Gifts4Kids
In his book, The Five Love Languages, Dr. Gary Chapman asserts that there are five primary ways people feel loved: words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch. According to Dr. Chapman, almost everyone has one or two primary love languages that are the most effective ways to make that person feel loved. And most of the time, whichever expression of love makes a person feel most loved is the expression that they offer to others when they are trying to express their own love. In a follow-up book,...
read moreVineyard Kids
Over the nearly three years that The Vineyard has been gathering to worship the Lord and grow in community, there has never been a week when there weren’t kids among us. It started with just a couple, but over time our nursery has grown to include newborn babies, toddlers, and kids (with more on the way!). Yet during this time, the approach we’ve taken has hardly changed. In fact, we’ve continued calling it nursery or childcare, despite the reality that these words fail to adequately describe what happens while we’re in...
read moreIs God to Blame for Tragedy?
This post originally appeared on Pastor Justin Hase’s personal blog. In moments like this, emotions run thick. As I read the reports coming out of Colorado about the senseless, horrible shooting in the Aurora movie theater last night, I run the gamut of emotions: sadness, disbelief, wonder, fear, and ultimately anger. I can’t understand why someone would do such a horrible thing. So I get angry at the gunman. I can’t understand how this young man could gain possession of some of the highly specialized equipment he used. So I get...
read moreWhy We Dedicate Our Children, 3
This is the third post in a series of three on child dedication that originally appeared on Pastor Dave Kakish’s personal blog.. You can read post one here or post two here. Week Three: Our Church Before Us By laying hands on us, our Church is not only commissioning us for the mission of making disciples in our family, but offering to assist us in it. The last chord has been strummed, the final Amen pronounced, and yet, there is still one more thing that’s about to happen that genuinely excites me, the children get out of nursery....
read moreWhy We Dedicate Our Children, 2
This is the second post in a series of three on child dedication that originally appeared on Pastor Dave Kakish’s personal blog. You can read post one here. Week Two: Us before our Church. By making this public declaration before our Church, we are inviting them to hold us accountable to the vows we made to the Lord. Because we are charged not to neglect the assembly (Hebrews 10:24), it is safe to presume that the local Church is not a chore, but a gift from the Lord to make our stay here as sojourners more enjoyable. One of my...
read moreWhy We Dedicate Our Children, 1
This post originally appeared on Pastor Dave Kakish’s personal blog. I was asked to compose a brief post on the reasons behind why we dedicate our children to the Lord. However, I cannot do so without disclosing that there is no clear Biblical mandate which dictates the practice of child dedication. So in a way, to each his own. My hope then in writing this post is not to convince you of anything, but to explain to you our reasoning and intentions in choosing to take part in this sacred tradition. Again, while our rationale is not built...
read moreSincerely: An Earnest Response to Honest Questions
Because Christians are often passionate about social and philosophical issues that are different from the prevailing cultural norms, we are seen as ignorant, close-minded, and intolerant; and honestly, sometimes we are. Yet, we are deeply committed to our convictions. Our problem is that we often leave the reasons behind our convictions unexplained. What’s worse is that, when we do explain our beliefs, we sometimes do so imperfectly, or with an attitude of condescension. On April 22, 2012 six Christian pastors from four churches in...
read moreSubmit Your Deacon Nominations
If you weren’t at church on Sunday night you missed an important announcement. In two weeks, (Sunday, April 29, 2012), we will be announcing the names of the men and women who have been nominated to serve our church as deacons. Since you, (the members of The Vineyard), will be the ones submitting nominations, your pastors thought it would be prudent to give you another reminder of the requirements and responsibilities of these recognized servants. Responsibility of Deacons In Acts 6 Luke records the calling of the first deacons who were...
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