Tabernacle Presbyterian Church (PCA)

The Guatemala team has started a blog at http://homeofrefuge.blogspot.com.  They plan to keep us updated this week and throughout their trip with prayer requests/needs and updates on the work in Guatemala.

This morning in our worship service we heard about another ministry project in our Summer of Compassion: a project to bless some of the 200 foster children in the Waynesboro and Augusta County area with backpacks filled with back-to-school supplies. Caring for widows and orphans is part of the very foundation of the mercy we’ve been called to show as those who have received abundant and undeserved mercy and grace through Christ.

Do you remember the great joy of receiving a package, and discovering small gifts, one by one, and delighting in each one?  As we fill these backpacks, let’s pray together that the foster children in our area would be filled with delight as they discover the treasures that will help them in school this fall.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.   James 1:27

In January of this year, a new ministry, Orphan Hope, developed in the sister congregations of Tabernacle Presbyterian and Holy Cross Presbyterian, consisting of individuals and families burdened by the global orphan crisis and a desire to encourage and support those called to foster and adopt.

In June, a team will be volunteering at an orphanage in China and in late July, others are heading to Guatemala to an orphanage there. The participants consider themselves one team with two destinations having the same goal—to care for orphans in their distress (James 1:27). We yearn to see our churches mobilizing to bring the promise of God’s hope and future to some of the world’s 143 million orphans!

Please Pray for Them!

• For travel safety as these groups go to China and Guatemala
• For health and wisdom
• For necessary financial support
• For the orphans they will be seeking to love
• For the staff they will be seeking to encourage
• For the families back home while they are away

Last summer we had the “Summer of Mission,” where everyone at Tabernacle was encouraged to serve our community in some Gospel-motivated strategy.  This summer, we are excited to see the Lord leading us into a “Summer of Compassion,” where we can demonstrate in practical ways the heart of “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (II Corinthians 1:3). 

As we align our corporate care and resources on behalf of the weak and fatherless, let us consider how God has come to each of us in our weakness.  Through the Gospel we are loved and brought into His family of faith.  We are also sent out as His beloved children, eager to show the world His love.

Psalm 82:3-4
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Rescue the weak and needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

Tabernacle is sponsoring a summer missions trip to Ceracaif orphanage in Xela, Guatemala. Our team will partner with Orphan Outreach, a non-denominational organization dedicated to demonstrating Christ’s love and improving the lives of orphans.  Ministry opportunities will be tailored to the skills, talents, and interests of team members and will likely include conducting a VBS, partnering with teachers at the on-site orphanage school, light construction or painting, and evangelism.  The trip dates are July 29 – August 5.  Trip participants need to be communing members of Tabernacle or Holy Cross.  Youth must be accompanied by a parent.  In order for this trip to take place, a team needs to be formed by April 1st.

Contact the office if interested, and plan to attend an informational meeting on Sunday, March 21st in the old sanctuary immediately following the worship service.

For a snowy day (or any day!), see the attached file for “house church” time this Sunday.

Service for a Snowy Day

Our Dedication service on January 10th marks the official completion of our building project. A transcript of the meditation is available here and audio is available here.

The church leadership, building committee, and congregation wish to thank these contractors and providers for their services, their professionalism, and especially their generosity.

There will an important information meeting on January 10th at 9:45AM.

Please join us on the evening of January 10th at 6:30 pm when we will dedicate our new sanctuary to the Lord’s glory!

On Sunday, Nov. 29th, we will begin holding all worship services in the new sanctuary and change to a new Sunday schedule:

We praise God for His provision for us and give our thanks to all the people who helped make this expansion of our Waynesboro facility possible!