CONVENTION 

One-Day Virtual Conference - This Saturday, March 13 – 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM

The convention has been held in the state of Missouri since 1974 and has been designed to minister to the needs of individuals and families in the Christian Churches not just those who are in leadership positions. It is unique in its structure where you will find outstanding sermons delivered by some of the best in our churches, worship that lifts a thousand voices together in praise, and workshops that are crafted specifically to help you grow in your relationship with Christ and your service in the local church. One of the greatest joys to come out of the convention are the relationships that are built and renewed year after year.

Unfortunately, with the coronavirus pandemic and the need to limit large gatherings, the convention will not be an in-person conference this year, but it will still be held.

This year, the Missouri Christian Convention is going virtual!

There will still be great preaching and workshops to help you grow in your faith and ministry in the church, but it will be online. In order to give this virtual conference a personal feeling, we are hosting a gathering at our church building. We will be together during the main session preaching and worship and will have the workshops in breakout rooms throughout the church so you’ll be able to attend the workshop of your choosing.

Adult Class

First Christian Church exists to make disciples that make disciples who love God and one another. And that is what we intend to do! Of course, there are many different ways in which we make disciples, for instance, Sunday morning worship is one of those ways. Community groups are one of those ways. 

We believe that this adult class is just another way we can help you learn to be with Jesus and to be more like him!

We are offering ONE adult class at TWO different times in March. As many of you know, we have been using the Gospel Project for New City Kids for well over a year now. It’s a wonderful, Christ-centered curriculum that grounds our kids in Jesus, the Word and the mission of His Church.

The Gospel Project for Adults takes men and women on a chronological, Christ-centered journey through the storyline of Scripture. Participants will encounter God’s plan of redemption in Scripture through study of the biblical narrative, the essential doctrines of the faith, and the call to join in God’s mission locally and around the world.

*This class is for EVERYONE! The Gospel Project is only the curriculum we are using.

We will examine some of the most vital teachings of the Bible around which the early church gathered in worship and then scattered in mission. In a divided world, the unified church testified to the greatness and glory of Jesus Christ, who saves sinners by grace alone through faith alone.

We will be offering this class on Wednesday nights at 6:30 PM and on Sunday mornings at 9 AM. Also, we will be streaming the Wednesday night class for those who are unable to attend the class. 

There will be workbooks for purchase called Daily Discipleship Guides for $5. And while these aren’t necessary, they will be very helpful in following along and learning. You can sign up for the Wednesday class here and the Sunday class here.

MEN OF VALOR - GUY'S RETREAT 

Men (and boys) of First Christian…

We want to invite you to join us for a Men’s Retreat like no other. We’re talking meat, we’re talking fire, we’re talking tents and creeks and woods and more!

On Friday, March 26 we will be heading out to the Westrup farm just west of Union for a two-day, camping retreat. We're calling all guys: father, sons, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, the guy next door, and even old Skip down the street to join us for a time of fellowship, food, camping, activities and time in the word.

This year’s theme is: Men of Valor!

We will take a look at the scriptures and discover what they say about becoming men of valor that love and lead ourselves, our wives, our families and others for the glory of God. We will also have a special video presentation from pastor Ken Graves Friday night.

What to bring:

• Tent
• Camp Chairs
• Sleeping Gear
• Bible, Notebook, and Pen
• Shotgun and Shells
• side dish items are welcome (FCC will provide meat, eggs, fish, and beans)

Activities Planned:

• Eating
• Hiking
• Tomahawk Contest
• Slingshot Contest
• Cornhole
• Claybird Shooting
• BB Gun Range

This will be a fantastic weekend as we grow in the Lord and connect with one another.

EASTER MISSION

Bethel Hills Community

This year our mission to support with our Easter offering will be Bethel Hills Community. We’ve set a goal of $15,000 to donate to their ministry which will help them build a community for families and individuals with special needs.

Bethel Hills Community is the dream of some of our local residents in Franklin County to create an intentional, integrated neighborhood, where people with various abilities and disabilities choose to live. A supportive, Christ-like atmosphere will be the standard for the life at Bethel Hills Community.

Many people with disabilities have been placed in nursing homes, boarding homes, and other situations in which they are not able to thrive. Many are living with their aging parents and soon will need to find a place to help care for their unique personal needs.

Advocates for Community Choice is a local nonprofit ministry with a mission and a passion to help provide supportive housing, social and other opportunities for adults with and without developmental disabilities that will enable them to live, learn, work and worship together.

Their vision is to create a faith-based community where life can be lived to the fullest.
Won’t you join us this Easter season and help us make their dream become a reality?

TAI CHI FITNESS  

Tai Chi Fitness Fun for All!

Starting this next Monday, March 1, 9:30 AM –10:30 AM, First Christian Church, Union will be a place to participate in a free class for (mostly) senior citizens, but anyone pursuing a healthier life is welcome.  Tai Chi fitness is a program developed by Dr. Paul Lam, a Chinese physician living in Australia.  It is used worldwide for anyone who wants to improve their physical health and strengthen themselves for fall prevention.

