Oct. 7
Oct. 8
Oct. 9
Oct.15
Oct.27
Oct.29
MG Stewards 7 pm
Eb UCW 7:30 pm
MG Session noon
Eb Stewards 7 pm
Share Sunday
Eb Session 7 pm

FROM THE
MINISTER’S DESK
EMG News
SEPTEMBER/
OCTOBER
2013
PLANNING AHEAD
Aug. 25
Aug. 27
Sept. 1
Sept.6-8
Sept. 8
Sept. 9
Sept.10
Sept.11
Sept.17
Sept.21
Sept.23
Sept.24
Sept.27
Sept.28
Sept.29
Oct. 1
Oct. 6
Share Sunday
Eb Session 7 pm
Last Joint Summer Service at
10 am at Eb
Sept. 3 MG UCW 9:30 am
Communion
UCW Camp Quin Mo Lac
Eb Service at 9:30 am
MG Service at 11:00 am
Sunday School Begins
Eb – Caring Callers reports
completed and returned
MG Stewards 7 pm
Eb UCW 7:30 pm
MG Session noon
Eb Stewards 7 pm
Eb Roast Beef Supper
Official Board at MG 7:30 pm
Eb Session 7 pm
Eb Family Fun Night
MG Turkey Supper
Mission & Service Sunday
Share Sunday
MG UCW 9:30 am
Communion
An Old Idea Revisited
by the Rev. William Service
In the days of the early church, it was noted by
the leaders that different folk seemed to have
different but complimentary gifts for ministry. All
of them were utilized in building the church
during a period of intense persecution. In fact,
the church thrived in a time when there were
few if any paid ministry personnel and no church
buildings. These gifts that people utilized were
felt to be God-given, hence the name spiritual
gifts. The scriptures of Paul named quite a few
of them.
From Romans 12, gifts brought this early
community gifts of prophecy, service, teaching,
encouragement, giving, leadership and mercy. 1
Corinthians 12 named gifts of Message of
Wisdom, message of knowledge, faith, healing,
miraculous powers, prophecy, discernment,
speaking and understanding of tongues and
love. Ephesians mentioned the gifts of
apostleship, prophecy, evangelism, pastoring
and teaching. Other possible gifts mentioned in
other texts would include hospitality, missionary,
voluntary poverty, prayer and writing.
As you can surmise, a healthy community
needed each of these gifts to facilitate their
growth and these gifts were called upon by the
community and each member played a vital role
in the life of their burgeoning community. The
church made a radical shift when Emperor
Constantine converted to Christianity in the
fourth century after Jesus, establishing the
church establishment as the recognized religious
body in the empire. Certain gifts were deemed
more important and it was left to a certain few
to lead in the local churches and who were
ordained to their function of priest. They were
overseen by a bishop who made sure his wishes
were followed. It was expected that the priest
would be proficient at most of the important
gifts like preaching, evangelism, prophecy, and
pastoral care. It helped if they could walk on
water. (says I, tongue in cheek). The laity was
left on the fringes, and they were routinely told
that they had to blindly follow the lead of the
priest. Their gifts were ignored. It wasn’t long
before there were two classes of the faithful,
clergy and lay. The clergy were the heavy lifters
and the lay were not expected or encouraged to
utilize their gifts.
Why are we seeing a resurgence in the spiritual
gifts and what is their importance today?
The age of Christendom as it was known ended
in the 1960’s in the affluent countries of Europe
and North America. I remember the date it hit
Windsor where I grew up. The movie theatres
opened on Sunday. It happened in September of
1964. Nothing would be the same again. Soon
after, Sunday sports started up in most
communities, particularly in the few hockey
rinks, who had only a limited number of hours to
stay open. Six in the morning was not unusual
time to play hockey in those days. Sunday was
soon utilized as well. Sunday shopping took a
while longer to come into being, staffed almost
always by high school kids saving for college or
to buy their first car. Other factors started to
erode the churches of old. Some of the
churches’ archaic stances on matters of science
didn’t help them in holding on to a better
educated people. Today, a large number of
people question the existence of God and the
traditional role of religion in society seems no
longer relevant.
The period in history that most closely parallels
the early church is the period we are in right
now. It seems that the primitive church practice
might need to be recovered for the church to
achieve a much needed place in a society that
finds the church irrelevant. The recovery of the
spiritual gifts is part of that need. Also equipping
our membership to utilize their gifts in real ways
in their everyday life is of utmost importance.
This is a difficult process because for millennia,
these gifts have been largely ignored by the
leadership in the church. It seems to me a very
logical thing to use gifts of hospitality by those
who excel at hosting and that teachers might
actually have the gift of teaching. We have had
too many years of people who feel out of place
in their church work. We also need to help
people discover that their spiritual gifts might
also have a role to play in the world outside the
church, and right in the communities in which
we live.
Available in the church is a spiritual gift
inventory that can help you to determine in
what way(s) you have been gifted. It consists of
140 statements and you answer each one with a
rating from 1 to 10, 10 being the number if you
really feel you do well at that item. At the
conclusion of that you utilize your score sheet to
determine your gift. The highest number would
be your prime gift. You might have one of more
at a slightly lower number. They are secondary
gifts. If you have a zero beside one, don’t feel
bad, it is obvious that you have no gift at that
one.
The next step will be to find ways in which you
can utilize that gift or gifts in your life. The
churches task will be to help you get there.
Church Office Information
Phone: 905-436-1258
Address:
1669 Courtice Rd., Courtice, ON L1E 2M9
Email: emgpc@idirect.ca
Ebenezer website: www.ebenezerunited.ca
TO STOP RECEIVING THE NEWSLETTER
ALTOGETHER, PLEASE CONTACT THE OFFICE.
THE OFFICE NUMBER IS 905-436-1258.
Articles for next newsletter must be to the
office no later than October 15, 2013.
E-Mail
If you could receive the newsletter by email
please contact the office. Help us be better
stewards of our resources by saving trees,
and money on stamps, by switching to email.
The Office email is: emgpc@idirect.ca

