Sharing Your Gifts
"If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ...Since you know these things, you are blessed when you do them."
--John 13:14, 17.
--John 13:14, 17.
Looking forward: The Spirit is calling us to get to work! (April 2018 Vision)
God is most certainly at work here.
I am beginning to have a sense of the Spirit working through us and into the world.
-There has been a surge of young couples coming forward to schedule weddings and baptisms – with more still on the horizon.
-Participation on Sunday morning continues to strengthen in Worship and in Fellowship time.
-A total of 35 Couples are attending the initial “Couples Seminar” series on Communication and Building Stronger Marriages.
-High school students have been supporting the Seminar by babysitting through the 2-hour classes on Sunday nights.
-Excitement is starting to build within the Leadership of the Kingdom Kids ministry as we look to plan for the 2018-19 program year.
-The Youth Ministry Trip to Toledo is starting to gain steam as we get closer to July.
So what does the road forward look like? Well, it turns out your guess is probably as good as mine. That doesn’t mean we are off the hook when it comes to casting a vision in the Spirit and then planning for God show us that our expectations are nothing compared to what He has in store for us.
God has been slowly forming a vision for us here at SSLC within my heart and here’s what I’ve got so far.
If we want to go back to two services starting in September, you need to signal your resolve to support the move by attending worship in May and into the summer.
Our sanctuary is large and when the assembled congregation numbers less than 100, it feels really empty. And when things don’t feel right – people simply don’t participate as much (or in the case of visitors, return).
Starting in September, we want to worship at 8 and 10. The services will not be cookie cutter images of each other.
Both will evolve into their own Spirit-led worship style and manner.
Initial thoughts on 8: Consider utilizing Setting 3 or 4 in the Green Hymnal, as well as other more ‘High Church’ traditions. Endeavor to have the old standards in heavy rotation for the hymns, as well as reintroduce the organ into public worship to some extent. This could be a piano/organ combo. Communion offered 1st and 4th Sundays of the month.
Initial thoughts on 10: Use of Worship Leader to navigate the hymns/songs, as well as additional instrumentation as the Spirit avails for live music (think acoustic guitars, bass, drums, flute …). Utilize pre-recorded videos for songs – about two per service. Communion offered 2nd and 3rd Sundays of the month.
Kingdom Kids and Breakfast Club will begin at 9. The Senior Moment will begin at 9:20.
Initially, Kingdom Kids will have three classes: Pre-K & K, 1&2, 3&4. Based on the numbers, we can I can see splitting classes further by grade.
Breakfast Club is the return of the 5th and 6th graders to Sunday morning and will involve – you guessed it – eating breakfast and learning the stories of the Bible. Note: Families of this year’s 5th graders will have the option of remaining on Wednesday nights (grandfathered in).
The Senior Moment is Pastor leading a short class on Biblical History and/or Theology as it relates to the day’s lessons, complete with worksheets and discussion. This is a 15-minute devotional and will likely be held in the narthex whilst drinking coffee (but of course).
Wednesday nights: We will continue using the Sparkhouse CoLaborate Series for Confirmation – and will invest in the complete workbook series. The best deal on this is all four workbooks and a leather-bound matching Bible for $50. If the church council is willing to split costs with the families, we can get a lot more bang for our buck. Truth be told, I would be perfectly happy to share the Brick (Lego) Bible or the Action Bible with 5th graders as a gift from the congregation – waiting until 7th grader for their NIV/NRSV Study Bible. The focus through 6th grade really needs to be on familiarization and basic understanding of the stories of God’s interaction with His Creation in the Bible.
Attendance will be taken and only a limited number of absences will be allowed in order to make confirmation as a 10th grader. All 7th-8th graders will be required to attend a Sunday morning worship and participate in a worker position at least once a month. All 9th and 10th graders will be required to attend twice a month, participating in any number of important roles, as well. These roles can include – but are not limited to – reading, ushering, greeting, communion assistant, acting as a teaching assistant in one of the Sunday School classes, eating breakfast with the 5th and 6th graders (provided you are actually capable of modeling awesomeness and will lead from that role).
Communion will be offered the 1st Wednesday night of the month. The worship service itself will be transformed into a much more laid back and shorter experience: It will be a couple of video hymns, a Bible passage, a Message and Prayer.
Pastor Thul
I am beginning to have a sense of the Spirit working through us and into the world.
-There has been a surge of young couples coming forward to schedule weddings and baptisms – with more still on the horizon.
-Participation on Sunday morning continues to strengthen in Worship and in Fellowship time.
-A total of 35 Couples are attending the initial “Couples Seminar” series on Communication and Building Stronger Marriages.
