Stories

A church that takes action

2013-05-22T04:34:00-06:00

Some of the children of Mision Luterana Agua Viva El Cenizo in Laredo, Texas.

Mariana Mendez, pastor of Mision Luterana Agua Viva El Cenizo in Laredo, Texas, describes her congregation as “evangelical, open and grounded.” It’s a congregation “without financial resources,” she says, “but rich in service and worship.”

An ELCA mission start among Spanish-speaking immigrants to the United States, Agua Viva “encourages, promotes, forms and motivates initiatives that help improve the quality of life of our brothers and sisters and that dignifies them by encouraging them to move forward as part of the body of Christ,” Mariana says.

But many of Agua Viva’s members are undocumented, which means they live every day with the fear and unrest that comes with not having access to the resources of citizenship.

“In church the children ask God to let their parents work and not be taken to jail or deported to Mexico,” Mariana explains. “Work is scarce and these families leave [home] each day to earn their pay to put food on the table with the overwhelming fear that they will be taken by immigration authorities.”

So in June 2012, when the United States government announced that it would begin offering “deferred action” to young people who came to the United States as children, many of Agua Viva’s members were hopeful.

“There was a certainty and incredible motivation that the process would be positive, especially with a government that was treating these children with respect and equality knowing that they had been raised in this country, know no other, and speak this language,” Mariana shares.

Getting to work

Ten students from Agua Viva were eligible for the program, and Mariana and her congregation were committed to getting the students through the process.

“The leaders of the mission and I together studied the immigration law I-821D, the manners in which [the applications] needed to be filled out, and two leaders, Liliana Castro and Lizabeth Renteria, were chosen to help facilitate in completing the documentation for the students,” says Mariana. “The students were chosen from the poor communities of Laredo El Cenizo and San Carlos. The criteria we used were that they be a good student, enjoy studying, would be the first child in the family to attend a college and would have the legal requirements.”

Mariana, Liliana and Lizabeth were diligent in their paperwork. They made sure that each student had all the documentation required to apply, and they checked each application carefully with the hope that none of the students would be denied. The students faced one giant hurdle, though. Many of the families who attend Agua Viva live well below the poverty line and applying for the program required hefty application fees.

Ruben Duran, director for new congregations at ELCA churchwide ministries, saw this need as an opportunity for the church. “I was preaching at the church on the Sunday immediately following the announcement of the deferred action plan,” he says. “At the end of the service, the young people came forth with their parents saying please help us.”

Ruben sought the assistance of the ELCA Southwestern Texas Synod. “I thought, ‘What an opportunity for the ELCA, for the synod, for the bishop to do something so specific because these are future professionals for our churches.”

Ray Tiemmann, bishop of the ELCA Southwestern Texas Synod, committed to paying the application fees for the students who qualified for the plan. “This is one small step to help our youth remain active in our ministries and contribute to our society, and we are happy to support them,” he shares.

Looking to the future

So far, eight students have been approved for deferred action status, and the impact it has had on the community is remarkable.

“You cannot imagine the joy on their faces upon receiving their Social Security cards and their worker permit documents,” says Mariana. “It is incredible to be with these families as they see their children receive the legal documents; their eyes are full of so much happiness that you cannot even imagine. Their self-esteem has changed; they are smiling because they no longer live in fear, and they don’t have to hide. They are someone of worth and can be a professional, helping their families out of poverty.”

Mariana says all eight students are working, studying and taking steps to obtain residency, and that their ability to gain employment and work toward a better future has changed their families for the better.

“They say, ‘Thank you to God, my community, and my little church,’” Mariana continues. “They can now proudly say that we truly are a church that accompanies taking real action to help the poorest and in the most need.”

Ruben hopes this is just the first step of many that ELCA synods and congregations will take to help Latino brothers and sisters work toward a better future. “I applaud Bishop Tiemann’s effort to respond to this need as a sign of our church stepping forward, seizing the opportunity to invest in our youth to be able to receive an education,” he says.

“And thanks to the leadership of the Rev. Mariana Mendez, families had enough confidence to be able to step forward,” Ruben shares. “It’s a big risk to come forward. You risk your life and your future. You can be deported, but because of Pastor Mendez they had enough confidence to come forward.”

Paying it forward

Ruben says investing in young people this way is a form of “paying it forward” for generations to come.

