First Presbyterian Church of Wewoka Newsletter June 2018 Summer School As usual, during the summer we are taking a are having on our students. Now, being a small break from Sunday School. This gives our church, this is often as easy as looking in the teachers a bit of a break, as well as a bit of extra mirror and asking ourselves what we have time on Sunday mornings for people to get learned in the last year that makes us better around and get to church. Of course, the prob- disciples. lem with not having Sunday School in the sum- The summer break presents a wonderful mer is that it raises the question of whether opportunity to, not only ask ourselves ques- Sunday School is necessary at all. The value of tions, but to also put our training to the test. Sunday School in general with has been chal- We’ve just spent the last nine months in class- lenged in recent years as attendance has lan- rooms studying, and now the break takes us out guished and its benefits have been called into of the classroom and into the world to put what question. we’ve learned into practice. So in the coming Very few people question the need for some weeks, as you are out and about enjoying vari- type of training or education beyond the wor- ous forms of vacation activities, try to be aware ship hour, but there is much disagreement as to of ways in which your Sunday School lessons how well traditional Sunday School fulfills that are affecting your encounters with other peo- need in this day and age. We look at students of ple. Or, better yet, see if you can actually put Sunday School and ask whether they are truly some of that Sunday School training into prac- growing in biblical literacy and, more impor- tice. Consider that to be the church equivalent tantly, are they being trained to be disciples. of summer school! After all, if there is an overarching purpose to When we all come back together for Sunday Sunday School, it is to fulfill that part of the School in the fall, let’s evaluate the ways that Great Commission which commands us to make our church school prepared us to be disciples in disciples. And so we ask, are our Sunday the summer. If it didn’t, then maybe we need to Schools making disciples? That is, are people make some significant changes. If there were being trained in Sunday School to go out into some ways it helped, then let’s build on that to the world and witness to the gospel in word and make our Sunday School offerings even stron- in deed? Critics of the traditional model of ger going forward. Sunday School insist the answer to those ques- – Greg tions is no. Many churches are now going through a process of evaluating their educational pro- Upcoming Dates grams based on the criteria of disciple-making. So we should be asking these questions as well Jun 3 - Communion as we, too, determine which educational offer- ings we should spend our efforts and resources Jun 17 - Father’s Day providing. A great way to start is to ask our- selves what effect our Sunday School classes Aug 12 - Brunch at 9:45 am Page 1 of 3 First Presbyterian Church of Wewoka Newsletter June 2018 Presbytery Session FPC Wewoka is a congregation of Indi- an Nations Presbytery. Elder Bob The next Session meeting will be Wall is currently our delegate to pres- Wednesday, August 8, at 6 pm. bytery, while Elder Mary Tiger is the alternate. 2018 Session Elders The next stated meeting of the Presby- tery will be June 2, 2018 at First Pres- Jonathon Gates byterian of Elk City. Matt Gates Jeana Tiger Mary Tiger Sunday School Bob Wall No Sunday School during the summer break. Classes will resume on August 19 at the usual time of 10:00 am. Birthdays This coming 2018-2019 program year youth and adults will be using The Story Jun 1 June Alford curriculum, which is a 31 week study cov- Jun 3 Jonathon Gates ering the entire Bible in narrative form. If Jun 13 Shari Carter you’ve never read the Bible as a single, Jun 16 Bob Wall continuous story, then you’ll want to expe- Jun 20 Becky Gates rience this way of seeing the story of God Jun 23 Matt Gates and his people presented as an engaging Jun 27 Hunter Gates novel. Free books are available to those Jun 27 Jim Mitchell participating in the class. So ask for yours today and get a head start! 5th Sunday Special Offerings The Session has designated the 5th Sunday of months that have a 5th Sunday for the collection of special, designated offerings. These special offerings do not replace the normal Sunday offerings on 5th Sundays, but are in addition to them. The next 5th Sunday offering will be on July 29th, and will be designated to the Boy Scouts Page 2 of 3 Saturday World Juggler’s Day 30 23 16 9 meeting 10a Presbytery 2 Friday Best Friends Best Day 29 22 15 8 1 Thursday Paul Bunyan Day Summer Solstice Flag Day 28 21 14 7 Wednesday June 2018 D-Day 27 20 13 6 Tuesday Forgiveness Day 26 19 12 5 Monday Go Fishing Day 25 18 11 4 Sunday Father’s Day 11a Worship 24 11a Worship 17 11a Worship 10 Communion 11a Worship - 3