Bethany Community Church

Prayer draws us into a deeper intimacy with God. The conversation with God is not always pretty; sometimes it’s raw, filled with anger, pain, and agony as we cry out in disbelief over senseless loss. Other times it’s filled with gratitude and contentment, like a child resting in his mother’s lap. And sometimes’ it’s filled with asking, because we believe that nothing is impossible with God.

Each month we are invited to set aside the first Friday of the month to ask specifically for the needs of Bethany and the community. As we ask God to do what we could never do on our own, let us give him the glory for how he is working in and through us in all of the communities that we represent.

Pray that all who attend Bethany will desire, above all else, transformation that comes through repentance and commitment to Christ. Pray that God would speak to each of us through the sermons on Sunday, and that we would respond with obedient hearts.

Pray for us as a congregation as we seek to be intentional in developing a Rule of Life in the areas of prayer, Scripture reading, generosity, and service. Pray that we would each commit to specific practices in these areas that will prepare our hearts to receive what God has for us to be and to do.

Pray for those who are involved in the search for new ministry staff: Worship Ministry Director and Children’s Ministry Director. Pray that God would guide the right person here for each position, and that they would be confirmed by consensus among the search committees. Pray for those who have stepped in as interim directors – Chris Gough and Jean Ballance – that God would guide and strengthen them to continue to lead their respective ministries.

Pray for the preparations for Easter, that we would be welcoming hosts for the visitors that will be here on Easter Sunday, and that each one who comes will encounter Christ in a new way.

Pray for those in our congregation who are grieving the loss of loved ones. Pray that God would comfort them and be present with them in their sadness. Pray also for those in our congregation who are struggling with illness. Pray that God, the Divine Healer, would restore their health and fill them with his strength and comfort.

Pray for those in our congregation who are between jobs and looking for work. Pray that God our Provider would meet their needs and guide them to a new position where they can use their giftedness for him. Pray that God would fill them with his peace during this time of uncertainty.

Pray for the short-term mission trips coming up this month. We will be sending teams to the Lummi reservation and to Macedonia. Pray that God would protect these teams, and that he would accomplish great things in and through them as a result of these trips.

Pray for our Tabitha Ministries. Pray for the women who spend the night at our church; may they feel safe and cared for by the many volunteers who staff the shelter. Pray also for those who staff the Food Bank and host the Community Dinners. Pray that we as a church community will continue to develop ways to build bridges to the surrounding community.

Pray for all of the ministries of Bethany, that they would be sourced and directed by the Spirit of God, so that in all things He would receive the glory and thanks.

Blessings,

Nancy Eckardt

This year’s Costa Rica mission trip is scheduled for June 28-July 7, 2010. Please keep us in your prayers as the team is coming together and building friendships, raising funds, and planning the details of the trip.

One new area for this year’s trip is a soccer camp. The vision is to bring in 400 kids from around the project and host a camp, with our Costa Rican friends assisting us with soccer skills; teaching a Bible story time; providing snacks; and running a tournament. Each child will receive a soccer ball, t-shirt, and a new pair of tennis shoes.

Along with the soccer camp, we will continue to help build a new sanctuary, pull nails our of donated wood, volunteer with kids in homes and daycare, attend a youth camp, and help with a feeding program.

The trip is 10 full days; please pray for our strength, our ministry to the Costa Ricans, and for what the Lord will want to teach each of us.

Thanks,

Nick Steinloski

Student Ministries Pastor

Sometimes we make prayer too difficult.  Paul’s instruction on the matter can be summarized by half of Philippians 4:6, which reads:  “tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand…”

In keeping with Paul’s practical instruction, I’m happy to invite to join with me in praying the following thanksgivings and intercessions, blended together in the following areas of our life as a church:

