​When we believe in God, we say that HE is the center of our life, but what does that really mean? How does that look and what does it mean in our daily actions?

Whenever we take a vow in our life it is a voluntary obligation or promise made to God. This promise is made with the plea to have God give us the strength to live into the vow through the events and Grace that God will give to us. Let us look at the vows that we take in our life. Baptism we promise up front that we want to be part of God’s family and we want to grow into this vow by the way we live our faith out in our lives. Confirmation- We confirm the vows that were made for us at baptism, and we say that we want to live our baptismal vows out in our own lives. Marriage – we take marriage vows and promise to live into these vows as we live our lives out together. With our best friend and partner by our side. Ordination- When we are ordained as a deacon, minister, or session member, we again make our promise to live into God’s calling for our lives.

So vows are important, and they continuously call us to keep the promise at the center of our lives. We need to always remember that God is the one that is giving us the strength and dedication to live into the vow. God was the author of the vow, and HE called us into it. You see when we make a vow to God, it is really at HIS invitation, and we live into it only because of the strength that HE gives us. So, our faith and our Vows are really not about us. They are really our response to the calling and gift that God has given to us. They are not an obligation like other promises that we make. Vows are really a gift from God that allows us to turn have-to’s into get-to’s. God is giving us the ability to participate in what He is doing in the world. What a privilege it is to make a vow to a God who loves us so dearly and a God who is with us every day in every situation. We need to remember those vows every day and make our decisions around them. God remembers them and he wants nothing more than for us to live into them and enjoy the gifts that He is giving us daily.

Our Faith makes a difference in everything that we do. We remember that it is a gift from God and that faith should shape every decision that we make, every thought that we have and every action that we do. It is always good to keep God at the center of our lives because we are the center of HIS. Never forget to always thank God for the gift of faith, and the vows that he has called us into. We have an awesome God and one that not only loves us beyond anything that we could imagine. We have a God who wants to be part of everything that we do.

May The Lord Bless and Keep You,
Rev. Stephen W. Barch

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. Proverbs 16:24

Think about the most wonderful piece of mail or e-mail you ever received. What made it special – the person who sent it, the message, the timing? We can thank God for the many ways we are able to connect with people we love.

One way God connects with us is through the Bible. Some call it “God’s love letter to his people. “But do we open it with the kind of excitement we felt when we opened that most wonderful piece of mail? Do we treasure it the way we do that e-mail?

Consider now who sent it, the message, and the timing of this letter. The Bible gives us a clear picture the Sender-his character and his desired relationship with his people- and enable us to experience the joy of communing with Him. Our
hearts warm at messages about God’s faithfulness and grace. Our love for Jesus is rekindled as we marvel at his sacrificial, selfless love. The Spirit uses the words on those pages to breathe life into our faith, proving this letter to be truly timeless in its relevance and power.

What is the most wonderful piece of mail you’ve ever received? The best Love letter ever written was written to you- The Bible. Get to know it better and you will have more love in your life. 

Your Word shows me a picture of you, connects our hearts, and reminds me of your faithfulness. Thank you for the Bible.

365 Devotions for a thankful heart (Zondervan)

In Christ’s love,
Rev. Stephen Barch

In all the Gospels, we See Jesus’ ultimate goal as his journey to Jerusalem. He knows that is where the culmination of his mission on earth is going to happen. He does not want anything to get in the way of this mission and he also makes it the highest priority in His life. Jesus’ Journey to Jerusalem, as depicted in the Gospels, involved a final, deliberate trek from Galilee, through Samaria and Prea, ultimately culminating in His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. A journey that foreshadowed His crucifixion and resurrection.

Luke 9:51 states that Jesus “Set his face to go to Jerusalem,: indicating a purposeful and determined course toward the city. The journey continued to Bethany and Bethphage, villages near the Mount of Olives, where Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey; known as His Triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Jesus’ entire life was aimed at accomplishing this journey, and He would not let anything deter him from it. So for him it was the most important journey of his life. He then invites us into our own Journey to Jerusalem. How are we going to allow our journey bring us closer to God and one another? It is only through our growing in our awareness of God’s presence and our walking with Him that we are going to recognize Him and where He wants us to go. How He is using the events of our daily lives to show us his presence and ability to lead us.

Jesus wants nothing more than a genuine relationship with each of his children and with His body—the church. He wants us to know how much He loves us and all that he has done and is doing for us on a daily basis.

