We Are Looking for a Non-Denominational Church

Transcription

1 August 2018 We Are Looking for a NonDenominational Church We are new to Ankeny and are looking for a good nondenominational church for our family. Alissa showed me the post from one of the Ankeny Mom Facebook Groups. A good nondenominational church. What should I say? It s kind of hard to pretend you re a nondenominational church when you have Lutheran Church in your name, so we re probably not going to be on their list of churches to visit. But then I got to thinking: what does it mean for a church to be nondenominational? And what does it mean for a church to be denominational? I think there s a good bit of confusion about what belonging to a denomination means, both in terms of what the creed (or beliefs) of a church is (or are), and how a church goes about doing mission and ministry. St. Paul Lutheran Church is a member congregation of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. What this means is that we have voluntarily associated ourself with a national church body of around 6,000 congregations based on a shared confession of faith. We have joined ourself to the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod because we all believe the same things. Now, in some church bodies, the denomination owns the church (literally!) and the church s association with the denomination is compulsory, not voluntary (as is the case with us). But what about a nondenominational church? Most of them have some bent toward Calvinist or Armenian theology (although, increasingly, they tend to favor the Prosperity Gospel). What sets them apart from denominational congregations is a lack of connection to other congregations that teach the same thing. These congregations tend to be led by the personal theology and vision of the head pastor. One of the knocks of denominational congregations is that they are cogs in the denominational machine and not vibrant and alive. While that may be the case in some circumstances, every nondenominational congregation lacks the networking, accountability, and shared resources that come Continued on page twelve

2 We Made It! But, Let s Be Honest Congratulations, St. Paul Ankeny! You have an Associate Pastor, again. The youth did not scare him away on their Confirmation Trip to Washington DC, Pastor Duncan and the rest of the staff have not (and will not really, don t worry about it) overwork him. He s made it through his first Leadership, Elders, and Council meetings. I, Andrew Coop, am here to stay as your Associate Pastor of Outreach and Assimilation. And, Ashley and I couldn t be more excited to be here in Ankeny and begin ministry with you! It truly is a blessing to be called here. But, let s be honest, we re in an interesting situation. I am younger than over 60% of the congregation, and at least 20% of the congregation could be my grandparents. And as much as I would love for this to be our only relationship, you have called me to be your pastor, which is inherently a leadership position. But, I have zero profession leadership experience. Now, thankfully I have a great mentor in Pastor Duncan, and I have already been able to pick up some helpful things from him. But, I won t always be able to defer to him. You have called me to be your pastor. Now, I don t write any of this to try and create a riff, a divide, between you and me. I want to get to know each one of you for who you truly are, and not a persona that can be put together for Sunday mornings. I want to care for and love you, and I want to be loved by you, because that is what it means to be the Church of God. From its inception (John 19:27) the New Testament Church has been relational, familial, and connected by the love of our God who would sacrifice the life of His own Son for a sinful world; an intimate connection that no other organization or group on earth has. And yet, we long to be like other groups and organizations around us. Why is that? In order to prepare for this newsletter article though, I read through Paul s letter to Timothy, 1 Timothy, in which Paul gives young Pastor Timothy instruction on how to lead the Church of Ephesus, hoping to gain some wisdom for our present situation. Do you know what Paul focuses on in this short letter? Not 5 Steps for Effective Ministry. Not the 3 Cardinal Rules to Make People Happy. Not even a guide to the first sermon series Timothy should preach. Rather, he focuses on godliness, which according to what Paul says in 1 Timothy 3:16 is Jesus Christ. Paul says that godliness is manifested and personified solely in Jesus Christ. Godliness is what young Pastor Timothy is to exemplify, emulate, and encourage all around him with in his everyday life. This is also what I have been called to do for you. Through the words that I speak to you, whether on Sunday mornings or at any other time, and through the actions of my everyday life, I have the high and holy calling of showing you, and all others, Jesus Christ. Now, will I fail to do this? Yes. Will I make rookie mistakes? Yes. Will I have to speak tough words that you don t want to hear? Yes. Will we have a perfect relationship? No. But, we re a family: the family of God, where the grace and mercy of our Savior, Jesus Christ, run rampant. And together we will be Rooted in Christ, Growing in Grace, and Reaching the Lost! I can t wait to see where Jesus leads us to and through on this journey! Pastor Andrew

