Blacknall's Durham Ministry Engagement Team (DMET) is conducting a community service survey this year, running from January 12-31. Your responses will assist DMET and the Session in organizing our resources to serve our neighbors in Durham. The poll will also inform how DMET supports people at Blacknall who are interested in new service opportunities in Durham.
The Sunday School class schedule and descriptions for the spring semester are now available.
Adult classes will cover a variety of ongoing and new topics. You can jump right into any of these classes, even if you did not attend the prior semester of an ongoing study. There is no reason to hesitate, please come!
Want to know more about Blacknall and what it means to be a member? Join us for our next Inquirers and New Members Weekend, Saturday morning, February 15, and Sunday afternoon and evening, February 16. Visit the registration page to sign up and see more details.
Be on the lookout for an opportunity to share how you and your household are engaged in community service. The survey will assist Blacknall’s Durham Ministry Engagement Team and inform how DMET might provide better onramps for people at Blacknall who are interested in service opportunities in Durham.
Sundays, Oct 24, Nov. 7, 14, 21, and Dec. 5, 5-6 p.m. at Blacknall
Do you want to know more about life and membership at Blacknall? Come get to know more about Blacknall, and let us get to know you! Please register using the button above.
Childcare is available. Contact Goodie Bell with any questions.
Please join us on Sunday evenings for outdoor worship at our Iredell St. lot (714 Iredell St.). This is an opportunity for all ages to see familiar (or new!) faces, witness to our neighbors and celebrate the Lord’s table.
Please note: There will not be a service on Oct. 17, please come to Festival of the Bean!
Sunday, Oct. 17, 3:30-7 p.m. | Camp Chestnut Ridge, Efland, NC
Would you help the deacons plan this event by taking this quick survey?
Please join us for our Annual Festival of the Bean fall picnic and chili cook-off. Come and enjoy food, fellowship, games, s’mores, and a campfire along with the beauty of fall.
If you plan to enter your chili for competition (and we hope you do!), please bring by it 4 p.m. in a crockpot along with a ladle for serving and any condiments specific to your chili. Be sure to give your chili a fantastic name (names should not indicate who made it). The competition categories are Traditional, Vegetarian & Spicy, and the overall winner will be declared Lord or Lady of the Bean. If you are not bringing chili, please bring individually wrapped slices of corn bread to share.
Schedule
3:30 - Festival begins, check in chili for competition
4:00 - Cut-off time for entering chili for the judging
4:15 - 4:45 - Chili tasting and judging
4:00 - 6:00 - Games and Fellowship
5:15-6:00 - Dinner & Fire pit
6:15 - Announcement of the winning chili (Lord or Lady of the Bean)
6:30 - Clean up
We plan for the following Covid mitigation strategies at this time:
Deacons will serve Chili and toppings
Please wear masks and try to maintain distance when in line for Chili
Everyone is encouraged to spread out while eating
Questions? Contact Maggie Holland.
November 12-14, 2021 | Location/Format TBA
We are excited to announce the theme and speakers for this year’s retreat! Blacknall’s Kat Burgett and St. John Missionary Baptist’s Sylvia Belcher will be speaking on “Encounters with Jesus”.
Please stay tuned for more details. The retreat committee is evaluating the safest format, based on the latest CDC recommendations and women’s comfort levels for gathering.
Contact: Becky Gould
The Young Adults & Friends Weekday Morning Scripture Reading Group invites you to read scripture with them at 7:30 on weekday mornings. “Join us for 15 minutes while we read Scripture together, say a prayer, and head into our days. Newcomers (of all ages) are welcome any day of the week!”
We’re eager for each woman at Blacknall to participate in our study of Romans 8, using the study guide If God Is For Us: The Everlasting Truth of Our Great Salvation. The large group gathering and teaching begins on Thursday, September 23 (9:30-11:15 a.m.). Join us on Thursday mornings to hear teaching, enjoy fellowship, and meet in small groups.
You may also listen to the talks online and join a Zoom small group or follow the study on your own. It is no small thing for the women of the church to be engaged together around a portion of God’s Word! There is no fee aside from the cost of the book, which can be purchased from your favorite book seller. Please register using the link below.
Due to forecasted rain, The Betty will be held in the sanctuary. Please come, wear your mask, and hear what the Lord has to say to us through our storytellers.
