4 Deacons
David Witman, Deacon Moderator, dpwitman@hotmail.com Rev. Rex Childs, Associate Pastor, rexc@fpcnaples.org
We are located in the “Heart of Naples with the Love of God” by worshipping, loving, growing and serving. That's who we are, our mission as a Church. And yet, who we say we are is always secondary to how we act. (Matthew 7:16 "By their fruit you will recognize them.") So, it is important for us as Christians that our actions evidence how strongly we actually believe what we say. Christianity is not a spectator activity. In prior issues of Outreach, we have begun to let you know who Deacons are and what Deacons do. Here are some examples of how we "cross our hearts" for the fruit that is growing in the Deacons' garden.
from our congregation that we are beginning to see. Change does indeed take time, but it is very much worthwhile to continue to work toward, to encourage and to wait patiently for meaningful change.
There is some encouraging news about our newly revitalized Inner-Missions Committee work. The word is slowly getting out that one of the best ways for us to fulfill our mission is to put together members of our congregation who have needs with other members who are ready, willing and able to help meet those needs, at least on a temporary basis. Over the past month we have had several requests for transportation to church, to do grocery shopping and to attend our Wednesday evening adult education sessions. We are pleased to say that in each case we have been able to find other members who volunteered to provide, and did provide, these rides. We have also had a request for help finding a particular medical appliance, and, after an outreach, we had multiple offers to provide the equipment requested. We have had members tell us that they heard about our program and want to help.
Finally, we will be working with the Elders' Membership Committee to put together an updated brochure which lists and describes all the opportunities for service within the Church. The Membership Committee will present these opportunities to new members, and the Deacons will let their parishes know as well. Please look over this Opportunities brochure when it comes out in the next month or so, and pick out an activity or two where you can help your Church to further its mission with the Love of God in the Heart of Naples. This is another way, and an important way, that you can worship, love, grow and serve.
You know all the clichés - "The longest journey begins with a single step." "Rome was not built in a day." And these are all true, but as we continue to build awareness of needs and identify resources to meet personal needs within the Church, we are hopeful that we will continue to build on the positive responses
Inner-Mission work is not the only thing that we are working on. For example, we are planning to reintroduce church tours after a two-year Covid hiatus. If you are interested in learning how to give church tours and then in helping actually to do the tours, please contact your Deacon. This is a great way to get to know our wonderful facility better and to meet other members, especially new members. We are also working to build up our Deacons' Fund which provides limited emergency, temporary financial relief to individuals who have exhausted all other means to pay for rent, utilities and some other basic necessities of life. Hopefully, contributions to this Fund will grow so that we can provide more of this sort of relief to our own members than we have been able to do in the past.
More to come in next month's Outreach. Please stay tuned, and get involved. Blessings, and JOY! David Witman, Deacon Moderator 978.632.0587
