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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2011-07-21, Page 15THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2011. PAGE 15. Have you been meaning to learn how to use the internet, or want to know how to create your own website? Now is your chance. The Blyth and Brussels branches of the Huron County Library are now offering free computer and internet training. Maaike Van Hittersum has been hired as the Internet Access Assistant at the Blyth and Brussels Libraries to help people enhance their computer and internet skills. “The library has many great online resources that many people don’t know about. I love teaching people and watching them get better at their computer skills,” says Van Hittersum. “When it comes to computers, there is always something to learn no matter how old you are or how much you already know!” Van Hittersum says in addition to basic computer and internet skills, she can teach people how to use blogs, wikis, photo sharing and other interactive internet activities. Training sessions are one-on-one, with some special group workshops also taking place. If you are interested, call the Blyth Branch at 519-523-4400 or Brussels Branch at 519-887-6448. Other branches of the Huron County Library already offer free computer training. Funding for the training comes from the Community Access Program through Industry Canada. By Perry ChuipkaTrinity and St. John’s Anglican Churches “Ever try to play a Cheese Slicer... maybe we need to go back to the good old drawing board to rethink how we do things?” A while back, my wife and I took her mother for a visit to Midland, Ontario. When my wife Lore was a child, her mother would sometimes take her family to Midland on Sunday afternoon as a one-day holiday. While we were there, we visited the Martyr’s Shine and then walked down the main street. We decided to go into the Crow’s Nest store which has everything and anything that you can imagine. Lore and her mother were browsing down one aisle of the store while I was looking down another. At one point, I noticed a display of country-style musical instruments. After looking over the flutes, dulcimers and recorders, I picked up a shiny, one-stringed instrument I took to be a small harp. I tried to play it, twanging what I thought was a few notes. After watching from a distance, one of the salespersons came up and whispered in my ear, “I hate to tell you this, sir, but you’re trying to play a cheese slicer.” Boy, was I surprised and embarrassed. Little did I know that I was trying to play a cheese slicer. But like me trying to play the cheese slicer, sometimes we can get things wrong. In the good old days when an inventor got something wrong he would often say to himself, “it’sback to the good old drawing board.” That was wise for two reasons. One, you knew what you were doing wasn’t working so it was better to stop and start all over again or at least make some modifications. Secondly, you put your energy into trying to find the right way rather than waste your time going in the wrong direction. Well some days, I think that we, in the church, need to be like the good old inventor. We need to admit that with regards to our worship, we need to, “go back to the old drawing board” and look at how we need to change the way that we are doing things. Being an Anglican priest, let me talk only about the Anglican church. Take a moment and look at the figures below about the Anglican church worldwide. Anglican Worldwide Membership (All figures taken from Census Canada) goes something like this: • 1961 - 1.3 million Anglicans attend church • 2001 - 653,000 Anglicans attend church, which is a 53 per cent drop in attendance. According to Dr Peter Brierley, former executive director of Christian Research, by 2030 just under 419,000 people will attend an Anglican Sunday service. By 2040 the number will be down to 217,200, falling to 153,800 five years later. By 2050, if the trend prediction is correct, only 87,800 will be attending. He adds people are still baptizing their children but theynever come back to church. The average worship attendance, which is usually a key indicator on how healthy a church is, looks like this: • 2007 – 9,000 (attendance Diocese of B.C.) • 2007 – 4,755 (actual people who made an effort to go to church two or more times a month). Here are the attenders and givers of the church, they determine the viability of the church: In the United States Episcopal Church, our brother/sisters in the U.S.: • 1964 – 3.5 million • 2007 – 2.2 million, which is down by 55 per cent. In Europe Membership is also down. In England, our mother Church, official membership is 28 million, while active membership is less than 1 million. I did not