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New Program Seeks to Strengthen Christian Unity
TURLOCK, CA (October 5, 2005) - Two Evangelical Covenant churches were among
18 congregations Sunday that launched a new program to strengthen
Christian unity in the city.
Local pastors have designed the eight-week program, called Walk This
Way. Each week, the churches will concentrate on a central theme and
service, says Jeff Woods, pastor of Turlock Covenant Church. Cornerstone
Covenant Church also is participating in the program.
A different theme will be emphasized each week. The first week was
unity. In coming weeks, churches will focus on topics such as walking in
grace, compassion, integrity and thankfulness.
Pastors brainstormed and agreed on which texts are to be incorporated
into the worship services. To honor each church's identity, as well as
the group's unity, churches will address the themes according to their
own traditions, Woods says.
The group of pastors - Turlock Evangelical Area Ministries (TEAM) - has
been meeting together for decades and their congregations have
celebrated a special Thanksgiving service together. Still the pastors
wanted the churches to draw even closer. "We asked ourselves, how do we
continue to build bridges with each other?" Woods says.
TEAM members got the idea for the program after reading the book The
Church of Irresistible Influence by Robert Lewis and Rob Wilkins.
The book describes the efforts of uniting a community by churches in
Little Rock, Arkansas.
A daily devotional similar to the Covenant Home Altar was written
by church members and distributed through each of the churches, Woods says.
The program actually began September 29 with a three-evening event that
brought several hundred teenagers together to worship. Each evening
featured a different worship band, preacher and worship leader, Woods
says. The pastors developed the idea and began planning the program in
April.
That planning included developing three different Sunday school models
for each church to use. Each class is meant to be intergenerational,
Woods says. Participants can choose to attend an activity based group, a
discussion group, or a group that has a lengthier time of formal
teaching but builds in time for questions. Naturally, the children
gravitate to the activity based group, Woods adds.
To learn more about the unity program, how it was developed and what it
hopes to accomplish, contact Woods by telephone at 209-667-1191 or by
email at turlockcov@sbcglobal.net.
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