With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, attention quickly turned to the about face of the Russian Orthodox Church. During the Soviet Union, the state attacked the church. In a complete turnaround, Vladimir Putin has embraced the church, and Patriarch Krill, the leader of the church, has endorsed both Putin and Russia’s war in Ukraine. What is going on? Most of us know little about Russian Orthodoxy.

On Sunday, January 29 at 3:00 P.M., Community Church will host Dr. John Burgess, Professor of Systematic Theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He has spent three years in Russia and is the author of Holy Rus: The Rebirth of Orthodoxy in the New Russia. To prepare for his visit, you may purchase his book for $20 starting in December. Additional information will be forthcoming in our weekly emails.

Community Church will be relaunching its Stephen Ministries Program this Spring! Have you ever felt called to care for those who are grieving or hurting, but weren't quite sure what to say? Stephen Ministries calls church members to train to provide high-quality, one-to-one, Christ-centered care to people in the congregation and the community experiencing life difficulties. 

If you are interested in participating please fill out our application form by clicking here to download. The deadline to submit this form is Friday, February 10. 

Questions? Email Associate Pastor Erik Wiebe. 

In the ups and downs of American democracy, Abraham Lincoln has been our North Star. He points us to what is enduring in our democracy. If the public Lincoln of the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address is well known, on these two Sundays we will engage the private Lincoln that has been overlooked. In Ron White’s newest book, Lincoln in Private, he introduces us to 111 notes Lincoln wrote for his eyes only: never dated, title, or signed.  We will look over Lincoln’s shoulder to hear him discuss American slavery, a Presbyterian minister arguing that slavery is ordained by God, challenges facing the birth of the Republican party, notes for a lecture to lawyers, his remarkable “Meditation on the Divine Will,” and after being defeated in a run for the Senate, writing, “My life is nothing but a failure, a flat failure.”  In four years, he would be elected President.