3 Christian Education Opportunities & Information

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5 Dear Members in Christ, If you value the importance of providing children an opportunity to learn in a Christcentered environment, then we have an opportunity for you. St. Paul Lutheran Church and Preschool has established a designated fund called Friends of Preschool. The fund has been established for members of the congregation who are interested in supporting early childhood Christian education here at St. Paul Lutheran Church. Preschool News As the school year approaches we are getting busy at St. Paul Lutheran Preschool with planning and preparation. On August 3 our preschool staff will be attending Holding Hands, Touching Hearts, an early childhood education conference hosted by Iowa District West. We are looking forward to this event. The Friends of Preschool fund will be utilized to provide tuition assistance for families in need; allowing us to provide an early childhood Christian education to even more preschoolers in our community. This fund will also help support enhanced learning items such as new Christianbased curriculum, updated educational toys, updated books, special projects, and other nonoperational expenses. If you are interested in giving to the Friends of Preschool fund, you can designate your offering through the offering plate or you can contribute through the church Online Giving website: We still have a couple spaces left in our programs and we are always looking for volunteers to help in our classrooms. If you are interested in our preschool or would like to volunteer, please contact the church office or the preschool at Preschool@stpaulankeny.org. As always, please keep our preschool ministry in your prayers! God s Blessings, Alissa McLellan

6 Join the Lady Diners All widows and single ladies of all ages are invited to join the Lady Diners on Tuesday, August 7 at Chicago Speakeasy at 6:00 p.m. To carpool, be at church by 5:30 pm. Don t miss out on the fun, fellowship and great food! Call Betty Berlau ( ) or Carol Wenndt ( ) if you have any questions. GriefShare will be starting the week of August 19. Look for more information on dates and times coming soon! Men s Mission Group August Breakfast The Men s Mission Group has suspended its regular meetings for the months of June, July, and August. However, we are continuing to get together for breakfast each month at a local restaurant for fellowship and to touch base on the status of our mission projects. Please join us at 8:00 am on Saturday, August 11 at The Original Pancake House located at 1810 SW White Birch Circle. Sunny View Worship Every third Sunday of the month at 2:00 pm, St. Paul leads a worship service for the residents at Sunny View Nursing home. Join us this month on Sunday, August 19. Please arrive at Sunny View at 1:45 pm and be ready to hand out books, help the residents turn pages, and sing the praises of our God for all he has done for us. The more volunteers the better. Please join us! Cancer Survivors Group Join us on Monday, August 20 at 5:30 at Perkins in Ankeny. Free pie night! SAVE THE DATES October 21 Trunk N Treat November 4 The Big Rake Contact Mary Stratmann for more information at

7 Change for Life to Benefit Agape Agape Pregnancy Center needs our help! They lost their whole lower level to the flood waters on June 30. Right now their immediate need is financial. To help, we are hosting a Change for Life drive. There will be two ways you can help. The first one is by going to the LWML table and signing out a baby bottle. Once you have filled it up with change bring it back. The second way is to participate in a noisy offering on Saturday, August 25 and Sunday, August 26. What is a noisy offering? It s where we drop our spare change into a can passed around after the regular offering and delight in the loud, joyful clinking of our coins! Please participate in our Change for Life drive by bringing your spare change and let s make some noise. Ladies Bible Study Starting September 6 The Thursday morning Ladies Bible Study will resume on Thursday, September 6 at 9 a.m. in the Youth Room. All women are invited to enjoy the video series Your Strong Suit by Donna Pyle. It s taken from Ephesians 6 about the armor God gives Christians for protection and spiritual warfare. A study guide is available for $10 to enhance your personal study. Or just come and hear what the word says in this excellent study. Let the church office know by August 10 if you would like to order a book. School supplies for children at local schools is our mission project for August. Some families can t afford these basic supplies: pencils, backpacks, notebooks, glue sticks, erasers, rulers, scissors and crayons. Shopping the school supply sales helps your dollars go further, therefore helping more children. If you see backpacks that are clean and like new, please donate those also. Place supplies in the basket by the LWML table. We appreciate your donations and support! LWML Missions Committee Serve the Lord with Gladness Psalm 100:2

