Date
April 2018
Shar ing OURFait h New Hope's M onthly Newsletter
CHANGES INTHEiCHURCH Rev. St eve Nor den , Sen i or Past or nor den@NewHopeWor ship.com - 614.766.5445x15 - NewHopeWor ship.com/Pa stor Steve
NEWHOPECHURCH A M inistry of the Reformed Church in America
Rev. St eph en M . Nor den , Sen i or Past or Rev. Sar ah E. Pal sm a, Associ at e Past or
.........................
SUNDAYWORSHIPSCHEDULE 9:00AM Contem por ar y Wor ship Sunday School for ages 3 thr ough 5th Gr ade
10:15AM Sunday School for Adults and Youth Pr aise School for ages 3 thr ough 5th Gr ade
11:15AM Tr aditional Wor ship School House Sunday School for Kids
......................... 4739 W. Pow el l Rd. (Next to the Columbus Zoo)
Pow el l , OH 43065 614.766.5445 New HopeWor sh i p.com ......................... Facebook .com /New HopePow el l Tw i t t er .com /New HopePow el l Pi n t er est .com /New HopePow el l I n st agr am .com /New HopePow el l Vi m eo.com /New HopePow el l
......................... New Hope's Mission To Reach people for Chr ist, Root people in Chr ist, and Rel ease people to ser ve Chr ist.
A few w eeks ago I r eceived an invitation to attend my sem inar y class?40th r eunion. After r ecover ing fr om the initial shock that indeed it has been 40 year s since 1978, I r ealized that I w ould not be able to attend. I did, how ever , take the oppor tunity (as r equested) to w r ite a letter to my classm ates chr onicling the last four decades of life and m inistr y. That has given m e pause to r em inisce about w hat a differ ent chur ch and w or ld it is today than w hen I gr aduated fr om sem inar y and enter ed into m inistr y. I?ll highlight som e of the changes I?ve exper ienced and let you deter m ine w hether they?r e helpful or unhelpful. Per haps the m ost noticeable change is that, w hen I began in m inistr y, w om en w er e not able to be or dained as M inister s of Wor d and Sacr am ent in the Refor m ed Chur ch in Am er ica. Ther e w er e thr ee w om en in my gr aduating class, none of w hom w er e able to ser ve as pastor s upon gr aduation. Today ther e ar e a num ber of w om en in the M aster of Divinity pr ogr am at Wester n Sem inar y, ther e ar e a num ber of w om en w ho ar e or dained m inister s in our denom ination, and New Hope?s associate pastor is a w om an w hile our daughter -in-law also is a M inister of Wor d and Sacr am ent. The change in technology w ithin the life and m inistr y of the chur ch has been nothing shor t of astounding. For ty year s ago I typed paper s, ar ticles and ser m ons
on an electr ic typew r iter. I thought the IBM Selectr ic w as am azing. Cor r espondence w as all har d copy w ith onion skin car bon copies for docum entation. If m ultiple copies of a docum ent, w or ship bulletin, etc. w er e pr oduced, they w er e duplicated on a m im eogr aph m achine. Woe to the per son w ho m ade an er r or on the stencil! The only com puter I had seen at that point in life took up the entir e basem ent of a building on the cam pus of Hope College. Ther e w as no such thing as voice m ail or em ail. Today, my iPhone has m or e m em or y than the one com puter on Hope?s cam pus and I?d be lost w ithout my iM ac, M acbook Pr o and iPad. W hen I began in m inistr y, the chur ch faced little or no com petition for tim e on Sunday m or ning and, in m any places, on Sunday and Wednesday evenings also. Regular attendance in w or ship m eant at least ever y Sunday m or ning and for m any fam ilies, included Sunday evening. Today, the m ost com m on patter n of w or ship attendance at New Hope Chur ch is once ever y six w eeks. For ty year s ago the chur ch and cler gy w er e gener ally still held in high r espect. It w as im por tant to have the endor sem ent of the local cler gy association (w hich has gone the w ay of the dinosaur ) and cler gy w er e fr equently invited to ser ve on com m unity boar ds, foundations and other bodies. Today, cler gy ar e accor ded the