Church council

Theme Verses for Your Church

/ The Pastor

The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit. Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. [Proverbs 16:1-3]

If this is not the theme verses for your church council/session/leadership group I ask you:

WHY NOT?

Pray and commit EVERYTHING to the Lord.

Enough said.

Holy God, may Your Spirit guide and inspire Your Church and may we be faithful to follow where You lead. May we not be so arrogant to think that we know what we are doing and may we place our trust in You. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Back at it

/ The Pastor

“Wow…where did the summer go?”

I have heard that question a number of times this week already.  The start of school has a way of awakening people to the reality of the quick passage of time. It almost feels like school just got out and now the kids are back.

For me, school beginning means that activities at church will be gearing up shortly:
~ On Sept 12 I will be welcoming back my 3 – 5th graders to release time.  Me with 20+ kids…sounds scary but I survived that number last year so I feel ready for them this year.   Bring them on 🙂
~ On Sept 19 we will be welcoming back our Wednesday Night Live (“Sunday school”) kids.  I am not directly involved here but I really enjoy connecting with these kids and their families.
~ On Sept 26 I will be welcoming back my confirmation class along with a couple new students.  Walking with these kids in their faith journey is an incredible privilege.
~ On Oct 3 we will be beginning a Wednesday evening worship opportunity.  I am not quite sure how this will look yet, but I am looking forward to this time.
~ And…the other seasonal activities that take place.

It is always nice to have a “summer break” but I do look forward to the craziness of all the activities that will be starting shortly.  I am looking forward to longer and fuller days. I am looking forward to ministering to the kids.  I am looking forward to teaching again.  Basically…I am looking forward to all that this season will bring.  If I didn’t look forward to this then I would either need to re-examine my call here or my call as a pastor.

Many people in Minnesota enjoy the change of seasons; knowing that a different season will be coming shortly with all its own uniqueness and beauty.  Maybe this ebb and flow of the year is what keeps things fresh and exciting for people.  No matter what profession you are in you need things to be “mixed up” once in a while.  Change can be good and refreshing.

So with that…when May 2013 rolls around I will be ready for a break from THIS season, but when September 2013 arrives…I will be ready and looking forward to that new, different and unique season.  And so on and so on…

You get the point.

But before I jump to far ahead of myself I am going to enjoy the ride that this season will bring; trusting God will give me strength and wisdom.  I can hardly wait to see what God is up to and how God will use the various people involved in this ministry.  In the end, God will be glorified.

So bring on fall 2012…I am ready 🙂

edh -|—

First Day of School

/ The Pastor

We didn’t serve Doughnut holes this year but we were still out in full force 🙂

Today was the first day of school…and like last year Salem Lutheran Church was out in the parking lot to greet kids and their parents.

You may remember from my “Doughnut holes” post from last year (see link above) but the church parking lot provides a convenient way for parents to drop off their kids and pick them up from school…and the first day of school is the busiest.

This year the Salem Lutheran Church council had more time to plan and brainstorm.  So this year we were out in the parking lot with coffee for mom and dad and juice for the kids (like last year).  Something different from last year is that instead of doughnut holes we gave the kids a choice between a box of raisins or a granola bar; something they could take with them and eat later if they wanted (and it was healthy). We also had pencils with various sayings like “Jesus loves you“.

And…we had a box of kleenix…which was a welcomed sight for a couple parents 🙂

Why did we do this?
~ It wasn’t to gain more members
~ It wasn’t a fundraiser.
~ It wasn’t to bring more visibility to the church.

The reason was simple:  To share the love of Christ in a very practical way.

…And we had a lot of fun.

After we were done ideas were starting to flow for next year…but hopefully it is not a full year until we show the love of Christ in a practical way.  Hopefully this is a daily habit for people.

And for the Church…I look forward to the next opportunity 🙂

edh -|—

God is good!!!

/ The Pastor / 7 Comments

If there was ever a time when I needed to be reminded that God will never give us more than we can handle…it is now.

Here’s the situation in brief:

–As I have mentioned before this weekend is Salem’s 125th anniversary and there is an open house at the parsonage tomorrow (Saturday).

–The bathroom is being remodeled.  We ordered flooring but as of Thursday is just arrived but no one was available to put it in = messy house for open house = stressed wife = stressed husband (me).  Help!

–[Here’s God intervening] One of my trustees has a son who installs flooring (why I didn’t remember is beyond me).  She heard about our setback and called her son and he said he could come on Friday to install the flooring.  PRAISE BE TO GOD!  He just left (Friday morning) to get is tools so he can start.  The  bathroom will now be done by the open house = less stress for my wife = less stress for the husband (me). PRAISE BE TO GOD!!!

–[Here’s God intervening again] Project #2…the patio.  One parishioner is working on this (former landscaper) all by himself = lots of work.  Yesterday and this morning people have been calling me left and right saying they are coming over to help Joel and get this done (Joel is happier).  PRAISE BE TO GOD!!!  And now I am feeling overwhelmed by God’s greatness and faithfulness.

–[The priesthood of all believers] People from the anniversary committee, the congregation president, various other council members, parishioners, and friends from the community (a friend of mine who happens to be the council president at the other Lutheran church in town) have stepped up to make this weekend happen.  Thank you and PRAISE BE TO GOD!!!

In response to this all I can say is “God is good…all the time.  All the time…God is good!!!”

PRAISE BE TO GOD!

-edh-

ELCA CWA09 — “The votes”

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

The ELCA Church wide assembly (CWA09) is going on in Minneapolis, MN right now (right where all those tornadoes touched down yesterday…thankfully no one was hurt).  The big action item from yesterday’s debate/discussion was the vote on whether to approve “Human Sexuality:  Gift and Trust“…a social statement of the ELCA.  According to assembly rules and the constitution this requires a 2/3 super majority for approval.  It passed by just 1 vote…amazing.  I would like to include a link to the amended version of this statement but as of right now it is not available.  Keep checking http://www.elca.org and the social statement will be there.