Our ultimate goal in life is to live in a relationship with Jesus Christ that mirrors his relationship with his Father. One in which we draw our strength and wisdom from God and we trust Him with our very lives and existence. If we could do this, we would know how lucky we are to have a God who loves us.

​In Christ’s love,
Rev. Stephen W. Barch

March is a great time as we prepare for the Lenten Season. Lent is a great time to look at our faith journey and how we are growing in our discipleship. It is always a good thing to slow down a bit in our busy world and look at how we are doing at living out our faith and how are we growing in our relationship with God and those around us.

​God is using the people and the situations that He has put us into to bring us into His family. It is through these same situations that God is using them to bring us closer to Him and closer to one another. He wants us to really allow our faith to call us outside of ourselves and to help us realize that we are going to grow in our relationship with God and one another. God is going to use the situations that He has put us in to show us his power and love.

Lent is a great time to re-evaluate what we are doing and why? We need to look at both our individual faith and our communal Faith. How is God inviting us deeper into our relationship with him? God wants us to pray unceasingly and to see Him all around us. He wants us to realize how close He is.

Lent is the solemn Christian religious observance in the liturgical year commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptations by Satan, right before He began His public ministry. It is a great season to add something or take things away so that we get out of our comfortable lifestyle and really focus on Jesus and all that He is doing for us in our daily lives.

May this Lenten season be different than all others and may it be a time of growth and our discipleship. May all of us enter into this season with humility and openness. May we allow God to accomplish in us all that HE wants to and may we pay attention to HIS invitations.

God Bless and May you have a prayerful Lenten journey.
Rev. Stephen W. Barch

As we begin a new year, and we just had our annual meeting, now we can focus on looking forward to see what God has in store for us this year. I believe that it is an important question to ask ourselves each year. I have said that faith has both a personal story and a communal story.

The Personal story is how God is working in our lives. How he is using the events of our daily life to bring us into a deeper relationship with him. How he uses those people that he has put into our lives to show us his magnificent plan for us, and He uses us to show them His plan for them. He allows us to see His presence and know that he is always with us no matter what we are going through. Our personal story plays out everyday, every situation, and in every event. It is always drawing us deeper into His Love.

The Communal story is how God is working in and through the Body of Christ here on earth. The Church. It is How God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. We are called to become like Christ is the way that we serve one another, the way that we relate to one another and the way that we talk to one another. How is it that God is calling us to be a representative body here on earth. If Union Church wasn't here what would the community miss? What is it that they would remember? Do we realize the honor and privilege that has been given to us as we became members of His Body, the universal church.

God is doing amazing things in both stories and we have the opportunity to experience
him in both. The personal story is our responsibility to grow into. We can go throughout our day
and not recognize what God is doing, or we can participate and see all that God is doing and
experience him in a new way. It is through our personal story that our love for God shapes our
lives.
Through our Communal story we are called into relationship both with God and with one another. It is through these relationships that our faith is fed and shared. It is through our relationships that we experience God and His love at work in our world. It is also through these relationships that God will use us to be his instruments of his Love, joy, hope and peace to the community that God has put us in. As our faith is shared it grows and the community both experiences God and sees what God is doing in and through us.

This is going to be the year to focus on our Stories.
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May God bless you.
Rev. Stephen W. Barch

Happy New Year!! What an exciting time of year. Everyone is in the Christmas spirit and they are more generous and friendlier than other times of the year. It is also that time of year that everyone seems to make New Years resolutions. (Well maybe you have made one and broke it by now) . So many of us are going to lose weight, exercise more, get out of debt, stick to a budget, stop smoking, save for the future, or spend more time with the family. No matter what the resolution is we set our heart on it and start off really good and then we lose heart. It made me think –Is there a Christian new year resolution list and what would it look like:

1. Pray More: He said to me, “This is the word of the Lord.. Mot by might nor by Power, but by my spirit says the Lord (Zechariah 4:6)

2. Invest in my spiritual gifts Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

3. Care for myself spiritually Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for with Christ Jesus took hold of me (Philippians 3:12)

4. Make the tough decisions I know are best. And now, compelled by the Spirit, I a going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the lord Jesus has given me.—The task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace and Love.

5. Confront the patterns of sin in our lives Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance that race marked out for us. ( Hebrews 12:1).

