WEEKLY CALENDAR: Sunday: 9:00a Worship 10:30a Worship Tuesday: 2:00p Adult Bible Study Next Sunday: 9:00a Worship 10:30a Worship

Transcription

1 3 Christ Lutheran, Wichita, KS Take Home News for week of July 29, 2018 WEEKLY CALENDAR: Sunday: 9:00a Worship 10:30a Worship Tuesday: 2:00p Adult Bible Study Next Sunday: 9:00a Worship 10:30a Worship Worship Notes: Cell phones: Leave them on, just turn off the ringer. Social Media: Feel free to text, tweet, Facebook, Instagram, blog, etc. during the service to let your friends know what is happening in worship and inviting them to join you next Sunday. Christ Lutheran is on Facebook. Pastor Chad Langdon is on Facebook & Twitter Twitter: #clcwichita Wi-Fi: Church Net Password: Christmas1225 Communion: All are welcome to participate & receive the grace of God! The bulletin has further instructions & information. Children: Young people are always welcome and encouraged to participate as much as possible. There are worship jobs available for the children to do during the service. They can just pick any lanyard & it explains how they can serve today. There are also Children s Bulletins & Activity Bags in the lobby. We have a nursery available for children 5 and under, and it is staffed all morning. BLESSING OF THE BACKPACKS Sunday, August 12 th, at both services All students, teachers, and education staff please bring your backpacks with you to worship, and they will be blessed for a great school year!

2 4 SUMMER WORSHIP Our theme for this summer is Wonder Women of Faith. We are celebrating the faith, love, and courage of women in the Bible. Each Sunday we are focusing on one woman or a group of women. Today we will be featuring the Woman at the Well. Next week we feature Mary and Martha. DRIVERS WANTED Chris Ward has recently moved back to her home in Valley Center. She is currently living by herself and is no longer able to drive due to her health conditions. She is looking for some people to be available to assist her, either on a regular weekly basis (ie for trips to the grocery store, Walmart, transportation to & from church, etc) or on an as-needed basis (ie for doctor s visits). If you would be willing to help Chris by being a driver, please mark the Tear-Off and we will give her the list of willing drivers. Thank you! CAMPFIRE CLC & NEW NEIGHBORS We have about 20 homes now occupied to our south, most with multiple persons in the household. We also have the 100 or so people who are in the complex at 45th and Hillside. We are having a night of fun and games with a hot dog cookout with all of our new neighbors invited to join our congregants on Saturday August 25th at 6:30 PM. Join us in this important ministry opportunity that is also a great time to make some new friends with fellowship for all. Donn Bischoff

3 5 An Update from Sydney Freed Dear Church Family, Thank you so much for all of the support. I am so excited that God has called me to do this and that he has made it possible. I leave September 9th and I will be back June 1st, I have a squad of 48 kids my age (18-20) going to Guatemala, Thailand, Malaysia and Swaziland with me and then we are broken into groups/teams for ministry. Mine is a ream of 5 and we are all so ready for September. I will be posting blogs and pictures through my blog site to keep you all updated on my journey! Thank you again for the donations, support and prayers it means the world to me! God Bless. Love, Sydney Freed INVITATION FLYERS As we get closer to the start of the school year and the beginning of our Fall Programming, it is a great time to invite friends, neighbors & coworkers. We have created some Invitation Flyers to help you overcome the fear of inviting people to church. These flyers are located on the Opportunity Table. Please take as many as you need and encourage your friends to join you at these activities!

