The family of God here at Dowagiac Church of Christ wishes to extend to you a warm welcome.  If you have questions about our worship services and why we do what we do, we will be glad to give you a biblical answer.  The uniqueness of the Church of Christ is that we are trying to restore to the best of our ability those things that we see the first century Church doing.  We are also working hard at building the spirit, unity, and love that Jesus taught and prayed for.  We have no clergy, but are working together as equal co-workers trying to serve one another and the area in which we live.  Come study with us, grow with us, and serve with us as we strive to do God’s will in all things.


We encourage you to take advantage of the Bible classes that we have regularly.  Our Sunday night lessons are on Jesus and His miracles and how what He did relates to us and our lives today.  Tonight we will be looking at how Jesus dealt with the synagogue and a synagogue ruler.  Starting this next Wednesday night, we will begin a short course on communion.  What do you know about how communion is conducted in various situations?  Open, closed, vertical, lateral, elemental, interactive, symbolic, real … .  Come and join us as we learn together.  Remember too that we have classes for all ages.  Our ladies are working at building a good knowledge of the Bible and a strong faith in our children, so make sure those you have access to are here.
 

Thanks.  Thanks to all who are working on improving the building and our facilities.  Bill Gibson has put a huge amount of time and energy into getting a water softener, fixing the kitchen water, and getting things ready for the new carpeting.  JR is putting down the new carpet and Dave Pickens has been getting the new tract rack and furniture ready.  Thanks guys for all your hard work.
POTLUCK NEXT SUNDAY!  Remember to bring a dish and plan to stay and enjoy a great meal and fellowship!  We need you to be here!

Last weekend I was not with you because I was presenting my Does God Exist? series at the North Rutherford Boulevard Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, Tenn.  This is a huge congregation meeting in a ten million dollar facility.  I spoke to perhaps 3,000 people in the three days I was there.  They have a number of full-time employees, including people who devote full time to conducting the worship, work with the young people, do benevolence, take care of the seniors, etc.  I spoke to a senior ladies class that has 50 ladies come once a week.  I taught a class from the Juvenile Detention Center that the congregation works with.  The beautiful facility the congregation has provides care for babies, has a youth activity center, a counseling center, and a beautiful auditorium.

The thing that occurred to me was how easy it would be to get lost in such a huge congregation.  This congregation has two worship services on Sunday morning with something around 1,000 people in each.  Walking in and walking out without ever getting involved in the work of the Church would be easy to do.  James makes it clear in James 1:27 that real worship and meaningful religion is serving others.  In John 13, Jesus taught his disciples about what real Christianity is about.  After washing his disciples' feet He says in verse 15, "I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you."  How do you do that with 2,000 people?  

When I posed that question to the brethren there, they responded by explaining that they have formed small groups that meet at least twice a week.  These are groups of 10 to 40 people who meet regularly and pray and study together.  They work together, they eat together, they look after one another in the group and address one another's needs.  If they did not get together regularly in the small groups, people would slip through the cracks and die spiritually.  The result of this is that the congregation is continuing to grow, and new groups continue to be formed.  In short, they become like us here at Dowagiac.  They do what we do, and it works.