SFC has the privilege of welcoming two of our very own to our pulpit.

This coming Sunday (March 23), we welcome a son of our meeting, benadam Climer.   He will be bringing a biblical message while sharing of his personal passions and adventures in being the hands and feet of Christ to the world.

benadam and his new bride, Selene, recently moved to Eugene, Oregon and is looking forward to welcoming their first child into this world at the end of April.  benadam is the son of Deborah (SFC’s Children’s Minister) and Curtis Climer (Clerk of Social Concerns).

On Sunday (March 30) SFC has the opportunity to hear again from John Pattison, as he shares from his heart on “Gratitude.”   John is quickly approaching the release of the book he co-authored with Chris Smith, “Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus”

John and his wife, Kate, are members of SFC and have two beautiful daughters, Molly and Julia.  They are dedicated to the community of Silverton and making visible God’s Kingdom in this place.   Check out more about Slow Church here.

Join us to learn practical biblical skills for conflict resolution from a powerful video presentation titled “Resolving Everyday Conflict.”  There will be interactive discussions to practice principles of conflict resolution. These classes are open to all who are interested and cost $15 (which includes the study guide).  We will offer two opportunities:

Sunday Mornings:
(7 Sundays)
9:00-10:20am
March 16 – May 4

Mondays Evenings:
(4 Nights)
7:00-9:15pm
March 17 – April 7

Please register with Deb Climer through the church office, and for more information on the workshops check out the Peacemaker Ministries website

The Lenten season begins March 5th with Ash Wednesday. But what does Lent mean? How often do we think about Lent as giving up chocolate or some other delectable delight? Or maybe we think about our words and say that we will stop gossiping or saying some “bad” word.

In the end, how often do we feel that our cup is left half empty from giving up something but not finding any meaning?

What if we did not think about Lent as giving up something but rather gaining something?

Maybe this Lent could be about gaining a deeper understanding of God’s presence and grace in our life. Maybe it could be about us being filled to overflowing with God’s love. What if in emptying ourselves and taking a good hard look inside, we would end up feeling more full—full of compassion and understanding, forgiveness and grace.

What if after these 40 days our glass seemed half full?

There is a song, “Ready for You” by the group Kutless,that can remind us of this emptying in order to be filled with God.

Cleanse all of my mind that is not of You.

Break me, teaching me how to find rest in Your hands.

Come and take my life, make my soul refreshed in truth now.

I am ready for You. Take my heart and make me new now.

I am ready for You to come and fill my soul.

Won’t You come and fill my soul?

What will you offer God this Lent? Take a quiet moment to reflect and pray, to offer yourself before God, and allow Him to fill your cup to overflowing.

Join us during the 40 days leading up to Resurrection Sunday as our queries will help us ponder these Lenten thoughts.

Grace and peace, Pastor Bob+

PLEASE NOTE FRIENDS: Silverton Friends Church will be closed tomorrow (Feb. 9) due to current and impending weather. ALL church activities for Sunday are cancelled. 

If you are in a situation where you need help or emergency supplies, or are having issues with heat, please contact Pastor Bob (503-509-0227), he has resources to get you help.

Otherwise we pray you stay safe, enjoy family, a good book (maybe read your Bible) or hobby, play a board game, have a snowball fight or go sledding…or just do what you like in the comfort of you home.

Pray for all those less fortunate on the roads or without the necessities they need. May God bless your Sunday off.

Grace and Peace,
The Staff of SFC

To kick off the second half of our year-long theme of Become the Conduit: God’s Healing-Redeeming Work In the World, SFC welcomes Jamie Johnson, Associate Pastor of Christian Leadership, Discipleship, and Friends Leadership at George Fox University.

During the month of February our theme will be “Calling and Christian Service” and Jaime will be bringing a message on our calling and vocation as members of God’s Kingdom.

After the service, those with high school students, or families wanting to know more about George Fox University can join us for a special luncheon at a local eatery.   Don’t miss Jaime this Sunday, February 9th at 10:45am.

[Due to sickness, John Pattison was unable to be with us this past Sunday.  John will be sharing at SFC this coming Sunday (02/02/14)]

This Sunday is our final Sunday of Peace Month and SFC is proud to welcome one of our own, John Pattison to our pulpit.  John will be speaking about how being a “Slow Church” is being a Locally Aware Meeting for Peace.  If you haven’t had a chance to meet John at SFC or in our community, here is a brief bio:

John Pattison is the co-author of “Besides the Bible: 100 Books that Have, Should, or Will Create Christian Culture” (2010) as well as the forthcoming book “Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus” (Spring 2014), both from InterVarsity Press.  He is currently the Managing Editor of Conspire Magazine. Before that he served as the Deputy Editor of the Burnside Writers Collective, an online magazine. He’s been a regular contributor to Relevant Magazine, Neue Magazine, and the Englewood Review of Books. A member of the National Book Critics Circle, his essays, articles, and reviews have also appeared at Books & Culture, SustainableTraditions.com, as part of Powells.com’s Review-a-Day program, and in newspapers around the country. He was a founding partner of Cascadia Resource Consultants, a grant writing company which helped their clients secure more than $30 million between 2007 and 2011. He lives in Silverton, Oregon with his wife, Kate, and their daughter, Molly.

