Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,
but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
--Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)
The ENCOURAGERS Class
(The Place to Be)
ENCOURAGERS – what it means: Our goal is to practice what we preach—to encourage each other and meet the needs of our class members as well as those in need in our community. On Sundays you will see a lot of hugging, talking, laughing and just down-home hospitality. We believe God sent you to us to be special in our lives and we want to honor God's gifts! Our class is a cross section of life; we have members from all backgrounds, races and ages ranging from the young-at-heart to the more experienced (who often are even younger-at-heart!). We thank God for our diversity and the wisdom it brings us each Sunday.
SMALL GROUPS: We’ve divided the class into several small groups. This small group setting allows us to get to know each other better and provides a method for ministering to each member’s special needs. The group leaders maintain close contact with the members of their group. Each month two of the groups are selected to bring the food for that month. The smaller setting allows us to do things we can't do with the class as a whole. Once each year the membership of the groups are changed which gives us an opportunity to develop a closer fellowship with someone new.
PARTIES: We try to have a party every other month for the entire class. (Probably we should call it a social, but we have so much fun it's really a party.) On the off months the small groups have a party-social, and on some occasions they may meet with other groups. We try to do something different each time and occasionally this provides an opportunity for us to continue our game of Pictionary, pitting the men against the ladies for a traveling trophy. This is real competition and lots of fun. Occasionally we let Marty play.
SPECIAL NEEDS’ OFFERING: We take an offering the 2nd Sunday of each month for our special projects. The money goes for periodic shipment of "goodies" to our servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for families in need and Christmas gifts for children in those families. From time to time there may be a special need brought to our attention that may require an offering.
BIRTHDAYS: The 2nd Sunday we acknowledge those who have a birthday during the month. The downside is that they have to listen as we sing “Happy Birthday” to them.
CLASS EMAIL and WEBSITE: Each week all class members with email will receive a message listing new members, visitors and prayer requests. Our web site, at encourage.cervantage.net, has a great deal of information about our class including a picture directory, class roster, and links to members' websites. You can also post information such as favorite quotes, lesson comments, funny stories, recipes, and classified ads. Email addresses for posting to the website are included in the weekly email to class members.
CLASS MOTTO
ENOURAGE OTHERS CONTINUALLY AS CHRIST ENCOURAGES US
