Join the musicians of Covenant’s Music Ministry in singing great hymns of our Faith. We will sing praise to God with inspiring festival settings of hymns from the time of the Reformation to the present.

However, these good works are not the gospel, nor do they communicate the gospel to those who receive them. If someone who has never heard the gospel has their physical needs met by a Christian, but never hears that Christian declare the truth of the gospel, then that person will walk away as lost as they were when they arrived. They will be well fed, perhaps. They may be warmer and better rested than when they arrived. But they will not be any nearer to heaven.

The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ died to save sinners from the righteous wrath of God. If that news is not declared with words, then there has been no gospel declared (Rom 10:14). “Gospel” is a noun, not a verb. And if we treat it as a verb, we will one day awake to find that we have lost the very gospel itself. And without the gospel, our good works lose their proper motivation. We become just another group of nice people doing nice things.

So let’s recommit ourselves to abandoning the language of gospel as verb. You cannot do the gospel. Only Christ could do it. And praise God, He has done it! It is our privilege and calling as Christians to declare this gospel that Christ has done it. This does not mean we abandon good works. It just means we must stop confusing our good works for the gospel. We do good works because of the gospel, not because they are the gospel.

Sign up online

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In the Community:

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The Next Door

A group will go to The Next Door to learn about this work and to help assemble Welcome Bags for women who come to this ministry in crisis.  We can also serve The Next Door by donating items for their Welcome Bags:

• full-size shampoo* and conditioner*
• full-size toothpaste, toothbrush, and dental floss
• two full-size bars of soap
• two razors
• full-size lotion* and deodorant*

Please look in the parlor (outside the fellowship hall) for the box labeled “The Next Door donations.”  All donations must be collected by 9:00 am March 6th.

* Denotes items that are currently a great need.

The Next Door helps women in crisis by equipping them to develop lives of wholeness and hope through addressing their physical, mental, spiritual and life skills needs. Along with providing women and their children a safe place to live, the Next Door’s services include a workforce development program, recovery support services, professional counseling, a family enrichment program, health care and an aftercare program.  To learn more about The Next Door, please visit their web site at: www.thenextdoor.org.

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Preston Taylor Ministries

Volunteer to work shoulder-to-shoulder with your sisters in Christ as we learn about and serve Preston Taylor Ministries. We will organize the supply closet, clean the kitchen and bathrooms, and wipe down cubbies at PTM.  It will be helpful if volunteers bring cleaning supplies including sponges, toilet bowl cleaner, Lysol-type cleaning agents, etc. A PTM representative will also share with us regarding this ministry: who they are, whom they serve, what they do, and how we can join in their work.  Please note what type of cleaning materials you can bring, if any, when you sign up. Thank you!

Preston Taylor Ministries (PTM) glorifies Christ Jesus by empowering Preston Taylor children to discover and live their God-inspired dreams through Christian friendships and love for learning. Visit PTM at their web site to learn more about their organization:

http://www.ptmweb.ik.org/

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Friends Life

A group of Covenant women can minister to the staff of Friends Life by providing a brunch for them while we get to know their organization and meet the young adults who attend their program. Please sign up to bring muffins, fruit, or a light brunch food of your choice as we prayerfully seek to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ at Friends Life.

Friends Life serves young adults with developmental disabilities and supports them in fulfilling their God-given potential as they explore, enjoy and contribute to our community. This ministry is providing and developing a program that is Christ-centered and intended to be a lifelong solution for individuals with developmental disabilities. Friends Life desires to build a planned community complete with residential housing, recreation and employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities.  To learn more about Friends Life, please visit their web site at www.friendslife.org. 4414 Granny White Pike Nashville TN 37204

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At the Church

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Our missionaries around the world

Join together for food and fellowship as we pray for our missionaries and reach out to them them through letters.  Sign up to work with your sisters to encourage our missionaries, and please note if you would like to bring a nut-free goody to share.

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The Covenant School

We need about 4 women to volunteer to help Mrs. Ball, our TCS Librarian, and Mrs. Thompson, our TCS art teacher, with various projects in their rooms.  Please sign up to help members of our Covenant School family.

The Covenant School is a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church, created to assist Christian parents and the church by providing an education founded upon and informed by the Word of God. Our greatest desire is that our students will know God. We seek to equip our students to have a Biblical worldview, to embrace their calling in this world as image-bearers of God, to redeem culture and society for Christ, and to maximize their potential for the greater purpose of glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.

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The Children’s Ministry

Join together to help our Children’s Ministry staff by filing, counting and sorting curriculum, organizing felt in new holders, reorganizing bulletin boards, and reorganizing toy shelves with bins … to name just a few of the tasks.  What a blessing to have the opportunity to serve and encourage the people who serve and encourage our Covenant families all week long!

The Children’s Ministry at Covenant Presbyterian Church believes that God has called us to glorify Him by

• assisting parents in the Christian nurture of their children.
• proclaiming the gospel in word and deed to children in our church and community.
• equipping the saints for ministry to families and children.
• communicating and implementing biblical principles for ministry.

Learn more about our Covenant Children’s Ministry online at  http://www.covenantpres.com/ministries/childrens/

Sign up today!

“At least I thought she was waving,” Reagan recalls. “My chest puffed out a little, and I waved back. Then I turned away for a moment. When I looked again, she was going down. She had tried to signal for help.”

Have you ever felt like the young Ronald Reagan in that moment? From the real life stories of experienced and reliable marriage mentors, it is highly likely that some of the marriages in our congregations may not look like they are needy or desperate for help, but some of them are. On Sundays countless couples attend worship services, looking for help while quietly keeping a marriage problem to themselves. The stigma of counseling may prevent them from seeking help. Or they may feel all alone and that no one else would understand. Or they may simply have no one to talk to. If truth be known, some of these couples are going down. Signals for help have been given, but no one has recognized the signal or feel that it’s their place to step in.

We as a church family have witnessed painful divorces where trouble was never suspected. You’ve certainly seen or heard of the newlywed couple, full of promise, whose marriage is short-lived because they didn’t get a sound start. And what about the numerous couples in our congregation that are stuck in a rut, not reaching further potential as intended.

Do you think it would make any difference if these couples in our congregation were linked with other couples that were more seasoned and experienced in what these couples are going through? The experts say that a difference can be made for good intimate and relational growth in marriage when there are marriage mentors.

What is a marriage mentor? A relatively happy, more experienced couple in our congregation that understands God’s purpose in marriage and desires to purposefully invest in another couple in navigating a journey that they have been on for a while. The purpose statement for marriage mentoring at Covenant Presbyterian Church is to lovingly invest, by God’s grace, in the preparation, maximization, and restoration of lifelong marriages by walking alongside couples who are less experienced than their mentors.

Martin Luther, a preacher and theologian of the 16^th century, said of marriage, “There is no more lovely, friendly, or charming relationship, communion, or company, than a good marriage.” I agree. Good marriages are what we want.

In this quest to mentor marriages in our congregation we must recognize that God alone is the Agent of real change in a Christian marriage.  While we are responsible to obey God’s Word, He understood that we could not do so by sheer will power. Lasting change happens only by the grace of God through the enablement of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We are aware of our humble reliance on God to bless our marriages. Marriage mentoring is a calling that will require commitment. Please contact me if you are interested in participating.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Jack Foster

Featured Speakers:James K. A. Smith, Mako Fujimura, Andy Crouch, Kenda Creasy Dean, George Carey

If you want to grow spiritually, understand the culture of the world around you, and learn how to be more influential at church, in the workplace, and at home, this event is for you.

For more info: www.stgeorgeinstitute.org/C3 615-385-2150