Together In Mission

Monthly Reflections from BCC

Devoted: The Markers of a Spirit Filled Church

By Phil Rushton
Lead Pastor

This past week we started a new teaching series based on Acts 2. For the next few weeks we are going to explore what it looks like to be a Spirit led community

Pastor Adria set the context for us this past Sunday in her sermon, by looking at the Pentecost scene. She used the metaphor of a roller coaster to describe the impact of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the early church. Pentecost was like that first descent down the largest hill of a roller coaster that created the momentum and energy for the church. The Pentecost story reminds us that God is the one that empowers, directs, and equips the church for mission.

In the later part of Acts 2, we discover the impact that this encounter with the Holy Spirit had on the early church. In Acts 2:42-47, we read that the early church “devoted themselves” to following Christ. Their encounter with the Spirit cultivated a devotion to discipleship, generosity, fellowship, hospitality and mission.

This verb “devoted” seems significant to me. It implies that these first believers had a change of heart. The work of the early church was not driven by guilt, insecurity, obligation, or pride. No, these first believers had a genuine love and devotion to God that flowed out of their encounter with the Holy Spirit.

I wonder what you are devoted to? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What animates your life? What gives you purpose? What we love drives and directs our lives. I think this is why Jesus frames the great commandment as a call to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. We need a conversion of our desires.

Our hearts are often divided. Sometimes we devote ourselves to lesser “gods.” We are often driven by a devotion to money, political activism, status seeking, or approval from others. Sometimes these misdirected loves find their way into the church. If we are not intentional, our mission can be co-opted by a devotion to comfort, worldly forms of power, cultural relevance, and so on. It is important that we regularly reflect on what we are really devoted to as a church.

In Revelation 2, we read a letter addressed to the church in Ephesus. Outwardly, the Ephesian church looks somewhat successful and fruitful. They are standing up for truth, remaining faithful, and enduring hardship. However, the writer says, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” The Ephesian church is continuing to go through the motions of ministry and mission, but they have lost their first love. They lost their devotion to God that initially empowered their work. So, the writer in Revelation invites them to return to what they did at first - return to their life of devotion to God.

Every once and a while, it is important for us to remember what it means to be the church. This is particularly important during seasons of change.. We’ve experienced some growth in our community this past year, and with growth brings change. As we step into our next season of ministry and mission, I want us to remain both rooted in our calling and adaptive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. My hope is that our reflection on Acts 2:42-47 will guide us in our discernment. My hope is that we will experience a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will deepen our identity as a community that is devoted to God.

I’m so grateful to have the privilege of being your pastor!

In Christ,
Pastor Phil

Shop For A Cause Garage Sale Update

By Melissa Miller
Garage Sale Coordinator

I first want to thank each and every one of you who volunteered in some way for this event. From the all church donation drop off on the 21st to the final box of donations taken out of the gym on the 27th, whether you helped set up and sort/price, tallied/cashiered or simply dropped off donations, we truly could not have done this event without all of you! I believe we reached several different far reaches of our community with this event, and am excited to take a minute and try to give a quick recap of some of the highlights from our "deal finding evangelism" garage sale.

We not only raised about $5400 to be distributed to a few ministries, we also donated so many items that were needed. Between Weds and Thurs of the garage sale week, Charity, Steven and I toured around the gym and picked out an entire van full of things they were excited to have for current and future families coming into World Relief. There were so many stories I got to hear but here are a few of my favorites. They thought wallets would be helpful as one lady had only a backpack with loose money intermixed with all her other belongings. They were overjoyed with the several smaller dressers that were donated as that is a constant need and they take a stuffed animal to each child, 0 to 17, as they pick them up from the airport and we found SO many cute ones that had come in, we have them stocked up for a while. It truly was every, little thing that came in that will help out someone less fortunate than ourselves!