Thank God for all He has done

1. We’re profoundly grateful to the Lord that our community has been able to raise over $100,000 for relief and rebuilding in Haiti.  Pray for the World Vision team and all their affiliates as they use these resources for both immediate needs and long-term issues.
2. Give thanks for Scott Sund, Shonnie Scott, and the families that are forming core leadership teams for satellite campuses in both West Seattle and North Seattle.  Pray for their continued wisdom and strength, asking that God would shepherd them every step of the way so that the works that are established testify of His grace and power.
3. Give thanks for the provision of two wonderful finalists in our search for a new Director of Worship & Arts.  Pray for our search task force as we meet soon to make important decisions regarding next steps, asking that our decisions would be right.
4. I’m grateful for the many people at Bethany who have signed up to attend retreats.  Pray for the Middle School, High School, Post-College/Early Career, and Guys’ retreats, all of which are happening this month.  Pray with me that each participant will encounter the living Christ in significant ways, resulting in transformation, and the strengthening of life in Christ, both for individuals and for our church.
5. Pray also for the upcoming Ash Wednesday service and the beginning of Lent.  We’ll be inviting the Bethany community to go deeper with Christ and enter an intentional discipleship effort (which we’re calling Rule of Life) during this season, focusing on the areas of Bible Reading, Prayer, Service, and Generosity.  Pray that we will collectively be responsive to Christ’s invitation to follow Him fully, and that our development of a Rule of Life community will result in Christ’s life being seen with greater clarity.
6. We’re searching for a new children’s ministry director and ask for prayer for the task force involved in that search.
7. Megan Dobrasz is preparing a team for a March trip to Macedonia.  Pray for Megan, her team, and their preparations, asking that God would be providing all that’s needed for His purposes on this trip.
8. There are many who continue to feel the effects of unemployment.  Pray for those looking for work and direction, asking for God’s provision of both, and comfort in the midst of the trials.
9. Finally, Bethany continues to be the recipient of God’s mercy and grace in countless ways.  Please pray for all our leaders, especially our staff and church council, asking that God would protect us from presumption, keeping us ever dependent on Him for each step, and ever grateful for His goodness.

Thanks so much for making time to pray with me on these important matters. May His life continue to strengthen, protect, and direct us in all we do.

In His Service,

Richard Dahlstrom

Senior Pastor

To the Bethany Family,

Greetings in the name of Christ. I shared just a few weeks ago how grateful I am to the Lord for the privilege of playing a role in the Bethany community. This past week demonstrated, once again, why this is so. When the earthquake struck Haiti, I let you know that we intended to take an offering on January 24th. I asked you to pray and give sacrificially. Our staff carefully and prayerfully considered various options for channeling relief dollars, and decided on giving to World Vision’s relief and long-term support fund. We chose them because of their long time presence in Haiti, low administrative overhead, and the fact that a grant would multiply our gift threefold.

You responded remarkably-giving over $87,000-which, due to the 3:1 matching program, translates into $348,000 to help with the rebuilding efforts of Haiti. Never have I been more proud of our community. This generous outpouring contributes directly to our mission of becoming a visible expression of Christ by “inviting people to God, to community, and to wholeness.” Food, shelter, clean water, public health infrastructures, and education all contribute to the goal of wholeness. Please pray with me for the distribution of these funds, and for Haiti, that the spirit of God would be poured out on that nation so that what comes out of this day of distress will be a new Haiti, better able to serve its own people.

In less than 12 months, we’ve been privileged to contribute $217,000 to serving the neediest in our world in both Haiti and Uganda. Thank you again for your generosity! And if you missed the Haiti offering this past Sunday, there’s still time to give. You can make your check out to Bethany Community Church—make sure to designate “Haiti” on the memo line—and we’ll pass it on to the World Vision fund.

Yours in His Service,

Richard Dahlstrom
Senior Pastor

Greetings;

I’d like to express my appreciation for the many good suggestions about how the Bethany community can best demonstrate the love of Christ in the midst of the catastrophe in Haiti. After prayerful consideration, we have determined that the special offering Bethany receives this Sunday will go to World Vision’s “Relief and Long Term Support” fund, which will help with both the overwhelming immediate needs, as well as invest in the vital infrastructure issues that will enable Haiti to come out of this stronger than before.

World Vision’s credibility, long-term presence, and low overhead were all contributing factors. In addition, I’m excited to let you know that every dollar you give will be matched, through a grant, by three more dollars. That means your $100 investment will be worth $400!

We’ve been advised to wait until things settle before planning any trips to Haiti, so will remain open to such in the future, but mindful that the present situation is such that this acute phase is best served by our prayers and dollars. Several of Paul’s letters included specific exhortations and instructions regarding offerings, always appealing to those with means to share with those without. In this case, few have more means than many of us (though I’m painfully aware that there are those inside our community facing the pains of unemployment), and none have less means than the Haitian people.

I hope you’ll join me in giving sacrificially as we receive this special offering, and pray that, as God is well capable of doing, light will shine into the darkness, bringing hope and blessing to that land. If you missed Sunday, you are more than welcome to send in a check with “Haiti Special Offering” in the memo up until Sunday, January 31st.

Yours in His Service,

Richard Dahlstrom

Senior Pastor

“This picture is from a Spilling Hope funded water project site we visited today outside of the town Ntugamo.  ”Health and Hygiene” training started with a dance to get warmed up.   Limited internet here and attaching 1 photo took a while so this is all for now.”

