Happening Today

This Sunday, March 8 – please join us after the services for our second COS Songfest gathering! It will begin with a Friends of New Americans lunch followed by the music program which will begin at 2:00pm. Our Songfest program will highlight the intercultural nature of the global Body of Christ as we experience it among our fellowship here at COS! COS members from both services will present song offerings in some of the many languages spoken by our COS members.

 Next Sunday

Next Sunday following worship, college-age students are invited to lunch at the Mead home. Details to follow.

Youth

High School: Sunday School resumes at 9am today Sunday, March 8.  Come practice making Christian moral decisions.

Middle School: This Wednesday in WNL – Lord’s Day 23 (By Faith Alone)

For students in grades 8-12: Mark your calendar!
Summer Mission Trip: June 20-27:   Parent/student Info Meeting March 15, 11:45am-noon in the Youth Room. $50 deposits to hold your spot are now being accepted!   Estimated cost is $375 but cost can be reduced through participation in fundraising efforts. Contact Annette to reserve your spot or get more info.  Sign-up deadline: March 30, 2020

Church News

Knitters’ Night Out – Monday, 9 March at 7:30pm.  Knitters (and other needle crafters) are welcome to join us at Deanna van Dijk’s home.

Visitors Needed:  The COS Visiting Ministry needs additional volunteers to visit our home-bound members. This is a wonderful opportunity to embody God’s love and bring tangible caring to members in need, and to receive many blessings in return. No special skills required, just a gift of your time and your listening ear. Visitors will be asked to attend occasional support meetings and to visit one or more persons once a month or so.

Resonate has given COS and BES a small grant to foster conversation among our Faith Formation staff and volunteers and the BES teens and parents about the Christian Education we are providing.  The lunch and discussion will take place on March 29 after the service.  

Financial Update: Last week’s offering and online giving was $22,011.31. Our total giving for the month of March is $22,011.31 (with 4 Sundays left).

Our monthly General Fund budget is $119,028.

ESL student numbers shot up in February (over Jan) by +44, with +4 classes taught and 33 substitute opportunities. New arrivals from Ghana, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, and Morocco came to us in Feb.  Join this outreach.  See Mark. He is looking for you! 

Last year, the Climate Witness Project sent a delegation to Kenya and Uganda to meet with World Renew personnel and the subsistence farmers they support. Our goal was to understand the challenges they face on the very front lines of the Climate Crisis. Anneke Spoelma and her “Pop”, Steve Mulder, were part of that delegation. On 3/11 at 6:30pm at the church (ESL wing), they will share their experience and ask what are the ways that North Americans can best respond. Please join us!

Library News: Check out our new collections. “New Americans” features books by and about immigrants and refugees. You will find this section on the north wall of the library. “Gender & Sexuality” features books that informed our recent discussions on homosexuality. You will find this section on the south side of the library, near “Psychology” and “Marriage and Family.” In addition: Check out our new books, including Paul: A Biography by N.T. Wright, What Is a Girl Worth? by Rachel Denhollander, and The #Me Too Reckoning: Facing the Church’s Complicity in Sexual Abuse and Misconduct by Ruth Everhart.

Share Your Gift of Life!  We’re one week away from our blood drive. On Monday, March 16, 2-7pm, you have an opportunity to extend life for someone. Literally. Blood cannot be manufactured, so patients depend on the goodwill of people like us to donate. Blood collected at our drive stays in Michigan. Make an appointment by signing up on the poster in the cafe, or online at https://donate.michigan.versiti.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/121461 Many thanks! Questions? Contact Ruth Huisman or Beth Karanicola.

Trauma Healing Equipping Workshop, April 23-26, at COS.  In this workshop participants will be equipped to hold healing groups/Bible studies, in which people consider the suffering they have experienced in the light of Bible stories and best practices in mental health.  If you are curious about this program and its application at COS, please check out the Trauma Healing Institute’s website at thi.americanbible.org and the COS page coscrc.org/healing.  For more information talk to Gillian Ferwerda, Barbara Hampton, or Ann Kapteyn (contact info in the directory)

March Gallery Opening Event with Featured Artist Erick Picardo – Tomorrow Monday, March. 9 @ 7pm! The event is free with a suggested donation of $5/person. RSVPs on our COS facebook event page are appreciated! 

Registration is open for the April 17-18 and June 5-6, Understanding Racism Workshops. Both are two-day workshops from 8:30-5pm each day. This workshop experience is designed to explore the deep racial complexity of the United States and to begin to explore paths for restoration. Our goal is to gain insight in understanding systemic racism through the eyes of faith and scripture in order to become the Beloved Community. We encourage all leaders and members at Church of the Servant to attend one of these workshops. This effort helps us to focus and work together to address one of our country’s greatest troubles. Register online at CORRnow.org.

The COS Refugee Support Team requests your prayers and assistance in response to refugee and migrant concerns both here and abroad: For healing and successful resettlement for our new Afghan refugee family; for resolution of the delays involved in the arrival of the Bulembos, our new Congolese family (which includes Pendeza, sister to our BES member Sumaili); for resolution of the refugee crisis in Lesbos, Greece where thousands of migrants are held in terrible conditions meant for hundreds. Care to join the Refugee Support Team to work on and pray for these and other concerns?  Join us at 7:30 pm on March 9 in the Living Room.