Church guide

St Stephen is closed today, Sunday, January 13.

Due to the pending snow storm, services are cancelled for this coming Sunday, January 24, 2016. Stay home, warm and safe. God Bless

Our modern, uncluttered, user-friendly, ADA-compliant, gender-neutral restrooms are almost complete. A little stain on the doors and we should be ready to roll! (Pastor Ryan)

More thoughts shared by my friend: GRACE: Grace is not about finishing first or last. It's not about counting. We receive GRACE as a gift from GOD, not something we toil to earn. God dispenses gifts not wages. None of us gets paid according to merit, for NONE of us come close to satisfying God's requirements for a perfect life. In the realm of GRACE the word deserve does not even apply When God looks upon my life graph, He see's not jagged swerves toward good and bad but rather a steady line of GOOD!! THE GOODNESS OF GOD'S SON CAPTURED IN A MOMENT OF TIME AND APPLIED FOR ALL ETERNITY (Walters)

This was passed on to me by a friend. I found it very inspirational. STOP JUDGING AND EVALUATING YOURSELF, for this is not your role. Above all stop comparing yourself with other people. This produces feelings of pride or inferiority. I lead each of my children along a path that is uniquely tailor made for him or her. Don't look for affirmation in the wrong places, your own evaluations, or those of other people. The only source of real affirmation is MY UNCONDITIONAL LOVE!!! Many believers perceive me as an unpleasable Judge, angrily searching out their faults and failures. Nothing could be farther from the truth, I DIED FOR YOUR SINS, SO THAT I MIGHT CLOTHE YOU IN MY GARMENTS OF SALVATION. THIS IS HOW I SEE YOU, RADIANT IN MY ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. BE receptive to my Affirmation which flows continually from the throne of grace (Walters)

Offered without comment since it is its own commentary. (Pastor Ryan)

(Pastor Ryan)

Your church will disappoint you. Your pastor will disappoint you. Your friends, partners, children, parents, bosses, employees, and everybody else will disappoint you. God will not disappoint you. This alone is whence we take hope. (Pastor Ryan)

SSLC is gifted to be a small-feel congregation, but when we're too small to pay the bills we incur, we need to reconsider our priorities as we discern our role in the fulfillment of God's mission. (Pastor Ryan)

Every church has bullies, SSLC included. We should treat them as a Gentile and a tax collector (Matthew 18.15-17), that is, someone who does not experience a relationship with the God of love. We will show bullies what love looks like, including standing up to their bullying behavior. (Pastor Ryan)

What a list. Any other phrases you would like to see added to this list? (Walters)

Be careful what you say and how. You could be less Christ-like than you intend. (Pastor Ryan)

New Year, same destination (if only by a different path). The gospel of Christ deserves to be told! (Pastor Ryan)

Keep these in mind as you make gifts to SWES and other food banks, especially in this difficult and cold season (though not this weekend, eh?). (Pastor Ryan)

Often times during the holiday season grief and loss weigh heavy on some of us. Here are some important facts to remember. We will all experience grief and each one of our journey through grief is unique. Don't be too hard on yourself (Walters)

(Pastor Ryan)

(Pastor Ryan)

In supporting SWES, we are doing real good, but we are merely a supplement to the government's service of our fellow citizens. Use your rights as a citizen to shape our policy: call, write, and talk to your legislators, and use your right to peaceful assembly to advocate for your neighbor. Jesus used all the tools at his disposal to help people in poverty and medical need; so should we. It's the right thing, the Christian thing, to do.

So true.......just believe (Walters)

Church can be done in a different way, and we can be the ones to do it. The first step is to realize that our way isn't the only way and hasn't been the "always" way. (Pastor Ryan)