Let’s start with a question? Why do we have a Board of Management (BOM)? The main reason is that First Baptist Church Halifax (FBCH) is a church that practices “congregational church government.” This means that it is the members of our own congregation who make decisions affecting FBCH and not the minister or an ecclesiastical hierarchy that might exist in other denominations. Nor do other organizations to which we belong, such as the local association of Baptist Churches (Halifax Region United Baptist Association— HRUBA) or the larger convention of Baptist Churches (Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms—CABF) make decisions for us. In fact, our founding membership in CABF is precisely because its members also believe in each church being able to make its own decisions under the leadership of God. Significant decisions are made at meetings of our whole congregational membership. The BOM has two roles with respect to these Congregational Meetings. First, it ensures that each Congregational Meeting is properly planned and announced and that a meaningful Agenda is prepared with all those boards, committees, task forces, officers, or other presenters being fully prepared and any motions properly worded. The Chair of the BOM chairs Congregational Meetings. The second is that the BOM has a role in ensuring that the decisions made by the congregation are acted upon following the meeting. Another significant reason for FBCH to have a BOM is to provide a coordinating role. We are a very complex organization with several employees, a large facility, a significant budget and many activities for members and reaching into the community. To help organize all this we have several boards, many committees and a number of groups and coordinators with which innumerable volunteers serve in many capacities to contribute to all the tasks needing to be done. These range all the way from planning a worship service to maintaining the building or teaching our children or supporting a refugee family or developing a budget. Clearly, there is a need for coordinating all this effort, and the monthly meetings of the BOM include a “Round Table” where the members share information about what they have been doing and what is planned. In some cases, the BOM will exercise an administrative role on behalf of the Congregation, reviewing materials and recommendations provided by an existing Board, Committee or other group, and approving something or determining a course of action by consensus or deciding that the matter needs to be taken to the congregation for decision. The membership of the BOM includes all ministerial staff, church
On September19th, at 2:00 pm, the Ordination Council of the Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms (CABF) convened in the Church Parlour of First Baptist Church Halifax. The Council met at the request of First Baptist Church to examine for Ordination Lic. Jenny Csinos. Jenny is the first minister to be examined for ordination by CABF making this event an historic one for all three parties. Many observers from the First Baptist and other Congregations were present when the Chair, Rev. John Tonks, President of the CABF, announced Jenny’s successful examination thus paving the way for her Ordination Service on October 25th at 3:00 pm. More information to follow in News Notes and other media. Congratulations Jenny proud of you!
–
we are so very
officers and the chairs of all boards, committees and groups and the coordinators of several functions. Since we represent the members, BOM Meetings are open and the minutes of each meeting are available for viewing in a binder placed in the hallway outside the Church Parlour. In its various roles, the BOM works to help our church deliver all the ministries and missions to which we have committed ourselves and acts as a support to other boards, committees and groups as well as the congregation as a whole. Please pray for our efforts to help First Baptist Church Halifax be a community “Where Faith Comes to Life.”
Christmas Tea & Sale November 7, 2015 Fall has arrived and the Annual Christmas Tea and Sale is just over a month away: November 7, between 2:00 and 4:30 pm. Of course, we will be provided with music in the sanctuary before the event beginning at 1:30 so please, tell your friends to join us. Over the summer months, Julie and I hope you have been talking to your family and friends about this spectacular event and the great buys that can be found for the home and for gifts. This year we will use all three levels of the Church. For the first time, we will feature an Art Gallery in the Parlour. You will also find a grand selection of venues including jewelry, pantry table, jams and jellies and crafts. “The Boutique”(Vintage Items and Collectables) will be combined with “The Emporium”, which will feature higher priced items for sale. Not to be forgotten on the lower level is the “New to You” and the book room where a bargain read can be purchased for only $1.00. Planning for the Tea and Sale is now moving into high gear but will only be a success if we can get the people inside our doors. Would you believe that in 1959, they raised $1100 at a successful Tea and Sale? Let's get the word out to all your family and friends that this is “the best Christmas Tea and Sale in Halifax.” Where can one find an afternoon tea and fantastic sales venue for the bargain price of $7.00? If you are looking for an even better bargain, tickets can be purchased at 3 for $20.00. Most important to the Tea and Sale's success is your participation. We need craft items, new to you (items that still have good use but no longer required by you), baked goods, jewelry, as well as Boutique and Emporium items. Please, no computers. Items may be brought to the church Mon 1:00 pm-4:00pm or Tues-Fri 8:00am-4:00pm. Beginning the first Sunday in October and each Sunday until the sale, tickets will be available in the Parlour Lobby. If you would like to volunteer to work at one of the sales venues, in the tea room, or at one of the many behind the scenes areas, please contact: Mary Anne Eisener at rmeisener@gmail.com or 902-876-7515 or Julie Shore at johnsonshore@aol.com or 902-802-8947. We would be delighted to hear from you to help make this another successful Tea and Sale. Mary Anne Eisener Julie Shore Co-Conveners 2015 Tea and Sale
Harvest Supper and Silent Auction Friday October 16, 2015 at 5:30 PM all Proceeds will be donated to the
“Bread of Life Ministries” who Operate: Connection Mobile Soup Kitchen with stops in four low income areas of the Halifax Regional Municipality, and Provides food and clothing for more than 200 men, women and children weekly sponsored by the
Community Outreach Committee the evening includes a meal of: Hor d’eurves International Cuisine Baked Beans, Ham and Other Goodies and a Silent Auction. Items will be displayed for viewing and bidding before and during the meal Tickets: Family $35. Individual $15. and Children $5.