The Betty is Blacknall’s effort to create a space for women to bear witness to the amazing/head-scratching/wonderful/ impossible/painful/glorious/joyful work of God in our lives. We invite 3-4 women to step up to the mike and share a reading, recite a poem, do a comedy sketch, or tell a short story about a time they encountered Jesus. Humorous content is encouraged! Serious reflections are too! Maybe you’ve encountered Jesus on a literal mountaintop, or maybe it was in a cramped office, or maybe it was in a grocery store. If Jesus was there, no story is too wild or too mundane. The Betty is a forum for all of us to hear, resonate with, and reflect on these sacred stories in the company of other listeners. It is the promotion of a culture of God-story tellers. We hope you’ll join us.
Please consider joining John Nicholson and Paula Rinehart for prayer (and fasting, if you can) for Afghanistan as we pray for the church under duress there, for allies who need safe passage out, for the mercy of God in a crisis situation, for Christ to reveal Himself to this stricken people. Contact: Paula Rinehart.
Small groups (sometimes called Discipleship groups or Home groups) are a great way to share life, hear the word, and grow in love for Christ and one another. Several co-ed small groups are starting up or continuing this fall.
UPDATE: Fall groups are now full, please contact Goodie Bell if you’re interested in future groups.
Groups will meet for 8-10 weeks from September through Advent.
Suggested Format: (Individual groups may vary.) Open with fellowship time. Spend 30 minutes reading the upcoming Sunday’s sermon text and considering questions like “What jumps out to you on your first reading of this text? What does this scripture say about who God is? What does this mean for our life together in Christ?” Close with prayer time, sharing, and perhaps a hymn.
Childcare subsidy available: Up to $200 per 10 week session per family.
Small Groups Contact: Pastor Goodie Bell
Paul spends the first 11 chapters of his letter to the Romans explaining what it is that we believe. When he gets to chapter 12 he says, “Therefore…” Here he begins his description of what our lives should look like because of the truth of the gospel. This Fall we will take a 4-week pause in our sermon series on the Gospel of Mark to look together at Romans chapter 12. Specifically, we will be asking the question, “How are we to be the Church? How can we live life together in a manner that reflects the truth of the gospel?” We will spend four weeks listening to God’s Word to us from Romans 12.
For an overview of Paul’s letter to the Romans, check out The Bible Project’s videos:
Worship at Blacknall happens in many ways. For the past 10 years, many elementary age girls have worked at participating in and sometimes leading worship at our church. When everything shut down in March 2020, these girls continued practicing their gift via Zoom. In the fall of 2020, they moved their practice to the backyard of Sara Stults’ house and continued practicing into the spring of 2021.
Several of their worship dances were shared via Zoom with the church on Sundays; we now ask you to worship along with their last “Stults Studio Backyard Worship Dance” of Oceans. Registration for the Blacknall Dance program for the fall of 2021 is now open. We are moving back to the community room, which means a limited enrollment and masks for everyone. Practice will be Sundays, 5-6 p.m. beginning September 12.
The Communications Coordinator search team (chair, Lucy Cate) is now accepting applications. Our hope is to find a person who will communicate the work of our church effectively, build relationships with members and engage with new audiences. Please visit the job posting for the full job description and application details.
Blacknall is also seeking a part time Choir Director. Please view the job posting for details and share these two openings widely.
Donuts in the Rose Garden | Sunday, August 29, 10 a.m.
Glazed or Jelly? Krispy Kreme or Dunkin’ Donuts? Whatever your preference may be, please join us between services on August 29 for donuts, fellowship, music, and a chance to get to know our staff and learn how you can serve at Blacknall this fall. Many thanks to our Deacons for hosting this event. Questions? Contact Maggie Holland.
Given a spike in COVID cases due to the Delta variant, the city of Durham and Durham County enacted an indoor mask mandate as of Monday, August 9. For the health and safety of our community, masks will be required for all individuals (regardless of vaccination status) when in the building at Blacknall. Please view our updated COVID-19 Safety Precautions and Vaccination Policy for more details.
Dear Blacknall family,
Remember last July? We were worshipping at home or gathering in backyards, and we had just begun to video sermons in the sanctuary. What a year! Since April, it has been a joy to see many of you at Blacknall on Sundays and to reconnect with others in small groups. Although many aspects of our life together remain altered, we are encouraged by the current situation and hopeful for the future. Staff are doing in-person ministry this summer and planning for the fall. We continue to adapt worship each week — further communication about Sundays and the fall semester is coming soon!
