New to the Area?

Are you new to the area, and found our website while looking for church congregations in Van Buren? Well, be prepared to be amazed at the many wonderful congregations that our region has to offer, and how they partner with one another in service, worship, and life like few other places in the United States.

For now this website is dedicated to the specific cause of our annual Community Thanksgiving Service... but, we have a feeling there's much more to come. Why not read a little bit about what the Lord's doing in the posts below, and see the list of participating congregations and links to their websites?

The 2010 Service Was Amazing!!

I used to hate talking about "numbers" when it comes to ministry. But, man, this is exciting! At this year's Thanksgiving Service, we had 706 people at the adult service, 425 at the youth service, and 321 at the children's service. Over 1450 people from our area, representing at least 13 different congregations of which we are for-sure aware, came together for worship in Van Buren. Can you imagine how that made Jesus feel, in light of His prayer in John 17:20-23?

The following link will take you to an online video player where you can watch the sermon portion of this year's service: Video Player

Or, if you're concerned about your connection speed, you can click this next link to get the audio (MP3) of the service: MP3 File

Each of the two previous years that we've had the service, the offering that is collected for a local charity has been right around $3000. This year, those in attendance gave $6500 for the local Gideon camp, and the Community Services Clearinghouse's "Meals for Kids" program.

Local pastors and leaders met today, Tuesday, November 30th, to begin discussing plans for next year's service, as well as any other opportunities for which the Lord may lead us to partner together in 2011.

For More Information:

(479) 474-6424

info@churchofvanburen.com

List of Participating Congregations:

(in alphabetical order)

ALL ARE INVITED!

Your congregation not listed? These are only those congregations that have specifically given us their permission to list them as being fully involved in this year's service, and have been involved in the planning and preperations for it. If you would like to get actively involved, please just send us an e-mail, or talk to one of the participating pastors about how you can get plugged-in!

Annual Offering to Benefit Two Organizations

Each year at our community service, we receive an offering for a local organization providing services in our area. This year, several of the pastors felt it was important for our help to be in two specific areas:

for directly proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ in our region and in the world, and
for helping people in our area in practical need-meeting ways (BEING the Good News of Jesus Christ).

Therefore, this year's offering will be split evenly between the local camp of the Gideons International, and the Community Service Clearhinghouse's Meals for Kids program.

More detailed information about each of these will be briefly presented during our worship services.