Fresh News from Friendly Street

Weekly Worship Opportunities

Week of  June 11th, 2023
Fresh News from Friendly Street
    Please join us this Sunday, as Pastor Jenny concludes our sermon series, "To My Friend Who Left the Faith", based on a book by the same name written by Wade Bearden. This week's theme is Suffering - How can a good God allow so much pain?
Be sure to look through the whole newsletter, as we have a lot of updates and information about our ministries.
    *Zoom Attendees-- We have now set up Zoom as a recurring meeting, so you can use the same link every week*
    If you have any Prayer Requests, Praises, or Updates you'd like added to the newsletter, please send us an email at friendlystreetchurch@gmail.com so we can get them added. This email and the church phone 541.345.6553 will continue to serve as the primary ways of contact for staff.     Thank you!
We will continue to provide ZOOM each Sunday, record, and upload the services to our website and Faithlife.
Children's Church
Preschool Ministry programming for ages 0-5 is available during the morning worship.
Grade school programming (K-5th) is also available as needed.
Activities Bags are available for all children if they choose to be in service instead.
Donations of prepackaged snacks and juice boxes would be welcome.

Giving
Exciting news: we are moving from Faithlife to Subsplash as our main communication platform!
This also means Giving on Faithlife will no longer be available after June 16. You can now give online at https://secure.subsplash.com/ui/access/GHMX5H/ 

It’s easy, fast, and secure, and a great way to designate gifts, such as to give for a camper to attend Camp White Branch or to give toward Project Hope Backpacks.
If you’re able, we also encourage you to set up recurring giving. 
Thank you for faithfully giving as the Gospel message is shared with our community.

Events Highlights:
Small Group Wednesdays at 10 am:  At the Church Library. They are currently doing a study of Psalms.
Game Night:  
Tuesday, June 20th. 5:30 - 7:30 pm. The plan is Tri-tip. Please plan to bring a side dish to share, and invite a friend.
Friendly Street Prayer Walks:
  The next Prayer Walk is scheduled for Friday, June 23rd at 8 am. We will meet at the Alton Baker Park Duck Pond.
Ladies' Dinner on the Deck:
  The next Dinner on the Deck on Tuesday, July 11th. It will be held at Linda Collin's home, but Carol Zorn will act as the hostess.
Project Hope Donations Due:
  Thursday, July 13th. Please bring your donation to the church by Sunday, July 9th, so we have time to turn them in.
FAN Picnic and Root Beer Floats: 
July 30thWe will need volunteers between 4 and 7 pm, to help with set up and clean up. cups, straws, etc will be provided, so all we need to do is scoop and pour.
August 22nd:
Project Hope Volunteer Training- Willamette Christian Center. 6:30 pm.
August 26th & 27th: Project Hope Backpack Set Up and Giveaway. ATA Middle School.

Weekly Prayer Requests
**If you have shared a prayer request, please remember to share any updates, so we can continue to support you**
New and Urgent Unspoken Requests: Please remember to pray for each other, even when we don't know the specific needs.
Wisdom for Friendly Street's Leadership, including the new members, Planning for our Summer Ministries and that God will lead us to the Lead Sunday School Teacher and Worship Pastor He has prepared to join our staff.
Patrick & Jamie Nachtigall-- The missionary couple we support
Unsaved Family members. We all have at least one
The homeless population in Eugene: Wisdom for city officials on how to handle this complex issue. Resources for nonprofits in designing programs to assist the unhoused. For all of us to look at them with God's eyes-- with love and compassion.
Adams Elementary
Our national and local leaders
War in Ukraine - Churches throughout the region. More information on how to help those in need in Ukraine through prayer and financial contributions can be found at:
https://www.jesusisthesubject.org/disaster-relief/

Have you ever been in a discussion with someone and they have a point they just keep repeating? It gets to the point where you just want to let it go and talk about something else, but they won’t drop it.

I was thinking about Sunday’s sermon on hypocrisy, and the quote from Wade Bearden that sometimes religious people point out other people’s flaws to try to make themselves feel better. He said the reason they do that is because they aren’t confident in God’s love and forgiveness.

That made me think about bullies. Bullies often pick on others to convince themselves that they are strong and important. Often, they have a difficult home life, and project that on others.
The people in churches with the mentality of “Everyone but my very specific group of believers is going to hell.” Are essentially bullies. That is difficult for me to understand, because I know I’m just as much of a sinner as anyone else on the planet. And I know that my sins aren’t always obvious. And I’ve known terrible people who have also done good things. 

But the idea that these people are insecure. That makes a lot of sense to me. It’s very difficult to wrap my head around the idea that a perfect God loves me enough to die, so that I don’t have to be punished for all the stupid petty stuff I do. So I can better empathize with them.  

Which doesn’t exactly help when talking to people who have been hurt by hypocrisy in the church. Except for this. We can’t undo the hurt others have done by words and arguments. We can help heal the hurts with our actions and our attitudes.

I can’t argue someone into sharing my faith. But I can listen, and empathize, and perhaps give them a different perspective of what faith should look like.

John 8:10-11 says, “Then Jesus stood up and asked her, “Dear lady, where are your accusers? Hasn’t anyone condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she replied.
Then Jesus said, “I don’t condemn you, either. Go home, and from now on don’t sin anymore.” (ISV)

True believers should be like Jesus (aside from writing people’s sin in the dirt), and not like the accusers. We shouldn’t point out someone else’s sins, knowing we are sinners, too. Instead, we should not condemn our fellow sinners, but speak to them with love. And this includes the hypocrites.
~susan~

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