Announcement, PCPC News
Midweek at PCPC
Brothers and Sisters,
As we prepare for a new year of life and ministry at PCPC, I want to encourage you to take note of our Wednesday evening Midweek program. Over the past several months, our elders and staff have worked hard to strengthen this ministry, and I am excited to share a bit about that with you.
Midweek at PCPC has been a blessing to our congregation for decades. It has been a time for our big church family - scattered to various neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools on most days - to gather together to worship, laugh, eat, sing, and learn. And while a variety of activities have filled our Midweek calendar over the years, we have sensed a need for renewed intentionality and purpose. As we move into this year, our renewed goal for Midweek is “to connect our congregation and to abide in Christ together through foundational biblical teaching and training to sing in corporate worship.” Here is a little more about what that means.
To Connect Our Congregation
Our first and most basic goal is to connect our congregation together. As you know, our sermon series on Ephesians has repeatedly emphasized the unity of the Church. As Paul says in Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” In Midweek, we seek to embody the oneness that Jesus Christ has accomplished for us as we gather together.
To reflect this, our ministry activities on Wednesday evenings will all happen in a common place, at a common time, and include a common meal at the beginning of the evening and a common dessert at the end of the evening. Here is what that schedule will look like:
4:00 - Children’s and Youth Choirs Begin
5:30 - Dinner Begins
7:00 - Adult Classes, Chancel Choir, and Middle School Small Groups Begin
8:00 - Dessert in the Grand Hall
Our hope is that this increasingly simple and unified schedule will help you join us for some or all of what is happening at PCPC on Wednesday evenings! For a more detailed schedule, please visit pcpc.org/midweek.
To Abide in Christ Together through Foundational Biblical Teaching
Our second and most central goal is to abide in Christ together through foundational biblical teaching. When Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus, he prayed, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19).” Notice how Paul not only prays for believers to experience communion with Christ and grow in knowledge of Christ, but to do so together (“with all the saints”).
To reflect this, the classes that will be offered in Midweek provide foundational biblical teaching that directs our hearts and minds to Jesus Christ. In addition to Bible studies for adults, this Fall we will launch a series of core classes called The Companion: A Guide to Life with God. The Companion provides curated resources on six topics that are essential for every Christian: Prayer, the Bible, Doctrine, Renewal, Evangelism, and Generosity. We will begin the series with the Companion Course on Prayer, which will be co-taught by Senior Pastor Mark Davis and Theologian in Residence Dr. Mark McDowell. You can learn more about The Companion at companionguide.org and then go register.
In addition to our Bible studies for adults and The Companion Course on Prayer, we will also have many Small Groups for Middle School students. If you have a child in Middle School, we encourage you to connect them with a Small Group if they are not already. And since the adult classes will be offered at the same time, we are hopeful that your whole family can abide in Christ together!
To Abide in Christ through Training to Sing in Corporate Worship
Lastly, we have a goal in Midweek to abide in Christ through training to sing in corporate worship. One of the amazing features of God’s Word is that it regularly calls us as God’s people to sing to Him. As Ephesians 5:18-20 says, “Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In addition to singing in worship, we have the wonderful opportunity to be trained to sing through our children’s choirs and adult choirs.
And singing - even for children - is not merely about making music skillfully. It truly is about abiding in Christ and worshipping Him together. In the words of Katie Haring, our Ministry Leader of Children’s and Youth Choirs, “The primary purpose of our ministry is spiritual formation. Our prayer is that the seeds of God's Word that we plant in your children's hearts will flower throughout every season of their lives and draw them ever closer to their Savior. Though we do aim to teach your children to sing with beautiful tone and expression, those earthly results pale in comparison to our eternal goals.” For more information about all of our choirs - for children and adults - please visit pcpc.org/worship/choirs.
Please join us in praying for the ministry of Midweek and join us as you are able!
In Christ,
Matt Fray
Pastor of Christian Formation