ECC-Evangelical Covenant Church
Deeper Water: More Than We Can Ask or Imagine!
We are glad you are with us today. We believe that Jesus not only forgives us and makes a way for us to know him, but he transforms us and renews the image of God within us, then sends us out into the world. We hope you'll join us this week. We worship together each Sunday morning at 10:30am on Facebook, YouTube, or in person.
Locations & Times
Evangelical Covenant Church
3600 S 9th St, Lafayette, IN 47909, USA
Sunday 10:30 AM
Downloadable Bulletin
https://ecclife.nucleus.church/download/337c736570449a93cabebe97937cbb4a25be83a2.pdf<br><br><br>
Communication Card
Let us know you attended today's service! You can also sign up for newsletters or prayer. <br>https://ecclife.net/commcard2
How to Connect at ECC
Click below to explore many opportunities get connected.<br>https://www.ecclife.net/connect
Fusion - Youth Group
Students in fifth grade through high school are invited to participate in this collaborative youth group with 4 Lafayette south side churches. We meet on Sunday evenings from 5:15-7:00, where we eat dinner, play games, hear from a speaker, worship together, and have time in age-specific small groups. Each month a different church hosts, so we’ll be at Sunrise Christian Reformed Church the entire month of September. We have leaders from ECC who will be at the group tonight, and we’d love to see you there!
Membership Class
Our next membership class take place on Sunday, October 3. The class usually lasts about 2 and a half to three hours. If you’re interested in learning more about ECC, we would love to have you join us. This class is required for those who wish to join ECC, but taking part in the class does not obligate you to do so. As we continue to navigate our COVID realities we are open to different options in presenting the class--whether in-person or online--and we'll make a decision once we see how many are interested. So, if you are interested in taking part, please sign. So if you are interested in taking part, please sign up below and we will reach out to you. https://ecclife.net/connect
Children's Ministry Update
Our nursery, preschool, and kindergarten classes remain open and will be open this fall. Children who would like to attend our nursery, preschool, and kindergarten classes should continue to check in at the west entrance. Our 1st through 5th grade students will begin in worship with their families, and then be invited to participate in a class in the Great Room about 20 minutes after the worship service has started. We will bring these students to the Great Room together as a group, and parents should plan to pick up in the Great Room. We strongly encourage masks for older students. Pre-registration is no longer necessary.
Hospitality Ministry
As we continue to welcome more and more of our congregation to in-person worship, we would like to reassemble our hospitality ministries. We need your help! Please let us know if you would like to join our team in welcoming our congregational members into our space. This ministry involves roles such as greeters, ushers, and coffee makers. It’s a small time commitment of one Sunday a month. We also are looking for coordinators for our funeral meal ministry and transportation ministry. You can visit ecclife.net/connect to let us know how you can help.
Women's Connection Opportunities
Join us at one or more of the below options!<br><br><b>• NETam/pm: </b>The NETam/pm starts on September 7 and 9, but there is still time to join! They will be studying Galatians with the book <i>Now That Faith Has Come</i>, co-written by Beth and Melissa Moore. Visit ecclife.net/women#net to find out more!<br><b>• Women's Retreat: </b><i>rooted </i>is a weekend designed by women of ECC and Riverside to create space for you to step away from the normal rhythms of life and connect with God and other women. The retreat will be November 5-7 with options with and without lodging. Visit ecclife.net/womensretreat for the full details. <br><b>• Miniature golf: </b>Ladies, join us on Sunday, Sept. 26, at 4pm for some friendly miniature golf competition at Hole in One Family Fun next to Meijer. Bring $8 to participate and register at ecclife.net/golf.
Adult Christian Formation
Sunday mornings at 9:00am on Zoom and in person in the Great Room. The Adult Sunday School Class will be starting a study entitled <i>"Flawed Families of the Bible." </i>https://ecclife.net/zoom
Wednesday Morning Men's Fellowship
Men, please join us each week at 6:30am. The ECC Wednesday Morning Men’s group is doing a study of Phillip Yancey’s book <i>The Scandal of Forgiveness - Grace Put to the Test</i>. This group is currently meeting via Zoom. For an invite, please email Ken Ritchey (kritchey@tds.net). We'd love to see you there!
Men's Monthly Meal
Men, join us for our monthly meal on September 20 at 6:30pm at Teays River (3000 S 9th St) for good food and conversation.
Landscape Adoption
If you enjoy making outdoor areas look beautiful, we would love your help. ECC has several landscaped areas that are maintained by ECC attenders. If you are interested in adopting one or more of these landscape areas, please email Pastor Kurt for more information. <br>kkincanon@ecclife.net
MOPs and MOMSNext
MOPS/MOMSNext is a group for mothers of all ages that meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month from 9:30-11:00am while our preschool aged and younger children enjoy their own group (MOPS Kids). Visit ecclife.net/women#mops to find out more!
Giving Online
You can give your offerings here. You can also give to special areas by commenting in the memo line. https://ecclife.net/giving
September 19, 2021
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
Pastor Stacey Littlefield
What is the most immense natural wonder you've had the privilege of seeing? Describe it. How did seeing it impact you?
Respond to this statement from the message this morning. Does this describe your experience? Would you add anything to the statement based on your personal experience with prayer?
"Prayer is about stillness, silence, and solitude, too. I would argue even more so [than petition and intercession]. Prayer is about training ourselves to commune with God at the deepest level of our beings."
Given the comparison between "living" and "dwelling" in today's message, in your own words, what does it mean to have Christ dwell in our hearts, as compared to simply "living" there?
Here is the way the comparison was raised in the message:
"In the Greek, the verb, “to dwell” is combined with what one scholar referred to as an “intensifying prefix”, which implies a settledness. I pray that Christ would not only live in you, but would dwell in you, put down roots and make himself utterly at home in you."
"The blessing came upon me suddenly like a flash of lightning. For months I had been hungering and thirsting for power in service.... I remember I was walking the streets of New York.... Right there, on the street, the power of God seemed to come upon me so wonderfully that I had to ask God to stay his hand. I was filled with a sense of God's goodness, and felt as though I could take the whole world to my heart."
Elsewhere, Moody tells the story like this,
"Well, one day, in the city of New York--oh, what a day!--I cannot describe it, I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name.... I can only say that god revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love that I had to ask Him to stay His hand. I went to preaching again. The sermons were not different; I did not present any new truths, and yet hundreds were converted." (Story of God Commentary: Ephesians, by Mark D. Roberts, p.112)
Commit to praying this prayer* as God leads--one or two days a week, or every day for the next three months. The illustrated version of the prayer is in the next block, below. Once you have made the commitment, write your commitment to prayer in the "notes" section below.
Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth,
I pray that out of your glorious riches You may strengthen us with power through your Spirit in our inner being, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. And I pray that we, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to You who are able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to your power that is at work within us, to You be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
*adapted from Ephesians 3:14-21
Question: Do you want to experience all that God in Christ has to give you?
Prayer: God, in your mercy, wisdom, and timing, I ask for more of the abundant life you have for me.
Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.