4 6 Mercy Ship News FINALLY, National Geographic has made the series they did the first fall Brittany was with Mercy Ship available for watching in the US (Australia got it last year!). To watch on your computer you can use this link: If you have Cox Cable & have a smart TV or use a device such as a Roku, you can log into Nat Geo TV & access the series for free. It s called Surgery Ship and has 8 episodes. They run about 45 minutes a piece. It gives you a full picture of work aboard the Africa Mercy & we can imagine Brittany living each day with these incredible people. Another small way to contribute to Mercy Ships is thru your Amazon orders. If you use Amazon and we re not pushing its use you can sign up for Amazon Smile (you must sign in to smile.amazon.com each time you shop). Amazon contributes ½% of designated purchases to the charity of your choice. On your first visit to AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), you are prompted to select a charitable organization from their list of eligible organizations. You can change your selection at any time. Mercy Ship is one choice. There are copies of the Midland Magazine on the opportunity table. This is the alumni publication from Brittany s alma mater, Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska. She is featured in the first article. Feel free to take a copy home to read & then return to share with others. In addition, here is a link directly to the issue of the magazine: Brittany left Wichita on July 15 th to spend a few days in Canada visiting Mercy Ship friends & attending one of their weddings. She leaves for the Canary Islands to join the ship at maintenance docking on Sunday, July 22 nd arriving on Monday, July 23 rd. The ship sails for Guinea (west coast of Africa) the next week. She will be on the leadership team all year & we ask your continued prayers for all the crew & staff for a successful field service there. We are overwhelmed with your care & support of our daughter! In Christ s Love, Jim & Mary Garrelts

5 7 SUNDAY SCHOOL OPPORTUNITY Beginning in September, one of our adult Sunday school classes will be taking on the topic of Saints & Sinners. John Snow will be leading this effort as the class dives into Lutheran theology, examining scripture and the Book of Concord, and exploring what it means to live simultaneously as both saints and sinners. This class will begin when Sunday school starts again in the fall on September 9. AN UPDATE FROM COUNCIL Each month, we as a council consider our budget, our expenses and our giving. We appreciate the gifts that each person in this congregation provides, financial or otherwise. As we progress into this summer, giving has fallen behind expenses. Compared to this time last year, expenses have increased about 3%, but giving has fallen by about 10%. As we transition into fall, I would ask everyone to prayerfully consider their giving in the upcoming months. Brian Miller, Resource Chair

6 8 SUNDAY SCHOOL MEETING On Tuesday, August 7 th at 7:00pm, we will be having a Sunday school planning meeting. We would love for parents, grandparents, and anyone interested in being a teacher or helping in other ways to come to this meeting. We ll be talking about classes, curriculum, room space, our child protection policy, and getting ideas for the upcoming year. Please mark the Tear-Off if you would like to help with Sunday school this upcoming year. Please let Pastor Chad or Tara Brown know if you want to come, but cannot make it to the meeting. Thank you! Karibu! (Welcome in Swahili) Refugee Ministry Update Christ Lutheran Church as a co-sponsor with Saint Francis Migration Ministries (SFMM) will be welcoming a family of ten people from the Congo in August. In addition to the parents there is a daughter, age 20; daughter, 16; daughter, 15; daughter, 12; son, 10; son, 7 and a son, 5. Another adult son (age 22) has been separated from the family for some time, however, he has now come to Wichita through SFMM and will now be able to rejoin his family. What a time this will be for them to celebrate! The family arrives on August 28 and will be welcomed at the airport by their new friends from Christ Lutheran and SFMM. They will then go to their new four bedroom apartment at 13 th and Hillside and begin life in Wichita. We have limited information about the family at this time. They are described as speaking some English which will make

7 9 our job easier. Their son who has been here about one month is employed. Our job includes housing and assistance, welcome, friendship, transportation, education and employment. With all of these tasks, we offer assistance but also work in partnership with the case worker and employment specialist in providing for care of this family over the next year. If you would like to be a part of this ministry, you are welcome to attend our next meeting, which is Wednesday, August 8 th at 6:30pm at church. The following is a list of items we continue to work on as we prepare for their arrival on August 28. Assistance with providing any of these items (or multiples of them) is appreciated and can be dropped off at church Mattress & box springs Bed frames Dressers Couch Lamps Kitchen table CRISIS IN THE CONGO The Democratic Republic of Congo has suffered from political instability, insecurity and violence ever since their independence in They have never had a peaceful transfer of power from one leader to the next. The most recent crisis began in earnest in mid- Bath towels Sheets / blankets Pillows / pillowcases Alarm clock Clothing in good condition Cleaning supplies (broom, sponges, plunger, etc) Kitchen items (dish sets, silverware, pots, pans, utensils, etc) Toiletries (soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, shower liner, etc)

