Fa i t hFa i t hFa i t h ofofof

D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 2 - J a n u a r y 2 0 1 3

Experience God’s Word Express God’s Love Equip God’s People

P e o p lP e o p lP e o p l eee

The Newsletter of Faith Christian Reformed Church

T r a d i t i o n s R e m i n d U s . . .

We live in a world where nothing ever stays the same. Fashion is always changing, music from the ‘80s and ‘90s is already considered “oldies,” and that top of the line cell phone you bought is soon just old technology. In the midst of all these changes, there is a time of year where we go back to familiar trends and traditions. In November and December we see old friends pop up all around us. These friends take the form of inflatable lawn decorations, carols, cards, and (my mother’s favorite) clay-mation Christmas specials. Traditions are in abundance this time of year more than any other. The word “tradition” often gets a bad reputation because people associate it with being stuck in the past; however, when it comes to the holidays we embrace our traditions. My brother makes it a point to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” on NBC every year. It doesn’t matter that he has it on DVD and could watch it whenever he chooses. My hometown of Maurice, Iowa becomes known as “small town Christmas” (complete with signs, tourists, and everything) because of how many lights people hang outside. Now, one could say that hanging all these lights outside is silly, we should just save money on the electric bill, but this is not how most people respond at Christmas. When I go home and drive around to see the lights, I am reminded of all the years before that I have done the same thing. I reflect on other nights from years past where I sat in a car with my family and slowly moved through the streets admiring the scenery. Our traditions during the holidays are a standing reminder of love, family, and time together. Each time I experience these traditions, I remember how important love and family are, and I am inspired to seek them out the rest of the year. As Christians we have many traditions that we do all year round. Communion, Sunday services, Catechism, Bible studies; the list goes on and on. It can become easy to look at some of these events and wonder why we spend the energy and time on it all. Should we just “unplug” and focus on other things? Traditions are important in the church, too. The things we do remind us of the life of Christ, His birth and death, and how, when we live our lives, we try to look like Him. In this time of year, when we lean on old traditions around Thanksgiving and Christmastime, as we join together with friends and family to do things that remind us of love and friendship and peace, we can learn to appreciate the traditions in the church. These traditions remind us that sometimes we need to look to the past to guide our futures. They remind us to unite as a body of believers under Christ, who came before and taught us how to live. They remind us to care for one another as Christ cares for us, and to mirror Him first in all things. As you wander shopping malls filled with holiday decorations and remember years past with family, remember, too, the church traditions that help us remember what is most important of all: praising and loving God. --Bryce Vander Stelt

INSIDE:

Shareserve 2012 p2

Deacons’ Corner p3

Mealtrain p3

Men’s Breakfast p3

Baptisms p3

Tim Loerop p4

The Gathering p4

Tapestries of Life p4

Thanks to Jim Engel for the Christmas

Image

Faith Christian Reformed Church has participated in the Stephen

Ministry program for about twenty years. Rich Vroom, who

was an early participant and is also currently serving, provides a

good perspective on the program here.

“Originally I was trained beginning September 1993 under

Scott Los. Bob Venhousen Jr. brought the program to our

church. At that time we had group training sessions with Elm-

hurst Church participants. The initial training was 6 months with

weekly sessions of 2 - 3 hours. After the 6 months we had

follow-up continuing education sessions.”

Due to conflicts with work, Rich left the program in 1996 and

rejoined and retrained after Dorothy Vanerka began leading the

program in April, 2000. Rich credits Dorothy with keeping the

program alive. In all, over 50 caregivers have served, including

those currently active. There have been 57 care receivers from

2000 on. The number of care receivers prior to 2000 is not

available.

Rich Vroom notes that the Stephen Ministry Program was

started over 30 years ago: “developed by Stephen Haugh, a

clinical psychologist who became a minister, it is a tried and

proven program of Christian care-giving.”

Responses to a questionnaire distributed to the care-givers

afford a picture of the program’s impact here.

The responders praised the comprehensiveness and

practicality of the training. “Training opened up windows of

understanding to me of how people viewed their struggles and to

see the complexities of the body, mind and spirit” (Jan

Slinkman).