8 St. Paul Float Wins First Place in Parade

9 New Women s Bible Study Begins September 6 Thursday, September 6 from 7:008:30pm we will begin a new Bible study by Jen Wilkin, God of Creation a study of Genesis 111. The opening lines and chapters of Genesis teach us fundamental truths about God. We watch Him bring light after darkness, order after chaos, and rest after toil all through the power of His Word. In this versebyverse study, we will dive into the first 11 chapters of Genesis by following three critical stages of understanding: comprehension, interpretation, and application. Revisit familiar stories and historical figures, challenge your basic knowledge, and discover deeper meanings in the text. As God reveals Himself through Scripture, we can only begin to understand ourselves when we first glimpse the character, attributes, and promises of our Creator. Sign up in the Resurrection Window Hallway or by calling the church office. Hope you can make it! Bring your friends too. Evangelism Committee Activities The church swimming party on June 16 was attended by over 300 people with more than half not being St Paul or The Gate members. Fun was had by all! Did you miss it? Plan to attend next year as we are planning to do it again. Thank you Amy, Education Board, and volunteers for your help. The Fill the Manger Food Drive for DMARC was a huge success. Thank you to everyone who donated a total of $1206 and 459 food items! Donations were very appreciated as the need was even greater due to the flooding. This was a joint project with the Men's Mission Group. We are looking at additional ways to support DMARC. St. Paul won first place in the organization category of the Summerfest Parade. Jesus for the Win was a great VBS program so we continued the message on the float. Thank you Kim Hood for designing it. Thank you Education Board and volunteers for your work on the theme and items used; Property Board for labor on the assembly, and for the volunteers who came to help build, decorate and walk in the parade. Walkers handed out candy and flyers, heard kids singing the songs as the music played from the float, saw people tapping their toes to the music, heard I'll take a flyer, and more. The sweat equity invested in the float by so many earned us 1st place in the organization category. As exciting as it was to get the trophy, Pastor Duncan shared The other churches made floats that promoted their church; our float promoted Jesus. Jesus for the win! And working together to share the message. Evangelism Committee

10 ST PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH Church Council Meeting The Leadership of St Paul Lutheran Church met on Monday, May 14th at 6:30 PM for its monthly council meeting. Those in attendance were Duncan McLellan, Libby Wielenga, Troy Marshall, Betty Berlau, Tim Krehbiel, Amanda Weathers, Dan Drefke, David Reddel, Randy Sunderman, Amy Schmidt, Cari Poock, Jeff Olson. Meeting was called to order by Tim Krehbiel. Pastor McLellan opened with Psalm 134. Last Song of Ascents. Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Secretary s Report (David Reddel) David Reddel presented the meeting minutes from the April 16th, 2018 council meetings. Motion by Libby Wielenga to approve the April 16th, 2018 council minutes. Motion Second by Cari Poock. Motion Passes. Senior Pastor Report (Pastor McLellan) Senior Pastor Report as presented and from Dropbox. Following last month s meeting, a group from St. Paul traveled to St. Louis to meet Andrew and Ashley Coop. Andrew and Ashley also spent the weekend with us while they were house hunting in Ankeny. Andrew will be installed at St. Paul at 4:00 PM on July 14th. Would like to find time in June or July to discuss assigned book readings. Pastor has been asked by the District to serve as the PALS Supervisor for the session. Will be having two, one hour Mission Statement Workshops for members of the church to come together to pray and discuss why God has St. Paul here in Ankeny. Car Wash fundraiser for upcoming Confirmation trip coming up. Dan Drefke brought up the need to ensure all drivers for St. Paul Van have been approved. DCE Report (Amy Schmidt) DCE report as presented and from Dropbox. Midweek has ended. Had end of year Midweek Party. Met with DCEs in Fort Dodge on May 3rd. Fifteen St. Paul Youth were confirmed on May 6th. VBS registration continues. Currently 122 signed up. Good start to our request for volunteers. Congregation has been extremely generous in donating of supplies. Taking Junior Youth to Make a Bed, Keep Them Fed at Door of Faith Mission, part of Hope Ministries. Have begun work on getting estimates for our A/V system upgrades. Had Triad fix our video feed to the Nursery and Fellowship Hall. June 10th begins Summer Sunday School. Continue to work with All Boards, Groups, etc. Motion by Dan Drefke to accept Staff Reports. Motion Second Randy Sunderman. Motion Passes. Treasurer s Report (Amanda Weathers) Unrestricted contributions for April are $59,581 with YTD contributions at $235,556. Operating costs were $39,504 which results in a surplus of $20,077 for the month. YTD unrestricted revenue is at 118% of the budget and combined expenses are running below budget at 91.2% which results in St. Paul being approximately $54,000 ahead of the budget. While financials look strong, expenses will be significantly increasing in the months ahead with new staff. Expenses are predicted to be more than $50,000 more starting in July. Amanda discussed investing $50,000 of the general fund into a Day CD in order to generate some type of return. Council gave Amanda the authority to put excess cash into short term CD. If we get larger amounts of cash, we will go to voters. Continue to issue support checks to The Gate based upon previously approved payment schedule. Motion by Tim Krehbiel to accept Treasurers Report. Motion Second by Cari Poock. Motion Passes. Elder s Report (Jeff Olson) Membership changes and baptisms as follows: Baptism Samuel Dean Remington Received Lowell Morgan from Zion Lutheran Church, Ogden, IA (LCMS) Transferred Out John, Susan, John Anthony and Trevor Smith to Gloria Dei, Urbandale, Iowa (LCMS) Transferred Out Dan and Janet Larson to Stratford Lutheran Church (LCMS) Profession of Faith Karla Harris Elders discussed with Pastor McLellan the new proposed Mission Statement: Rooted in Christ Growing in Faith Through God s Grace. Jeff provided a list of proposed new elders which will be voted upon at the upcoming voter s assembly. Jeff noted that the Elders would be calling members who are not active within the last 18 to 24 months and then moving to send letters of release to those members that do not respond. Motion by Randy Sunderman to accept Elder s Report. Motion Second by Betty Berlau. Motion Passes. OLD BUSINESS

