This Sunday:

This Sunday, July 25, This morning in indoor worship at COS, Rev. Karen Campbell will preach from 2 Samuel 6 in the standard English service. Sarah Gibes will preach in the Bilingual/ Basic English Service in Room 5.

We invite you to sign up to attend the morning service. The 10 am service will also be live via Zoom. Sign up for our Newsletter to receive the Zoom links.

Children’s Ministries:

Mulick Park Splashpad & Playground Meetup, July 31 from 10:00am to 11:30am! Families, please join us at Mulick Park next Saturday between 10am-11:30am for coffee and doughnuts (regular and gluten free/egg/dairy free) as our kids enjoy the splash pad, swing sets and space for running around! If your kids love getting wet, I recommend swimsuits, towels, and a change of clothes. There is also plenty of other play equipment and room to run around with a soccer ball or frisbee. With so many new families joining COS during quarantine, I hope this will be a chance for adults to connect as our kids play! You’ll find Mulick Park at 1632 Sylvan Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506. Here’s a link for directions.

Church News:

Financial Update: Last week’s offering and online giving:  $12,046.97

Current Giving for the month of July: $70,263.04

Monthly budgeted General Fund Giving is:  $112,926

The Camelot Block Party with our neighbors across the street along with our Camelot church partners will be on Saturday, August 7 at 11 am-1:30 pm at the Camelot Park, 2230 Rowland SE. Please take your kids and join us for a fun time of soccer, bounce house, yard games, chalk art, and a beef hot dog lunch. Let’s meet and build relationships with our neighbors!

We also need volunteers to help. If you can help, please contact Lori Wiersma to volunteer or meet at COS at 10:30 am on August 7 or at 1:30 pm at Camelot Park to take down.

To our brothers and sisters in Christ, CORR (Congregations Organizing for Racial Reconciliation) continues to offer Understanding Racism virtual workshops in 2021.   These workshops are open to everyone in our congregation.  It is our hope and prayer that as we continue in this work of understanding racism, Church of the Servant will reveal what Godly antiracism looks like in the community. CORR has two upcoming workshops, one starting in August and another starting in October. The August will consist of six sessions from 6-9 p.m. on August 4, 11, 18, 25, September 1 and 8. The October workshop will be October 21, 22, 28 and 29 from 8:30am-1pm. Please prayerfully consider taking advantage of these opportunities. We will meet in person for workshops in 2022, but for now this is a wonderful format for all of us to continue to do the Lord’s work in antiracism. Register at CORRnow.org   


You can make a life-saving difference to another person! Participate in our COS Blood Drive in one week. There is no substitute for blood…it is precious, perishable, and the need for it is vital. Give an hour of your time, and share your gift of life on Monday, August 2, between 2-7pm. Each day 600 pints of blood are needed for our Michigan hospitals. Will you help us meet our goal of collecting 22 units of blood, and recruiting 2 new donors? Schedule your appointment on the Versiti website. Each person who comes to donate will receive a beach towel, compliments of Versiti. We thank you!  Questions? Call Ruth Huisman or Beth Karanicola.

As we continue in-person, indoor services, we invite more people to serve as Sunday morning scripture readers. If you would like to read scripture during a morning worship service, please sign up here.

You may have heard that the COS parking lot is being resurfaced this year.  But, have you heard about the “islands” in the parking lot?  Using funds raised through the Houses of Worship Rewards program in which many of us participated (Thanks!), the CCT is partnering with Plaster Creek Stewards to replant the islands with native grasses and flowers.  Next year, we hope to augment those plantings with native shrubs provided through a grant from PCS. The native plants will be delivered in the next few weeks.  We are planning several work events for volunteers to put them in the ground.  Please contact Steve Mulder with questions/comments and to sign up to volunteer.   

Social Seniors meet every Tuesday morning from 10:00 to 11:00. Designed to provide opportunity for church family camaraderie, Social Seniors is open to anyone who would like to attend, regardless of age. We seek to be spiritually encouraged and to provide opportunities for sharing, humor, expression of our sorrows and joys, and prayer for one another and our church. The Zoom link below will work for every Tuesday. 

Topic: Social Seniors

Time:  10:00 – 11:00 AM

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83263669013?pwd=UzE4Z1czT2h2Q0lsck0zaXV4T1NMdz09

Meeting ID: 832 6366 9013

Passcode: COS  

You can also join by telephone: 1 312 626 6799. When prompted, enter the meeting ID plus #, and then when asked for your participant ID, merely enter #, and you will be connected to the group.

It is time to begin thinking about 2022 giving envelopes. We ask that you fill out a form which you can find in your COS mailbox (or use this online form) if you would like to continue/begin receiving giving envelopes in 2022. Please plan to mail the form to COS or drop off to COS office by September 20th. If you have any questions, please contact Angelica Zahrt, Treasurer by email aj.zahrt@coscrc.org or by phone 616-956-7611 ext 29.

The niece of Maria Lam, COS member and Calvin professor, has moved to Grand Rapids and is searching for an entry level position in architecture following her graduation from U of M with a Master in Architecture. She also seeks a driving coach as she works toward passing her driver’s exam. Pay for the driving instruction is $20/hour and 30-40 hours of instruction may be needed. Please contact Miss Wong directly if you can help!

Fabric and Fellowship: Join a group that likes to sew and enjoy a time of fellowship. Our next meeting is July 26th from 10am to 2pm in room 5 of COS. We have a stash of fabric that we are using up in quilts for ministry organizations. You can bring your machine or come to design, cut pieces or iron for others. Also bring your lunch. Contact Claire Elgersma or Hope Bradley for more information.