Our theme for 2014 Peace Month is LAMP: Locally Aware Meetings for Peace. For this year’s Daily Reader we solicited submissions from Friends around Northwest Yearly Meeting regarding their stories, thoughts and experiences with local peacemaking. You’ll find all sorts of different stories this month: stories that inspire and ones that challenge, stories that fit with your worldview and some that might challenge your preconceived notions. You’ll find expositions of scripture, questions of effectiveness, heartfelt searches of one’s own conscience and motivation, ruminations on tiny interpersonal interactions and struggles with xenophobia and genocide. Each gives a window into the heart of these Friends. They are gifts shared with our community, offered to you, so that we all can catch a glimpse of the many different ways God calls us each to Christ’s ministry of reconciliation.

2014 Updated Peace Month Daily Reader – online version
2014 Updated Peace Month Daily Reader – printable booklet version

More information about Peace Month and resources can be found here: http://nwfriends.org/peacemonth

YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS this coming Sunday (January 12), SFC is privileged to have author and speaker, Tony Kriz join us for worship. Tony will be sharing during our Meeting for Study (@9am) in the Forum Class, as well as, preaching during our worship service (@10:45am).

For those who may not be familiar with Tony:
Tony Kriz served with a variety of international organizations including Campus Crusade for Christ for twelve years, the majority of that time in Eastern Europe: living with Muslims in Albania and serving the war-torn former Yugoslavia. He also chaplained for several years on the radically liberal campus of Reed College in Portland, some of the exploits of which are described in Donald Miller’s best selling book Blue Like Jazz. He received a degree in historical Rhetoric from Oregon State University and a Masters of Divinity with an intercultural emphasis from Multnomah Biblical Seminary.

Tony recently received his Doctorate in Spiritual Formation from George Fox University. He regularly teaches classes including The Theology of Culture, Communicating the Gospel in a Postmodern Age and Relational Apologetics. Tony is a frequent speaker at retreats, churches and college campuses across the country. He is a Founding Contributor to The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins and a board member with Second Stories.

Most recently Tony has been featured in the new film, Lord Save Us From Your Followers. Tony lives with his wife Aimee and their three sons (Malachi (7), Hudson (5) and Tristan (4)) in Portland, Oregon. Together they have been foundational participants of several spiritual communities which serve the disillusioned, artistic and dramatically post-Christian population of East Portland. Currently they are giving much of their time to urban missions: building a monastic network, integrating a holistic gospel-life, serving as coach/consultants for Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO) and enthusiastically partnering with the Parish Collective.

For more on Tony check out his website: http://tonykriz.com/

L.A.M.P (Locally Aware Meetings for Peace: Shining a Light on Local Peace Building)

As Friends, we state in our Faith and Practice, “We believe the precepts of Christ our Lord and the whole spirit of His Gospel call us to live at peace with all people.”  All people can seem a daunting task. That is why this Peace Month we hope to narrow our focus and bring us back to our local surroundings. 

During Peace Month we hope to explore how our meeting is rooted in our local community.  Do you know the current needs and opportunities for peace and justice that SFC could address?  Every community is unique and has a plethora of areas to engage – from local government to education, from business to health, from technology to the environment, from culture to religion. We hope through this focus month that we will take time to seriously evaluate, develop awareness, and find new ways to be a peace-building meeting in Silverton.

By the end of Peace Month, it is our hope that we will:

• Educate in the manner of Friends (and Biblically) what local peace-building looks like for SFC.
• Raise awareness for peace-building (current initiatives and needed ones) in Silverton.
• Inspire people to take action, to move forward and to do something positive no matter how small the step.
• Connect, network, and introduce individuals, organization and corporations in Silverton who are already doing good things in the area of peace-building to help create a greater community impact.
• Identify ways to disarm violence and injustice in all of its forms in Silverton.

I pray you will join us for another great Peace Month and that January will only be a continuation of the great work God is doing in and through SFC to bring God’s peace to all people.

• January 5: Turning on the Light: Our Peace-Building Meeting
• January 12: Street Lights: Voices from the Community (Special Guest – Author and Speaker: Tony “The Beat Poet” Kriz)
• January 19: The Spotlight: Our Community’s Needs
• January 26: Illuminate: How We Shine the Light (Special Guest – Author and Speaker: John Pattison)

The final Sunday of Advent we will be pausing to look at Simeon’s prophecy – here is a beautiful rendition of his song.