BIG BETHEL AME CHURCH

Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church Vision Statement

A spirit-filled fellowship engaging in fervent worship, Bible-based teaching and preaching, and compassionate missions driven to be the miracle in downtown Atlanta.

Mission StatemenT

The mission of Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ; and to communicate to the world through preaching, teaching, evangelizing, worshipping, and stewardship, that “Jesus Saves!”

Values Statement:

We are a God centered, people-oriented Christian community operating in an environment of excellence and love. All that we do is undergirded by prayer.

BIG BETHEL AME CHURCH

Welcome to Big Bethel AME Church • Atlanta 7:45AM & 11:00AM Worship Service

Sunday, February 19, 2017

The Organ Prelude………………..………...……..…….……………………………….. Phillip Skerrett, Jr.

The Processional………......………………..…….………....……….Worship & Arts Ministry & Ministers

The Doxology…………..………………..……………………….……………….………….A.M.E. Hymn No. 647

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him all creatures here below;

Praise Him above ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

The Call to Worship Minister: Oh God, you have heard the anguished cries of our ancestors. Their sounds echo and penetrate

time to remind us of our fore parents who were brutally captured and forcibly enslaved, as they

left the peaceful womb of their African homeland.

People: “Stony the road we trod.”

Minister: Oh God, you have seen the millions of dark bodies buried beneath the tumultuous waves of the

deep. Bodies of African men and women who held the seeds of greatness. You have seen women’s

dreams for a united family vanish as they were sold at auction blocks. You have seen the legacy of

the African American family decimated and demeaned by those who have attempted to control our

destiny.

People: “Bitter the chastening rod, felt in the days when hope unborn had died.”

Minister: Oh God, you have ignited the sparks within us into a blazing demand for freedom, equality and

justice. This quest cost Harriet Tubman sleepless nights, as she led her people to freedom; it was

an equality that Rosa Parks and civil rights activists fought for and gave their lives for; it was a

justice that Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for, as thousands stood with him at the Lincoln Memorial.

People: “Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet, come to the place for which our fathers sighted?”

Minister: Oh God, you have seen our tears. You have been pained by the evil of human hearts. Yet, you

loved humanity enough that you sent your only son to identify with the outcast, marginalized and

rejected. As the cries of Jesus pierced your heart, so have the cries of your people – cries from

different cultures and in different languages.

People: “God of our weary years, God of our silent tears.”

Minister: Oh God, you answered us during our exodus from Africa. You wiped every teardrop during our

exile in captivity. Our fore parents dared to dream that one day, on these shores, we would

become politicians, preachers, educators, doctors, writers, scientists, artists, and so much more.

People: “Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.”

Minister: Our ancestors’ hard work, their courage, their convictions, and their belief in you paved the way

for our emancipation and education. But it is clear, you have liberated us. You have set us free.

“Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I’m free at last!”

All: “Lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world we forget Thee. Shadowed beneath Thy hand,

may we forever stand. True to our God and true to our native land.”

“JESUS SAVES”

BIG BETHEL AME CHURCH

“JESUS SAVES”

The Hymn of Praise……………………………..…………………………………………..Traditional Spiritual

# 571 - Lift Every Voice and Sing

1. Lift every voice and sing, Till earth and Heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the listening skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun Of our new day be-gun, Let us march on till victory is won.

2. Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chastening rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died; Yet with a steady beat, Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered; Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

3. God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way; Thou who

hast by Thy might, Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray. Lest our feet stray from the

places, our God, where we met Thee. Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we forever stand, True to our God, True to our native land.

Invocation

The Choral Response

The Worship Through Music……..…………...……….........................................................Big Bethel Chorale

The Responsive Scripture…………….…………………………..…………………………….1 Corinthians 3: 16-23

Minister: 16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

People: 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Minister: 18 Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise.

People: 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness,"

Minister: 20 and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile."

People: 21 So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours,

Minister: 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future-- all belong to you,

ALL: 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

The Preface to the Decalogue…………..……………………………….…………….……..(In the tune of #258)

From all that dwell below the skies, let the Creator’s praise arise; let the Redeemer’s name be sung, through every land by every tongue.

The Summary of the Decalogue

And Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.

The Gloria Patri……………………………………………………….…………………………...……#XVII-XVIII

BIG BETHEL AME CHURCH

Black History Moment-The Welcome to Big Bethel……….…………………..…The Philippian Ministry

The Pastor’s Words

The Marriage Recommittal Ceremony………………………….…………...Married Couples Ministry

Worship Through Creative Expression………………..…….….…….…… Signs of Praise Mime Ministry

The Worship In Giving: tithes & offering

The Choral Response……………………………….………………………….…………….……… A.M.E. Hymn #646

The Altar Call

The Worship Through Music…..………….…………………….........................................…Big Bethel Chorale

The Sermon………………………………………………….…………………...….….……………..….. Pastor Foster

Invitation to Christian Discipleship

The Recessional

The Doxology

The Benediction

The Organ Postlude…...………………………………...……..………………..………….…… Phillip Skerrett Jr.

S E R V I N G I N T O D AY ’ S W O R S H I P E X P E R I E N C E

7:45AM Worship Service 11:00AM Worship Service

Acolytes Paige Thomas and Charis Eppes

Choir Big Bethel Chorale Big Bethel Chorale

Philippians Connie Mills & Keith Burnett Linda Jolly & Ruth McKenzie

Stewardesses Eva Watson Stewardess Ministry Eva Watson Stewardess Ministry

Stewards Yvette George & Geri Dodson Shirley Simmons & William Dye

Trustee Janie Asante & Oliver Hudson Jeffrey Robinson & Floyd Baxter

Ushers Samuel H. Giles Usher Ministry Samuel H. Giles Usher Ministry

AV Ministry Marvin Fleming & SirRyan May Phyllis Smiley & SirRyan May

Finance Team Team 2-A Team 2-B

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE READINGS

First reading Psalm Second reading Gospel

Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 Psalm 119:33-40 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 Matthew 5:38-48

“JESUS SAVES”

- Hearing God’s Word in the Sermon –

Since we forget 90% of what we hear, it has been suggested that note taking will double the percentage of our take home response. Why not try it and see?

Points/Topics:

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Let us remember our sick and shut-in with our cards & calls.

Sis. Mildred Whalen,(770) 603-8266