-High school students have been supporting the Seminar by babysitting through the 2-hour classes on Sunday nights.
-Excitement is starting to build within the Leadership of the Kingdom Kids ministry as we look to plan for the 2018-19 program year.
-The Youth Ministry Trip to Toledo is starting to gain steam as we get closer to July.
So what does the road forward look like? Well, it turns out your guess is probably as good as mine. That doesn’t mean we are off the hook when it comes to casting a vision in the Spirit and then planning for God show us that our expectations are nothing compared to what He has in store for us.
God has been slowly forming a vision for us here at SSLC within my heart and here’s what I’ve got so far.
If we want to go back to two services starting in September, you need to signal your resolve to support the move by attending worship in May and into the summer.
Our sanctuary is large and when the assembled congregation numbers less than 100, it feels really empty. And when things don’t feel right – people simply don’t participate as much (or in the case of visitors, return).
Starting in September, we want to worship at 8 and 10. The services will not be cookie cutter images of each other.
Both will evolve into their own Spirit-led worship style and manner.
Initial thoughts on 8: Consider utilizing Setting 3 or 4 in the Green Hymnal, as well as other more ‘High Church’ traditions. Endeavor to have the old standards in heavy rotation for the hymns, as well as reintroduce the organ into public worship to some extent. This could be a piano/organ combo. Communion offered 1st and 4th Sundays of the month.
Initial thoughts on 10: Use of Worship Leader to navigate the hymns/songs, as well as additional instrumentation as the Spirit avails for live music (think acoustic guitars, bass, drums, flute …). Utilize pre-recorded videos for songs – about two per service. Communion offered 2nd and 3rd Sundays of the month.
Kingdom Kids and Breakfast Club will begin at 9. The Senior Moment will begin at 9:20.
Initially, Kingdom Kids will have three classes: Pre-K & K, 1&2, 3&4. Based on the numbers, we can I can see splitting classes further by grade.
Breakfast Club is the return of the 5th and 6th graders to Sunday morning and will involve – you guessed it – eating breakfast and learning the stories of the Bible. Note: Families of this year’s 5th graders will have the option of remaining on Wednesday nights (grandfathered in).
The Senior Moment is Pastor leading a short class on Biblical History and/or Theology as it relates to the day’s lessons, complete with worksheets and discussion. This is a 15-minute devotional and will likely be held in the narthex whilst drinking coffee (but of course).
Wednesday nights: We will continue using the Sparkhouse CoLaborate Series for Confirmation – and will invest in the complete workbook series. The best deal on this is all four workbooks and a leather-bound matching Bible for $50. If the church council is willing to split costs with the families, we can get a lot more bang for our buck. Truth be told, I would be perfectly happy to share the Brick (Lego) Bible or the Action Bible with 5th graders as a gift from the congregation – waiting until 7th grader for their NIV/NRSV Study Bible. The focus through 6th grade really needs to be on familiarization and basic understanding of the stories of God’s interaction with His Creation in the Bible.
Attendance will be taken and only a limited number of absences will be allowed in order to make confirmation as a 10th grader. All 7th-8th graders will be required to attend a Sunday morning worship and participate in a worker position at least once a month. All 9th and 10th graders will be required to attend twice a month, participating in any number of important roles, as well. These roles can include – but are not limited to – reading, ushering, greeting, communion assistant, acting as a teaching assistant in one of the Sunday School classes, eating breakfast with the 5th and 6th graders (provided you are actually capable of modeling awesomeness and will lead from that role).
Communion will be offered the 1st Wednesday night of the month. The worship service itself will be transformed into a much more laid back and shorter experience: It will be a couple of video hymns, a Bible passage, a Message and Prayer.
Pastor Thul
South Santiago Lutheran Church is a congregation with a servant's heart. Our mission statement--"Teaching the Word, Reaching the World"--reflects this heart. Our evolving purpose statement gives us direction in that mission:
We are a congregation whose core values seek to change lives through the power of the Holy Spirit by
forming and sustaining life-long personal faith in God through Christ Jesus.
We do this by seeking to engage our congregation, the surrounding community,
and the world through Word-inspired cross-generational ministry and radical hospitality.
But what reveals our servant's heart; our obedience to Jesus' command to "wash one another's feet"; and most importantly of all, God's love revealed in this world is our action!
We are a congregation whose core values seek to change lives through the power of the Holy Spirit by
forming and sustaining life-long personal faith in God through Christ Jesus.
We do this by seeking to engage our congregation, the surrounding community,
and the world through Word-inspired cross-generational ministry and radical hospitality.
But what reveals our servant's heart; our obedience to Jesus' command to "wash one another's feet"; and most importantly of all, God's love revealed in this world is our action!