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Pastors Letter
God has highly exalted him that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil.2:9f Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ! Greetings from Bosnia where I am writing this letter to encourage each of you in your faith. I have been on a mission, visiting our churches in Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia. This has been an amazing experience since this part of the world experienced great tragedy several years ago. The senseless war brought much suffering and death to thousands of innocent men, women, and children. I visited two sites of genocide. In Srebnica, 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men were massacred by so called Serbian Orthodox Christians. It was a very sad occasion to visit the site of the massacre and to see row upon row of graves of those massacred. In Vukovar, we visited the site where Serbian soldiers took 250 people from a hospital and then killed them all, sick men, women and children. On our trip with doctoral students, we were studying how to communicate the Gospel to men and women of other religions. The local pastors and missionaries were helpful in explaining the situation. Why would a Bosnian Muslim want to become a Christian when their loved ones had been killed by Christians? The word Christian has become a hindrance to the Gospel. Therefore, our Baptist brothers and sisters speak rather of being Christ followers. Indeed, it is a good lesson for all of us who are involved in mission and evangelism at Tremont Temple. We are not calling people to become Baptists and to join a religion. Indeed, we are calling people to become followers of Jesus Christ. One of the great difficulties in communicating the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people of other religions and other cultures is that some words lose their meaning. Just as the word Christian has lost its meaning to Bosnian Muslims, so too sometimes the word Baptist has lost its meaning to secular men and women in Boston and the USA. For some, the word Baptist is associated with racism, prejudice, narrowness or right wing or left wing politics. This is unfortunate because we do not want to call men and women to a particular brand of politics, but to Jesus Christ, our crucified and risen Savior! In other words, all of us are bound by our own culture, whatever our ethnic or national background is. The question for missionaries and for each of us as members of Tremont Temple is, How can I communicate the love of Jesus Christ to men and women from another culture? Indeed, we do not preach our culture, but we preach Jesus Christ. We are already into summer vacation time for many. Let us use this summer vacation time to meditate upon Scripture and to pray that God will give us the grace and courage to be relevant missionaries of Gods Good News in Jesus Christ. We need to read the Bible more, pray more, love one another more, forgive more and witness more. As we anticipate a restful summer, let us also anticipate new ways of communicating the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Second Sunday in September will be Back to Church Sunday when we gear up for another Church year. Let us work this summer on preparing ourselves to become missionaries of the Good News! Let us confess our sins and ask the Lord to make us instruments of His Joy and Peace for all humanity. Read your Bible, pray everyday and you will grow, grow, grow! Yours in the Joy of Christ,
ALL CHURCH COFFEE ~ SUNDAY, JUNE 5TH (FOLLOWING WORSHIP) NARTHEX (LOBBY) FATHERS DAY
SUNDAY MORNINGS
Sunday Bible Study 9:30 am Adult - 7th floor Childrens Worship - 5th ARISE - Quiet Room, 5th Men - 1st Floor Worship Service 11am Converse Hall
WEDNESDAYS ~ Fellowship - Chipman 5 : 30 pm - 6 :15 pm 6/1, 6/8, 6/15, 6/22 & 6/29 Bible Study & Prayer 6: 30 pm - 7:30pm Chapel Contemporary Prayer Mtg. 6/29 Lorimer Hall 6:30 pm - 7:30pm Choir Rehearsal 7:30pm - 9pm Choir Room, 7th Floor
TEMPLE TIDINGS
Page 2
JUNE 2011
Rev. Geoffrey Hicks MINISTRY OF DEACONS The Ministry of TTBC Deacons will meet on Sunday, June 19th, from 8:45 am to 9:30 am in the Deacons Room.
Christian Education.
Is pleased to announce and invite TTBC members to participate in a two-day seminar at Tremont Temple entitled Personal Contribution Assessment. The seminar will take place on: Friday, July 15th, from 3:00pm to 8:00 pm and Saturday, July 16th, from 9:00am to 4:00 pm in Chipman Hall, 6th floor. Your gifts are very important and we are committed to providing leadership development to enhance your service for His kingdom. The Personal Contribution Assessment seminar is designed for the purpose of determining and building on those gifts which every member of Tremont Temple has already been given by God. Tremont Temple will cover 60% of the total cost for each attendee. We ask that all attendees pay the remaining balance of $30.00. Scholarships can be provided as needed. Please SAVE THE DATES! and prayerfully commit to attend this two-day seminar! Reserve a space by contacting the Church Office: (617) 523 7320 or Lucrecia Rodriguez via e-mail at: mrodriguez1@gordonconwell.edu by Friday, June 10th.
TEMPLE TIDINGS
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JUNE 2011
TREMONT TEMPLE MINISTRY NEWS. (CONT) TTBC Womens Ministry Tea ALL WOMEN ! Plan to attend the next TTBC Womens Tea held on Sunday, June 19th, at 12:30 pm, in Chipman Hall, 6th floor. This will be a time of sharing ideas, giving updates and continuing and forming new friendships among women in the TTBC faith community.
Womens Ministry Update.. Share Your Food project has been operational for two Communion Sundays. On Sunday, June 5th, and each first Communion Sunday, TTBC members and friends will donate non perishable foods (such as pasta, canned goods, rice, cereal, etc.) to give to food pantries in the Greater Boston area. Baskets are available each Sunday on a table in the Narthex to collect food items donated. The TTBC Food Closet will also be available to members in need on Wednesdays from 5 pm - 5:30pm in Myers Hall, 6th floor. Medicine for Women has also been very active in getting organized. The Missions Project, led by Lois Crosby, had their first gathering with information about writing to our missionaries. We hope to have more updates available at the Ladies Tea on Sunday, June 19th.
4 Evangeline Jimenez 8 Allen Emory 11 Gloria Igbokwe 14 Barbara Blanton 15 Joseph Richard 17 Anita Mirando 18 Milton McKee 22 Ann Bland 23 Nery LeMay
MINISTRY OF DEACONS
Arme Gallanaro, Chair (until 2012) Richard Lynch, Ishmael Williams, (until 2012) Jane Crump, Vantha Bun, Janice Lotz, Arme Gallanaro(until 2013) Arthur Davis, Mavis Hurge, Desmond Roget, Jacqueline Johnson, Elcinha Costa, Wesley Meeks (until 2014)
TRUSTEES
Norman Crump Vantha Bun Ernestino Jimenez Chelsa Bailey Wesley Meeks
(until 2012) (until 2013) (until 2014) (until 2015) (until 2016)
Krista Bun, Joonsik Peter Chang, Timothy Elderkin, Elizabeth Harris, Gertrude Davis (until 2014)
MINISTRY OF WORSHIP
Lesette Wright, Chair (until 2012) Elcinha Costa, Elizabeth Harris (until 2012) Huguette (Like) Lisangola , Desmond Roget, Lesette Wright (until 2013) Palmera Williams, Myrtle Jarrett, Kham Kou (until 2014)