Education > Youth Ministries > Small Groups > Music > Worship > Fellowship > Missions

Education:

Sunday school Classes:

Nursery
The Nursery is available for children 0-2 during the Sunday school hour and Worship hour.

Pre-School/Kindergarten Class
For children ages 3-5. Meets during the Sunday school hour.

Primary
For children in First through Third Grades. Meets during the Sunday school hour.

Junior Moravians
For children in Fourth and Fifth Grades. Meets during the Sunday school hour.

Junior High
For youth in Sixth through Eighth Grades. Meets during the Sunday school hour.

Senior High
For youth in Ninth through Twelfth Grades. Meets during the Sunday school hour.

College and Career
This class is open to college students and young adults. Meets on Sunday mornings, with planned activities throughout the year.

Good News Class
The Good News Class is an adult class of a varied population. The class members are very much involved in all areas of ministry within the church as well as outside its walls. Sunday school curriculum is a study of Scripture using various materials.

Friendship Class
The Friendship Class had its beginnings as the Campus and Couples Class. When the “Campus” part was no longer relevant, they became the Young Adult Class, but alas, when the “Young” no longer applied, they renamed themselves the Friendship Class because of the friendships formed through the years. 5 teachers rotate through the 4 or 5 Sunday’s each month to lead the class in a spirited discussion of a book of the Bible, current events or other pertinent topic. The class regularly supports missions within the church as well as outside its walls.

Saints Alive Class
The Saints Alive Class is comprised mostly of the older adults in the congregation.
Class time begins with a “songspiration” of a few hymns, then a Bible study taken from the International Bible Lessons quarterly. This class regularly supports missions within and outside the church. The class members participate regularly in group outings.

 

Children and Youth Ministry:

Children’s Church
Available for children Pre-School through Second Grade and meets during the Worship hour on Sunday morning.

LOGOS
LOGOS is a midweek ministry where adults, youth, and children learn to model Christ to each other in everything we do—where everyone is a child of God, and no one is treated as if they don’t matter. Having a saving relationship with Christ is the most important thing in this life, and LOGOS seeks to nurture that relationship in youth and children. The LOGOS semesters run for 8 weeks beginning in January, and 10 weeks beginning in September.

Vacation Bible School (VBS)
Vacation Bible School is a week long event during the summer months focusing on a specific Biblical theme for children, youth, and adults. The VBS dates for 2008 are July 13-17.

Christmas Play
Each Christmas our children and youth put on a play about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Summer Camp
Summer Camps at Laurel Ridge are special! Just ask anyone who has ever attended camp there! For 47 years campers have grown in their spiritual faith, found lifelong friends, dedicated and rededicated their lives to Christ, and grown to know Laurel Ridge as a very special place. For information on the Summer Camp schedule, go to the website.
http://www.laurelridge.org/summercamp/default.htm

Youth Fellowships
Senior Highs meet September through May. They are involved in a variety of “helping hand” projects such as Samaritan’s Purse and community projects. Each year they prepare to participate in a short term mission effort during the summer months. The summer of 2007 was a week at the Moravian Seminary in Bethel, Alaska, and in the summer of 2008 they will travel to New York to work at the Moravian Open Door, a facility for the homeless.

Junior Highs: The Junior High Youth participate in several outreach projects including the 30 Hour Famine and Operation Christmas Child. The group meets every other Sunday throughout the year. One Saturday each month, the youth meet for an outing away from the church to build stronger connections with each other. The group is planning a camping retreat in June of 2008.

 

Small Groups:

Gemeinschaft
Gemeinschaft is a three year program of spiritual formation designed to nurture and challenge the interior and exterior Christian journey of Moravians in a small group context. The program offers the opportunity to focus awareness of God’s saving grace and power in our lives in a deliberate, intentional, and committed manner in a community of believers.

Bethel Bible Study
The Bethel Series has a unique overview approach of the Old and New Testaments that immerses the student in the Bible. It provides the tool to help establish a biblical knowledge base; and in the process of the study, the student lifts from the pages of Scripture the wonderful story of how God has moved through history to bring about his plan of salvation.