8 , however. A tribal chieftain, known as Kamwina Nsapu, called for an insurgency in the Kasai region after the Congolese government refused to recognize his authority in his province. Nsapu demanded that his followers expel all Congolese security forces from the region. After months of tensions, security forces killed Kamwina Nsapu in an August 2016 raid. His followers pledged to avenge his death and stepped up their attacks on government institutions. Since then, more than a million people have been displaced, many trying to keep their children from being forced into the armed conflict. Whole villages have been burned to the ground. Thousands have been murdered and their bodies dumped into mass graves. According to their constitution, Congo s president, Joseph Kabila, was supposed to step down from power at the end of 2016, but in keeping with history, he has refused to cede his power. The United Nations has declared the Congo to be one of the world s worst humanitarian emergencies, on par with Syria and Yemen. Unfortunately, President Kabila claims that his country is not facing a humanitarian crisis and is refusing UN aid for his people. Many of the refugees fleeing the violence, war, and ethnic persecution are finding their way into refugee camps in Uganda.

9 11

10 12 Human Needs Human Needs Committee continues to collect good furniture for distribution to our refugee families when we are matched. The storage shed will be open Saturday, August 4 from 10 AM until noon to bring your donations by for storage. Most needed furniture donations are dining table and chairs. dressers, lamps and light bulbs, couches and stock pots. Anticipate that before we accept the donation that we will check it over to make certain it is in good condition. No used mattresses are accepted. If you need a vehicle to assist in moving the furniture contact Forrest. A thank you shout out for Donn and Deborah Bischoff who made this storage area available and to Mike Lechner (Waste Link) who provided a truck for removal of unusable items. Interested in visiting a refugee family (membership in Christ Lutheran is not required)? Applications are available on the opportunity table. Questions talk with Forrest Ehmke or Pastor Chad. Family Promise continues to move forward. They need four more congregations to have enough congregations to begin their second rotation. They anticipate this will be after October, Questions about Family Promise talk with Elaine Miller. Thank you for all who contributed to the Filling the Gap program. Snack items were delivered on Friday, July 13. Thank you to all our Christ Lutheran family who will be distributing the Filling the Gap lunches throughout Wichita at the end of summer school.

11 13 ELCA SOCIAL STATEMENT ON WOMEN & JUSTICE You ll notice a new addition to our worship liturgy this summer. Because we are focusing on women in the Bible, each week we will also be including an excerpt from the ELCA s Draft Social Statement on Women & Justice. Social statements are teaching and policy documents that assist ELCA Lutherans in forming judgments and in guiding action on social issues. They are developed through an extensive process of prayer, study and deliberation involving the whole ELCA and must be adopted by a 2/3 vote of an ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Currently the ELCA has 12 social statements (addressing topics like genetics, the death penalty, and human sexuality), and will be voting on the next one at the 2019 Churchwide Assembly. The social statement currently up for discussion and adoption is The Social Statement on Women & Justice. So that our congregation can participate in the discernment process for this potential new social statement, each week during the summer we will be reading an excerpt from this draft statement. The full statement contains 36 basic theses and then a longer Fuller Explanation section for each of the theses. The 36 theses are organized around these 5 areas: I. Core Convictions II. Analysis of Patriarchy and Sexism III. Resources for Resisting Patriarchy and Sexism IV. Response to God s Work: Call to Action and New Commitments in Society V. Response to God s Word: Call to Action and New Commitments Regarding the Church We will be reading a few theses each week, and today s theses are from section IV called Response to God s Work: Call to Action and New Commitments in Society. If you would like to read the full draft of the social statement or learn more about the process, you can visit We also have a few full

