Bethlen Almanac 1999 (Ligonier)
Kálvin Egyházkerület - Calvin Synod - Keleti Egyházmegye - Eastern Classis
MANVILLE, NEW JERSEY Man vilié Reformed Church Man vilié, NJ 08835 Pastor: Rev. Steven G.P. Strickler Chief Elder: William Kovács “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Never have those words of Paul had more meaning for the members of the Manville Reformed Church than in 1999. On September 16, 1999 Hurricane Floyd dropped 12 inches of rain on our community. The result was flooding like our region has never known before. Countless homes and businesses were washed out. Churches were also hit hard. The fellowship hall and kitchen of our church building, along with the cellar, garage and ground floor offices of our parsonage were flooded out. Clean-up and reconstruction at the church and homes of many of our members will be a long, arduous process. It may take years for our community to completely recover. Through it all we have had the strong sense that God is in control and that He intends to bring much good out of this disaster. We can bear witness to God touching people’s lives in profound ways through it all: neighbors who have been at enmity for years are being reconciled, those not hit by the flood have “taken on the burden” of their sisters and brothers and have helped tirelessly mucking out houses and sanitizing walls with chlorine. Christian groups from as far away as Michigan have sent teams of workers to help in the clean-up and recovery. Our communities are coming together across lines of denomination, race and municipality. We have had to cling to our Lord like never before that is good, very good, indeed. And God is the author of it all! Still, there are difficulties we have not solved yet: some members are still homeless, our Sunday school never got started in the fall because our classrooms were destroyed, and our church dinners and fellowship suppers are on hold because the kitchen and hall need to be completely reconstructed (we hope we’ll have our facilities back in shape by the first of the year). And so we need your prayers: please 66
