God gave His people a multitude of talents. 1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” We have a variety of committees through which people can do just that. Find out more about each one below:
The purpose of the committee is to encourage our congregation to be a welcoming place for all and an accessible space for people with a variety of abilities and disabilities.
The specific tasks/duties/projects of the committee include:
The committee reports to the Council as needed.
The committee meets once every quarter in person, or as needed.
Our responsibility is to maintain the church building in a stewardly way. We meet Quarterly or as needed. Anyone who has a willingness to serve and help out maintaining the church can join the committee.
Specific tasks/duties/projects and how often they occur (weekly/monthly/annually):
The Christian Education committee is responsible organizing our two main fundraisers for tuition support – covering silage piles and our annual Harvest Sale Auction.
The local Christian schools we currently support with these funds are: Unity Christian High School, Western Christian High School, Sioux Center Christian School, Hull Christian School, Orange City Christian School, and Ireton Christian School.
Through taking photos and writing about church activities and missions, we create the Bethel Connection- the church newsletter that has about 7 issues annually.
The Discipleship Committee encourages and equips Bethel church education leaders in their calling to shape lifelong faith formation and works to ensure Bethel’s ministries disciple all generations with an intentional and resilient faith in Jesus Christ.
Specific tasks/duties/projects and how often they occur:
Our purpose is to make decisions and set direction that will enhance our ministry here at Bethel and our partnership with God’s Kingdom work.
Specific tasks/duties/projects and how often they occur:
We strive to make people feel welcome at Bethel CRC – both visitors and members – with fun, food and fellowship. Here are a few of the ways we do this in addition to meeting and greeting people at church:
We welcome any comments or suggestions!
Our ministry is to serve God by supplying a clean and organized place for that cup of refreshment. We want the kitchen to be the place where families and friends share their faith during times of joy and sadness. We want the kitchen to be inviting and usable for all groups.
Some of our duties on the kitchen committee are:
Our goal is to provide a place where people can find information to challenge, inspire, inform and entertain them.
Other duties we have include:
We also encourage donations of all types of books but we would especially like to see more children’s books and DVDs as well as inspirational novels.
Anyone is welcome to join the committee. A love of books and reading as well as a knowledge or desire to learn library skills is all that is needed.
We promote Evangelism and Mission Outreach awareness at Bethel. We also set up a budget based on needs and requests of missions and serve projects.
We meet monthly and are involved in a variety of activities, including:
Nursery committee members alternate months being responsible for cleaning the toys, furniture, changing pad covers, blankets, etc. in the nurseries. We used to haul all the toys to our houses to be washed and brought back, but the church renovation included a large commercial dishwasher that we use for this task! This not only takes less time, but we are confident that it sanitizes very well. We also keep an eye on the stash of snacks, cups, Kleenexes, wipes, etc, in the nurseries. One committee member also makes the nursery schedule for every service.
The committee is generally a three-year commitment. We invite anyone who loves children and cares for their safety and well-being to join the committee.
Learn more by emailing office@bethelsc.org
Bethel acknowledges that, due to the imperfect and sinful nature of the world, abuse and neglect can occur while striving to fulfill its mission. In response, the Church Council has mandated the formation of a committee tasked with developing and maintaining safety policies for church-related activities. This committee is composed of members from Bethel’s ministries
and includes a liaison from the Bethel Council as well as a liaison from the Classis/Christian Reformed Church Synod’s Committee on Sexual Abuse.
The committee is responsible for researching, providing guidance, and offering resources concerning various topics or situations as they arise while Bethel seeks to fulfill its mission. Additionally, the committee helps implement the guidelines of the safety policy and supports the
council by acknowledging that discipline, nurture, and shepherding are the responsibilities of Bethel elders, while care and compassion are the duties of the deacons.
Read more about Bethel’s Safe Church Policy here.
How did the Stewardship Committee start?
The committee started as the Foundation Committee, formed at the request of the council in 2014, to launch the Bethel Legacy Foundation. But in discussing giving and leaving a legacy with our committee members, we found it impossible to separate those topics from the broader context of stewardship of the resources God has entrusted to us. So instead of being a fundraising arm for Bethel, council has agreed to allow us to pursue a broader mandate: to promote stewardly living and growing in generosity among the Bethel family for the advancement of God’s Kingdom.
