[September 19, 2021] EPC Sunday Announcements

If you are new to EPC, welcome and God’s peace to you!  We are so glad that you were able to find and join us.  We hope that the worship is both encouraging and convicting to you in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We would love to connect with you.  To do this, please go to our website, epcministry.org, and click on the “Newcomer” button on the upper right corner of our homepage.  You’ll find some introductory information there along with a form towards the bottom to share some contact information.  If you fill that out, we would love to send you a welcoming email and to encourage you.  We look forward to getting to know you and walking after God’s joy in the Gospel together.

We have transitioned into a season of “rest & refreshment” at EPC.  If you go to our website (epcministry.org) and click on “Announcements” under the “Connect” button, you will find a document laying out what this time will look like as we seek to come to a healthy place of participating and serving Christ in a healthy manner under Godly order.  Please pray for the leaders and servants of EPC as we look forward to how God will bless and grow us during this time.

For future reference, you can find our “in-person worship guidelines” and the “Sunday Worship YouTube Livestream” link on the homepage of our website at epcministry.org.

If you are joining us via "live-stream" and experience any issues, please email us at "emoffice@epcsj.org" to let us know as we grow in this new process. The "live-stream" link on our website will be updated every Sunday morning.

If you are with us in-person today and would like to give or tithe here at church, there is an offering box near between the Sanctuary and the EM Lobby where you can drop off your offering envelopes.  Otherwise, you can continue to give God your offerings online on our website under “Give”.

The EPC App is live on our website for both iOS and Android.  Please go and download it for easy access to notifications for church events and announcements, sermons and content, ways to give, and more.  For those joining us “in-person” for Sunday Worship, you can now also register your attendance in the EPC EM App!  A big thank you to our “Media Team” who worked so hard to make this happen!

We are kicking off our church-wide virtual discipleship course in “Habits of Grace” (David Mathis) on Wednesday, September 29, 2021.  You can find an overview of what the course will look like on our website (“epcministry.org”) and in our EPC EM app (“EPC English Ministry”) this Wednesday (September 22) with information about what to read for each session, where you can find the session video and reflection questions, and how to download the book for free in various formats (i.e. PDF, MOBI and EPUB).  This is a great opportunity during our season of rest and refreshment to commit ourselves to God’s Word and to reflect on how we are submitting to the Gospel in the daily rhythms of our lives.  We highly encourage all members of EPC to join us in this time of discipleship!

We will be holding baptism and profession of faith on Thanksgiving Sunday (November 21).  If you are interested in infant baptism for your child, being baptized, or professing your faith (if you’ve been baptized as an infant), please go to our website to sign-up and I will send you information on what the process will look like.  The deadline for signing up is September 19.  We look forward to walking together in the Gospel as a church in the sacraments that Jesus calls us to.

We will begin holding Communion on Sunday, September 26, and hold it on the last Sunday of each month afterwards.  This is such an important discipline of faith as we are reminded that we live in and out of the body and blood of Christ given for us.  We look forward to practicing Communion together and we will have information coming out in the next couple weeks to answer any questions and help us prepare for this.

We welcome Amandy Nwana as our new “Ministry Intern” at EPC!  Amandy will be serving in various ministry settings starting in September as he discerns and prepares for a transition to seminary after a career in Silicon Valley.  We are excited for the gifts and passion he will bring to the team and ask that you support him in prayer and encouragement as he grows in God’s calling for him as a servant of the church.

If you would like to continue to pray and have a quiet space to reflect after Sunday service,
we have provided a space in the Conference Room located in the Lobby (next to Pastor Paul’s office).  Please feel free to continue to worship freely, we hope this is an encouragement to you.  If you would like to receive prayer, please reach out to Pastor Paul Shim after service.

We will be posting the "Sermon Reflection Questions" in the bulletin as well as on the website under "Announcements" to better give access to the various life groups that meet.

It’s not a mystery that we have a lot of brokenness in the world right now.  It’s been difficult for me, as I’m sure it has been for many of you, to watch and hear the news about the suffering and heartache in Haiti and Afghanistan.  I urge you to do what we can in the Gospel and pray for those in need - not just in times of suffering but in recognizing that we are called to pray daily for the brokenness in the world, but also, if you’re able, to put our resources to good use and to donate toward relief efforts in Haiti.

Here is a link with many organizations that are local to Haiti and have established relationships and histories to the work of relief and development of Haiti: https://nymag.com/strategist/article/haiti-earthquake-where-to-donate.html.

If you are in need of pastoral care or would like to request prayer support from the pastors of EPC, please don’t hesitate to go to our website (epcministry.org) and click on “Pastoral Care and Prayer Requests'' under the “Connect” button.  You can keep it confidential if you wish to do so but we would love to serve you by walking with you in fellowship and prayer!