Tai Chi originated in the orient, but the emphasis will be on Christ, beginning and ending each session with prayer.  Any reference to any kind of oriental philosophy will be turned toward Christ and His sovereignty.

The medical field and Medicare recognize its effectiveness in improving health and vitality. It is a slow-moving exercise designed to deliberately make a mind/body connection, enabling awareness of our center of gravity, weight distribution and where our balance lies.  It is not rigorous, and we don’t get down on the floor.  If necessary, this program of Tai Chi can be done by holding onto a chair or even sitting in one.  So, if people can get into the building, they can do it!  Sessions will be held downstairs in the large, blue room nearest the glass double doors.

Questions?  Call the church office, ext 5,  or Jenny Hannaford.

JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE 

Jesus Storybook Bible - Family Reading Plan

Hi parents! This week's Jesus Storybook Bible reading is week one for March, "God to the rescue!".  You can find it on page 84 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: 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!

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, March 10, 2021.  As you all know we have seen a significant decrease 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 NOT be required for staff, volunteers, and students, but will be optional.
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 concluded our series, “The Christian Manifesto”, by looking at Matthew 7:28-29, and answering the question, “just who is Jesus Christ, and how did He have such authority to teach?” It was a powerful night as students were challenged to respond by taking their next step with Christ. This week we begin a new series on the book of Galatians, Freedom in the Kingdom, by setting the context of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, as well as a look at the introduction in Galatians 1:1-2, and it what it reveals to us about Paul and his understanding of his calling and subsequently what that means to each of us today.
 
I’d like to leave you with a Word from the Apostle Paul, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)
 
I know what you’re thinking, “shouldn’t you really start at the beginning of Galatians Shaun?”, and you’re right, and I will. That being said, Galatians 5:1 really encompasses the entire message of Galatians, proclaiming freedom from the burden of the law, as well as freedom from the burden of sin.
 
Our tendency as human beings is to key in on one or the other of those truths. If you think of this teaching as being a pendulum, with the truth being straight down the middle and opposing heretical views being on the left or right swing of the pendulum, we are naturally wired to gravitate to one side or the other.
 
On one side we tend to emphasize freedom from the burden of the Law; we’ll call this the hyper-grace camp. This camp tends to focus on grace and forgiveness, while simultaneously dismissing God’s holiness and His call to live like Christ. People in this camp tend to avoid the concept of sin altogether, justifying a myriad of sins as being no big deal since Christ paid our debt.
 
The problem with this group is they take far too low of a view of the problem that sin is, and far too low of a view of the price that Christ paid in order to set His believers free from the chains of sin and death. In the end you can’t build your life or your identity around pursuing sin and still be pursuing Christ. You simply can’t walk in two different directions at the same time here in the physical world, and you certainly can’t in the spiritual either. Ultimately these folks need to repent, to turn towards Christ, and by the grace of God live their lives in a way that lines up with how Christ has called us to live.
 
On the other side, we have the folks who tend to emphasize freedom from the power of sin to such an extreme that they would have you pick back up the Law and live it out perfectly in order to receive God’s blessings. They would maintain that we are in fact saved by works. These are our modern-day Pharisees.
 
These folks would hold your salvation hostage, having you wonder if you’ve done enough to earn salvation. These are the kind of folks that would make you question your faith in some way if something was going wrong in your life or you were sick. These people tend to exhibit highly judgmental and unloving attitudes, and in a very real sense fall right back into the patterns that the Pharisees so often found themselves being rebuked by Christ for.
 
The problem with this group is they take far too high of a view of themselves, and far too low of a view of their own sinful hearts and need for the mercy and grace of God. They need to repent, to turn towards Christ, and by the grace of God live their lives in a way that lines up with how Christ has called us to live.
 
In the middle, that is in Christ Jesus, we find the freedom that comes from knowing our salvation is secure because it was a gift from God, whose gifts and calling are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). We find the grace to stand again when we stumble into sin, and the power to overcome it, to be sanctified, day by day transformed more and more into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the middle we recognize the price paid to redeem us from our sins, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, find the strength to live holy lives with the same love and mercy He has so graciously bestowed upon us.
 
It’s good to be in the middle friends, to be on that straight and narrow path leading Home, leading us to Him, and my prayer is that each and every person reading this message today can stand firm in the knowledge that Christ has set you free—“and who the Son sets free is free indeed” (John 8:36). Grace and peace to you friends; God bless and keep you in the week ahead.

Shaun

I AM MUSIC

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 20, so that we can head out around 3:00 AM Monday morning via 12 passenger vans. We will return around 10:00 PM on Saturday, June 26.
 
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 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.

PRAYER

WOMEN'S MINISTRY

MEN'S MINISTRY

Bible Study

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