In the meantime, we have become aware that, while it was difficult for our congregation to be apart, it can feel hard for us to come back together. Many of us are vaccinated, but some are not. We want to address what could become a source of division for us; to find our way forward, we look back.
The Apostle Paul continually encountered conflict in churches. In his letters to the church in Rome and to the church in Corinth, Paul addresses the contentious issue of consuming meat offered in sacrifice to idols. Some Christians thought that they should avoid meat sacrificed to idols (which, in effect, meant avoiding most meat); other Christians reasoned that, in comparison with the living God, an idol was “nothing”. Therefore, since idols were “nothing”, sacrifice to idols could not contaminate God’s good gift of food. You get the impression from Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 that this theological disagreement ruined many church dinners!
Paul was clear in his own mind and makes his belief known in his letters: “I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself” (Ro 14:14). In other words, since an idol is “nothing”, the routine dedication of meat to idols does not, in itself, contaminate the food for Christians. While some concerned Christians might change their mind because of Paul’s theological arguments, Paul’s foremost concern is that all Christians—whatever their belief about meat sacrificed to idols—“pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding. Do not for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.” (Ro. 14: 19-20). Pursuing peace required restricting personal freedom for the sake of Christian brothers and sisters. In practice, this meant that those who would otherwise enjoy a side of beef might need to order a salad instead.
So how does this relate to us? Perhaps you think that, just as an idol is “nothing”, so COVID is the “nothing” of our time. Nonetheless, in Christ, you are called to build up your Christian brothers and sisters who are concerned about COVID. This means following protocols to minimize the spread of COVID and considering vaccination. On the other hand, some of you think that COVID is something and vaccinations are “nothing” to be concerned about. Nonetheless, in Christ, you are called to build up your brothers and sisters who are hesitant about the vaccine. This means creating ways to include unvaccinated friends without violating your own safety and conscience, as well as speaking respectfully about their decision to remain unvaccinated.
The Session is clear: We regard COVID as something (not “nothing”!). We think vaccination is a timely way to love one another and the most effective means to restoring much of our life together. However, we are most concerned that we, as a congregation, recognize the opportunity to “pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding. Do not for the sake of food COVID, destroy the work of God.” (Romans 14:19-20).
To help us accomplish this goal, the Session, in collaboration with the staff and the Health Advisory Team, has drafted a vaccination policy. The policy reflects our current status; we will continue to update and add to our guidelines. We thank you for receiving our guidance; we press on, trusting in the grace of Christ.
In Him,
Goodie
On behalf of the Pastors and the Session
Please click below:
Please visit our Employment page for updates on Blacknall’s search for an Interim Pastor. This page, which includes application details, can be shared with anyone interested in applying for this position.
Any additional employment opportunities will appear on our News and Employment pages as they become available. Stay tuned!
Pack a picnic dinner and head to Duke Park (106 W. Knox St, Durham) on Sunday evenings (5-7 p.m.) in June and July. (June 20, June 27, July 4, July 11, July 18, and July 25)
Expect fellowship, games and a time of devotion. The “program” part of the evening will begin at 5:45.
It’s been a while.. come get reacquainted and make new friends!
Two new small groups are forming this summer. Groups are co-ed and open to youth (16+) and adults. The format will include reading and discussing the upcoming Sunday’s sermon text, fellowship and praying for one another.
Options:
Monday evenings beginning June 21, 7-8:15 p.m. at Blacknall. Leaders: Tom and Jane Robinson
Thursday evenings beginning June 17, 7-8:30 p.m. at the home of leaders Mark and Helen Atkinson
If you’ve been hesitant to commit to a small group, now’s a good time to try one out! Groups will meet through the end of August, at which time group hosts and leaders can decide whether to continue meeting. Sign up here.
Celebrate Allan and Betsy’s 36 years of service as Allan retires May 31.
Saturday, June 5, 10-11:30 am & 1:30-3 pm | Register here
We are monitoring guidelines as to how many people we can safely have at each gathering.
Sunday, June 6, 2-3 pm
A drive by farewell parade around Blacknall’s building.