Merry Christmas Everyone!
This past Sunday we continued our CRIBS series by looking closer at the Magi and considered some of the more practical aspects of their trip, like when they should be looking for a sign, and how they would even know to look for a star. Many of the signs they knew to look for was because of so much prophecy about the coming Messiah that we read about in the Old Testament. There are around 300 references to 61 specific prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. The eight prophecies we looked at on Sunday about the Messiah were written by men from different times and places between about 500 and 1,000 years before Jesus was born. That makes it pretty difficult for them to collude about it. If you'd like to look at a few more of the prophecies that Jesus fulfills, I've attached a document that explains the prophecy, the background, and the fulfillment for many others.
The Wise Guys knew when and where to look for the star because it was all prophesied in the past. The star followed them to Jesus and when they were confronted by the crib of Christ, they declared their devotion, displayed their dedication and diverted their direction. Our response to the crib can either be the same as these Wise Guys, or we can get our Hint of Herod on and do things our own way. If you missed any of the C.R.I.B.S. series you can listen to them online HERE, or through our Podcasts HERE.
THIS SUNDAY: C.R.I.B.S. - In the Crib
"Away in a manger, no crib for His bed..." The popular song paints a charming scene of our Savior arriving in a tender moment. This Sunday Pastor Chris will finish out our C.R.I.B.S. series, the Crucial Relationship Initiated By our Savior by taking a closer look at the manger scene and how it is related to our own experience of Christ that starts with the manger and leads us to the Cross.
This is also our Christmas service, and we will enjoy special musical worship and fellowship. See you there!
Praise and Worship will begin at 10:30. Why not come at 10:15 to meet and greet a little before the service starts? We also have Morning Prayer and Oasis starting at 9:00, and all are welcome.
IMPORTANT - There will be NO SERVICE on December 29th!
Our church team consists of many volunteers that make the service come together. The week between Christmas and New Year finds many people traveling and having plans with family. On Sunday, December 29th we do not have the Community Center and we thought it would be a nice time to honor each person who helps make church happen with time to restore and refresh. I encourage you to not just sleep in that morning but instead make it a special time for family or fellowship with friends. Perhaps you could invite some people over for breakfast or meet them somewhere for a brunch. Church doesn't need to look like it does every Sunday morning with a service. It's all about "one-anothering", and that can be within your family or just with others. Enjoy this special time and we will pick everything up again in the New Year. Let someone know if they don't usually get emails, please. We will send another email and also a text next week to remind everyone.
Men's Breakfast - THIS SATURDAY, December 21st - 8 am
Our next men's breakfast is THIS SATURDAY and is a great time to just casually get together with the other men in the church and catch up and enjoy a great meal. No RSVP necessary, just show up at 8:00! For more information about any of our men's ministries or events, please contact Don at 203-980-1716.
Our next men's breakfast is THIS SATURDAY and is a great time to just casually get together with the other men in the church and catch up and enjoy a great meal. No RSVP necessary, just show up at 8:00! For more information about any of our men's ministries or events, please contact Don at 203-980-1716.
Sharing in the joys and challenges of life with other people who care for us leads to a rich experience in our journey with God. We get to practice what God is teaching us with others who will listen, challenge, and nurture us. We get to practice new skills, use our talents and gifts, and serve people in our community with others who we know and trust. Life groups are great ways to connect with others in the church as well as a way to create a comfortable environment for you to invite friends who may not be comfortable yet with showing up on a Sunday morning. Great relationships make life better and richer! Check out one of our Life Groups for yourself and experience the difference relationships make.
Life Groups will be starting back up again after the New Year. If you have an idea for a new group, see Pastor Chris!
Advent with Communion
Every week of Advent this month we will have a special reading as well as celebrating with a special communion time. Each week will have a different person sharing for each.
.
Oasis and Pre-Service Prayer
Every Sunday Morning 9:00-10:15
Do you need prayer? Do you enjoy praying for others? How about just taking a break and listening for God's still small voice?
Every Sunday morning we have a time of prayer and what we call Oasis. We start with Oasis, which is a time of sitting at the feet of Jesus. It is a Harp and Bowl style of worship featuring musical prayer. The name is derived from Revelation 5:8, describing heavenly creatures which each had harps and held golden bowls full of incense (which are the prayers of the saints.) Harp and bowl, soaking Praise and Prayer in an intimate setting, finding rest for your soul. After Oasis we try to be more intentional about praying for our community, area churches, and the needs of our church.
Oasis and Prayer meet in the Leete room down the hall from where we have our Sunday morning service. For more information, see Marc Potocsky.