11 Technology Committee (Randy Sunderman) Old phone system is now turned off. Found out this affects fax machine and postage machine. Working with Amy on quotes of A/V issues and concerns. Quotes are continuing to come in high. Continue to look at several software options for our electronic communication needs. We need to follow the laws and allow for people to have the ability to optout of receiving s/text messages. We will need to finalize how we want to use any software, what groups we want to target before and final decisions are made. Security Committee (Tim Krehbiel) Nothing more at this time. Waiting for summer when events settle down a bit. Church Planning Committee (Tim Krehbiel) Tim noted that the final version of the Long Term Plan had been placed in Dropbox for review and discussion. Nomination Committee (Tim Krehbiel) Council reviewed and discussed candidate selection. A conversation was had in regards to the Constitution in regards to Elders. What does 1st Year and 2nd Year Elder mean is it a cumulative regardless of years spent as an Elder or specific to the actual term. Voter s Meeting (Troy Marshall) Reviewed agenda for upcoming May Voter s Meeting. No additions to meeting agenda. Admin Workstation (Troy Marshall) Not much happening at this time. Troy discussed with Council several layout options. Church Organization Book Groups (Pastor McLellan) Moved to next meeting. NEW BUSINESS Only New Business discussed was the creation of two funds for Andrew and Ashley. Funds can either be directed towards Debt Reduction or as a Welcome. This will be part of Greg s presentation. BOARD REPORTS Christian Education (Cordell Wabeke) Covered in Amy s report Evangelism (Betty Berlau) Participated in Muffins and Moms on April 26th and 27th. Had 100% participation. Drive Thru Coffee was well received. One parent commented that her family plans to join St. Paul. Our annual Christmas in July will be from June 17th thru July 8th. Donations will go DMARC this year as they will distribute to the area food pantries. Finance (Jason Buls) Nothing new to report this month Property (Dan Drefke) Insurance carrier is now Grinnell Mutual. This is a $1700 savings to the church. Dan discussed with Council that in about 5 years (give or take), the Property Board will start losing a lot of knowledge and expertise due to the increasing age of its volunteers. Need to get younger people involved. Various work projects include investigating electrical and data options for new workstation, investigate roof leak near front entrance, and discuss playground security with Security Committee. Will also be meeting with City of Ankeny to discuss grease trap. Grease trap is currently inspected and pumped twice a year. We do not have a commercial kitchen, so this is not needed. Mowing signup is posted. Dan discussed with the council the need for a new mower. The best financial decision would be to purchase vs. hire. Motion by Cari Poock to utilize funds from Facility Maintenance Fund up to 6K for purchase of new lawn mower. Motion Second by David Reddel. Motion Passes. Stewardship (Randy Sunderman) Still need more volunteers for serving Coffee and Donuts. Currently have openings after June 1st. The minimum number of people required to move forward with Arc Trip has been met. Amy has done a great job with organizing this. Still planning on a mystery dinner with new members and old members at some point. Youth (Carie Poock) Confirmation banquet was on April 29th. Hosted by the 6th grade families. Youth activities include Junior Youth Group Game Night, Senior Youth Lockin, Senior Youth Laser Tag and Confirmation retreat. Upcoming events include annual kayak and canoe trip, and Senior recognition. Preschool (Libby Wielenga) Moms and Muffins was on April 26th and 27th. Teacher appreciation week was May 7th thru 11th. Teachers received some nice gifts including flowers. End of year program was May 10th and 11th. Preschool now complete. Working on teacher contracts for summer camps as well as contracts for upcoming school season, which will also include various camps. Motion by Tim Krehbiel to accept Board Reports. Motion Second by Jeff Olson. Motion Passes. CLOSING Motion to adjourn council meeting by Betty Berlau. Motion Second by Libby Wielenga. Motion Passes. Meeting adjourned. Closed with The Lord s Prayer. Next scheduled council meeting for June 18th 2018 as normally scheduled. Respectfully Submitted and Presented by David Reddel St Paul Lutheran Board Secretary

