Happenings & Highlights

Hi Church Family,

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This past Sunday, we were so thankful to have Rev. Leslie Park with us as she shared from Exodus and reminded us what it means to simply be faithful, even when we may not know where that faithfulness will lead. We are grateful for the time she spent with our church family and for the encouragement she brought with her. 

And somehow, fall has officially arrived! The mornings are a little cooler, the air is beginning to feel different, and we’re starting to see those first little signs of the season changing around us. There’s something about this time of year that feels like an invitation to slow down just a little, notice what is changing, and be thankful for the season we’re in. 

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The Week at a Glance: 

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There’s always something just around the corner at Canton First Baptist, and we want to make it easy to keep up with what’s happening. Your Sunday bulletin and our website www.canton-fbc.org are both great places to find the latest details, and you’ll also find our two week at a glance schedule there to help you look a little further ahead. Happenings & Highlights will continue to bring you the stories, reminders, and things we don’t want you to miss, while our weekly prayer sheet helps us stay connected to the needs of our church family. So if you’re wanting to know what’s next, and want to plan ahead, there are plenty of ways to stay in the loop. Here’s what’s going on this week.  

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Sunday mornings are a wonderful time to gather, learn, worship, and simply be together. Sunday School begins at 10 AM, with classes for different ages and stages of life, followed by worship at 11 AM. Nursery care is available during both hours, and children’s church is offered during the message for our younger crowd 5+. We’re also excited to have Pastor Prince back with us this Sunday to bring the message, and we hope you’ll come join us for a morning of worship, and time together as a church family. 

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It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve been able to gather for Wednesday evening Bible study, so we’re especially glad to be back together this week. Join us Wednesday at 6 PM in the fellowship hall as we settle back in and continue learning alongside one another. If you are unable to be with us in person, you can still join the conversation from home through Zoom using the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8467276030

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Our choir will also be back together Wednesday evening, with rehearsal beginning at 7 PM. It’s always a good time together as the choir works on music for the weeks ahead, and we’re looking forward to another evening of singing, laughter, and preparing for Sunday worship services. 

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Planning Ahead:

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If you serve on the constitution and bylaws committee, please plan to stay after worship tomorrow, Sunday, September 27. The committee will meet at  12:15 PM in the Mann classroom, immediately following the worship service.

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Next Sunday, October 4, we’ll gather for our covered dish breakfast beginning at 9 AM and continuing through the Sunday School hour. Larry Hovis from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will be with us that morning to share more about CBF. Who they are, what they value, and how they work alongside local churches. It will give us a chance to listen, ask questions, and continue the conversation together as a church family. 

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And yes, breakfast means we need the food too! Bring along a favorite breakfast dish to share and come ready to enjoy some time around the table together. Our last breakfast gave us quite the spread, so we’re looking forward to seeing everyone show out the same way this time!

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As we get closer to this conversation, it’s also a good time to remind ourselves of the values we have already identified as important to who we are as Canton First Baptist. These aren’t meant to tell us what decision to make, but to help remind us of the things that matter to us in front of us as we listen, learn, ask questions, and continue discerning together: 

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OUR CORE VALUES

1.) The authority of the scriptures for our faith and practice, and the freedom of each member to interpret them.
2.) Obeying the Great Commandment by loving God with all we are and loving our
neighbors as ourselves, and fulfilling the Great Commission by making disciples.
3. Reflecting Christ’s actions through genuine service to others, remembering that serving is
a privilege, not a burden.
4. Authentic worship in spirit and truth, drawing from both historic and contemporary
Forms.
5. Allowing men and women to serve in all church offices.
6. Autonomy of the local church.
7. Authentic relationships in which people are known, loved, and encouraged.
8. Religious freedom through the separation of church and state.
9. Equipping families, empowering kids, and making disciples of the next generation.
10. Providing a safe space for children and students to know, love, and serve Jesus.

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We’re heading to the Eliada Corn Maze on Sunday, October 11, and our youth, children, and their families are all invited to join us! Bring a sack lunch to eat together in the fellowship hall immediately following the morning service, and then we’ll head out for an afternoon of fall fun at the maze. Tickets are $15 each, and everyone planning to go will need to confirm their ticket with Susan or Lisa by October 4. We expect to be back at the church by around 4:30 PM, so make plans to come enjoy a fun afternoon with us!