After the sale on Saturday, we were able to fill cars of volunteers from both Hope house in Bellingham and Kid Kloset in Arlington. Kid Kloset is just working to expand their program to not only help school age kids, like they have been doing for years, but also the needs of the entire families and soon will be offering maternity, baby gear and clothes and then carry on all the way through the teen years. Kids grow so fast and it's hard to keep up. The volunteers were overjoyed with how many quality items we were able to provide to both of these organizations!

We also made a connection with the Blaine high school drama department that has little to no budget for props and stage set up and were able to donate a car full of things for their production next year. (I wasn't told what, but know it's set in the 50's and they are now going to have adorable props, thanks to all of you!). We took a load of medical items to the American Legion, as well as made some donations of items that benefitted "Helping Hands", Blue Skies for Children, Highland Convalescent and Women Sharing Hope.

The final donation place turned out to be such a God driven story, I had to save it for last! A couple was shopping Saturday in the early afternoon, and asked if I had a minute to chat. They proceeded to tell me about a thrift store that they recently started up called Summit Thrift (on Front St. in Lynden). They realized there was a need for folks who "graduate" out of the Lighthouse mission program, but before they are able to get into the Summit housing project and they decided to do something about it. As of last week, their donations of items were way down, and they had been praying for "stuff" to continue their support of these missions. They were able to take almost everything we had that wasn't already designated to a different group and it felt like the right decision. They have several other missional systems set up, like glasses that get shipped to Mexico and textiles not able to sell go to a fund that provides scholarships for students. Ben, James and I showed up with a box truck almost full, and they were so grateful and excited! They had volunteers ready to unload and were truly giddy helping us in the pouring rain, but with a contagious joy that I wish I could share with you all!

I am also SO grateful to Peoples Bank who encourages their workers to volunteer in the community by paying us two 8 hour shifts a year so that I, and my coworkers, can volunteer our time wherever we choose. I also greatly appreciate John L Scott Realtors, who provided the use of their community moving truck absolutely free, so we could take the last of the leftovers where they needed to go! But mostly, I'm grateful for this church that loves to build community in an intergenerational way and support each other when there is a need and a possible way to take care of that, to love on each other and welcome anyone who walks through our doors. Overall, I consider this "Shop for a Cause" garage sale a HUGE success and cannot thank you all enough for letting me take the lead on it. I look forward to working with you all the next time we host a garage sale.

Tacos and Trivia Fundraiser Update!

By Jeff Grosskopf
Youth Pastor

The students and leaders of our Unite 2024 summer trip would like to extend a HUGE thank you for your support of our recent Tacos and Trivia fundraiser! Because of your generosity, we raised over $6,000, well exceeding our $5,000 goal. So as always, thank you for showing up for our high schoolers! We’ll report back once we get back from our trip. In the meantime, please keep our team in your prayers!
Jeff, Jacob and the Unite Team!

Recycling and the Glory of God

By Adria Willett-Leonardo
Associate Pastor

What happens when a city and a church come together to steward the environment better? The witness of Christ spreads and God is glorified.

Why do I say that? First, in a region that where the institutional church does not always have the best reputation, civic officials notice when Christians are willing to work together to meet community needs. People notice when a church hosts an event that does not bring money into its own coffers, and instead, in the example of Jesus, does it as an act of service to its neighbors.

Second, in a region where people care about the environment, people notice when Christians show that they also care about the environment. After all, one of God’s first commands to Adam and Eve was to join him in caring for the non-human creation. And when Christians help prevent the destruction of the earth, they are acting in love for their neighbors. After all, we care about the effects of pollution on those who live near factories. We, too, are concerned about those who live near a coast where the sea levels are rising or where overfishing is killing their livelihood. We all want our children and grandchildren to grow up in a healthy, clean world.

Other things happen at such partnership events too; there is bonding through shared work, creative problem-solving, and lots of laughter. Stereotypes are challenged and connections are made. Those who aren’t Christians wonder if Christians aren’t so bad after all. And so the witness of Christ spreads and God is glorified.