MAPLE GROVE GREETERS
September-October 2013
Sept 8 Ray & Joyce McColl
Sept15 Chris & Jen Moulaison
Sept 22 Lynn Piggott &
T.Kelsey
Sept 29 Maurice & Ann Plowman
Oct 6 Dan & Peggy Reid
Oct.13 Ron & Elva Rogers
Oct.20 Betty Snowden
& Ellie Hartwell
Oct.27 G & MJ Snowden
623-5420
623-4650
419-1422
623-6269
436-5381
440-4719
623-7243
623-2359\
987-5448
623-5891

EBENEZER GREETERS
September-October 2013
Sept 1 Kevin & CJ Pudsey
434-8564
Sept 8 Gary & Marilyn Down
728-5290
Sept 15 Jeff & Julie Pickell
436-6636
Sept 22 Scott & Cheryl Down
925-2495
Sept 29 Dean & Lynn Matthews
623-0232
Oct 6 Tom & Pat Worden
579-1881
Oct 13 Ken & Janet Spencer
289-240-6152
Oct 20 Mark & Kim Johnson
404-1699
Oct 27 Lawson & Julie Gay
623-1066

EBENEZER FUN NIGHT
Mark your calendars for Friday September 27th
for our first fall Fun Friday gathering. It will take
place at Ebenezer at 6:00 with a corn roast and
games. It will be an opportunity to relive some
of the learnings that the children experienced
during Vacation Bible School (VBS). All are
welcome, not just those who attended VBS. A
wonderful opportunity for everyone in the
charge to gather and reacquaint after the
summer. Corn and beverage will be provided.
Bring other munchies to share and bring a lawn
chair. If inclement weather we will meet
indoors.
     
EBENEZER UCW
INFORMATION AND UPDATES
Many thanks to all who helped with our June
meat and potato pie supper especially Greta
Down, Brenda Metcalf and their kitchen team. It
was a great success.
Ebenezer UCW upcoming meetings: Tues.,
Sept. 10, Noon - Pot luck lunch. Kathy Service
will talk to us about Moving and Change. Tues.,
Oct. 15, 7:00 pm Lia Sophia Jewellery fund
raiser. All are welcome.
Empire Cheese: Order forms will be available
starting Sun. Sept. 15 through Sept. 29 with
delivery Sun. Oct. 6 in time for Thanksgiving
festivities. Watch the bulletin for further details.
Ebenezer Caring Callers Team: Our calling team
is undertaking calls to our church family to
update our files and let everyone know what is
happening this fall. These calls help us to stay
connected. Callers are asked to have all calls
completed by Sept. 8 and to return their kits to
their designated coordinator.

A HEARTFELT THANK YOU FROM THE 1ST
COURTICE PATHFINDER/RANGER
GUIDING UNIT
Many thanks goes out to the members of Maple
Grove who granted us the opportunity to create
an annual flower garden on the north side of the
church. We were able to learn about annual
planting, discover different types of annuals and
learn about good maintenance practices. We
know that the garden is extremely healthy as
two toads have recently taken up residency in
the garden. Maple Grove members were very
gracious and offered us praise and
congratulations when we were finished. We
have continued to weed and maintain the
garden over the summer months and will start
planning soon for next year's garden. We hope
the members of the Maple Grove congregation
continue to enjoy our efforts for a very long
time.
Lydia Young
2nd Year Pathfinder
     

Funny how people want to get a front
seat at any game or concert, but
scramble to get a back seat at church
services.

Funny how we get thrilled when a
baseball game goes into extra innings,
but we complain when a sermon is longer
than the regular time.

Funny how we need 2 or 3 weeks
advance notice to fit a church event into
our schedule, but can adjust our schedule
for other events at the last moment.

Funny how hard it is for people learn a
simple gospel well enough to tell others,
but how simple it is for the same people
to understand and repeat gossip.

Funny how we believe what the
newspapers say, but question what the
Bible says.

Funny how everyone wants to go to
heaven provided they do not have to
believe, or to think, or to say, or do
anything.

Funny how you can send a thousand
‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread
like wildfire, but when you start sending
messages regarding the Lord, people
think twice about sharing.
CAMPBELL’S SOUPS
“LABELS FOR EDUCATION”:
Labels for Education has expanded eligible
products to include ALL Campbell’s products,
even those that do not include the LFE logo.
New products include all Caps from V8 juices,
V8Fusion, V8Splash; Lids from Prego Spaghetti
Sauce, Pace Salsa, Healthy Request Bowls;
Paper Lids from Habitant Soups, Campbell’s
and Gatusso Noodles; and Lids from Soup in
Hand; Red and Green Plastic Lids from
Chunky to Go Bowls and Healthy Request
Bowls; Labels from Campbell’s Gardennay
Soups. Please continue saving soup labels as
before.
Please check the bulletin board for NEW
included items and the “Double” points
items.

Funny, Isn’t It?

Funny how a $100 “looks” so big when
you take it to church, but so small when
you take it to the mall.

Funny how long it takes to serve God for
an hour, but how quickly a team plays 60
minutes of basketball.

Funny how long a couple of hours spent
at church are, but how short they are
when watching a movie.

Funny how we can’t think of anything to
say when we pray, but don’t have
difficulty thinking of things to talk about to
a friend.

Funny how hard it is to read a chapter in
the bible, but how easy it is to read 100
pages of a best selling novel.