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Homecoming Sunday is coming up on October 18, and we’re looking forward to a special morning together at Canton First Baptist. Homecoming is always a chance to celebrate the life of our church, reconnect with familiar faces, welcome friends back, and simply enjoy being together. We hope you’ll make plans to join us for worship and be part of this meaningful day with our church family.  

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Following worship, we’ll keep the celebration going with a churchwide covered dish lunch in the fellowship hall. Bring a favorite dish to share and plan to stay awhile, because some of the best parts of Homecoming happen around the table catching up with people we haven’t seen in a while, sharing stories, laughing together, and enjoying the kind of fellowship that makes a church feel like home. There’s always plenty of food, so come hungry and make plans to spend the afternoon with us. 

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Trunk or Treat is almost here! Join us Saturday, October 31 from 5-7 PM for an evening packed with decorated trunks, games, food, and plenty of candy. Kids can come in costume, make their way around the parking lot, play a few games, grab something to eat, and see what surprises are waiting at each trunk!

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YOUTH NEWS: 

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The JOLT youth group’s weekly time together is a chance for our youth to come in, grab some dinner, play a few games, catch up with friends, and have a little space to just hang out before we settle into the evening together. They meet each Wednesday from 5:30-6:45 PM. We’re always glad to have them together and look forward to another good Wednesday night this week!

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As our youth group continues to grow,  we're also at a point where we could really use a few more people willing to come alongside Susan and help make Wednesday nights happen. One of our biggest needs right now is a driver who can help with picking up and taking youth home. That could be as simple as helping with transportation, but then you are welcome to stay for dinner, and if you’re up for it, join in on the games, and Bible study before taking them home again. 

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We could also really use some help with Wednesday night meals. We are so thankful for everyone who has donated towards suppers, but with only a few hands preparing everything each week, having a few people willing to make a meal once a month would make a huge difference. Maybe you take the first Wednesday, someone else takes the second, and so on. It doesn't have to be complicated at all, something that could be made ahead, dropped off by 5:30, and easily served to the kids is perfect. A pot of soup, burgers, a casserole, or something similar would be wonderful, and Susan is happy to share some easy meal ideas the kids already enjoy. We’ve placed a calendar sign-up sheet on the bulletin board in the back hallway for anyone willing to pick a Wednesday night and feed our youth. 

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This is a growing ministry, and that is such a good thing. We simply want to make sure we're growing the number of helping hands right along with it and supporting this growing area of our church ministry. Whether you can drive, provide a meal once a month, or would like to spend a little more time getting to know our youth, there is a place to help, and it would be very much appreciated!

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Hands & Hearts at Work:​

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So much of the life of our church happens in the small steady ways people show up for one another throughout the week. Whether it is helping with children or youth preparing a meal, singing in the choir, welcoming someone new, setting up for an event or activity, lending a hand where it's needed, every act of service matters. These are the things that help relationships grow, make ministry possible, and remind people that they are part of something bigger than themselves. We are deeply grateful for everyone who gives their time, energy and care to help make Canton First Baptist a place where people can feel supported, connected and loved.

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A Thought to Carry With You:

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I have always asked a lot of questions. Not because I am trying to be difficult, and not because I need to challenge everything simply for the sake of challenging it. It is just how my mind works. I need to walk around something before I can understand it. I need to look at it from one side, then another, and sometimes come back days later because I have thought of an angle I missed the first time. 

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For a long time, I thought faith was supposed to eventually quiet that part of me. I grew up believing that certainty was a sign of spiritual maturity. That the stronger your faith became, the fewer questions you would need to ask about life. There were answers, and then there were the things you simply accepted because that was what you had always been taught. But the older I get, the less convinced I am that faith was ever meant to be so tidy. 

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Jesus asked questions all the time in the Bible. What are you looking for? Why are you afraid? What do you want me to do for you? Who do you say that I am? Sometimes he asked questions when he surely already knew the answer. Which makes me wonder if perhaps the answer wasn’t really the point. Maybe he was giving people space to hear themselves say what was already somewhere inside them. I think questions can do that. 

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They can make us examine what we have inherited instead of simply repeating it. They can uncover assumptions we didn’t realize we were carrying. And sometimes they lead us back to the same belief we started with, but now it belongs to us in a way it didn’t before. 

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I no longer think every question needs to be quickly answered or tucked away before it makes someone uncomfortable. Some questions deserve to sit with us for a while. And maybe a mature faith isn’t one that has finally run out of questions. Maybe it's one that is no longer afraid of where an honest question might lead. 

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With love and gratitude,
Rene Ownsby