 

Music:

Adult Choir
The adult choir has been under the direction of Organist and Choir Director, Wilson Smith, for the last 25 years. The choir sings music written by Moravian composers, standard anthems, and a wide array of contemporary music.  A large number of men bless our choir, and we’re always blessed when they sing during worship. During special worship times, various musical instruments are used to enhance the worship service.

Children’s Choir
For children in Grades 1-5. Rehearsals are on Wednesdays at 4:30-5:30pm in the Sanctuary. They meet March through May.

Band
The Church Band has been assisting the congregation in many ways over the years.  Often with the aid of musician friends it has played for funerals.  But it has also played preceding festivals of the church such as Christmas Vigils and lovefeasts, Easter morning, communion services and anniversary celebrations.  The band practices every Sunday morning from 9:30 - 10:00.  Many of our players are college students so we are very happy when they are home.  As we have learned, the more we have playing the better we sound.  Br. Larry Williams and Br. John Giesler are the co-leaders.

Handbells
The Handbell Choir was started in 1993 and played for the first time during the Christmas service of 1994 under the direction of Jennifer Dunn. The Dunn’s accepted a call to Messiah Moravian and in 1995 Jeannie Ogburn became the Handbell Director. 3 octaves are currently being played. A 4th octave is just waiting to be played with the addition of more bell ringers.

 

Worship:

Prayer Warriors
30 minutes before Sunday school begins, a faithful group of prayer warriors gathers to pray for each other, the congregation, the pastor, the teachers, the nation, and the world.

Communion
In the Moravian Church we practice open communion. All who are professing Christians and understand the meaning of this holy meal are welcome to receive these symbols of Jesus’ body and blood given for our sins.

Lovefeast
The Lovefeast is a service of hymns and prayer accompanied by a simple meal usually consisting of a sweetened bun and a mug of coffee. Dieners--men and women of the church--serve these to the worshipping congregation. At the Christmas lovefeast, the first of which was held for children on December 24, 1747, a lighted, beeswax candle with a red, crepe-paper ruff is given to each worshipper. The beeswax of the candle represents the purity of Christ; the flame, the light of love that Christ brought into a darkened world; and the red ruff the blood of Christ.

Laurel Ridge
http://www.laurelridge.org/default.htm
For more than forty years, Laurel Ridge has served as the camp, conference and retreat center of the Moravian Church, Southern Province. The 688 acres of woods, wildflowers, waterfalls, hiking trails, and spectacular mountain views create the perfect setting for recreation, relaxation, and spiritual growth in a natural setting.

Laurel Ridge offers a full schedule of year-round programming for all ages. Facilities are available for reservation by individuals, churches and groups of all faiths and other non-profit organizations for conferences, retreats and educational events.

Fellowships:

Women’s Fellowship
The Women’s Fellowship raises money through yearly projects, such as an annual community breakfast in October, wrapping paper sales, bake sales, and pledges to provide funds for foreign mission needs and support of individuals, families, and organizations in the community. The three circles of the Women’s Fellowship each spend part of their finances supporting mission work.

Men’s Fellowship
The Men’s Fellowship meets on a somewhat regular basis for breakfast and planning. The men of the church work on various projects throughout the year and keep the church grounds beautified with scheduled Saturday workdays.

Missions:

Rural Hall Moravian Church supports 7 missions through our church budget.
They are listed below with links to their websites:

Hope Pregnancy Care Center
www.hopepcc.org
Hope Pregnancy Care Center is located at 117 Charles Road in King, NC.  The Center seeks to provide women in an unplanned pregnancy accurate information on abortion—the procedures, results, and risks. The Center offers information on alternatives to abortion to enable her to make a fully informed decision, as well as provides donated items of baby clothes and furnishings and maternity clothes. In addition, the Center educates the community regarding the issues of abortion, sexual abstinence until marriage, and the problems of post-abortion.

Prodigals Community
www.prodigals.org
Within a Christian Community, Prodigals Community helps individuals and families whose lives are affected by drug and alcohol abuse. Prodigals provides residential programs to help addicts and alcoholics live responsible and drug-free lives, and provides outreach ministries of education and support to families of addicts and alcoholics.