On April 20, BCC hosted a recycling drive-through event. According to the City of Bellingham officials present, this was the first time in recent history that the City partnered with a church for such an event—and they expressed their gratitude to us. Our Creation Care Team thoughtfully planned and ran the event. They estimated that around 126 cars came through—including 30 or so from BCC—bringing sneakers (to be given to under-served populations or recycled), e-waste for recycling or documents to be shredded. We’ve included some photos below. Many thanks to Jacob Henderson and Mike Merchant for the photography and to all who helped out in some way.

Stewardship Update

We want to thank you for your ongoing financial support of Bellingham Covenant Church. Your consistent faithfulness and generosity enable us to continue our mission of growing deeper in Christ for the good of our neighbors! As you can see from all the updates in this month’s newsletter, we have an active church that is pursuing discipleship and seeking to reach out to our community! Your financial support enables us to continue this important work.

Our budget year runs from March to February every year. We started our new budget year in a healthy place. Our income for March was $68,015, and our expenses were $61,297. Our monthly budget is $67,400. We will have our April numbers available in the bulletin in a couple of weeks.

We want to thank our new supporters who started their giving journey with us this year. We also want to thank those of you who adjusted your giving this year to accommodate the increase to our budget. This year we approved a 10% increase to our budget. This increase reflects some needed inflationary adjustments and the slight staffing increase we approved last year, which will help us keep up with the growth of our church. We invite you to prayerfully consider how you might help us meet this goal.

In 2 Corinthians 9:7, Paul writes, “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” God’s desire that our generosity would be an outflow of the joy and gratitude we have for what God is doing in our lives! I know many of you have experienced first hand the meaning and joy that comes when you live beyond yourself, and contribute to the deeper work of God in our world.

If you have any questions of concerns about anything related to our church finances, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our treasurer Doug Forhan (doug@bellinghamcov.org)

Thanks again for your faithfulness and support!

In Christ,
Phil Rushton, Lead Pastor
Doug Forhan, Treasurer

A New Look to a Favorite Event: Global 6K for Water

Imagine living in a developing country where most of the women and girls walk an average of 6K (3.7 miles) every day to collect dirty water for drinking and household use. The good news is that each one of us can make a difference by providing lasting clean water to a child for life. Now this child is free to walk to school to learn and play.

This May, instead of gathering at BCC to walk our 6K together, you are invited to participate in a virtual Global 6K for Water in a location of your choosing!

Join thousands of people across the globe to bring life-changing clean water to children in communities around the world and to our Covenant Kids in Congo.

DATE: Saturday, May 18, 2024 (or the week before or after)
TIME: Choose a day and time that works for you and your friends
LOCATION: Your local neighborhood or park or treadmill

Register online using this link to join our BCC virtual team or to make a donation:

Global6K.WorldVision.org/team/RuthMitchell-BCC

Sign up by May 3 and use Promo Code "LETS6K" to receive a $10 discount on each registration fee.

Up Next…

Prime Timers
Thursday, May 2
12:30 pm
Meets in the Dining Room
*Prime Timers is a ministry for those who are 60(ish) and above

Vespers Service
Sunday, May 5
6:00-7:00 PM
Vespers is a contemplative evening worship service of scripture, singing, and prayer
*Meets in the sanctuary

Second Cup of Coffee
Saturday, May 11
10:00 AM in Cafe Fika
*Ladies, join us for coffee and fellowship! If you are new to BCC, this is a great way to get to know other ladies in our church!

One Spirit Combined Worships Service
Sunday, May 26
10:00 - 11:00 AM
This is a multi-church worship service from churches around Whatcom County
*Meets at Cordata Presbyterian Church
400 Meadowbrook Ct, Bellingham, WA 98226

SAVE THE DATE

June 21-23: Church Campout, Bryce Creek Campground (More info HERE)

August 5-9: World Relief School Readiness Week

May 2024