How does the Stewardship Committee plan to pursue that mandate?
While increasing the generosity of hearts requires the work of the Holy Spirit, we plan to help foster a ‘stewardship culture’ at Bethel through education (such as adult classes), seminars, resources for small groups, short presentations, newsletter articles and mailbox inserts highlighting stewardship topics or creative ways to give to charity, one-on-one consultations, etc. We will most likely also collaborate with Pastor John as he preaches on stewardship topics.
The technology committee was formed in 2010 as it became increasingly clear there was an opportunity for technology to play a more significant role in the life of the church.
The purpose of the technology committee is to implement, manage and support technology to further the mission of the church. We are essentially looking for ways to utilize technology in a way that enhances the worship experience, improves efficiencies of the church, and keeps us more connected to Christ and one another.
During the past three years, we have focused on various projects including: computer upgrades, a multi-camera video system installation, website enhancements and the addition of many screens to allow more participation in our worship services.
Technology continues to advance and we will continue to look for ways to accomplish our purpose, enabling technology to play a role in the mission of the church. Five men currently make up our technology committee. If you have experience with or an interest in technology, we’d welcome additional members!
Why do we have a Worship Planning Team? Can’t the pastor just preach and pick out a few songs for each service? To help answer these questions, let’s examine the statement of purpose:
“The goal of the team is to bring the whole community of God’s people — young children, young people, young adults, middle-age adults and elderly adults — together in worship. While traditional ways of worship are meaningful for some, it may not be as meaningful for others…The coming together of the historical and the contemporary is called ‘blended’ or ‘convergent’ worship.”
What is worship?
Worship is about proclaiming the glory of God; He alone is worthy of our worship. As we worship together, we pray that we will be taught by the Word, inspired by the Spirit, united by love and equipped for our mission. We remember that worship is not simply about what we “like” or “don’t like.” We pray that our worship at Bethel CRC is all about praising our triune God and honoring our Lord Jesus Christ!
Duties
The Worship Planning Team assists the pastor, whether our own or a guest, in planning services. When committee members plan music and other details of the service, it frees the pastor to spend his time in study and sermon preparation. Not all pastors have musical gifts or the desire to plan all of a service, in addition to their sermon.
In reformed worship, God’s Word is central. Worship planners work to fit all elements of the service to the central scriptural theme so everything done will enhance the preaching of the Word. We want the entire service to drive the Biblical message home.
We recognize that there are many ways to worship God and many styles of music for worship. So we strive to blend various approaches, instruments, and styles in our services; if not in every service, then incorporating different ideas over time. Worship must be meaningful for a diverse body by including members of various ages and personal responses. We all sacrifice our own opinions and tastes at times for the unity of the body and the benefit of other members. God delights in the praise of all His people worshiping Him in unity!
Meetings
The Worship Planning Team usually meets 7 p.m. the first Wednesday evening of each month. Members take turns leading devotions, then Pastor John guides our discussion, following the agenda. We review the services of the past month and discuss details that add to or detract from true worship. Then we preview the calendar of coming services, do some initial planning, and assign volunteers to work on specifics.
The team plans services, schedules/rehearses with other worship teams, communicates with pastors/musicians/guest groups, finds appropriate readings/litanies, and encourages the members of Christ’s body to use their gifts in worship.
Feedback
The Worship Planning Team welcomes feedback and new members! If interested, feel free to join us to observe a meeting and consider becoming a worship planner. Without setting term limits for Worship Planning Team members, except the two elders who serve, we trust the Spirit to lead individuals in and out of this group. Members gain experience, which benefits everyone.
Our responsibilities include: ‘Decorating’ the sanctuary with seasonal floral arrangements, banners, sashes, etc. We have also put up vinyl ‘wall words’ in some of the classrooms, pictures in other rooms, and clocks in almost all of the rooms. Our vision is to make Bethel a beautiful place to worship.
