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Sunbury City Church Newsletter  

February 2022

 

ELDER'S UPDATE

 

Do you value talking with God?  Recently I finished a book called Prayer by John Onwuchekwa.  In this book Onwuchekwa argues for the importance of prayer, especially prayer as an entire church. Often we find prayer as simply a portion in our Sunday Gathering in which we transition between different elements of the corporate gathering, not realizing the gravity that we are talking with the God of the universe.  As a result, prayer must not be a side portion of the service, but rather a part of the service in which we pause to acknowledge the holy God whom we serve.  Additionally, Onwuchekwa writes that the health of the church is tied to prayer.  How much we pray for one another, for our holiness and maturity, as well as how much we pray together.  Our heart is that we might be a healthy church.  And we firmly believe that prayer is central to our health.  That’s why, every other month, we shut all of our other ministries down for one week and gather to pray.  If you have not attended one of our prayer gatherings, can I personally invite you to join us for our next meeting on March 30th at 6:30p.  This is a rich time of seeking God together.  And the only way we will grow both in width and depth is if we commit ourselves to pray.  Won’t you join us March 30th to pray?

Pastor Derek




           Derek Van Ruler, Lead Pastor      
 
How do you handle difficult people?  Earlier this month, one of our own had a God-given opportunity to serve and love a difficult co-worker.  After a number of days in which this particular co-worker was either rude or simply ignored our sister in Christ, she was reminded of Ephesians 6.  There, we read of the spiritual warfare that all of us are in.  And part of this warfare means that we are not fighting flesh and blood but rather principalities that we cannot see.  In light of this passage, our sister began to pray and ask God how she could bless this co-worker.  God quickly answered her prayer as she was given the idea to buy some coffee for her co-worker and simply bless her.  As she walked in and handed a cup of coffee to her co-worker, this co-worker immediately asked why our sister thought of her so much, even after she had been rude to her.  Praise the Lord for opportunities to bless others that open doors for the gospel to go forward.  


We want to hear from you! If you have a story of how you have seen God working in your life or the life of someone else in our church, we would love to  include your story in our next newsletter. Please contact Rhiannon @ 570-850-2769 or by email @ davidrhiannon@gmail.com
What's Happening At SCC



February 6th: First Sundays: Have questions about any of the sermons?  Or maybe even questions about Sunbury City Church?  Pastor Derek will lead a time after the Sunday Gathering on the first Sunday of the month, starting in February, to answer any questions you may have about the sermons or even if you want to know more about Sunbury City Church.  

February 13th: Members Meeting: If you are a member of Sunbury City Church, join us for lunch and our meeting to hear what God is doing around Sunbury City Church.  We will meet in the Fellowship Hall directly following the Sunday Gathering.  

February 23rd: Equip: Want to learn more about the Bible?  Join us for Equip as we take a look at the overview of the entire Old Testament.  This is a great way to learn the first half of the Bible and get a foundation to reading and understanding the story of the Bible.
 

Missional Communities are groups of people gathering as a family, growing as servants, and going as missionaries to a designated target area to reach their neighbors with the good news of Jesus Christ.  Currently, we have four of these groups that meet and would love for you to join us!  If you are interested in joining a group, please contact us at: info@sunburycitychurch.org.
 
 
Pray for Chapin & Mandy as they go through a church planter assessment with our denomination February 15-16.
 
Pray for more church planters and missionaries to want to come to SCC to be trained.

Pray for Pastor Derek as he leads a rural church cohort through Pillar Network.

Pray for our 1 Challenge. Pray we might see people come to faith in Christ this year.

Pray for Rick and Nancy F as they minister in Southeast Asia training pastors.  

 


To see more prayer requests follow this link and login to your Elvanto account: Be sure to create an account if you do not have one already.    
https://sunburycitychurch.elvanto.net/posts/prayer-list/
We would love to pray for you.  If you have prayer request needs, feel free to follow this link and fill out the form to let us know how we can pray for you:
 https://www.sunburycitychurch.com/prayer
 
Support Our Ministry: 
We exist to glorify God by making disciples who love God, live the Gospel, embrace our community, and plant movements.  With your support, we can better carry out this mission.  If you are able, please consider becoming a financial partner with us.  You can give online at: sunburycitychurch.com/give or in person, by placing your donation in our offering boxes.  
 
 Don't forget to check out our podcasts, available to stream on our website or any platform where you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Stay up to date with what is going on at Sunbury City Church by checking out our blog at:
 https://www.sunburycitychurch.com/blog


Want some good books but don’t know where to go?  Check out our online bookstore at:
 https://www.sunburycitychurch.com/bookstore


Want to familiarize yourself with the music we sing every Sunday? Our Spotify playlist can help you with that!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7ifRnFCfmaWwimPKQi2i7e?si=8a74b473cfed4d5c

CONTACT US

SCC mailing address:

P.O. Box 344
Sunbury, PA 17801-0344


Phone:
(570) 492-4962

Email address:
info@sunburycitychurch.com

Lead Pastor: Derek Van Ruler