6. Do the hard work to build community: If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you, if he listens to you, you have won your brother over (Matthew 18:15)

7. Quit comparing myself to other Christians, other leaders and other churches Turning his head, Peter noticed the disciple Jesus loved following right behind. When Peter noticed him he asked Jesus , “Master, what’s going to happen to him?” Jesus answered “If I want him to live until I come again, what’s that to you? You follow me.” (John 21: 20-21)

8. Prioritize my family A Christian must be well—thought of—committed to his life. Attentive to his own children and having their respect. For if someone is unable to handle his own affairs, how can he take care of God’s Church? (1 Timothy 3: 2-5)

9. Be more open to change See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up: do you not perceive it? (Isaiah 43:19)

10. Stayed focused on the vision They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe of the many wonders and miraculous signs that were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common, selling their possessions and goods, they gave to everyone as he had need. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2: 42-47 NIV).

May we honor God by committing to one or more of these resolutions for the year 2025 and beyond.

May God bless us all.

In Christ,
Rev. Steve Barch

Happy New Year. As we enter into a new Church Year it is a great time for us to pause and look at how we are living the gift of our faith. God loves you more than you can ever imagine, and he has given you everything that you have and love. He wants you to enjoy all the gifts that he has and continues to give you daily. He wants you to remember that our ultimate purpose is to worship and praise him.. How Awesome is our God -He has blessed us and given us all the gifts we need to live a happy and successful life. He is still with you, and he will not ever leave you. He wants nothing more than for you to enjoy and appreciate them. 

With that in mind - It is right and a good thing to use the gifts God gave us for the purpose that he has for them. We are to live faithfully and worship and praise the author of all life. We are to show him that we appreciate everything that he has done and continues to do in our life. As we continue to live our faith Journey, we grow in our appreciation of these gifts, and we are to grow in our understanding of and Worship of this wonderful God. 

This is where it gets good and interesting. See, us living our faith is both a gift from this wonderful God and it is the way that we worship and praise the creator of the world. It is the gift that we can give him and show him that we know him and love him. We are not just praising a wonderful person who has gone before us or a great leader from times past. No, we are worshipping and praising this God who has created everything. We get to go to church every Sunday and worship and praise Him. We gather with other faith filled people as we journey together throughout this life and into the next life. Sunday worship then works as our family meal. We come together as a family and eat a meal together sharing our stories and growing together. We with one mind and heart (the mind and heart of Christ) all praise God and honor and respect one another. We all try to live a life and reflect the love that Christ has put into our hearts. We live a life that builds up the body of Christ here on earth. Advent is that season that as Christians we look forward to the coming of Christ. It is that time that we anticipate the great gift that is given to us -Brand new every year at Christmas, - Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Born new in our lives. Born new into the world here and now. Born into all the chaos and mayhem that is going on right now in our world. No matter how or what we have done up to this point, we get a chance to start over. Jesus Christ wants to come into your life once again. To live in our heart and life. What an awesome and amazing God that we have. To call us and set us apart to live in this world but to walk with him through everything that we go through and to walk with him when the world does not understand what is going on. To know that we have God with us and He is always looking out for our best interest. 

Going to church is important today because it allows us the opportunity to stay connected to this God. To set aside a day to worship and Honor Him. To keep holy the sabbath. To encounter this God. The best thing we do here on earth is to worship and praise this wonderful God. Let’s have a wonderful new year in which we come together with one mind and heart to praise and worship this awesome God of ours. See you in church!! 

Rev. Stephen W.​ Barch

​As we continue to deal with all of life’s challenges, whether it is health issues, weather related issues, political issues, or family issues, we are reminded just how important faith is. We need our faith more now than ever. God is Essential and it is about time that the world realizes what Christians already know. That God is real and He is alive. He lives in you and me everyday. A successful life is not having stuff, but rather it is found in the way that we experience God in our lives. To experience life at its fullest we need to live the Love that God has given to us. This Love has to start at home. We need to love and respect ourselves and our families. Then take that love to others. Our Church family, that family that we come together with to better understand God and the gift He has given us. Our church family is just like our birth family. They are the people that are there for one another as we journey in faith through this life. With our faith family, we can live into our Baptismal call, and to allow the relationship that we have with God and one another to become the center of our life. 

