Welcome to Northminster

We are a biblically-based Presbyterian church seeking to experience and share God’s love to transform our homes, community and the world. We hope you will join us.
 

Join us this Sunday!

We have Sunday school for all ages at 9:00, and the worship service is at 10:30am. We look forward to seeing you! 
 
 
 

Upcoming Events

The Latest from our blogs…

Pastor’s Corner – September 2019

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Tim. 6:10)

My parents raised me to believe that there are three things you don’t talk about in polite company: religion, politics and money.  We can’t (and probably shouldn’t) avoid talking about that first one in church, and while this usually hasn’t kept me from talking about the other two, but every time I do, I hesitate…particularly when it comes to talking about money.  Especially when it comes to preaching about money.  Not only do I not like preaching about money, I’ve never met a church member who likes or wants to hear sermons on money.  As someone once told Bob Mills after a sermon, “Now you’ve gone from preaching to meddling.”

However, there are two truths about money that I think ensures it’s worthy of our time and attention on a Sunday morning.  First, the reality is that everyone is always talking or thinking about money.  As Carey Nieuwhof writes, “People talk about it, argue about it, and try to make their plans around it. Almost everyone in your church and community thinks about money daily and talks about it daily. They may even struggle with it daily. It’s just that few people step up to help them with it” (underlined reference links can be found in the online version of this article).  If it gets that much of our mental energy and time, isn’t it something we should seek biblical guidance regarding?

Which leads us to the second truth: Did you know that the Bible talks about money more than any other subject?  As an article at crosswalk.com points out, “It is worth noting that money is such an important topic in the Bible that it is the main subject of nearly half of the parables Jesus told. In addition, one in every seven verses in the New Testament deals with this topic. The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, fewer than 500 verses on faith, and more than 2,000 verses on money.”  As the article states, “Why such an emphasis on money and possessions? There is a fundamental connection between our spiritual lives and how we think about and handle money.”

So for the next six weeks, beginning September 8, we’re going to be talking about money.  We’ll spend the first three weeks talking about the connection between our spiritual lives and our focus on money and the second three weeks understanding what the Bible says about why and how our giving to the Lord is an important part of our growth as disciples of Jesus Christ.  While certainly a subject no one wants to talk or hear sermons about, I think we’ll find a way to a deeper, richer life in Christ as a result.

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. (1 Tim. 6:11)

Blessings,

Rev. David Garrison


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Pastor’s Corner – August 2019

“Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.” (James 3:18)

Summer doesn’t officially end for another month and a half, and given that we live in central Virginia, it won’t begin to feel like fall until sometime in October, but with kids going back to school in just a few weeks, it seems like fall is already here.  And with the fall comes the  harvest season.  In our summer sermon series, Do Something, we’ve seen that James uses the image of the harvest a lot throughout his letter.  

I’ve been amazed at the way the flowers and plants in our yard have absolutely blossomed and exploded this year.  As much as we’d like to take credit, this isn’t really because of anything my wife and I have done.  Someone else put these plants in the ground long before we moved in, and last year’s incredible rainfall nourished the soil richly over the winter and into the spring.  We put a lot of effort into weeding and mulching early on, but haven’t done a good job keeping up with it.

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Cor. 3:5–9)

Such it is with our spiritual lives.  Often we find that spiritual growth happens, regardless of what we do or don’t do.  But some simple truths are still central.  First, you harvest what you plant.  Second, while the seeds grow naturally, there are things we can do to encourage their growth, such as watering, weeding and fertilizing that create an environment conducive to their flourishing.

Much of what we seek to do here at Northminster is help you with those two aspects of your walk with the Lord – planting seeds of faith and spiritual growth, and cultivating the soil of your heart and soul to nourish those seeds.  As we head into the harvest season, be on the lookout for opportunities to check the health of the soil of your soul as well as opportunities to “do something” with the growth that God has been doing in you.  If there is a particular way you’d like some help in your spiritual growth, be sure to let one of our elders or me know.

Blessings,

Rev. David Garrison


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NEPC Student Ministries News & Info – August 2019

Things for the youth ministry at Northminster slowed down over the summer, but we’re cranking things back up as we get ready for the fall!

Welcome Rising 6th Graders!

We’re excited to have you join us!  You are welcome to join us for Sunday school on Sunday mornings any time!  John Lange and Sharon Bryant are our teachers, and they’d love to see you at 9:45 on Sundays.

Upcoming Events:

Wednesday, August 7, ~6:30 @ Venue Cinemas — We’ll meet at Venue Cinemas around 6:30 to catch a fun summer movie!  Which one?  No idea – the schedule isn’t out yet.  We’ll email once it is with specifics.  Interested?  Be sure to let Pastor Dave know! 

Sunday, August 18, 5:30-7:30 — It’s time to bid adieu to summer.  Join us at the Garrisons for a fun-filled game night, dinner included.  This will be a great way to de-stress after the first few days of school and as you prepare for your first full week.  This is also a particularly good event for folks who haven’t been to youth group before to come and meet the other students and get a sense for what we’re all about!

Sunday, September 8, 6:00-7:15pm — We officially kick off our fall semester and weekly youth group meetings on the 8th.  We’ll start the fall with a series called, “Rescued from an Ordinary Life.”
 
Keep up to date on all the Student Ministries doings by clicking here!

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New Member Class

Pastor David is planning a New Member Class to begin mid-summer.  If you are interested in knowing more about the EPC and more specifically about Northminster Evangelical Presbyterian Church, please contact Pastor David:  dgarrison@npcmh.com.


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Pastor’s Corner – July 2019

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?” (James 2:14) 

One of the central truths of our faith is that we are saved by grace alone, that there is nothing we can do to earn or merit our salvation.  It is the free gift of God through Jesus Christ.  This is the hallmark of the Reformation and essential to what we believe as Reformed, protestant, Presbyterian Christians.  It is also the doctrine that separates Christianity from all other religions on earth.  Every other religion involves humanity having to earn their salvation.  What they do determines whether they are saved.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22–23)

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have to do anything with our faith.  In fact, the things we do become even more important.  We don’t seek to do acts of love, mercy, kindness and justice so that we can be saved; rather, because of the salvation we’ve been given, we serve God and others.  Just as the health of a tree is shown in the fruit it bears, our acts of love and service are the fruit of our salvation.

“But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”   Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” (James 2:18–19)

Over the first 400 years or so, the Christian faith grew through a radical and counter-cultural love for others and service to “the least of these.”  It wasn’t “radical” in the sense of being offensive, but a kind of loving others that was so profoundly different from what anyone expected.  The early Christians sought out the loveless, the rejected, the despised, the hopeless and offered them love, relationship, presence, identity, hope – in short, they offered them Jesus Christ.  Those acts of love transformed their communities and the world.  Their works, their deeds, proved the real change that salvation by faith through Jesus Christ brought about in their lives.  We might grieve the loss of cultural influence we’re experiencing in our time, but it is also an opportunity to get back to the roots of our faith and do something to love others in Jesus’ name in order to share the hope and life that can only be found through Him.
 
As we head through the ‘dog days of summer,’ look for opportunities to love and serve others.  It doesn’t always have to be something big.  Sometimes the greatest act of love we can do for someone else is to give them a glass of cold water on a hot summer day. 
 
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison

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