September 2023 newsletter

House to House 
Family of Hope House Church            September 2023

A Spirit-Driven Church Becomes Amazingly Diverse

The God-movement unleashed on the day of Pentecost was revolutionary in the way it brought diverse and disparate people together. Quoting from the prophet Joel, the apostle Peter noted that young and old,  men and women, slave and free were are to be formed together into one living, loving community. 

     But that was just a start, the coming together of Jews of different languages and cultures from all over the then known world--Parthians, Medes, Elamites, citizens of Mesopotamia, Judaea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya and Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians. From there the circle of inclusiveness continues to expand at a breathtaking rate.

     Philip, one of the Greek speaking Jews appointed to oversee the daily distribution of food among needy followers of the Way in Jerusalem, goes on a preaching mission to despised half-breed Samaritans, baptizing scores of them into the new movement. Immediately afterwards, he is led to speak to a eunuch who is a Jewish court official on the road to his home in Ethiopia from Jerusalem, where he would have been excluded from access to temple worship due to his status as an emasculated male. The eunuch is baptized and "goes on his way rejoicing." 

     It is soon thereafter that the most dramatic kind of inclusion imaginable takes place. The apostle Peter is called to visit and to baptize the household of Cornelius, an uncircumcised Roman occupier who is a "God-fearing and upright" Gentile. This represented the crossing of the most fundamental of all barriers, an act which would have been anathema to a devout Jew like Peter. But according to the text, God's Spirit gave him no choice but to fully embrace a hated and uncircumcised oppressor whom God had declared "clean." 

     Meanwhile, new believers who were scattered all over the empire after the wave of persecution that took place after the stoning of Stephen, carried the inclusionary message of the Way to places like Antioch of Syria, which became a northern hub of the Christian movement, one that openly incorporated both Jews and Gentiles into the church.

     Soon thereafter, Paul, once a terrorist prosecutor of followers of the Way, with his companion Barnabas, went on a 500 mile preaching tour in which they baptize Jews and Gentiles alike into the movement. This creates major problems on the part of believers in the mother church in Jerusalem, and results in a summit of church leaders being called to resolve the rift created by the inclusion of uncircumcised Gentiles. 

     It is hard to overestimate the gravity of this question among early believers. It could not have been more abundantly clear, in the only Bible Jesus and the early apostles knew, that God had initiated this special rite of inclusion as mandatory, first to Abraham, at age 90, and then 400 years later, to the lawgiver Moses. There were to be no exceptions. 

    So for people whose faith was deeply rooted in Judaism, any thought of being a part of God's covenant people without that kind of sacred initiation was nearly unthinkable. Clearly the first century church could have easily divided over this issue, but instead felt led to draw the circle of welcome wider rather than to exclude those being drawn into it. That appears to be the trajectory in which God is forever moving.

Notes, Prayers and Praises

THE VIRGINIA MENNONITE RELIEF SALE is set for October 6-7

SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS Lewis Overholt (9/5) and David Weaver (9/23)!

THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS for those overcoming Covid!

September Study Theme: “Paul, a master communicator”

3   Paul addressing members of Jewish synagogues Acts 13-14:7

10 Paul shares good news with pagan and mixed audiences Acts14:8-28, 16:11-34

17 Paul adapts his message in addressing Athenian philosophers Acts 17:6-34

24 Paul addresses Governors Felix and Festus and King Agrippa Acts 24:1-26:32

September Services, 3:30-5:00 pm 

3  Location: online 

Worship and sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger

Bible Study: Dick Dumas

10 Location: online

Worship and Sharing: Harvey Yoder

Bible Study:Kent Palmer

17 Location: online

Worship and Sharing, Ellie Nelson

Study: Harvey Yoder 

24 Location: online 

Worship and Sharing, Lois Rivera-Wenger

Bible Study: Ellie Nelson

August 2023 newsletter

House-to-House

Family of Hope House Church                             August 2023

Three and a Half Decades Of A Lived Dream

This month marks 35 years since Alma Jean and I transitioned from a 20 year period during which I was pastor of the Zion Mennonite Church south of Broadway to the beginning of what became Family of Hope House Church. The Zion congregation had been experiencing significant growth and was in need of either planting another church or expanding its meeting space. 

     At this point, some of us, with the blessing of the congregation, began having some prayer and discernment meetings with a few like minded persons who were, like us, more interested in the former than spending nearly a half million on the latter, noting that most of Zion's members commuted there for Sunday services from outside our rural community.

     Over time, after becoming involved in ministry to homeless and transient people in the run down former Star Gables Motel, we evolved into Virginia Mennonite Conference's first and only house church. Some Eastern Mennonite Seminary couples, including Ron and Laurie Czecholinski and Guy and Margie Vlasits helped the congregation grow into two separate but affiliated living room size  groups who formed one unified congregation. 

     When a significant number from the second group affiliated with the Twelve Tribes movement in the 90's we became just one group again, and have remained so in the years since. 

     Our aim has been to provide an alternative kind of New Testament-based church family for those who are less comfortable with traditional forms of church life that require paid staff and the maintenance of real estate used primarily for only a fews hours a week. A house church model utilizing the gifts of its own members was seen as one where participants' spiritual and other needs could receive attention at every gathering, and where all would be focused on being God's people in training to minister to people wherever we live and work, and not simply a group primarily inviting others to well planned inspirational services.

     Judging by our numbers, we haven't been very successful in attracting new people or in recruiting and training new leaders devoted to keeping the dream of that kind of missional church alive. Thus we are at a place where we are are asking whether God will create new wine and raise up new models of church life where existing churches are in decline.

Notes, Prayers and Praises
IN OUR AUGUST 6 SERVICE we will be hearing what the Spirit is saying about our future, and about whatever we may have experienced in our church visits July 23 and 30.

AUGUST BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS  to Kent Palmer, 8/10. Also, Alma Jean and Harvey Yoder’s anniversary is August 8, and James and Ruth Stauffer’s is August 30. Blessings to all!

AUGUST STUDY THEMES (below) are only suggested texts, not a part of the lectionary, and whether or where we meet is up to the group. If we choose to use these texts, each participant should come prepared to respond to the question for that Sunday and reflect on how the passage might apply to us today.

Proposed August Study Questions 

6   "What kind of house does God need?" Stephen affirms a revolutionary, tent-dwelling God in Acts 6:8-53

13 "Who is welcome in God's household?" Philip baptizes former outcasts and outsiders in Acts 8:4-40, 10:1-48
20 "What kind of church leaders does God choose?" A former persecutor becomes the church's lead evangelist in Acts 9:1-31
27 "What should God's people require of new members?" A summit at Jerusalem comes to a dramatic, Spirit-driven consensus in Acts 15:1-35

Proposed August Services, 3:30-5:00 pm 
6  Location: online 
Worship and sharing: Elly Nelson

Bible Study: c/o Harvey Yoder
13 Location: TBD 

Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera Wenger

 Bible Study: c/o Dick Dumas
20 Location: TBD
Worship and Sharing: Kent Palmer
Bible Study: c/o Elly Nelson
27 Location: TBD 
Worship and Sharing: everyone brings a hymn, a scripture, a word of testimony
Bible Study: Harvey Yoder