General Update
Good afternoon! I hope this post finds each of you doing well during this holiday season! As we close this year, I wanted to send out a quick update with some important information. Continue reading to stay in the loop.
CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
DECEMBER 24 @ 5P
This Thursday, we will gather for a Christmas Eve Service at High Point Market in downtown Decatur. The service will start at 5p and will last around 45 minutes. There will not be childcare, but the service will be family friendly. This will be a great time to set our focus and gaze on Jesus during this busy season. I look forward to seeing you all there!
NO SUNDAY GATHERING
DECEMBER 29
There will be no corporate gathering on Sunday, December 29th. We encourage you to spend this time in sabbath, focusing on the invitation from Jesus to rest in Him. I look forward to seeing you all at our next corporate Sunday gathering on January 3rd @ 5pm!
GOSPEL OF JOHN & THE CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE
We will be kicking off the new year preaching through the gospel of John. I encourage you to begin reading through the book now during this holiday season. As always, we will make Scripture Journals available for everyone to use throughout the series! You can pick one up at the Christmas Eve Service or at the Sunday gathering on January 3rd.
As we preach through the book of John, we will be using the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) translation instead of the English Standard Version (ESV). While we love the ESV, we believe the CSB lends itself to be more readable, while maintaining the literal word-for-word translation process that is necessary for deeper study and expositional preaching. We will talk about this switch in more detail at the corporate gathering on January 3rd. For more about the CSB, click here.
ADVENT GIVING
I wanted to remind you that there is still time to give toward Blake & Rachel for this year’s Advent Giving. I’m excited to share that we have already reached our goal of $7500, but obviously, we would love to give above and beyond as we are able!
END-OF-YEAR GIVING
For giving to count toward 2020, it must be submitted by midnight on December 31st. For checks that are mailed, they must be sent out by December 31st, and they will count toward giving in 2020, even if we receive them after that date.
We will send out Donor Statements to everyone by the end of January. By default, we send out joint statements for married couples, and we send them by email. If you would like your statements to be separated per individual or to be sent by physical mail, please let us know by emailing info@newedenchurch.org.
To check or update your contact info in our database, please click here. Once you login, you can also download your 2020 giving at the top of that page by clicking “My Giving” and then scrolling down to “Donation History”.
BUILDING UPDATE
We are still in conversations about leasing our own space this next year. With the busyness of the holiday season, conversations are moving slow, but we are still very hopeful about the possibility. The owner has expressed that they definitely want to rent the building to us; we are just working on the details of what the lease would look like.
Please continue to be in prayer for God to give us favor with the owners of the building, that we would be able to lease the building at an amount we feel comfortable with, for wisdom as we plan the layout of the space, and that it would be a Kingdom outpost for years to come. If you have any more questions about it, please contact me or Kevin.
MEMBER INFORMATION
If you are a member of New Eden Church, please be on the lookout for a separate email containing a recap from our last member meeting (including 2020 Spending & 2021 Budget Information).
I thank each of you for the part you play in the mission God has called us to. I mean it when I say that we could not do this without your partnership. I’m grateful for you all!
Felix Culpa,
Joel McCarty
Pastor for Preaching & Oversight