PASTOR'S MESSAGE:  Sisters and brothers in Christ, back in mid-July, the congregational council and various interested members of Calvary gathered together at the church to consider the future of Calvary. We looked at scripture and our Lutheran heritage to give us guidance. 

Our Lutheran heritage teaches us that the Church is wherever the people of God gather to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached and taught in accordance with scripture and receive the Sacraments rightly administered in accordance with the Gospel. In other words, the Church is the people of God who meet and believe in Jesus through the Word and Sacraments.  In some sense that is simple enough, but what does it look like when we put it into practice? How should the community of believers live out this way of life?

When we read Acts 2:42-47, we gain a glimpse of how the early believers lived out their faith.  Their corporate or shared life centered around loving God and one another through these 4 basic faith practices: worship and prayer; study and teaching; service to others and doing justice; and fellowship.

And why did they do these things? Because this is what Jesus did.  He taught his followers by example. As followers and lovers of Jesus, Jesus teaches us to do the same.

As we discussed and reflected on these four categories and our community life at Calvary, we realized that we could do a better job.  We believed we did worship well, but could broaden our experiences and grow deeper in our worship and prayer life. We observed that we do not take enough time to gather together to study and learn, and that there needed to be more opportunities beyond Thursday and Sunday mornings for all ages. We saw that we contribute to a great many worthwhile service ministries, however our commitment tended to only scratch the surface; we need to go deeper in order to do justice as Jesus did and taught. And lastly, we recognized that our fellowship ministry had withering badly.

This self-assessment of Calvary is troubling, because healthy, growing churches are healthy and growing because the Spirit is there leading the people in all four of these areas.

As such, come September, we are going to try out some new things.  For example, for worship we have four new sets of color-coded bells so that we can provide more opportunities for kids as young as 2 to participate. Adults are invited to play as well, and Linda Pfingsten is going to help lead this charge. Also we are going to learn some new songs, including some that are more contemporary, and some that will be in Spanish. And the choir, with our new director, Steve Kuhlman, will help lead us.

Next, starting Wednesday, September 8, in order to help us grow in our study and fellowship, we are going to begin a Family Fun Night. Intended for people of all ages, the plan is to gather at -
6 pm - 6:45 pm: for a light meal (potluck style)
6:45 pm - 7 pm: sing a few songs or practice our new bells
7 pm - 8:30 pm: break into small groups for the rest of the evening.

Some of these groups will be for confirmation and senior high youth. There also appears to be good interest for a game group (dominoes especially), an arts and crafts group (especially prayer shawl knitting and making Christian greeting cards). Others have expressed interest in a bible study or book club and a prayer group. Perhaps there may be enough interested in a grief-share small group, or wood working, or tutoring, or Tai Chi, or nutrition, or whatever. Bring your ideas, get involved, and see what happens. One never knows what God is up to in situations like these, except that it is good.

As regards Service and Justice, Marie Williams (our Social Concerns chairperson) and I suggest we narrow down some of activities so that we might be more deeply involved with, say, Project Dignidad or the soup kitchen, with Briarwood Lutheran Camp, and with our international companion synod of Sierra Leon. Something local, something synodical, and something international.

Having said all this, there is one point I want to emphasize: These things that we do are EXPERIMENTS. If they succeed, great! If they don't, then we'll try something else. At the same time, success and failure is not based on whether we like it or not. They're based on whether we learned and grew in how we go about loving God and loving others and our selves.

None of these ministries are a magic bullet to help us suddenly grow.  There is no magic bullet; however, Scripture tells us to be faithful in our ministry in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and God will give the growth.
     
Our future is in God's hands. Let us boldly trust in Jesus and faithfully live according to his example by participating in the life of the community we lovingly call Calvary Lutheran Church. I look forward to seeing you soon and being amazed at what God does with our hands.
In Christ's service and yours, Pr. Kurt Fangmeier