Coming up tomorrow will be the “main attraction”…Report and Recommendations on Ministry Policies. These recommendations refer to whether or not to allow gay/lesbian clergy serve on the roster of the ELCA who are in committed, monogamous, life-long same sex relationships.  Currently the rule is that if you are homosexual you must remain celibate.  These ministry recommendations also address allowing for same-sex blessings.  Also built into these recommendations is the issue of “bound conscience”.  Basically…individual congregations and synods wouldn’t be forced to bless same sex unions or call (or be prevented from calling) gay/lesbian clergy.  The vote on this is expected Friday morning.  Please keep these delegates in your prayers.

After tomorrow, the ELCA is going to be forever changed (no matter how the vote turns out).  If these recommendations do not pass, they will just come up again in two years when the ELCA meets again.  The conversation has come a long way and after tomorrow this will be in no way over.  After tomorrow people on both sides of the issue will have to decide how we are going to move forward as a Church.  People are going to have to decide how to serve together.  My hope and prayer is that we can finally move forward and do some serious ministry; focusing on advancing the mission of Christ.

Please continue pray…not just tomorrow morning…but into the future that the Church does not lose sight of its calling.  Whatever happens, may God be with us.

-edh-

Ministry model vs Business model — Part 3

/ The Pastor

Ministry model vs Business model — Part 1

Ministry model vs Business model — Part 2 

I have appreciated the discussion that has taken place around this “new” model for my church council and I want to highlight comments/suggestions that were submitted.  If you have any thoughts about encouraging a church council to be more mission minded please submit them.

Scripture
One thing that I suggested is that after the assigned council person for the month lead devotions, that I would lead the council in reading scripture; maybe the texts assigned for the upcoming Sunday.  Then Carolyn stopped by and suggested that after the first month of doing this I should encourage a pair of council people to lead the reading of scripture instead of the pastor doing it every month.  Scripture is something that all people are encouraged to engage and is something that anyone can read.  Carolyn is right.  Even though I did not intend to communicate that the pastor has be the one to read scripture the unwritten message was just that.  We are indeed the “priesthood of ALL believers”.

Prayer
Unlikely left a comment where he suggested starting the council meeting asking people what they are praying for.  At first people were a little hesitant, but after a few years Unlikely is filling up an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of paper.  I believe this is also a great way to connect people with one another.  When you know what/who someone else is praying for, you get a glimpse of that person’s heart.  It also makes the assumption that everyone is praying (and as Christians we should be).
 
Then Eric left a comment just recently about prayer and scripture.  He said, “Can you imagine the apostles of the early church getting together to make decisions without prayer and Scripture?”  That seems unheard of, yet we need to make an effort to include prayer and scripture more when we meet as a church council.  I have found that many people are just not comfortable praying in front of others, yet they are comfortable talking to their best friend.  I/We need to help people understand that prayer is not something that has to be done a certain way but rather it’s simply talking to your best friend.  Maybe this could be a devotional topic/discussion for an upcoming council meeting.  Maybe Unlikely’s suggestion about prayer will help here.

Thank you for the comments that have come thus far.  They have definitely given me (and hopefully you) something to think about.  If you have anything else you would like to contribute to this discussion please leave a comment.  This series will be continued…

God bless!

-edh-

Ministry model vs. Business model — Part 2

/ The Pastor / 6 Comments

Ministry model vs Business model — Part 1

…I’m alright.  My mom called me this morning thinking something was wrong.  I did not post my usual “Sunday morning prayer” yesterday and had not posted my usual “Monday morning check in” yet today.  Sorry mom (and little sis)…I didn’t mean to worry you two.

Anyway…I am here.  Yesterday morning got a little busy and this morning has been the same.  It is hard to believe that September is right around the corner so that means Sunday school, Release Time and Confirmation is upon us.  Wow…where did the summer go?

Council meeting update
Last week I resumed talking about the business meeting model vs. ministry meeting model for my church council (See the above link for part one of this series).  In July we did some brainstorming on how we can better advance the mission of Christ.  I was very excited and encouraged about the outcome of that meeting.  I then mailed out some “homework” for the council; encouraging them to continue this ministry planning.  My hope was to discuss what they did at out August.  Unfortunately we did not get to do what I wanted to do.  It didn’t work out to start the meeting with mission planning and by the time we got to that agenda item it was getting late and people were getting restless.  I need to sit down with my president and make sure we are on the same page here.

Then today I got an email from a council member on how we need to spend more time in scripture and prayer at council meetings.  She felt we need to start our meetings reading the Bible together and praying more.  She must have been reading my mind these past few weeks and months.

So here is part of my plan to transform the Salem church council into a ministry meeting model over a business meeting model. Let me know what you think:
(1) On a piece of poster board that is hung in our meeting room, I have a list of our ministry priorities that we feel will advance the mission of Christ (this is our brainstorm list from July).  This will serve as a reminder each and every month why we really are taking time out of our busy schedules each month.

(2) The assigned council member for the month will lead the group in devotions as always.

(3)I will then lead the group in reading scripture.  Maybe the focus texts will be the lectionary texts for the upcoming Sunday.  Discussion and prayer would follow.

(4) Begin the “business” meeting portion of the ministry meeting.  This way, if the meeting starts running long, whats really important will not get the shaft.

So one of my priority do-to items this month is to sit down with my council president and share with him this plan and make sure he is on board.

What are your thoughts on this plan so far?  What would you add or do differently?

Series to be continued…

Take care and God bless!

-edh-