Tuesday morning Bible Study will start on the 20th of October, 2015 with leader Dr. Pauline Allsop. The topic will be the Songs (or Canticles) that we find in the Christmas story as found in the Gospel of Luke. These Canticles are The Song of Mary (The “Magnificat”) - Luke 1:46-55; The Song of Zechariah (The “Benedictus”) - Luke 1:59-79; The Song of the Angels (The “Gloria in Excelsis”) - Luke 2:14 and The Song of Simeon (The “Nunc Dimittis”) - Luke 2:29-32. We'll explore the origins and backgrounds of these well-known songs and their place in our worship in the Christmas season. We'll meet as usual in the Parlour at 10 AM on Tuesday. Coffee will be on by 9:45 am. Everyone is welcome to join us.
October 4, 2015
We are told in Wikipedia that Thanksgiving Day is an annual Canadian holiday, occurring on the second Monday in October, which celebrates the harvest and other blessings of the past year. On January 31,1957, a proclamation was issued stating Thanksgiving was to be "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."
This year, as always, we at First Baptist, will on Thanksgiving Sunday, October 11th, receive one of the three special offerings of the year (Easter and Christmas are the others). Each of us is challenged to express our thanksgiving for the blessings God has brought to our lives by bringing a special gift in addition to our regular offering. Over the years this offering has been especially important in helping us meet the “mission” responsibilities we include in our annual budget; e.g., Acadia Divinity College, Association Home Mission for New Churches, Halifax Hospital Chaplaincy and the Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms. Like the harvest from the farmer’s fields, lets make this year’s thanksgiving gifts a bountiful harvest.
Even though the communion table is the one table to which all Christians are called, our understandings and practice at the table often serve to divide us. On this day, World Communion Sunday, we seek to overcome these barriers and commune with each other across them. As we eat of one consecrated loaf, we signal our unity with Christ and his broken body, the church, even as we celebrate and seek the oneness of the whole communion of saints on earth and in heaven. It is indeed, for such as these; broken, opinionated, sinful, but forgiven people, that Jesus prays for unity “that they may be completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17: 23b). It is to this unity that we give witness on World Communion Sunday. This year’s texts remind us of our common ancestors in faith who were created in the image of God, crowned with honour and glory and exhorted to receive the kingdom of God as little children. These are strong texts for helping us overcome barriers and to recognize the unity with which the Holy Spirit has gifted us. - by Elsie Rempel, Mennonite Church of Canada Here at First Baptist Church, on October 4th, we will gather with Christians around the world and eat of the consecrated loaf and drink from the cup of salvation. Let us remember and give thanks for July 5th when four Churches, from three Denominations gathered in the Presbyterian Church of St. David and as one body in Christ partook of communion with each other and God. A powerful example of John 17:23b in action.