Stephen Ministry

(Continued p2)

This Newsletter provides the Faith CRC congregation information about our ministry, events, and people, while honoring our Lord Jesus Christ. People of Faith is published 6x/yr. by Faith CRC, 1070 S. Prospect Ave., Elmhurst IL 60126. (ed.- kjgreenfield@sbcglobal.net) Sr. Pastor – Dr. Gregory D. Schuringa – 630/279-1779 Church Office – 630/279-1776 Fax – 630/834-5748 www.faithelmhurst.org

Shareserve 2012 Though cloudy and cool, Saturday, October 13, was

a great day to serve. A group comprised of all ages

from all the churches of ONE met at 7:30am at Grace

Bible Church for breakfast and fellowship before head-

ing out to work. We were split into groups, each as-

signed to a different project ranging from raking leaves

and cleaning out flower beds for the winter to putting

up drywall and painting in a house that was being reno-

vated.

Participants from Faith CRC were Rebecca Ander-

son, Sandy Roelofs, Dirk Glaubke, and I. Assigned to

the group working at the Ray Graham center in Elm-

hurst, we cleaned up around the building and cleared

two large planting beds for vegetables. The beds were

also home to a few small, furry creatures (yes, I’m talk-

ing about mice) keeping us on our toes! In spite of

being a short day (due to mid-morning rain) our few

hours of service were well worth it!

The Evangelism Committee would like to emphasize

more such service projects this year to help our church

fulfill one “E” in our mission statement: Expressing

God’s Love. We hope to provide more opportunities

for our congregation to participate, to invite along

neighbors and friends who may or may not be church

goers, and to build a reputation of service in the com-

munity. One opportunity already in the works is

Christmas caroling. We hope to get a big group to-

gether and head to a local retirement home and possi-

bly Elmhurst Hospital to share the reason for the sea-

son! Look for upcoming bulletin announcements

about this and other opportunities to do what we are

called to do: love one another!

--Mary Huizinga for the Evangelism Committee

The thoroughness of the training gave the trainees con-

fidence. “It was a great preparation for my work as an

elder later on--[gave me] increased awareness of ways

people hurt and ways to help them” (Brad Wieringa).

“The training gave me confidence to do things I

wouldn’t normally do because we were taught that God

was helping us in our work” (Tom Tazelaar). Jayne

Lindemulder says, “After my brother-in-law passed

away, I felt so helpless and just wanted to learn how to

help the hurting. When Stephen’s [ministry training]

was presented to the congregation it was like they were

talking just to me, like God telling me that I had to do

this. The training was life-changing for me! I now

have tools to help others.” The role-playing included

in the training was uncomfortable for some (though

acknowledged to be beneficial).

The theme most mentioned was the need to listen,

not to give advice, not to try to fix people’s problems

(an impulse seemingly difficult to overcome: “really

hard to not do much talking, but to do more listening”

Flory Hoving). “I was equipped to be a listener and

encourager; I did not have to solve a person’s problem

but to stand beside them and help them walk through

their problem” (Jayne Lindemulder).

Several mentioned the bonding that happened be-

tween caregivers during training and also follow-up

supervisory meetings: “really our own small group

before small groups came into being” (Jan Slinkman).

“At the supervision meetings the leaders and fellow

care givers took a wonderful interest in what was

happening in our lives and the lives of each of our care

receivers. We always prayed together at each meeting

and thanked the Lord for answered prayer all the while

keeping everything said there confidential” (Linda

Loerop).

Some noted the low number of care receivers

officially assigned, although some of these caring

relationships lasted several years (Linda Stodola has

been visiting with one individual since 1997). Others

were able to help hurting persons they met informally

in the community. In the Lord’s seemingly

serendipitous way, Bern Slinkman was connected to his

long-term care receiver--though unable to confirm the

second meeting with his appointed recipient, Bern went

to the home, only to find another tenant had moved in--

a lonely and isolated man who needed and appreciated

a friend.

These are some of the comments about the care re-

ceivers: “We find that men are less apt to ask for help

than women. My care receivers in general were deal-

ing with fear, anxiety, and depression related to health

issues, hospitalization and job loss” (Rich Vroom).

