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Vol. 47, No. 4
SOUTHSIDE ORACLE March 26, 2004
The Bulletin Board
Baptized – We welcome into our fellowship Sarah Borges who was baptized
at the second morning worship last Sunday. Please
contact us
for her address and phone number.
The
Southside Youth Rally is this weekend. The featured speaker is Grant
Rathe, youth minister for the Fairview Heights, IL church. The program
begins Friday with registration at 6:30 p.m. and concludes with worship on
Sunday. There will be a potluck for the young people and guests following
the second worship.
We
extend our condolences to the Kent and Vernal Britton on the death of their
sister, Darlene Smith. A memorial service was conducted at the Hampton
Avenue Church on Tuesday.
The
Wisconsin Challenge will be assembled Monday night at 7:00 p.m. at
the church building. If you would like to help, come at that time.
ATTENDANCE RECORD
Two years ago Last
year Last week Goal
Bible classes
141 163
172 170
Morning worship
247 251 *254 250
Evening worship
58 73 57 80
Contribution $3307.11
$4993.41 $4386.92 $4500.00
Men’s Retreat – “Disciplines of a Godly Man” will be the theme of
the annual men’s retreat at Camp Matawa April 16 & 17. Those planning to
attend should see the posted sign-up sheet so it can be determined how many
to plan for.
Attention Study Groups! Every fifth Wednesday our midweek study groups
meet together at the church building. Therefore, this coming Wednesday,
March 31, we will have a special program and encourage all to attend.
In
the next few weeks we will be mailing a brochure about Southside into 20,000
homes in our area. We welcome those visitors who will be our guests.
A Religion of the
Heart
It was the year 1572. The reigning queen
of England was Elizabeth I. The Anglican Church was in turmoil as a radical
religious group of Puritans sought to purify the national church of all
vestiges of Catholicism. Some of these dissenters addressed An
Admonition to Parliament calling for a restoration of the true church.
In it they declared:
“The outward markes whereby a true
Christian Church is knowne, are preaching the worde purely, ministering of
the sacraments sincerely, and ecclesiastical discipline which consisteth in
admonition and correction of faults severlie.”
The Puritan manifesto was
commendable in its objective - the recovery of true Christianity. However,
it was improperly focused. It sought to make the national Church of England
into the biblical church of Christ. The primitive church begun by Jesus was
never a state church, but a body of spiritually committed people separated
by philosophy from the surrounding world. It is impossible to identify that
church with the government of any nation as such.
Beyond that, however, the Admonition to
Parliament fell short because it focused solely on the externals –
preaching, the sacraments, and enforced church discipline. It said nothing
about the heart. It envisioned a time in which right and wrong would be
publicly defined and enforced, willingly or otherwise.
The proclamation of truth and church
discipline are part of Biblical Christianity. However, unless followers of
Jesus are converted in their hearts as well as in their minds, discipline to
enforce church prescribed moral standards will produce a hollow
Christianity.
A problem that most of us Christians have
is that while we mentally subscribe to the truths of our faith, we fall
short at the heart level. Heart religion that is not based on truth
displeases God, but head religion that does not encompass the heart
displeases him as well for “these people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their
worship of me is only of rules taught by men” (Isaiah 29:13).
__Monroe E. Hawley
Calendar of Events
March 26-28 – Southside Youth Rally
March 31 – 5th Wednesday combined meeting
of midweek study groups
April 2-4 – York College High School Days
April 3 – Small Church Growth Workshop, Fond du Lac
Church
April 11 – Elders/deacons meeting, 4:30 p.m.
April 11 – Praise and Palate, 6:00 p.m
April 16-17 – Southside men’s retreat, Camp Matawa
April 17-18 – Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp spring
youth rally, Fallhall Glen
April 20 – Christian Workers’ Meeting, 9:00 a.m.
May 7 – Mother/Daughter Banquet, Southside, 6:00 p.m.
May 16 – Southside combined morning worship, 11:00
a.m.
June 20 – July 3 – Junior camp session, Wisconsin
Christian Youth Camp
July 4-17 – Middle camp session, Wisconsin Christian
Youth Camp
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