Brethren,
Greetings.
Peace, mercy, and grace be with you all from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It has been a crazy winter in northern Ohio, with spring weather in January and winter weather in March. Our lives have also been rather crazy with the transition and the beginning of our work here in Norwalk, Ohio. Now that I am basically settled, it is good to report on the progress of the work in Norwalk. This report will cover the first quarter of 2006, and future reports will be on a monthly basis.
The Transition
The majority of this quarter has been spent in a state of transition. Sarah, Julianna, Maia, and I left Rockford on the 5th of January to come out to Norwalk and to begin the work here. While we were between houses, we had the good fortune to be able to stay with one of the elders and his wife, Byron and Wanda Dalton. Their kindness in this matter is much appreciated.
While we had previously made an offer on a house in Norwalk, we did not close on that house until February 15 and did not take possession until around March 1. We closed on our house in Rockford on March 10. We are now in our own house and are settling in nicely.
The Church in Norwalk
Since this is the first report I am posting, it is profitable to spend some time discussing the church in Norwalk and the surroundings. The church here in Norwalk has two elders at the present time, and we have between 45-65 assembling on Sunday morning with approximately 30-40 assembling on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. The brethren are spread out over a 15-mile radius around Norwalk, with brethren living in Sandusky, Huron, Wakeman, Vermilion, New London, and some other local communities.
The church in Norwalk is the only congregation which bears the description "church of Christ" in Norwalk proper, and represents the only sound church for approximately 30 miles. There are vast opportunities for reaping in this area, with Sandusky and the booming tourist industry surrounding Cedar Point only 15 miles north of town.
Working with the Brethren
A major part of the work that I have done with the brethren here in Norwalk has been trying to spend time with them and get to know them, and in the process give them the opportunity to get to know me better. We have been able to have meals with many of the brethren here and have engaged in many good discussions. We hope to spend more time with the brethren and to work fruitfully in the Kingdom with them.
Lessons and Classes
I determined to begin my work with the church in Norwalk with lessons regarding fundamentals of the faith. The lessons would, ideally, reinforce already existing knowledge, to remind people of the fundamental truths, to assist the brethren in teaching others the fundamental truths, and, if necessary, to fill gaps in the understanding of the fundamentals. Within the first quarter I have preached series on the plan of salvation and the nature of the church, and at the end of March I am beginning a series on the nature of worship and the acts of the assembly. All lessons, both in outline and audio forms, are available on the church website discussed below.
Soon after I came to Norwalk I began teaching the Sunday morning "teenage" class, which has been revised to be a "young people's" class. We have between 5-8 young men and women between 14 and 23 in the class, and we are going through and talking about the fundamentals of the faith.
In early February I also began teaching the Wednesday night adult Bible class in 1 Thessalonians. I proposed to the elders that we begin a class for men on men's issues while women would have a class for women's issues and they agreed to it. To that end I am now leading the men in discussions regarding issues particular to men in the men's class, and Sarah has worked on getting the women of the congregation to lead discussions regarding issues particular to women. The brethren seem to be enjoying these classes.
February we began hosting a weekly study on the book of Judges on Tuesday nights at the Daltons' house. That study is now being hosted in our house here in Norwalk, and there are some brethren who attend and are edified by it. We intend to continue to have studies in our home where all the brethren are invited.
Evangelism
I began my work with Norwalk having some ideas regarding how to do the work of evangelism but have been open to trying new things and speaking with others about the effectiveness of various methods. As I continue in the work here I hope to establish some more strategies to bring people in from the community.
I began by creating a website (http://www.norwalkchurch.org) and over the past quarter I have continually added more resources. It is important to have a presence on the Internet especially in trying to reach the younger generation: when many in that generation desire to know more about spiritual things, they have no problem getting on the Internet to search for answers.
Our website is designed to serve both members and non-members. The website has material introducing the congregation in Norwalk and the church of Christ in general, and all of the lessons and bulletins are available on it. There is also a section for members that provides the duty roster, news of the congregation, and the names and addresses of recent visitors. While we have not seen anyone show interest in the congregation on account of the website just yet, many of the brethren do use it and find it profitable.
Soon after I created the website, I began publishing a bulletin, Good News for Norwalk, for the congregation. While the bulletin is designed primarily for the edification of the members, I determined to make the bulletin for the fourth Sunday of every month contain articles more directed at non-believers and have appealed to the brethren to supply addresses to which we can send these bulletins. Many of you who receive this report are already receiving the fourth Sunday bulletin; anyone who desires to receive the bulletin can either receive it by e-mail or through the U.S. Mail by e-mailing me here or by subscribing through the website.
Some of the members have supplied addresses, and in follow-ups we have learned that many appreciate them. We have even had a visitor come because she received a bulletin in the mail. We fully intend to continue this practice and hope to increase the number of bulletins sent out monthly as time progresses.
Much of my evangelistic focus has been kept on the inside of our assemblies because the church in Norwalk has so far benefited from having consistent visitors. My earliest challenge in evangelism here has been to work with these consistent visitors and encourage them to obey Christ and become members. This will be discussed in more detail on a case-by-case basis below.
Current Studies
Over the past quarter I have begun three personal Bible studies.
Keith. When the church in Norwalk asked me to work with them as their evangelist, one of their members, Keith, for various reasons, left the congregation. Soon after he began working on a website that aired many of his grievances with the church here in Norwalk and our beliefs regarding the Scriptures. I desired to study with him regarding these matters, hoping to see if we could bring him back in repentance; we held two studies in January, and due to difficulties on both ends had no studies in February or early March. I contacted him recently in an attempt to restart the study but have heard nothing in response. I will again soon try to contact him, but if I do not get a response or further studies are declined, we will most likely completely disassociate ourselves from him.
Cindy. Cindy is the mother of one of our members and the daughter-in-law of another of our members, and for a time was visiting while Sean Sullivan was working with the church in Norwalk. She began visiting again in February, thanks to the good work of her mother-in-law and daughter and on receiving the bulletin. After a couple of weeks she indicated to her mother-in-law that she wanted to study about becoming a Christian; they studied for awhile on a Sunday and agreed to study with me on the matter the following Tuesday. That Tuesday night Cindy was convicted, and she put on Christ through baptism. Since then we have studied weekly on the fundamentals of the faith.
Ben and Katie. Ben and Katie and their two children have been visiting with us in Norwalk for some time; Ben works a part-time job on the weekends and is not as able to assemble with us, but Katie has been fairly consistent in assembling with us on Sundays. While Ben is the nephew of one of our members, their decision to begin assembling with us was entirely on their own. Their family and our family have shared in a dinner together, and while we have yet to be able to all sit down and study since, Katie has been consistently e-mailing me questions and I have been responding to her in like fashion.
Other Work
Above and beyond my responsibilities as the evangelist for the church in Norwalk, I have accepted the task of being the editor for Renewed in Spirit, an online spiritual publication initially begun by Jason Hardin and Sean Sullivan that has not been continued for some time. We intend to make it a quarterly interactive online spiritual publication, where people can comment on the articles and discuss the matters that the articles introduce. We hope to produce the first edition in September 2006.
Support
I would like to thank all of you for your participation in the work here in Norwalk, either through your prayers or through encouraging me or through financial support. I would like to solicit your continual prayers so that the work here may prosper.
I would especially like to thank the church in Cedar Park, Texas, for agreeing to support my work, primarily for health insurance, and also the church in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, for agreeing to help support me as they are able. Thanks to their efforts and the support from the church in Norwalk, my financial needs are being met at the moment.
May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.
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