“Giving is better than receiving--I believe I got more

than I gave” (Ruth Tazelaar). “I benefitted because I

got to know some people that I would not have if I had

not participated in the ministry” (Linda Loerop). “The

program [helped] me as well as my care receivers to

depend upon God for guidance” (Marlene Vos). Rich

Vroom sums it up this way: “By giving care to others,

we know that our care receivers receive a benefit but

the Lord ends up blessing us, the care-giver, so much

more.”

(began in the 1990s)

Thea Bakker Hank Bos Lambert Bronger Pearl Dykstra Tom Eiter** Sue Fisher Kathy Folkerts Sue Folkerts Cathy Hoekstra Cindy Klaassens Jayne Lindermulder Gerry Penzak Bern Slinkman Jan Slinkman* Linda Stodola Jim Van Kampen Marge Van Kampen Donna Venhousen Robert Venhousen, Sr. Jack Vos Marlene Vos Rich Vroom Bob Wieringa Brad Wieringa Garry Wieringa Dorothy Wiltjer

(2000 Forward) Dorothy Vanerka *** Grace Harbaugh* Rick DeBoer* Beth Cunningham Nancy Johnson* Flory Hoving Amanda Tazelaar Judd Kim Biesboer Dennis De Groot Craig Stears Bill Tate Linda Loerop Jeri Cook Jason Evans Nicole Evans Lois Rusthoven Ruth Tazelaar Tom Tazelaar Len Turnbull

Caren Van Byssum Don Van Byssum Jeffrey Visser Valerie Warneke Kim Kakabeeke Grace Ottenhoff

Caregivers at Faith CRC

*leader, **leader and teacher, ***Administrator

Dorothy Vanerka adds this invitation: Might the Lord be knocking at the door of your heart to either become or receive care from a Stephen Minister? A training class is planned for 2013 (date tba) Care receivers are sometimes identified by other peo-ple and also may ask for care themselves. I will then confidentially talk with any one who wants to know more about the support the ministry provides. Contact Dorothy Vanerka, 630-655-0084 or dvanerka@comcast.net (Thanks to all who contributed to make this article possible--ed.)

“We care, Christ cures.” Stephen Ministry motto

Stephen Ministry con’td.

Mens’ Breakfast November 17, 2012, 7:30-8:30 am

For the 50+ men and boys attending, a delicious breakfast was

followed by an enlightening hour of testimony and

information by Dan Quist, Elim Church Relations Coordinator.

Elim’s history, 1948 to the present, shows what can happen

when one person recognizes a need to change lives and

attitudes, and does something to bring people with disabilities

into the mainstream of our lives--now over 275 students and

220 adults are ministered to daily at Elim.

Dan outlined the 5 stages of disability attitudes: Ignorance,

Pity, Care, Friendship, and Co-laborers. Warning of the pitfalls

of stagnating at one of the steps, he also acknowledged that not

all are capable of reaching the highest level. At Elim they are

not in the business of answering “why?” but recognize there is

a purpose for Elim’s students and adults in God’s kingdom.

Our job is to become aware of the attitudes we have, correct

them if necessary and act on them through prayer, volunteering

or giving. We were challenged to get to know someone with a

disability and develop ongoing relationships. I found 60

minutes wasn’t enough; time is short for us to come to the

realization that God’s creation is for everyone: sound or not

sound, able or challenged. --Len Turnbull

(For more information about Elim see www.elimcs.org)

Andrew John Slinkman, born to

Chris and Melinda Slinkman on

June 26, 2012, was baptized on

September 30.

His grandparents are Chuck and

Harma Slinkman and Ed and

Sandy Hofstra. The verse read for

Andrew is Psalm 37:4, “Delight

yourself in the Lord and He will

give you the desires of your heart.” Chris and Melinda say, “What

a true and appropriate verse for us. We thank God every day for the

answer to prayer and true gift Andrew has been to us.”

Nathan J Matthew

Gehrke, born August 13,

2012, was presented for

baptism by Scott and Jean

Gehrke on September 30.

Nathan has three older sis-

ters--Kaitlin (15), Lauren

(11), and Mackenzie (2).

Brother Scott Michael Jr.

passed away in 1995. Na-

than’s grand-parents are

Jack and Annette Heerdt.