-”Wolt” Wolters
Spilling Hope Project Coordinator

“Wanted to send a quick note to say that we are here safe.  Met some incredibly nice people and I am super impressed by the Living Water International team.   Staying at a hotel tonight and then at the LWI compound for a few nights before heading back to Kampala. Starting to get some good photos/footage… will let you know more about that soon… or when we get back.”

-Andrea Moon
Spilling Hope Visual Media

Happy New Year!

An extended stay in Europe this past month has reminded me of two things. The first is that Bethany Community Church, though we are completely independent, stands in a rich tradition of carrying the torch of Christ’s testimony. We’re part of God’s global story, which transcends both geography and generations. Though we may feel alone at times, we are connected to a story much bigger than what God is doing here in Seattle, and there are those praying for us around the world, even as we pray for God’s work elsewhere.

Also, as I stood in a pulpit in Austria and thought about all that had happened in history since that pulpit was built, I was reminded that we carry the testimony, each of us, for but a few brief decades. The brevity makes each day, month, and year a privilege. I hope and pray that we’ll be found faithful, both individually and collectively. Towards that end, I’ve asked the staff of Bethany to begin the new year by submitting prayer requests related to their various areas of ministry, so that you might know how best to pray for us.

Thanks, in advance, for your ministry of intercession. The Scriptures surely teach us that God desires our asking, seeking, and knocking, and that He responds. I look forward to seeing what God does in the coming year, as we seek Him, and ask for His guidance, provision, and annointing, throughout our church community.

Pray for the spiritual well being of our staff, church council, and their families. This is, of course, of paramount importance; without it, everything else we might do will be nothing but a sham. Ask that God would continue to teach us how to love Him, and other people, in increasing measure, to the end that we might increasingly make Christ’s life visible to each other and to our world.

Pray for our community as we spend time this year inviting people to a more intentional path of discipleship. I’ll be talking about this more in the coming weeks, but please pray that God would put it on the hearts of many in the Bethany family to take the next step in the growth in Christ by declaring their intent to follow Jesus in specific ways in the areas of Prayer, Bible Reading, Service, and Generosity. This specific discipleship path is called a RULE OF LIFE here at Bethany.

Richard

SMALL GROUPS
Pray that God will continue to raise up couples/individuals who have a heart to be trained for leading new small groups. Also, pray for a community of people who will help surround the Small Group ministry with their prayers, talents, and time. Most importantly, continue to pray for people to be growing in their relationships with Christ, and each other, as they seek Jesus in the context of smaller communities.

CHILDREN’S MINISTRY
Pray that God would bring us the right fit for the next Children’s Ministry Pastor/Director and that we would be patient with God’s timing during this process. For the Children’s Ministry staff, that we would continue to love and build into the kids God brings through our doors.

CONGREGATIONAL LIFE
Pray for wisdom for the Stephen Ministry leadership team, as they begin to recruit a new class of Stephen ministers to care for our community. For wisdom in stewarding our resources, that Bethany would continue to be a place of support during tough economic times.

DISCIPLESHIP & LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Please pray that we will each develop the practices of prayer, Scripture reading, generosity, and service into our lives this year, not as an end in themselves, but as a context for God to transform us and draw us to himself. Pray that we will identify and develop leaders who will walk alongside the staff in carrying out the work that God wants to do through Bethany in the Seattle area.

WORSHIP & ARTS
Pray that the Lord would hand-select a replacement for the position of
Director of Worship and Arts here at Bethany, and for the search committee to be sensitive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit during this process.

WOMEN’S MINISTRY
Please pray that the women of Bethany will participate in the studies being offered this upcoming quarter, and that through these studies, they will know Christ in a deeper way, experience connections with the women they worship with, and be motivated to serve Him. Pray that the Holy Spirit will fill the leaders with wisdom and instruction as they lead. And finally, please pray that Women’s Ministries will find volunteers to help with the various jobs that keep the ministry running.

MIDDLE SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOL MINISTRIES
“Reaching the unreached student in new and creative ways”—this is our prayer for 2010. Our heart is to see hundreds of teenagers in our city get connected with Jesus and Veritas, baptized, and equipped in their faith. We have over 30 amazing youth staff who give their time, talents, and hearts; your prayers for them would be truly coveted. Our students each day walk on to campuses with the opportunity to be salt and light—please pray for them to have the courage and wisdom to live for Jesus.

COLLEGE & POST-COLLEGE/EARLY CAREER
College: Pray that during this time in their lives, students would find a safe place and a home at Bethany, where they can ask questions and be challenged in both their thought process and their faith.
Post-College/Early Career: Pray that Bethany would be a place for people to connect with other believers and grow toward intimacy with Christ. Specifically pray for the upcoming Winter Retreat, that there will be space for people to take the next step with God, whatever that looks like for them.

