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Gloria Dei Evangelical Lutheran Church |
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Helping our community experience a new life with Jesus |
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A Letter from Pastor Mike It is the constitutional task of the Evangelism
chairperson and the pastor to present a mission proposal at the November
Congregation Meeting. It seems proper
and consistent that each year’s mission proposal be related to our mission
statement: “Helping our community experience a new life with Jesus.” Recent encounters with a variety of people have been
a reminder of the importance of community in our lives. Even those to whom the idea of belonging to
a church seems foreign and words such as “grace,” “salvation” and
“justification” have little or no meaning realize the need to be in
relationship with a group of people, preferably ones who care for their
well-being; ideally one’s who love them even during those times when they are
unlovable. Who has not experienced
such a feeling of isolation? It is
especially clear in hard times that we cannot “do” life well alone. The spiritual, emotional and physical
resources of a person and a family can be tested and strained to the limits
when life gets tough. Without the
benefit of a community that strain can be overwhelming. Community is at the foundation of
Christianity. As Christians we rely on
our community to stand with us in times of trouble, even as we stand ready to
offer ourselves to our brothers and sisters in Christ in their times of need. The idea of a lone Christian simply does
not make sense. Christ in ushering in
the coming kingdom gathered a community around him and the disciple’s
response to the resurrection and the Great Commission has been and continues
to be to gather in ecclesia,
Church, community. What then do we have to offer people, people to
whom “sin and salvation” may be of no concern at this particular time in
their lives; to whom Good News seems an impossibility, but who long to belong
to something larger than themselves, something that offers companionship and
hope in a world of isolation and fear?
We have Gloria Dei Evangelical Lutheran Church to offer; we have
ourselves as community to give. We can
offer a place where people will experience the love of Christ on their way to
knowing Christ. At our Fall meeting we
adopted the following as our mission in the coming year: “In 2010, we will
invite others to experience community in Christ through our life together.” This is a tall order but through God’s
grace we can do it together. Peace, Pastor Mike
Peggy Crawford’s WELCA Sunday Reflection on
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church is a congregation of the |
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