give you these numbers to scare you, but to say we need to go back to the drawing board and rethink how we do church. Albert Einstein once said, “the definition of insanity is when someone keeps doing the same thing over and over even though they are getting the same poor results.” Year in and year out we are getting the same results. Our attendance is dropping because our members are dying off and we are not replenishing the ranks. This trend will not stop unless we do something about it. We need to review what we need to keep, do away with the rest and add some new things. When we look at the Pentecostal,Baptist and Christian Missionary Alliance churches we discover that they are growing. But why are they growing? Evangelists don’t just study the bible, they also study the culture they live in and connect the two. Apparently, these churches are looking at the communities and the people in them and then they try to incorporate that into their worship and church life. The key for our churches is to rethink how we are doing things and make changes to meet the needs of the culture we live in. Let me go back to the story about me trying to play the cheese slicer. I could have tried to play that cheese slicer all afternoon and would have got nowhere. It was only until someone pointed out that I was trying to play something that wasn’t even a musical instrument that helped me to change my behaviour. Sometimes in our lives, whether individually or whether we are a church body or any other organization, we can be so busy doing what we always have done that we fail to see anything else. Maybe you and I need to go backto the drawing board and make some changes. A few changes here and there in our lives or for the body of the church can make all the difference for the present and the future. Going back to the good old drawing board is still a good thing. Free computer training at library Worship Service & Sunday School at 11 a.m. CORNER OF DINSLEY & MILL STREETS MINISTER Rev. Gary Clark, BA, M. Div. All Welcome MUSIC DIRECTOR Floyd Herman, BA, M. Ed.OFFICE: 519-523-4224 July 24 ~ Actions Speak Louder Than Wisdom July 31st ~ Summer Psalm Series: Praise Community Ecumenical Service Sunday, July 24 The Brussels Ministerial would like to invite you to their Ecumenical Worship Service at the Brussels Conservation Area with a time of fellowship after the service. 11:00 am ~ Bring your lawn chairs Potluck luncheon to follow the service Refreshments provided Rain location: Melville Presbyterian Church Featured speakers are: Peter and Leah Humphreys Former missionaries to Paraguay and currently providers of leadership and consultant ministry for New Tribes Mission. BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA Sandra Cable, Worship Leader Church Office 519-887-6259 E-mail - beunitedchurch@gmail.com Brussels and Ethel churches are closed for July while Pastor Cable is on holidays. As other years we are invited to worship at Melville Presbyterian Church for July. Please note: Worship is at 10 am at Melville. Celebrating our Christian Faith together in worship MELVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BRUSSELS Rev. Elwin Garland SUNDAY, JULY 24 Wheelchair accessible ~ Nursery care available 519-887-2664 10:00 am - Sunday Morning Worship - Sunday School getlivingwater.org Pastor: Ernest Dow ~ 519-523-4848 Living Water Christian Fellowship July 24: Gen. 32:6-8, 22-32, 33:10f “Crisis, Competition, and Connection” Evangelical Missionary Church Community Vacation Bible School July 25-29 at CRC www.vacationbibleschool.com/blyth July 24 at 39213 Hullett-McKillop Road July 31 - 280 Dinsley St., Blyth 10:30 a.m. Youre Invited to come worship with us Sunday, July 24 Brussels Legion at 10:30 a.m. and at various locations at 6:30 p.m. Sunday School for children 4 to 11 years of age (mornings only) Childcare provided for infants and toddlers Coffee & cookies after the morning service For additional details please contact Pastor Andrew Versteeg 519.887.8621 Steve Klumpenhower 519.887.8651 Rick Packer 519.527.0173 Chris McMichael 519.482.1644 THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA Welcomes you to come and worship with us Trinity, Blyth 9:15 a.m. Church Office: 519-357-4883 St. John's, Brussels 11:15 a.m. 519-887-6862 Sunday, July 24 Rev. Perry Chuipka www.nabcom.ca/church Please join us for worship Summer Intern Pastor Kevin Boss Hwy. 4, Blyth 519-523-4743 www.blythcrc.ca SUNDAYS Morning Service 10:00 am Evening Service 7:30 pm BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH 119 John’s Ave., Auburn 519-526-1131 www.huronchapel.org 9:30 a.m. Sunday School 10:30 a.m. Worship Service Special Speaker: Rev. Gerry Wilson From the Minister’s StudyGo back to the drawing board and make changes