Oaks Indian Mission
www.oaksindianmission.org
The Oaks Indian Mission is a non-profit childcare organization licensed by the State of Oklahoma and affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Mission provides support for pre-delinquent, deprived children in need of supervision, and children that require boarding, and provide them a structured home and education that is based on free will contributions from congregations, organizations and individuals.

Crisis Control
www.crisiscontrol.org

Crisis Control Ministry is a Christian-based ministry whose mission is to assist people in crisis to meet essential life needs and to become self-sufficient.

Crisis Control Ministry strives to assist those who face financial crises which impedes the fulfillment of basic life needs, including housing, utilities, food, and prescription medications.  Crisis Control also aims to support clients’ efforts to regain self-sufficiency

Samaritan Ministries
www.samaritanforsyth.org
Samaritan Ministries is an interdenominational, volunteer based Christian ministry in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County. Serving hungry, homeless and people in need, 365 days a year, these programs include:
Samaritan Soup Kitchen, Winston-Salem’s only soup kitchen
Samaritan Inn, a 69 bed homeless shelter for men
Project Cornerstone, a residential substance abuse recovery program for men

Compassionate Heart International
Compassionate  Heart International, located in Clemmons, NC  is a not for profit, non-political, charitable organization committed to enriching the lives of Asian people and their communities around the world through compassionate service, holistic education, and sustainable development programs.

George Goff/Wings of Mercy in Honduras

Meet George Goff:

Most of the fifty thousand Miskito Indians who live in the savannas and coastal lowlands of northeastern Honduras must travel twelve or more hours by canoe to get to the nearest clinic or hospital. For those who are seriously ill, that's a life-threatening crisis.

An air transportation ministry provides a quick means of transporting people for emergency medical care, and it enables pastors to travel to isolated areas for evangelism and discipleship efforts.

George Goff has been a missionary pilot and mechanic for eighteen years, transporting sick people, missionaries, pastors, church workers, and others. He shows the Jesus film, a popular evangelistic tool, in remote villages. George makes as many as twenty flights a day, and he also maintains and repairs the plane.

Alas de Socorro (Wings of Mercy) was created in 1997 to provide mission aviation to the Mosquitia region of Honduras. Mission Aviation Fellowship used to cover the region, but they ceased operations in Honduras in 1996, and Wings of Mercy was created to continue the ministry. The Moravian Church in Honduras was established in 1928. They run a medical clinic in Ahuas, and they have a strong history of Christian education and theological training.

George was raised by his grandparents in a small Miskito village. "I became a follower of Jesus at the age of twenty-four," he says, "though the influence of my grandfather, who was one of the first Christians among the Miskitos." A few years later, George was working as a school teacher when he became friends with Duane Marlow, a Mission Aviation Fellowship pilot. Through that friendship, George was invited to train as an airplane mechanic and pilot. He studied at Moody Bible Institute's missionary aviation school in Elizabethton, Tennessee, for three years, where he met his wife, Ruth. They have two daughters, Rachel and Abby.

Read George’s latest letter from November 2007.
http://images.rca.org/docs/letters/goff.pdf   (or Goff 2007 PDF)

Short Term Missions

In addition to the 7 budgeted missions that Rural Hall Moravian Church supports through our budget, there are other opportunities throughout the year to serve on short term missions. The Sr. High Youth plan a short term mission trip each summer. In 2007, they traveled to the Moravian Seminary in Bethel, Alaska, and in the summer of 2008 will mission in New York at the Moravian Open Door, a facility for the homeless. Previous mission trips have included Tennessee, Mississippi, and the coastal and mountain regions of NC.

Adult members of our congregation have participated in short term missions to Mississippi with Hurricane Katrina Relief, Nicaragua, and Bolivia. Several times, we have had the opportunity to overnight mission teams from the Northeast on their way to and from Mississippi. Rural Hall Moravian partnered with Bethania Moravian Church to build a Habitat for Humanity House in the summer of 2007. The House was dedicated on December 2, 2007.