When you look at the history of religion and what is at the heart of religion, it has always been to Worship God. The best thing that we do in this world is to worship the creator of the world. To worship this Good God who has created us and given us everything that we have and everything that we enjoy. At the heart of Worship is Sacrifice. Worshipping God then requires that I do something. It is not about getting something, but rather what can I do for God. He wants us to Worship and praise him. Jesus spent his whole life worshiping the Father. He spent his life honoring and praising him. God has given us the faith that we enjoy and he wants us to use it to worship HIM. I am called to share that faith with others, and so we are called into action. When we go to church on Sunday, we come together as a family, (and as the Body of Christ that we have been called into) to worship together. So when we go to church and participate in the service we are giving back to God the worship that he desires. It is with one mind and one heart that we pray together. So our attendance at Church on Sunday makes a difference in our lives. It is not a chore that we have to do but rather it is the opportunity that God has given to us to worship him in the manner that he wants. The heart of Worship is sacrifice, so we come to church not to just sit and listen, but rather to sacrifice –to give back to God some of the gifts that he has given to us. Our time, our attention, our presence our sacrifice. The reason that God wants us to worship together is that it allows us to grow together as a family and to become the Body of Christ that He has called us to be. This Body of Christ counts on our attendance and participation. Each of us are important to the Body. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” 

May we realize the gift that God has given to us when he called us into his Body and has gifted us with the ability to let the world know about this awesome God who loves them. See You at church this Sunday. 

In Christ’s love, 
Rev. Stephen W. Barch

The first day of fall was yesterday, and it got me thinking. The seasons are changing, and it is a good time to settle back into a schedule and to come back to church. We have missed you and hope you know that we care. We would love to see you again. Now that we have hopefully gotten away from the extreme heat and long dry weather we can now get together. Fall is also a great time to reflect on our stewardship. How are we using the gifts that God has given us in our lives? Whether it be financially, our talents or our time? Everything that we have we have been given by God for the building up of his kingdom here on earth. That means that we do not own anything as we cannot take it with us. How are we using it for the good of others?

Do our lives attract others to Christ or distract them from Christ? We are beginning October, the month that usually brings the cooler, fall temperatures and we start thinking about the holidays, beginning with Halloween and running through the beginning of the new year. It is a time that you get busy with planning and preparing for everything that is coming up so fast. We all get nervous, and our schedules get hectic with everything that we must get done. It is easy to put our faith on hold and focus on the tasks at hand. Our lives become running from one thing to another. Know that God understands that, and he wants you to know that He is a place you can come when you feel overwhelmed and frustrated. Spend some quiet time in prayer and watch what God can and will do in your life. It is when we take time for God that we will accomplish more and be more rested.
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For some reason we think that if we work harder, pray harder or go to the faith gym then we are going to work on our faith muscles and then we will have faith enough to move mountains. But if you look at Jesus, he lived his relationship with God his father and it was not that he had to work harder, He just loved him and lived out that relationship in everything that he did and said. We need to learn that we need to experience Jesus, so we know what we are sharing with others. It is not getting better faith, or stronger faith muscles, it is just living out our relationship the way that God has called us to live. God generously gives us the gift of faith, so that we can share it with those around us. Make sure that you are focusing on the important things this fall and that Jesus and your faith take a priority in the business of life. If we are too busy for God how do we expect God not to be too busy for us. May this fall season bring you a renewed faith and better understanding of the call that God has for you and your family. Thank you for your dedication and faithfulness.

In Christ’s love,
Rev. Stephen W. Barch

As we move into the fall and our fall routines I think it is important to reflect on attendance. It is not only important in school- but in life. Are we showing up when we can?

Jesus made it a priority to attend church weekly. As Luke 4:16 tells us, “He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as his custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And stood up to read. “This was not just a one-time occurrence. It was His regular practice. After His resurrection, the apostles continued this tradition. Acts 2:46 records “They
followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple.” (the Message)

King David, in Psalm 84:10, expresses a similar longing for God’s presence; “Better a day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.” It’s clear that Jesus, the apostles, King David, and many others demonstrated their deep desire to know God by gathering with his people. So, I ask you, do you share that same love for God’s house?

Even today, with all the imperfections we bring into the house of God, Jesus still desires to be with us when we gather. Revelation 1:13 tells us that Jesus is in the midst of the seven lampstands. Revelation 1:20 explains that the presence of Jesus is among his church.

Interestingly, a university study found that people who regularly attend church are happier, healthier, and live longer than those who do not. The study didn’t just say that Christians experience these benefits, but rather those who engage in the practices Jesus valued-like gathering with the church-live a better life.

Being part of the Body of Christ makes a big difference on our life and wellbeing and on the lives and wellbeing of those who God has put into our lives. We need to remember that we are always on display to the world. Do we practice what we preach. Is going to church on Sunday a blessing or a curse?

Jesus, our wonderful parent, just wants His children to come home and spend time with him and be in his presence. Being a member of the Body of Christ is truly a blessing and we should honor the opportunity. See you in church on Sunday

​In Christ’s Love:
Rev Stephen W Barch.