Sunday, October 19th

THIS WEEK

Sunday, October 19th – Rev. Christian Zebley will preach from Genesis 12, Acts 1 and John 14 on “Waiting for the Promise.” After the worship service will be a robust fellowship time. Those who come at 10:30 AM are welcome to help set up the chairs and the sanctuary = )

WORSHIP:  11:00 AM

FELLOWSHIP TIME: (after the service – all are invited)

********************************************************************

OUTREACH OPPORTUNITY: Sunday October 26, 2014

”I am worthless. Nobody cares about me. For I have become a “thing”—Exploited sexually, devastated by violence and horror, girls and their souls suffer deeply, caught in self-denial. Will they ever be able to recover their self-esteem and have hope for their futures?

Hoping to inform many people on reality of human trafficking that are rampant in the nefariousworld, Not For Sale Japan will sponsor a screening of “Nefarious:  Merchant of Souls”, a fine documentary depicting the reality of today’s sex trafficking.

12:45-3:30 (Doors open at 12:30)

Place: West Tokyo Union Church

Invite your friends!

After screening of the film (approx.90 mins), NFSJ will give a presentation on the situations in Japan, and will have Q&A session and discussion time.

*Considering the subject matter of the film, we recommend viewers be at MS or older.

Official Website for “Nefarious” by Exodus Cry, the producing organization

http://nefariousdocumentary.com/

***

This Sunday`s preacher –

The Zebleys live in Nishi Tokyo sharing the love of God in Jesus Christ through daily living and the ministry of Global Leadership Dynamics.  www.globalleading.org  Christian is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.  Beginning in 1998, Christian and Kay served almost nine years in Japan as missionaries of the Presbyterian Church USA, building a national network of youth ministry leaders within the Nihon Kirisuto Kyodan, the UCCJ.  Anna and Emma Zebley were both born in Japan during this time. In 2006, the Zebleys were then called to Los Angeles, CA where they ministered to Christians in the entertainment industry. Christian served as the National Coordinator of Multicultural Alpha for The Alpha Course USA while based at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood.  In 2011, God led them to Montreat, North Carolina where they studied and partnered with Presbyterian Reformed Ministries International (www.prmi.org) to form Global Leadership Dynamics.  GLD ministers to leaders of diverse backgrounds, creates unity in the Body of Christ and forges strategic partnerships between organizations for global Kingdom impact. Since 2011, Christian has led GLD events in India, South Sudan, Japan and throughout the United States. He is a graduate of Swarthmore College BA, Princeton Theological Seminary MDiv, and currently working on a Doctor of Ministry in Leadership Studies at Denver Seminary.  Kay is a graduate of Wellesley College with a degree in International Relations. She has also studied spiritual direction at San Francisco Theological Seminary. She is now a full-time educator leading the Zebley family home-school. They Zebleys are thrilled that God had led them to return to Japan!

***

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CORNER (we value your prayers & involvement in this vital ministry)  Any questions, please contact Pastor Teresa at wtucrev@gmail.com, or Julie Rogers for HS; Amy Harbaugh and Steve Bennett for Upper ES and Lower MS, grades 4-7; and Carrie Bennett for Lower ES, grades K-3.

LITTLE KIDS during worship – after the children`s message you may go with Sara who has prepared a fun lesson about Joseph.

YOUTH FRIDAYS One Friday a month, ES & MS will meet for learning and fellowship. Times and locations will vary depending on the event. K-grade 3 will be meeting at the Bennett’s from 6:30-8:30pm. Grades 4-7 at the MS gym this Friday night, October 17th. Please let us know if your child is coming so we can organise games and have the right amount of snacks (no dinner at this youth night). We will meet at the main gate at 6:30 and pick up will be at the main gate at 8:30pm. If you know of any others who may be interested, please let Amy Harbaugh or Steve Bennett. Remaining 2014 Dates: October 17th, November 14th and December 5th.

HS YOUTH @Rogers` home 7pm Wednesday Oct. 22 to frost and decorate cupcakes for the English playground (should take about 45 minutes.) All are welcome!

NEXT MULTI GENERATIONAL Sunday School – October 26th in Cafeteria, 9:30-10:30 Multi-generational-worshipam.

NEXT ADULT Sunday School – October 26th in the Sacks` living room from 9:30-10:30 am.

***

Upcoming Preaching Ministry and Community Time

October 17th                 Youth Friday meeting (ES, MS) at the K-3 @ the Bennett`s home, 4-7 @ the ASIJ MS gym (see details above)

October 19th                 Rev. Christian Zebley preaching, Communion and Healing Prayers

October 26th                 Paul Nethercott preaching, Multigenerational Sunday School, Adult Sunday in the Upper Room, worship, 12:45 Nefarious Movie http://nefariousdocumentary.com/

November 2nd               10:30 Joint Service with Mitaka Lutheran Church

November 9th                Mark Bello from http://suicideisalie.com/ preaching, Multigenerational Sunday School, Adult Sunday at the Sacks`

November 14th              Youth Friday meeting (ES, MS) at the Bennett`s

November 16th              Rev. Dr. Mike Sherrill preaching, Communion, Mission Moment with Inochi no Denwa,

November 23rd              Pastor Teresa preaching, Multigenerational Sunday School,Adult Sunday at the Sacks`, after Worship:Thanksgiving feast – invite your friends!

November 30th              Covenant Players http://www.covenantplayers.org/ – in worship

***

MULTIGENERATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL!! ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL!!

This fall again we will have Multigenerational Sunday School from 9:30 in the cafeteria the second and fourth Sundays of the month. October`s and November`s dates are 10/26, 11/9 and 11/23. Who is welcome? All ages. We will be creating, discussing, playing games, acting out bible stories and more. 

The Sacks will host the Adult Sunday School, also at 9:30 am in their living room. The method for looking at the texts for the service is called the, “Swedish Bible study method,” interacting with  the text through our own life experiences. Their home is right across the Lutheran Campus from our sanctuary. Best coffee in town = ) Come and enjoy! From time to time, Adult Sunday School will be held in the Upper Room, on the 2nd floor above the Sanctuary. All are welcome. Need more information, contact wtucrev@gmail.com any time = )

***

WTUC Announcements:

*Any questions or concerns? Feel free to email wtucrev@gmail.com anytime.

*Please enjoy and refer our website https://wtuc.net/ and FB page (West Tokyo Union Church) to others. Please make any suggestions for additions to the Pastor Teresa and/or Steering Committee.

*If you’d like to be added to the WTUC church email list, please contact Gene Witt ewitt@asij.ac.jp

*If interested in joining the WTUC Prayer Chain, let Pastor Teresa or Prayer Chain Coordinator, Kayo Ozawa, know of your interest. Please submit prayers to wtucrev@gmail.com or Kayo Ozawa.

*Sign up for snacks for fellowship time with Ann or on the list on the white board for next year. We appreciate your contributions to our community life!

*Each week we will be setting up the chairs for worship and preparing the sanctuary, anyone around at 10:30am is invited to be involved in the fun = ) Each week we will also return our sanctuary to it`s classroom style after the fellowship time.

*Interested in baptism or membership, please contact Pastor Teresa. We will be having a membership class in October for all interested.

***

Texts for Sunday

Genesis 12:1-8

The Call of Abram

12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”[a]

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak[b] of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord.

Acts: 1-11

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

1 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying[a] with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The Ascension of Jesus

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

John 14:15-21

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

15 “If you love me, you will keep[a] my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,[b] to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in[c] you.

18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *