| Formulated at Council
Retreat - March 28, 1998 The
mission of St. Paul Lutheran Church is "to be an expression of God's compassion in
our community and beyond."
That understanding of who we are and what
we are called by God to be was adopted as our mission statement at a Church Council
retreat held on Saturday, March 28. The retreat was led by Rev. John Schleicher, Assistant
to Bishop Hansen. The retreat was attended by Church Council members and our two pastors.
The agenda for the day included shaping a
Mission Statement of how we see ourselves and then based on that vision, examining the
ministry of St. Paul. We did this by looking at some 5-year goals in these areas:
1. Mission and Outreach - Looking at needs and remembering our
mission to be "an expression of God's compassion", the Council set two immediate
priorities: |
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Establish a part-time counselor for long-term counseling needs. We will look at possible
grants available and work with the resources of other area congregations. |
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Identify a resource person or team to help us speak to different generations in our styles
of worship and our programs of education and small-group ministries. The lay people who
have attended Community Church of Joy in Phoenix could provide the leadership necessary
for this. |
2. Worship - Maintaining and expanding our diverse worship and
keeping in mind our mission to be "an expression of God's compassion", the
council came up with four goal in this area. They are: |
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To give more time on Sunday mornings for fellowship among members and visitors |
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To let the children of our Sunday School participate in worship more often |
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To give our pastors more time to greet our members and visitors |
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To ease the parking problems that are so frustrating for members and visitors |
In order to meet these goals, the Council is doing the following: |
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Beginning the first Sunday in September and continuing for a trial period of six months,
the 10:30 a.m. worship service will begin at 10:45 a.m. |
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A team of Lay Assisting Ministers will be trained for the early & late services. They
will be leaders for the liturgy, prayers, readings and communion. |
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The pastor who is not preaching will be available on Sunday mornings for ministry in areas
such as fellowship and education. |
3. Education - Many of our 5-year goals in education are being
met by the development and expansion of our small-group program. The Council also
talked about the need for a Christian preschool and felt that this is still a long-term
goal, but is not a priority item for this year. 4. Growth - In order to be "an expression of God's compassion", the
council talked a lot about developing things that will help us grow such as being
welcoming, contacting visitors, including new members in our congregation, having a
nursery available for children, developing a lay ministry to help with visiting shut-ins
and hospital patients, transporting people to worship, and so forth. Out of this
discussion came three priorities to implement: |
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A hospitality small-group will oversee the integration of visitors and new members into
the congregation. A Hospitality Committee has been meeting for a period of time and has
submitted recommendations to council for changes to the building to make it more
welcoming. The Council hopes a Hospitality small-group will continue to take leadership in
this area. |
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The Nursery project is nearly complete and will soon have video of the service as well as
audio. Lisa Borchard and Denise Hoeksema have agreed to oversee staffing the the nursery.
Hopefully, the Nursery will also be available for use at the early & late services as
well as 9:20.
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We'd like a lay ministry program to help us "be an expression of God's compassion in
our community". Council recommended that the pastors be directly involved in training
lay people to assist in visitation and shut-in ministry and hospital ministry. |
5. Stewardship - Stewardship means receiving everything we have as a
gift of God and taking care of and sharing that gift for the benefit of all of God's
people as "an expression of God's compassion". The council will establish an
ongoing Stewardship prograrm. Jeff Hoeksema will be the resource person in charge of
helping the Council evaluate alternative approaches. We hope to give you information about
opportunities in this area by this fall 6. Youth Ministry - This is an area of great turnover and difficulty for many
congregations. The Council spent time reviewing our needs and what has worked in the past.
We struggled with direction, but agreed that we should begin with the Jr. High
Confirmation age youth and build from there. Several resources were suggested and we are
looking for parental and volunteer help. The Council considers this area of ministry a top
priority and is continuing its discussions of how best to be "an expression of God's
conpassion" to the young people at St. Paul.
As your elected leadership, we continue to
need your prayers and input as we lead St. Paul in carrying out our mission to "be an
expression of God's compassion in our community and beyond." God's peace be
with you. |
