On the first Sunday of 2005, we welcomed another two of our faithful attendees into formal membership. Henry Neufeld spoke on membership, noting that today's churches have all categories of people including regular members, members who stop attending, attendees who come faithfully but never become members, members/attendees who come once or twice a month, etc. The epistle writers assumed that every Christian was an integral part of a fellowship, regardless of life's other duties. Or as Paul put it in 1 Cor 12, each of us is to be an integral part of the 'body of Christ'. Membership, whether formal or informal, makes us part of a community of faith. John Alexander went so far as to say that Christians are not called to any specific job, only to be in the church. It was therefore heart-warming to hear Hannelore Schowalter and Hildegard Lemke speak about their faith journeys, telling of their faith and expressing gratitude for PGIMF. Over coffee, a number of people continued conversing about what PGIMF means to us individually and what formal membership means. Henry mentioned that several more people are interested in joining once schedules permit. As Hannelore commented, one reason she decided to join is because someone asked (an act of courage that required but 12 years to accomplish). Perhaps we are so respectful of individualism that we are reluctant to put any pressure on anybody to join. But might our respectfulness ever be misinterpreted as simply a lack of interest or concern? It certainly takes courage to suggest that someone consider joining--it takes even more courage to ask to join. [JEK]

Passage: 1Cor 12:20-27
Communion: No
Ecumenical or Event: Epiphany
Potluck Lunch: No
Congregational Meeting: No

Speaker: Henry Neufeld
Worship Leader: Henry Neufeld
Song Leader: J Evan Kreider
Pianist: Susie Funk
Usher: Andre Pekovich
Zoom Coordinator:
Children's Feature Leader:

Bring Flowers:
Coffee Helper:
Sound Helper:

Child Care Volunteer: no sunday school