This past January, during a spontaneous singing and praising time after the Sunday service, Jonathan Papazian, one of the youth of Armenian Church of the Martyrs, Worcester, MA, came up with an idea: a musical worship event. Jonathan said we said we should do it again, invite others, and call it Jammin’ For Jesus. People from AEUNA churches came from across New England to attend this idea come to fruition at Armenian Church of the Martyrs.
His vision happened on Saturday June 11th, with our first such event. We invited and welcomed worship people, youth, and church leaders from Armenian Evangelical churches throughout the New England region. Jonathan led about thirty people for the next two hours in worshiping God. He chose Psalm 150 as the theme. Within this psalm it says,
Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! ....
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
People from AEUNA churches came from across Massachusetts and down to Rhode Island. Pastors attending included Rev. Dr. Avedis Boynerian from Armenian Memorial Church in Watertown, Massachusetts, Rev. Dr. Ara Heghinian from the Armenian Evangelical Church in Cranston, Rhode Island, and Rev. Stephen Carlyle of the Armenian Church of The Martyrs in Worcester, Massachusetts. Additional people came from each of these churches.
Eastern Region Minister of Youth Sylvia Jizmejian attended, with her three sons joining the other Armenian youth. Sylvia greeted the gathering and spoke about upcoming Camp Arevelk, to be held August 14-20, 2022. A few people did some solos, including Rev. Carlyle. Michael Naeger played cello, and spoke a good and meaningful word. Other direct participants included Lisa Papazian on flute, Diane Naeger and Susan Throndson singing, Rev. Carlyle on djumbe, and Jonathan Papazian leading and playing guitar.
After all the worship, we met for a great pizza feed and a selection of desserts!
This event was so successful we plan to have another Jammin’ For Jesus this autumn. We hope Praise Teams will come from our other New England churches. The complete vision is not just to have our Praise Team, but to have corporate praise and worship done with other Armenian worship teams. Then our talents, ideas, testimonies and fellowship will reach out and give support to other teams and their congregations. It is not an easy thing to have two hours of worship. Yet, we all felt the favor of God as we gathered together for this great event. Thank you to the Papazian family and our Board for their support of opening our doors to bring us all together.
We wish to acknowledge that the funding for this and the upcoming autumn event has been provided through the Armenian Evangelical Union of North America in conjunction with the AEUNA Rebuilding Project.
Always remember, Jonathan’s opening song was Come, Now is the Time to Worship!
It always is.
Blessing,
Rev. Stephen Carlyle
Armenian Church of The Martyrs
Worcester, Massachusetts