The text chosen for Nathan is Psalm 32:8, “I will instruct you and

teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch

over you.” Scott and Jean say, “As Christian parents we want Na-

than to learn from, walk with, turn to, and love Jesus Christ, our

Savior.”

Lilia Renee Van Schepen was

born to Matt and Lindsey Van

Schepen on August 28, 2012 and

presented for baptism October 14.

Her grandparents are Verlan and

Sally Van Wyk and Marlin and

Karen Van Schepen.

Matt and Lindsey say, “We feel

very blessed to have Lilia baptized

in such a wonderful community of

believers. We cling to the verse

read at her baptism as we learn to best raise her in the Lord, and we

pray she takes these promises as her own as she grows up as well--

Psalm 121:1-2, ‘I lift up my eyes to the mountains - where does my

help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven

and earth.’”

Lydia Koster was born on

August 12, joining sister Laila

(age 2). Lydia was presented

for baptism by parents Matt and

Heidi on October 14. Matt and

Heidi say, “Praise God from

whom all blessings flow! We

were so blessed to present

Lydia for baptism, believing

that, as a covenant child, she

receives all the promises of

God. We pray that God will

give us wisdom and grace as we

raise our daughters to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We are

grateful for our family at Faith CRC for their constant love, support

and encouragement.”

Meal Train is a website that streamlines the process of organiz-

ing meals for people. If someone in our church needs a few

meals, the hospitality committee will create an account for this

person on the Meal Train website. On this account, there will be

a calendar which lists the dates that meals are needed. If you are

able to provide a meal, you click on the date and write in what

food you are bringing so that others know what meals the family

will already be getting. This account will also tell you the best

drop off times, unique food preferences, and the number of peo-

ple eating. By signing up with the hospitality committee, you

will receive an email each time an account for someone is cre-

ated. However, you are not committed to make a meal each time

someone in our church is in need. You may choose to sign up

for a meal whenever it works best for you. If you do not have an

email address but would like to make meals occasionally for

people in our church, please contact Randy and Julie Huisman or

Matt and Lindsey Van Schepen and they will contact you if

meals are needed. --Linsey Van Schepen

As the holiday season is under-way, we are reminded of joy-

filled times spent with family. We also remember loved ones no longer with us and folks less fortunate than ourselves. As a dea-conate group, we want to be especially cognizant of families with both financial and non-financial suffering within our community and church body. If you know of families that could use assis-tance with food or gifts this holiday season, please let us know as we will be distributing dinners and Christmas gifts to those in need. Also, we plan on visiting with each of the widows and wid-owers in the church to deliver gift bags. It truly is a time of giving and sharing the blessings that God has poured out on us. Please consider this season how you can support the church, staff, programs, and supported ministries through budget giving. As a service to our members, the deacons will be preparing and distributing annual statements for your year-end financial plan-ning and tithing. We ask that you consider year-end special needs and pray that we will be able to meet our ministry goals and be able to expand our ministries in the years to come. Thanks again for the support. May you and your family enjoy a very Merry Christmas as you celebrate Christ’s birth. --Justin Hoogendoorn for the Deacons

DEACONS’ CORNER

Tim Loerop was in Japan from October 19 through November

16 working with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. About half-

way through his service Nan Loerop filed this report. Tim responded

to an email sent out by Larry Spalink (a friend of Nan’s and a CRC

missionary in Japan) on behalf of the OPC. Various denominations

working in Japan often share resources and contacts to expand and

enhance their mission.

Because of the disastrous

effects of the earthquake

and resulting tsunami in

March, 2011, the OPC

needed to rebuild one of its

churches and the minister’s

house and needed laborers

with some construction

knowledge and time on

their hands to volunteer.

Tim submitted an applica-

tion and one week later boarded an airplane for Tokyo. The request

asked for a commitment of two weeks; Tim volunteered for four

weeks and was working with his second team of 9-10 men at the

time of this report. Thus far they had torn down the existing house

to its studs, inside and out, and had started

dry-walling inside and nailing on plywood

and wrapping the house with Tyvek

(waterproof barrier) on the outside. Tim

estimated it would take another two weeks

to finish roughing in the house, including

the concrete board and roofing. In about a

month it was expected to be move-in ready.

