Your Invitation: To a Homecoming. 100th Year Ministry Party – for the Alden Mennonite Church.
(Soon to have a new name!)
When: September 14 + 15, 2024
Where: 923 Two Rod Road Alden, New York 14004
For who: All former members, attendees, children, other local churches, interested community residents, historical buffs, people looking for a Bible believing church, people looking for fellowship and service opportunities, etc.
Theme: “Remember, Reconnect, Revive”
Format: Saturday evening, Sept. 14th 6:00 – 8:00 and on
– welcome, singing, history, praises, coffee, drinks, snacks, + fellowship
Sunday morning, Sept 15th 9:30 – 11:30
– welcome, singing, sermons, stories, sharing…
Sunday Sept. 15th 12 noon – Fellowship Meal + sharing into the afternoon
We covet your prayers and help. We are currently about 25 disciples of Christ and still learning. We plan to send this announcement out maybe four times in the next couple of months. We have lost track of many of you.
Many may not be able to physically come home and reconnect. So in addition to our Homecoming in September we hope to collect and then send back out a collection of memories and blessings that encouraged people as they connected with the small white church on West Main Street.
We are asking and encouraging all to write out and then send in (email) – a one page Psalm, praise, memory, thanks giving note, question or struggle that you experienced with the congregation at Alden. King David wrote some 75 Psalms in the Bible. Many were praises, some were confessions, some were cries for help, some were complaints, some were questions, etc. God calls his people to “remember”. He wants to dialogue with us. He wants to save us! He wants us to encourage each other and to pray for each other.
We hope to “remember” and to be thankful and grateful for the godly heritage we were blessed with. Our parents, our families, our church, our children and even us – have never been perfect. Our understanding has never been perfect. But we press on. We desire to be faithful. We are “disciples” still learning how to walk with Jesus.
Some of us talk a lot. Some of us write a lot. It will be okay if some of you write more than a one page Psalm. You can write one like Psalm 119. We cannot all talk for 30 minutes with the microphone! But you all get a chance to write a Psalm. If we get a good response, we may be able to put them all together and you can all take a copy home with you. We might then be able to send a copy to interested people who cannot attend.
We have a chance to: “…honor your (our) mother and father…” To remember the good that they did, to not hold the mistakes they made against them. To learn from their mistakes. Perhaps to forgive, to understand, to avoid a few mistakes as we take our turn in the batter’s box. The Bible is at the best history book. It mentions the “sins”and the mistakes of people – for a redemptive purpose. It is His story!
We hope to have a lot of new people – community visitors, etc. in attendance. They may come to listen and to learn, to be challenged, and maybe to join us going forward. We will encourage them, to also write a “Psalm”, a testimony of where, when, and how God has touched them on their journey. We all hope to get out of here alive, with a better life in a perfect world! God came to redeem all of us. But we all need to choose the life line God has provided.
Help us:
a) Send us the email address, phone number, and/or mailing address of people who should be invited.
b) Write out and send us a one page paper of what you are grateful for from your Alden heritage…
– and/or from the presence of the Alden Mennonite Church in the Alden Community for 99 years…
c) Make a list of the pastors, ministers, teachers, nurses, businessmen, mothers, Sunday school teachers, etc. that made a difference in your life.
d) Make a lis of what we did right, well… and where we made mistakes, drifted, … how to do better…
e) We hope to have an open mic. Come prepared to talk. But it will be impossible to have everyone share verbally from the microphone.
f) During the down time, the sharing time, the eating + fellowships time, talk a lot. Reconnect with friends, family that you may not have seen for a long time. Talk about the Bills, the weather and the grandkids. But consider asking some spiritual questions. How are you? Where has God taken you? How has your walk with Jesus been going? Who are you praying for? How can I pray with you? How can I help you?
g) We are looking forward to seeing you again!. We are looking forward to hearing from you again! We pray that the end of all our journeys here is this life may be blessed and fruitful. “The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”
Don Schmidt 5/15/24
Send emails to: Lynn Roll, Church Secretary at amcsecretary1924@gmail.com
923 Two Rod Road
Alden, NY 14004 Phone 716-936-6436
or Don Schmidt at don_onthefarm7@mac.com
890 Schoellkopf Road
Cowlesville, NY 14037 Phone 585-708-3303