OFFICE STAFF
Wisdom stewarding and prioitizing the church’s facility and office resources.

Nancy Eckardt, Director of Discipleship and Leadership Development

Every morning at 8:39am, my watch alarm goes off. At one time or another, just about everyone on staff has asked me what is magical about that hour, especially when I am sitting in a staff meeting or prayer time before a Sunday service. My answer: “If I was home right now and it was a school day, it would indicate to Cameron that it is time for him to get his coat and shoes on and head out the door for the bus.” With the knowledge that my watch is keeping time, we can both relax for those 20 or so minutes before school, knowing that one of us doesn’t have to keep our eye on the clock. And when play is interrupted, it is happily the watch’s fault, not the parent’s.

I have often thought that I should set more alarms on my watch, alarms to remind me to stop and pray. How else will I be shaken out of my routine and activities to be drawn back to the feet of Jesus, to remember the important practice of the “observing the divine hours,” in order to more deeply be the hands and feet of Christ to those in our world? As Phyllis Tickle describes it, “The divine hours allows our human awareness or mental focus to move back and forth on a daily basis and in a disciplined way from attending to the necessary bustle of each day of our lives to attending to the eternal timelessness and magnificence of divine life.”

As we begin to focus on the importance of spiritual disciplines to till the ground of our heart to receive God’s presence, we will discover quickly that these habits do not form out of our intentions, so much as out of our daily commitment to carrying out those intentions. The divine hours is one way to commit to the discipline of prayer throughout our day. This practice of setting aside time at fixed hours of the day for prayer goes way back to our Jewish roots. It was as they were on their way into the temple for prayers that Peter and John healed the lame man; it was during the afternoon prayers on Cornelius’ roof that Peter encountered a vision for the salvation of all, Jews and Gentiles alike. Over the years this same practice has taken on new forms in different contexts. In my late teens and early 20s, I would attend Compline service at St. Mark’s Cathedral, as some of you do now, and without realizing it, having grown up Conservative Baptist, would observe the divine hours.

With the start of Advent, I began observing the divine hours, using Tickle’s book, Christmastide: Prayers for Advent through Epiphany from the Divine Hours. To be honest, I have not set my watch, and while my morning prayers are nailed, the afternoon and evening prayers have not become habit yet. But it has been nice to find the cry of my heart and the hand of God in the words of the psalms.

These prayers can be done alone, but are also done in community. In fact when we do them in community, we are actually standing with the body of Christ, the universal church, across the world and the centuries, as one voice of worship and prayer to God. With this in mind, we invite you to join a group of us on Monday evenings at 6:20-6:45pm, beginning on January 18th, in the Sanctuary, as we practice the tradition of evening prayers. We will provide the format and the content. Together we will read aloud the scripture and the corporate prayers, as well as offer time for personal prayers of intercession. It will be a time to refresh and center our hearts after a busy day, and to join with others in prayer.

I’m just finishing up my second week of teaching with Torchbearers Missionary Fellowship, and here at the Austrian school, one of the staff members is a missionary supported by Bethany. Watch this video for a brief window into her world, and to meet a few of the students I’ve taught this past week.

Happy Advent

Richard

Spiritual Discipline: Prayer

Joseph, a righteous man, almost missed his opportunity to care for and parent Jesus, our Lord and Savior. It was his willingness to listen to God and obey that opened up this great calling on his life as Christ’s earthly father. When we spend time in prayer, we can make our requests know to God, and we are also invited to see situations and events through God’s eyes. As we grow in our prayer life, we can move from talking at God, to talking to God, to listening to God, to being with Him, aware of His presence in every part of our day. His presence teaches us His way of responding to what happens, so that, like Joseph, our righteousness and graciousness is empowered and directed by His revelation to us.

Practicing Prayer
1. Pick up a devotional book that focuses on prayer and contemplation. Commit to reading from it once or twice a day throughout Advent.

2. Write out a prayer to God. Then prayerfully write a response. What might God be trying to say to you?

3. At the end of the day, prayerfully consider the following questions: For what moment today am I the most grateful? For what moment today am I least grateful? Give these moments up to God in prayer.

4. Start a prayer journal. You can make a simple one by labeling four columns on a sheet of paper: Date Requested, Request Made, How Answered, and Date Answered. Below there are downloadable samples of prayer journals.

Verse to Memorize: Psalm 25:4–5
“Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”

Prayer List for Everyday
Prayer Journal Sample One
Prayer Journal Sample Two