12 14 copies available at the Opportunity Table for you to look at or take home. There are a few things to remember as we read through this statement: 1. This is a draft statement, and the greater church is looking for your input. If you have thoughts or reactions to what you hear us read in worship, you are invited to respond online at bit.ly/womenandjusticedraft or talk to Pastor Chad and he can help you send a letter. All responses are due by September 30, The ELCA is interested in your feedback! 2. What you hear in worship today is only an excerpt. We don t have time to read entire sections, so what we read may sound or feel a bit out of context today. 3. We are only reading the basic theses in worship. The full social statement contains a deeper explanation and theological justification for each one of the theses that we will be reading. If something peaks your interest, you are encouraged to read the entire statement, including the Fuller Explanation section. CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS FOR JULY For our congregational prayers of intercession during the summer we will be trying out a couple of different prayer forms. For the month of July, we will be using the A.C.T.S. prayer model. Each letter reminds us to pray for something different. During worship, the Leader will introduce each prayer petition and pause for a few moments. During that silence, you are invited to speak aloud the phrases you would like to offer to God. This will be a popcorn style prayer, meaning that you can just pop in with your requests, and it is ok if you say your names while someone else is saying theirs. Here are the parts of A.C.T.S. prayer model and what they mean: ADORATION: Begin the prayer by adoring God and offering praise. This is a time for telling God what He means to you and how much you love Him. This is not the same as Thanksgiving where you

13 15 thank God for all He has done, but a time to tell God how magnificent/holy/glorious He is, to focus solely on Him, to tell Him all the wondrous beautiful things about Him you love. King David was a great worshipper of god and a man God Himself stated was after His own heart. You can read Psalms for great examples of adoration. CONFESSION: This is when we confess our all our sins to God. Unconfessed sin creates a barrier between you and God and can hinder your prayers. Begin by confessing your sin to Him with an apologetic and repentant heart. Ask God to bring to mind any sins you may not be aware of so that you may repent and confess. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9). Often times the feeling of a weight lifting will follow this step. THANKSGIVING: This is where we count our blessings, thanking and praising God for all He has given us and done for us in life. You may begin with the basics such as family, friends, food, shelter, safety, jobs, health, healing. Thank Him for hearing your prayers and for forgiving your sins, for His all-consuming love for you. Here we follow Paul's advice in Ephesians 5:20 by giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. SUPPLICATION: This is also known as Intercession. This is the phase of prayer where we come to the Father asking God to supply needs for ourselves and others. Be specific in your prayers. For example, instead of asking for God to bless your family, ask Him to help your son focus in math class and to give his teacher the wisdom she needs to present the information in a way he can digest, etc. If you feel led to pray for a certain person but don't know exactly what that person needs, ask God to lead you in prayer. He will. Remember, prayer is an act of communing with God. It is about communication. It is about relationship with God. Use these steps to help you obtain that but don't feel you must

14 16 adhere to any rigid rules. Also don't forget that communication is a two way street, that means you have to listen as well. You may not hear at first but with practice you begin to feel God speaking to your heart. ATTENDANCE LAST SUNDAY: 133 Scripture readings for August 5 th, 2018: Luke: 10:38-42 Next Week Worship leaders E Pastor: Chad Langdon Praise Band Leader: Mary Garrelts Reader: Robin Pressnall Greeter: Sandra & Joe Raleigh PPT: Sydney Freed Ushers: Kalie Brown & Wes Nelson Communion Assistants: Kristi Zecha & Elaine Miller Next Week Worship leaders E Pastor: Chad Langdon Leader: Jan Clark Greeter: Lois Jensen Ushers: Donn Bischoff & Dwight Boyce Choir Director: Darla Steinert Organist: Margaret Dietz Pianist: Lois Jensen Reader: Donn Bischoff PPT: Cheryl Shaw Christ Lutheran Church Pastor Chad Langdon 5356 N. Hillside, Wichita, Kansas Phone: Fax: pastor@clc.kscoxmail.com Use our hashtag on Facebook or Twitter: #clcwichita