12 ST PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH Church Council Meeting COUNCIL ATTENDANCE Due to scheduling conflicts and last minute circumstances, the June 2018 meeting of the St Paul Lutheran Church Council was cancelled. Troy Marshall and Tim Krehbiel presented one item of business concerning appointment of Elders which was conducted via with those responding listed below in the minutes. CALL TO ORDER NEW BUSINESS Tim Krehbiel via Motioned to accept Troy Marshall s appointment of Jim Harvey, Ryan Down, Gary Hauge & Larry Robinson to finish out the Elder terms for Jeff Olson, Matt Hayden, Kelly Hinrichsen, and Ray Marvin who will be stepping as Elders. This term will be up June 30th of Motion Second by Jason Buls via . Approvals received via from David Reddel, Dan Drefke, Betty Berlau, Libby Wielenga, Amanda Weathers, Randy Sunderman, Cari Poock. No Opposition to Motion or Discussion received. Motion Passes Next scheduled council meeting for July 16th 2018 as normally scheduled Respectfully Submitted and Presented by David Reddel St. Paul Lutheran Board Secretary We Are Looking for a NonDenominational Church Continued from page one with being connected with a denomination. It is very easy for the pastor of a nondenominational church to move away from the orthodox Christian faith into heresy. There are systems in place to keep preachers in denominational churches from doing the same. As should be the case for any church that is part of a denomination, our first allegiance is to Christ and the Word of God. Denominational loyalty is far behind fidelity to our Lord Jesus Christ. We choose to be a congregation in the LCMS because we believe the beliefs of the LCMS align with Scripture and are our own, and we recognize a benefit of belonging to a national church body. Denominational or nondenominational, what matters is that a church clings to Christ, believes the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, and holds out the free gift of salvation promised in the gospel. Instead of looking for a good nondenominational congregation, look for one that preaches Christ crucified. (And I know of a couple right here in Ankeny ) Pastor Duncan

13 15th Annual St. Paul Lutheran Church WHERE? COST? Golf Outing Saturday, August 18 All proceeds benefit Agape Pregnancy Center & On With Life. Otter Creek Golf Course 4100 NE Otter Creek Dr. Ankeny, IA $75/Person or $280/4some 4person best shot. Includes 18 holes of golf, cart, lunch, sleeve of golf balls, fun & fellowship! Sign up in the Narthex. Registration ends August 11. Sign up as 4somes or individuals. Place your registration in the box in the Narthex. Shotgun start time is 8 a.m. Arrive early to sign in. Questions? Call

14 St. Paul Lutheran Church Board of Elders Board of Elders Meeting July 3, 2018 Official Acts (baptism, confirmation, wedding, funeral): Wedding: Lena Copley and Ryan Marshall, June 2, 2018 To be received, transferred or released on July 3, 2018: Received by Profession of Faith: Joan Hancock Scott and Karen Kottke Average worship Attendance in June: 2018: : 399 (incl. The Gate) Average Worship Attendance YTD through June: 2018: : 508 (incl. The Gate) Total Baptized and Confirmed members: Baptized 830 Confirmed 649 Family Units 319

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