Tim encountered some cultural chal-

lenges. His first email alleged that he lost 5 pounds while eating his

meals with chopsticks. The Japanese customarily sleep on the floor

on mats. “Sleeping with four other men in the same room on mats

on the floor does not really allow for a refreshing night’s sleep,” says

Nan. The typical routine involved waking up between 5 and 6 am,

eating breakfast and getting ready to drive to the work site.

The men always

had devotions to-

gether before going

to work and Tim

says that all the men

are wonderful Chris-

tian men with a

heart for the Lord

and helping others in

need.

After a typical 8-

10 hour day, they’d

drive back to the

house and usually have supper brought in by women from one

of the churches – always very good and plenty of rice! Salmon

season had just started so one day a woman from the church

brought them salmon sandwiches for lunch – filled with salmon

eggs so that chewing them became a matter of popping and

squishing! According to Tim they weren’t bad (but he eats any-

thing!).

He hadn’t had more than an hour for sightseeing, just some

Shinto temples and a concrete Shinto cemetery, a few market-

places while driving, and many views of standing water and

devastation. His Sundays allowed a little sleeping in (7:00 am

or so) then breakfast and church – in Japanese, followed by Sun-

day dinner, another church service – in English, then making the

circuit of a couple other churches. No time for his Sunday after-

noon nap!

About the time this report was filed Japan experienced an-

other earthquake; while aftershocks are not unusual, this one

registered 5.9 on the Richter scale and caused the team about 30

anxious seconds.

Tim left Japan at 8:00 am Friday, November 16 and arrived at

O’Hare at 7:30 am that same day – ½ hour before he left! Time

confusion added to jet lag! He had been looking forward to re-

turning since one month is an awfully long time to be away from

home. --Nan Loerop

It’s hard to believe that summer was a short

while ago and now we feel winter knocking on

our door. Before the snow flies, we wanted to

look back on summer and fall for a brief snap-

shot of what The Gathering has been up to

the past few months.

This summer a group of high-schoolers met

alternate weeks for BASIC. We went through a

video series explaining what the Bible says

about God and the church. It was a great time

of fellowship, growth, and sharing ideas. Com-

paring Scripture to how the church looks now

was great, enabling us to evaluate what we

are doing as Christ’s body here on Earth. This

summer we also scheduled some activity

days. We went to Six Flags amusement park

to take in the rides. Also, the middle school

students met throughout the summer for

nights of water balloon launching and capture

the flag.

Transitioning into “fall mode”, we have

been having a good time at our Sunday night

meetings--learning about God and His Word

through a variety of activities and discussion

groups. We had our first service day

a few weeks ago when a group of high school

students and leaders spent a Saturday morn-

ing raking leaves for church members. There

is nothing better than having a common goal

as a group and being able to see that goal

accomplished with a little bit of elbow grease.

That same weekend we held our annual

Fallfest; students bobbed for apples and a

variety of other foods such as onions, lem-

ons, and a coconut. We had a pumpkin carv-

ing challenge, and we also did chicken bowl-

ing, which required a large amount of waxed

paper, Crisco, and 2 frozen chickens.

Some of these activities may seem a bit

odd, but we love having a good time together

as a group. It is through laughter that friend-

ships are made and those bonds between us

allow us to trust each other and more easily

discuss important things about God, the

church, and our lives. With trust and

understanding among the members of the

group, the Gathering is able to dig deep,

serve others, and have fun. Every time we

meet is truly a blessing!

--by Erin and Bryce Vander Stelt

Update on Tapestries of Life

(Excerpts from Steve Brewer’s

letter): We had teams of 45 men

and women from across America

and Mexico working together.

Lanny Clark came in from New

York to finalize the plumbing.

We ordered 186 yards of

concrete for a 1-day pour. The

cement company said it was not

possible. The engineers said it

was not possible, but Quinn and

I said we could do all things

through Christ. We started

pouring at the crack of dawn and

finished pouring at 7 pm.

Sonny, a Mexican brother, did

the finish work until one in the

morning. $20,000 later and a

tired team, we had it done.

(Note from John Lindemulder:

our fall fundraiser raised $10,150

for this project. Of the 45-

member team, two were from

our church: Bill Hoving and Don

Oostman.)

The Gathering