Do you remember what it was like? So many good things just stopped as our world responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social events stopped. Public dining stopped. In-person church services stopped. Companies stopped doing business. Grandparents stopped seeing their kids. But most destructive, so many people stopped seeking God as the pandemic drained their hope. Of all the wild statistics that emerged from the pandemic, this one is the most concerning. During the pandemic, 26 million Americans who regularly read the Bible just stopped. America has been in spiritual decline for decades, but nothing like this.

This statistic was referenced in Joseph Kidder’s feature Gleaner article this month, challenging the church to respond to spiritual decline by being houses of prayer. If you haven’t read the article, you should. Click the link below. The article echoes many of the ways God is leading our church. This is a challenge that God is extending directly to Palmer! We feel the call to prayer. We are studying the book of Acts to be a church that acts like Jesus. We have outreach events and initiatives on the calendar to help lift people from spiritual decline. We feel our deep need for the Holy Spirit!

This sense of dependence on the power of God is what is driving the weekly prayer meetings that start Wednesday, January 8, at 7:00 pm. There are many ways to raise faith in a culture of spiritual decline. Prayer is the foundational piece. Maybe you don’t consider yourself the prayer meeting type. Perhaps you are already too busy. Just come. God has plans. We just need to show up. Let’s be a house of prayer!

The story of the early church inspires the church to act more like Jesus today. Our church is spending 2025 in the Book of Acts. We begin this Sabbath with the first sermon in a yearlong series. Our prayer is that this will be more than a series of sermons. We want our church to act like Jesus! We pray for this story to be absorbed into the culture of our church and for the story of the Acts of the Holy Spirit to be continued here in Alaska.

You can find the schedule and resources for this sermon series at www.pastorryanrogers.com/acts 

Member Engagement

Come this Saturday at 5:30 pm for a light meal and a good time preparing the January mailing of our church newsletter. The mailing helps our church stay connected and is an outreach to our members we haven’t seen in a while.

It didn’t matter whose kids they were. Virgina Spreen would say, “They are my kids. All of them.” For years, Virginia would write letters of encouragement to her kids. Maybe you received one of those letters.

The Outreach Team is reviving Virginia’s ministry. Virginia’s kids are still out there, and we want them to know that we still value them as part of this church family.

Here is how you can be involved…

1. If you know the current mailing address of a young person who has been connected with our church but is currently not attending, share that information with Carol Baker at [email protected].

2. If you would like to write cards of encouragement, contact Katie Arndt at [email protected].

3. If you want to be involved in the development of this outreach, come to the Outreach Team meeting on January 12 at 6 pm.

Around the AKC

Keep up with Alaska Conference news at https://www.alaskaconference.org/around-the-akc

Palmer SDA Church, Saturday, January 11, 2pm

Scripture changes lives! We have the opportunity to connect others with God through the truth of the Bible. Our church is partnering with Discover Bible School to do social media advertising in our area so we can study the Bible with people. We expect that we will need many volunteers to meet the requests for Bible study. You can be one of them. Not sure if it’s for you? That’s fine. Come to the training on January 11. Representatives from Discover Bible School will be joining us by Zoom to train us on their system and how to give a Bible study. Hope to see you there.

Events

We keep a close eye on our church calendar, so you can know what’s happening!

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