How does a church grow its capacity for ministry?
If we members of First Lutheran actually believe we change lives, how do we do more of that? Our staff, vision and leadership team and a task force sat with that question for a while and came up with a few ideas. All the ideas are rooted in sharing stories that explain how it is true: that First Lutheran is a transformative institution where lives get changed. And so we created videos and framed posters and posted content to social media that all said “We Change Lives…” through Stephen Ministry, Lutheran World Hunger, Youth Ministry, a Green Team and and much more. We also thought it would be smart to not just ask for money, but to invite everyone into something special. Not every church has its focus on serving the neighbor, caring for creation and worshipping God. Some churches are simply about self-preservation. First Lutheran holds a unique place in the religious landscape of our community. All are welcome. All are encouraged to lead, in fact. And all questions are allowed.
Who will be our synod’s next YAGM? (Young Adults in Global Mission)
The ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission program invites young adults (ages 21-29) into a year-long international journey of service. If you, a friend, a church family member would be interested in such a journey, go to elca.org/yagm and begin the application process. The application window opens Nov. 1, and closes Feb. 15, 2020, with priority given to those who apply by Jan. 15.
Hub of Hospitality
Last month, we were invited to change lives through the many ministries we do here at First Lutheran. The ministries highlighted are so very important to those in our congregation and in the world. I would also like to invite you to change lives in simple ways within our narthex. Our narthex during the program year is abuzz with activity and people of all ages. The energy in our narthex amazes me. We have so many people coming and going, making connection with one another ,but there are even more who are not and feeling a bit lost within the hub of activity in our narthex.
Good News for November 2019
INSIDE: Faith Alive! U: Imprisoning a Generation, All Saints Worship, Thanksgiving Eve Worship, Christmas Events Insert
Download here…
To view the PDF files you may need the free Adobe Reader or some other PDF viewer. Want to view all this on your iPad or Kindle? Check out these tutorials…
First Teen Clothes Closet Update for October 2019
It has been a big year for the First Teen Clothes Closet! We have been in our new location at Trinity Lutheran Church for just over a year, and in that year we have served more than 275 individual teens from at least 24 area middle schools and high schools through our Monday night shopping hours, private appointments and the annual Trinity Lutheran Church block party and shoe distribution. (The shoe distribution alone set more than 170 teens up for the school year with a pair of new shoes).
Good News for October 2019
INSIDE: First Fest, Invitation to Change Lives, Coulee Region Hunger Walk, Warming Center
Download here…
To view the PDF files you may need the free Adobe Reader or some other PDF viewer. Want to view all this on your iPad or Kindle? Check out these tutorials…
Message from Pastor Karyn for September 2019
We Are Church. This is the theme that the Churchwide Assembly gathered under last week as members of each of the 65 synods of the ELCA gathered together in Milwaukee. I was privileged to serve this amazing group of people throughout the week as a volunteer with the worship staff. My primary task was to work in the vestry, where I made sure the 75 communion ministers, the principals and any other people participating in worship were appropriately garbed. That came out to somewhere between 600 and 700 people fitted for albs over the course of the week! That was a lot of people, and I loved every minute of it. It was such a blessing to see different segments of our church gathered together in one room: our bishops, deacons, youth, female clergy, chaplains, voting members, they all came through the vestry.