The Ward Hill Church Bell Ringer – October 24, 2021

Midweek Meeting for Study and Prayer

Wednesdays, 7 pm, in-person and on Zoom – Oct 26; Nov 3, 10, 17

We are studying David Teague’s Godly Servants: Discipleship and Spiritual Formation for Missionaries.  Hope you can join in!

Lord’s Day Schedule–Next Sunday, October 31

8 am – Online Service (Facebook Live)

10 am – In-Person Service

11 am – Christian Education and Fellowship

Upcoming Lord’s Days   * includes celebration of the Lord’s Supper

Oct 31  Reformation Sunday                 Dec 5   Advent II*

Nov 7   All Saints’ Sunday*                  Dec 12  Advent III

Nov 14 Persecuted Church Sunday        Dec 19  Advent IV*

Nov 21 Christ the King/Thanksgiving*  Dec 26  Christmas Sunday

Nov 28 Advent I                                   Jan 2    Epiphany Sunday*

Church Calendar & Lectionary

Season:           Ordinary Time after Pentecost – from the day after Pentecost until Advent (May 24 – November 27, 2021)

Color:              Green – for the growth of God’s Kingdom

This Sunday: Proper 25 – 22^nd Sunday after Pentecost

Sun, Oct. 31:   Proper 26 – Reformation Sunday

Lectionary:     Deuteronomy 6:1-9; Psalm 119:1-8; Hebrews 9:11-14; Mark 12:28-34

Hymns:           1 – All People That on Earth Do Dwell; 724 – The Ten Commandments; 92 – A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Monthly Prayer Focus for October

Local Church Focus:  La Iglesia Biblica Bautista de Haverhill (The Bible Baptist Church of Haverhill) – Felix Rodriguez Rijo, pastor

Missions Focus: Southern Africa

Community Resources – Food, Clothing, Shelter, & Other Help

www.communityactioninc.org/phocadownload/resource_guide_english_october_2017.pdf          National Suicide Hotline:  1-800-273-8255

Refugee Ministries: Interserve USA (interserveusa.com); Emmanuel Gospel Center’s Greater Boston Refugee Ministry (http://www.egc.org/refugee)

Global Crisis Help:  World Relief – worldrelief.org

Information on Persecuted Christians: Open Doors USA – opendoorsusa.org

Monthly Scripture Memory for October

2 Timothy 3:16,17 (ESV) – 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Catechism: An Outline of the Faith

Q.  What is Holy Baptism?

A.  Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children and makes us members of Christ’s Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God.

Q.  What is the outward and visible sign in Baptism?

A.  The outward and visible sign in Baptism is water, in which the person is baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Q.  What is the inward and spiritual grace in Baptism?

A.  The inward and spiritual grace in Baptism is union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth into God’s family the Church, forgiveness of sins, and new life in the Holy Spirit.

Q.  What is required of us at Baptism?

A.  It is required that we renounce Satan, repent of our sins, and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

The following two questions are for those in our congregation who believe that the children of believers should be baptized. Like many churches in the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, Ward Hill Church affirms as biblical and proper both the traditional Congregationalist understanding and the Baptist view that children wait to make their own profession of faith prior to baptism.

In essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity.

Q.  Why then are infants baptized?

A.  Infants are baptized so that they can share citizenship in the Covenant, membership in Christ, and redemption by God.

Q.  How are the promises for infants made and carried out?

A.  Promises are made for them by their parents and sponsors, who guarantee that the infants will be brought up within the Church, to know Christ and be able to follow him.