Brothers and sisters in Christ, I pray you and yours are well.
Mark your calendars—September 11 will be the official start to our fall ministry schedule. Several important things will happen on this day.
Membership Class will begin on September 11. We offer Membership Class at 9:15 AM on Sundays. Class runs through October 16. Everyone wanting to join Faith Lutheran Church needs to attend Membership Class, even if you are transferring in from another LCMS church. We understand that you have already studied our teachings and accept them—and we are thankful for this. It would be “easier” to just transfer you in, but becoming a member at Faith is more than an administrative task.
By participating in the class, you get to meet other new members joining Faith. I get to know you better. You also get to meet the other staff and lay leaders of our church; Maree Garchow is scheduling them to join our classes. This is important because it will give you a chance to learn more about the ministries of our church. We will also show you how to use our PrayerCares app, which is how members enter prayer requests for themselves or their loved ones. You will have the opportunity to become a PrayerCares partner and have access to our database.
This summer we are transitioning to our new church management software, Breeze. This new software is used for everything from checking you in when you worship (something you can even do for yourself); to “tagging” you with the areas of ministry that you want to be kept up to date on (we want to be responsive to your interests and desires); also, we will ask you to let us know what restrictions you want on sharing your contact information. You will learn who your Elder is and have the opportunity to connect.
In addition to these things, we will all review together the six chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism; we will give you a hardbound copy for your home. When you become a member, I will ask you before the congregation if you willingly accept our teachings and agree to them, so this class is super important. We added 20 members at Easter by God’s grace.
Children and Youth ministries will be starting a new curriculum. Parents, you will be receiving information regarding who your children’s teachers are, their classrooms, and details about planned Youth Ministry activities. Please look at Nic Cass’s article this month for more information. Always feel welcome to reach out to Nic with any questions or ideas you might have.
Please keep this date in your prayers. God is doing amazing things, and we are seeing this at Faith also.
V/r,
Pastor Jim