.
THRIVE'S THRIVING!
Thrive is a group for junior and senior high students. An atmosphere where literally anybody and everybody can come and feel included, loved, and heard. The focus is on helping young people learn how to connect with Jesus in a deeper and more personal way. They regularly tackle some very tough topics that are current in our world today.
More information about THRIVE will be in the upcoming E-Bulletins, like a video commercial and news about upcoming events like winter retreat. Don't miss any of it!
THRIVE meets every Wednesday at the Parish Center located in Village Walk, in Guilford. 6:30 - 8:30. For more information contact JJ Secki at 203.645.4054.
.
Tithes and Offerings
At SVC we don't have a special time in the service set aside for collecting tithes and offerings. At a table located at the entrance door, you will find a small box with a cross cutout on the top. Please place your tithes and offerings in this box. There are envelopes that will be alongside the box that will allow you to designate how you may like your gift applied, or for you to receive a giving statement for cash donations. Please feel free to add your name to your gift, or to designate it toward Tithes and offerings, Missions, or our new Building Fund.
God at Work
If you have something the Lord has done for you, we would love to share it with the church. Please let Pastor Chris know.
I will praise you to all my brothers; I will stand up before the congregation and testify of the wonderful things you have done. - Psalm 22:22 TLB
Check out our Facebook page!
.
Do we have your contact information?
We need to be able to stay in touch with everyone. If you are already getting this email, you have the first step completed. We also need your cell phone so that we can contact you with important or last minute information. Signing up is EASY! Just go to your cell phone and text the word SHORELINE to 84576. You will receive a confirmation back saying that you are all signed up.
You can also sign up or update your contact information online. Just go to this link and enter your information. If we already have your information it will give you the opportunity to add or change your existing info.
Correct contact information is very important. Thank you for taking a few minutes to update yours!
.
Got another minute?
Today, more and more people start the search for a new church family online, and the first stop is usually Google. People want to get a taste of the church from the privacy of their home before they venture out to see what it is like in person. That is part of the reason we have spent so much time making our website attractive, relevant, and up to date.
However, in addition to seeing what our website is like, people also want to hear from other people what their experience has been. They way they do this is through reviews. Shoreline Vineyard Church is on Google as well as Google Maps. If you can spare a minute, maybe you would feel comfortable sharing something about our fellowship that would help someone else who is looking for a new home church? If you click HERE you will be taken to our Google Maps page. There you can see what others have said and share your story as well. Just scroll down to where you see "WRITE A REVIEW."
It's so exciting to know that our church planted these seeds into both our local community and around the world!
Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.
Psalm 41:1-3
SVC Gives Back
100 Shoeboxes were given as part of Operation Christmas Child. These were added to over 28000 boxes that were collected just in the Branford collection point. Wow!
43 Baskets that were assembled were combined with over 225 food bags collected at St George's and were distributed to families in need throughout Guilford!
4 the Shoreline?
The Bride of Christ is not just SVC or any of the other churches you see around us but is the COMPLETE assembly of EVERY believer. Our Bible teaches us that when Christ returns there will be no Catholics, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Evangelicals, "Vineyarders", or any other group or denomination. There will be those who believe on Christ as Savior and those who do not. The only titles that will follow us are son or daughter of God.
As you know, Pastor Chris meets regularly with Pastor Doug Dry from Christ Chapel and Pastor Ryan Young of Living Rock and we were able to have our fellowships join together for a Shoreline Night of Prayer over this past summer. We have another Shoreline Night of Prayer that looks like it will happen in January. But this time we have pulled in Shoreline Community Church in Branford through Pastor Paul Allen who now also meets with us. More information on that prayer night will follow. Together we would like to see our fellowships interact more!
This month Christianity Today ran an interesting article on the wave of cooperation and partnership that seems to be catching among God's churches. This was very exciting to read and offers us anticipation of what the Holy Spirit may be doing here locally and around the world! Check out the article here.
You can catch up on all the SVC messages any time
Did you miss a message? There are a few ways you can catch up. Check out our website HERE where you can find all the messages as well as the handouts that go along with them. You can listen right in your browser.
If you listen to podcasts, the messages are also on Apple Podcasts and Google Play Podcasts. Just search for Shoreline Vineyard Church and hit subscribe. New messages will automatically be updated into your favorite podcast player! Great for in the car or on the go.
Coming Soon...
- Shoreline Night of Prayer - PSALM 133 January 12th
Trunk or Treat - October 27th 2-4pm
Real God. Real Life.