Upcoming Services
October 4: Pentecost 19, World Communion Sunday Job 1:1, 2:1-10; Psalm 8 Mark 10:2-16 The Dark Side of Grace – Rev. Dr. Laurence DeWolfe Music: Daley, Durufle
October 18th: Pentecost 21 St. Luke Service Sirach 38:1-4, 6-10, 12-14; Psalm 147 2 Timothy 4:5-13; Luke 4:14-21 The Chosen Healer – Dr. Matthew Morgan Music: Dalhousie Medical Choir
October 11th: Pentecost 20 Joel 2:21-27; Psalm 126 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Matthew 6:25-33 Choosing Gratitude – Rev. Dr. Laurence DeWolfe Music: Kremser, White
October 25th: Pentecost 22 Jeremiah 31:1-3, 7-9; Psalm 126 Mark 10:46-52 Consolations and Restorations – Rev. Dr. Carol Anne Janzen Music: Lojeski, Berger
November 1: All Saints, All Souls Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 24 Revelation 21:1-6a; John 11:32-44 All Saints, and All Sorts – Rev. Nelson A. Metcalfe Music: Faure Requiem
St. Luke Service When we were children, most of us learned to use the words please and thank you. At first, we weren’t entirely sure why the words were so important, but it wasn’t difficult to figure out that in most cases good things happened when they were used. It’s the second of these two terms that grabs me: Thank you. Its variants? I appreciate. I’m grateful. Much obliged. I’m in your debt. Why are these expressions important? Why were our mothers so insistent that we use them? The message behind thank you seems to be this: I am acknowledging something—a gift, a word, an action—that you have offered to me. It has added value to my life, and I am compelled to celebrate what you have done. The thank you exchange is an indispensable element to all healthy human relationships: friendships, marriage, family, organizations of all sizes and shapes. Neglect it, and over a period of time, the quality of any of these relationships deteriorates. The apostle Paul, writing to the Colossians, employed the phrase abounding-in-thanksgiving as part of his challenge for them to grow into true Christian maturity. “Be rooted…built up… strengthened in the faith,” he wrote (Colossians 2:7). Those words I get. But then he added “abounding in thanksgiving.” The thankful exchange. Why thanksgiving and not abounding in generosity, or love, or patience, or courage? I can’t say, really. Except, maybe that Paul regarded the power of aggressive gratitude as way up the list when describing the grounded and mature Christ follower. Thanksgiving and praise were close to being synonymous to Paul’s way of thinking. Maybe he was saying that honoring and thanking are at the core of all relationships: beginning with one’s connection with God and moving on to family, friends, community, and whatever organization we serve or lead. One day the Lord healed ten lepers. While nine went merrily on their way, only one returned to say “Thank you” and that one was a Samaritan. “Where are the other nine?” Jesus asked. Did he ask because he really didn’t know where they had gone? I don’t think so. Perhaps Jesus asked because he wished to etch on the soul of his disciples the notion that no human transaction where value of some kind has been offered—in this case healing—is ever complete without the thank you exchange. If we are wise, filled with the presence of God’s power and sight, we will move about our “worlds” looking for things for which to be thankful. And what might that look like? Giving thanks to the people who make the coffee…who spend an hour with the babies…who pray fervently and believingly…who count the offering…who lead people to their seats in the place of worship. Nothing warms relationships between people and between us and God than this simple but powerful thankful exchange. As we celebrate this season may we all be found “abounding in thanksgiving.” Rev. Nelson Metcalfe, Minister of Visitation
On Sunday, October 18th we welcome the Dalhousie Medical School and Chorale to our Sunday Morning Worship Service. Together we will celebrate the very real connection between the physical and spiritual powers of healing. Guest Speaker for this annual tradition of 17 years is Dr. Matthew Morgan, MD, FRCPC Assistant Professor, Clinical Academic Leader Faculty of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University with Guest Music Director Bryan Crocker. As well as special music by the Chorale we will hear Wendy Stewart and Sue King in a duet. Other participants for the service will be drawn from the Dalhousie School of Medicine. Plan to attend and as well, invite your friends and those you know in the health care professions to join you.
Dear Peggy McAlpine
The Ministers and Congregation First Baptist Church Halifax
Sunday School Registration: Parents, please register your children and youth for 2015/16 by filling in a registration form or updating the current forms. See Janet Margeson for details. Take Sunday School Home! Our curriculum offers at home resources for continuous conversations of faith formation for the whole family. Visit the church website (under CESunday school) for each week's take home sheet. Upper Room Daily Devotionals: b i-mon th ly d e vo t io na ls a re available throughout the church. Please feel free to take one home with you. Large print are also available. Intergenerational Family Fellowship: This Saturday, October 3rd beginning at 5:30pm at the Yip Ashton's home. Pizza will be provided, please bring a peanut-free appetizer, salad or dessert. RSVP to Sandy or Brian if you plan to attend. Everyone is invited to join the conversation.