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 – April 2018

Easter is HERE!

The forty days of spiritual house-cleaning has come to a glorious conclusion! Springtime for our souls, and in our lives, has finally arrived! All that kept us from God – our sinfulness, our insecurities, our doubts and so much more – has been swept away through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The wonder of this is more than can be comprehended in a day, and so with Easter Sunday we also begin the fifty day season of Easter. “The Easter season is a time to let the implications of the resurrection sink in deeper, inviting us to realign our worldview and conform our living to the reality that we have been raised with Christ to new life” (Philip Reinders, Seeking God’s Face pg 329).

The Centrality of the Atonement

But that is the crux of our modern struggle – realigning our worldview and conforming our lives to the reality of new life in Christ through his sacrifice on the cross. In short, we struggle to believe and accept the doctrine of the Atonement – so much so that many Christians have rejected it outright. But as Emil Brunner once wrote, the atonement “is the Christian religion itself; it is the main point; it is not something alongside of the center, it is the substance and kernel, not the husk.” To that end, on Sunday mornings through the season of Easter, we will seek to explore and unpack the wonder and glory of the atonement in order to “realign our worldview and conform our living” to our new life in Christ.

Tiptoeing Through the TULIPs

 
As Presbyterians, we are a part of a “stream” of Christianity known as Reformed Theology, which is itself heavily inspired by the writings and teachings of John Calvin. If you want to kill the mood at a party, just casually mention you’re a “Calvinist.” Most people view Calvin and the theology named after him with something of a stuffy, negative intellectual light. But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Calvin and his theology is very passionate and full of life and Spirit, as evidenced by his logo and slogan, pictured at right. We hope you’ll consider joining us for Table Talk on Wednesday evenings beginning at 5:30 on April 11 as we “tiptoe through the TULIPs” and see just what Calvin taught and what it means for us today.
 

 

 
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison

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Pastor’s Corner – March 2018

6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. — Romans 5:6–8
 

Too Good to be True?

On Sunday mornings the past few weeks we’ve been exploring the idea of Lent as an opportunity for us to have “Springtime for our Soul” (you can get caught up on that idea by reading last month’s article and listening to the sermons at www.npcmh.com/teaching). One of the central themes running through this series is that God loves us, delights in us, knows us, and desires for us to abide in Him (John 15). For many of us, this idea sounds good in theory, but in reality we suspect too good to be true. There’s no way God could love me that much. In fact, just the other day someone asked me, “Doesn’t God sometimes just turn His love off?” What a fantastic question! And aren’t there times when we all feel that way? Maybe God loves me in general, but he’s sure turned it off lately!
 

God is Love

Thank goodness for the apostles and the Bible! In 1 John 4:8 and again in 16 it says, “God is love.” God is entirely made up of love, so it would be impossible for God to “turn off” His love. If He were to do that, He would cease to exist. Paul writes in Romans 8, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39)
 

Yeah, But You Don’t Know…

No, I don’t know. I don’t know what you’ve done, I don’t know what’s in your heart. I don’t know the hurts and wounds you carry. But I know that God does. And I know this: that God loved you this much even before you were saved (see verse 8 at the beginning of this article). And I know that the verses from Romans 8 say that there’s nothing in heaven or on earth that could separate you from His love. How wonderful that God’s amazing love for us doesn’t depend on our believing or accepting it!
 
As the temperature slowly warms up over this month, may the warmth of God’s love saturate your heart and soul as well.
 
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison

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Christian Faith & Other Faiths: Judaism

Beginning Wednesday, February 21, Table Talk will resume the series Christian Faith and Other Faiths: Understanding and Outreach. Our focus will be on Judaism, emphasizing how our understanding of Jewish history and theology shapes our understanding of Christianity. On the first two evenings, Michael Babcock will highlight Jewish history from the biblical era until today. For the next two weeks, Bob Mills will help us explore three distinctive Jewish doctrines – monotheism, covenant, and law – and consider how those doctrines are foundational to, and have been transformed by, Christianity. Our final evening will return to the topic of outreach, specifically looking at the local church as the base for evangelism.

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LENTEN SERVICES Begin Feb. 14, Ash Wednesday

During Lent, we share services with other church neighbors for a time of community worship.  Services begin at 12 Noon and at about 12:30, lunch is served by the host church.  To help defray expenses, a donation for lunch is appreciated.

The offering taken at each service is in support of The Helping Hands Ministry of this part of Amherst County. The Helping Hands is administered through Madison Heights Baptist Church and assists our neighbors in need.

SCHEDULE

Feb 14 Union Christian Church                    

Feb 21  Elon Baptist Church                        

Feb 28  Monroe United Methodist

March 7 Elon Presbyterian

March 14 First Baptist Church-Monroe

Mar 21      NORTHMINSTER EPC         

 (No Lenten Service during Holy Week)

 Mar 25-Palm Sunday        April 1-EASTER


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YARD SALE TO SUPPORT Daystar Junior School- Sat., April 21

Last August on a missions Sunday, we heard Nyanzi Jude speak about his Christian school in Uganda, serving children ages 3- approximately 11.  Although his school is growing, they still have many needs.  Since last fall, the school has been building a larger structure with a new kitchen; however, they still have not finished.

On April 21 we will hold a yard sale to raise money to support Daystar Junior School.  We are excited for the possibility of giving these young children a better, healthier environment in which to learn and grow in their Christian faith.

We welcome items for children such as toys, clothes, furniture, also books for all ages, and most household items.  We have seen in the past that adult clothing does not sell well, so we will not be accepting clothes.          

Watch our newsletter and website for more details as we get closer to April 21.  Contact Vonnie Rucker or Maggie Brockman if you have questions.

Visit Daystar’s website to learn more about the work at Daystar Junior School Kirombe. http://www.daystar.ac.ug.   Also friend Nyanzi Jude on his FaceBook page.


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