Small Town News

Bethany Bible Church builds on summer momentum

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The parsonage is gone, the dust has settled. The grass is growing and a new roof is on. All that remains is some landscaping and a new sign installation. But despite all that, what has Pastor Steve Huecker so excited is what's going on inside the church. And he's not referring to the new fellowship hall or carpet.

"We've begun an exciting new stage of growth here at Bethany and we've developed a systematic plan to reach out to every segment of our community, from toddlers to senior citizens. We've really been given the desire to address some needs we see here in LeRoy."

That's where Pioneer Clubs comes in. Pioneer Clubs provides weekly club programs for boys and girls pre-K through 6th grade that help them make Christ Lord in every aspect of life. Club members grow socially, physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually through skill-building activities, projects, games, singing, Bible memory, and Bible study. Bethany Bible is having a kick-off party on September 16, to introduce this program to parents and their children.

"We get so much positive feedback after our Vacation Bible School it really seems shameful to abandon the kids during the school year. So rather than try to wait until next summer to pick up where we left off, we decided it would be much better for both kids and parents to build on that VBS foundation. Learning starts at the earliest age, whether we're talking about the basics of grammar or spiritual development."

But Bethany's goals don't stop with the children. "Pioneer Clubs is actually a subset of a much larger part of what's going on here at Bethany," Pastor Steve explained. "As I talk to people throughout the week, I've started to see that many of us don't know what we believe about God, Jesus, or the Christian life; and if we do have basic beliefs about something, we don't really know why we believe it. So we've developed a series of studies to address that issue as well."

Bethany will be offering two adult studies this fall. One on Wednesday evenings running concurrently with Pioneer Clubs --this gives the parents a chance to get more involved in church without having to coral their kids --and one on Sunday evening.

"We're going to host Christianity 101 on Wednesday nights. There's nothing magical about that name, it's just a short, six-week study using the gospel of Mark as a foundation." The goal of this study is to communicate the full meaning of Christianity by looking at the life, teaching, and claims of Jesus.

The Sunday evening study is Basic Christian Beliefs. "This is kind of a 'doctrine light' study that takes the participant a little further into the deep things of God." Not so deep, though, as to be boring, Pastor Steve explained.

"Just the opposite. I'm convinced that this will be a real eye opener for many. I'm very excited about the opportunity to host something like this at our church."

Unfortunately, the church can't do everything at once. "We'd love to have a healthy and exciting teen ministry here, as well. Our students deserve a clean, fun place to call their own. The logistics for that are a problem, as well as staffing. Volunteers are generally stretched to the limit as it is, and to add a teen ministry, which is very taxing, as well as time consuming, would be too much at this point."

Bethany Bible Church won't let that be a discouragement though. God works in His perfect timing.

"We're just really excited to be able to offer what we can now," Pastor Huecker stated. "I would encourage anyone with school-age kids to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity Pioneer Clubs offers. The time invested in these activities will be repaid many times over in the future."



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© 2009 LeRoy Independent LeRoy, Minnesota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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