The 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly approved a resolution designed to advocate for comprehensive federal immigration reform and support of the DREAM Act — legislation that would provide a path for citizenship for undocumented immigrant youth. The ELCA conducts this work in partnership with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.

Like Agua Viva, many other ELCA congregations across the United States have also seized this opportunity to help their youth find a path to a better future.

Cristo Rey Lutheran Church in Denver invited lawyers to train volunteers to fill out applications for 40 young people in the congregation. St. Mark’s/San Marcos Lutheran Church in Springfield, Va., also found local lawyers to provide pro bono services for youth from both the congregation and the community. So far the congregation has filled out paperwork for 200 young people.

“Here’s a tangible way for the ELCA to put a foot forward,” says Ruben. “Even before the reform comes, we can invest in the youth and their gifts and their faith.”

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A retired Peace Corps volunteer, Andrea Martinez is the communications coordinator for the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod.

‘That pastor who hangs out here’

2013-05-16T06:00:00-06:00

Margaret Kelly “hangs out” at Shobi’s Table in St. Paul, Minn.

As a social worker working among those experiencing homelessness and poverty, Margaret Kelly knew she was doing important work, but she couldn’t help feel as if her clients still had unmet needs.

“I didn’t feel like I could bring hope to people,” she says.

Margaret could arrange for people to sign up to receive social services or to be put on a housing list. And “while those are important things” that “do give hope, they don’t provide a bright future; there’s no promise of new life,” she says.

So when Margaret graduated in 2012 from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., one of eight ELCA seminaries, and took a position as the mission developer and pastor at Shobi’s Table, an ELCA synodically authorized worshiping community in St. Paul, she saw it as an opportunity to help people on a deeper level.

“Shobi’s Table comes out of a wellness center that First Lutheran Church in St. Paul operates,” Margaret explains. “The wellness center began with just giving space to community and initially providing some basic health and wellness services.”

Shobi’s Table provides a needed spiritual component to the wellness center’s offerings. As pastor, Margaret leads services on Thursday nights. She also holds “pastor office hours” at a homeless shelter in downtown St. Paul, where she sits and talks with those in need of a prayer or a blessing.

“People are very willing to praise God for the things that are going well in their lives,” she says. They’ll also talk “about relationships with family and friends and how that works and what this looks like and how they can be mended and supported.”

Margaret remembers a recent trip to the shelter, someone who didn’t have a scheduled visit approached her saying, “You’re a pastor right? Can you do a blessing for me? Right here?” Margaret laid her hands on the man. “We just prayed in the middle of the doorway. He had just started a new job, and we were praying for transportation for him.”

“What’s pretty astounding is that I’ve done it enough times where people are starting to recognize me,” Margaret continues. “People are saying, ‘Hey, that’s that pastor who hangs out here.’”

“As a social worker, I didn’t feel like I could bring hope to people,” she continues. “Now I feel like I can give true hope, because I have the sacraments with me.”

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The lifesaving power of goats

2013-05-16T05:00:00-06:00

The lives of Sentongo Abdul and his brother and sister have improved due to goats donated by ELCA World Hunger.

In the Kasagamaa Sub County of Uganda, it’s not unusual for children to serve as the heads of households. Of all of the countries on the African continent, Uganda has one of the highest percentages of people living with and dying from HIV and AIDS, leaving many children orphaned and to fend for themselves.

Sentongo Abdul’s parents died of AIDS in 2006, leaving Sentongo in charge of looking after his younger sister and brother. Without the help of their parents, the Abdul children were often hungry. Although there is a free primary school in their community, the children did not have the required school supplies to attend.

“Well-wishers gave us food once in a while, but no one ever offered us money to cater for some of household essentials and scholastic materials,” Sentongo says. “It hurt me so much to watch my friends attend school on a daily basis, yet I could not afford basic materials which everyone took for granted.”

But thanks to a partnership between ELCA World Hunger and the Rural Action Community Based Organization, a local community service organization in Uganda, the Abduls’ lives are changing.

In 2011, the children were given a new house, a water tank, household utensils and two pregnant goats as a part of a larger initiative that distributed 280 goats to 90 households. For people in Uganda, a goat is as good as money in the bank. Goats can provide nutritious milk and meat, but more importantly, they can be sold when a family finds itself in need.

In the next phase of the project, the program will also provide gardening and food preparation training to children who lead households and people living with HIV and AIDS with the hope of increasing food security in the region.

In Sentongo’s case, the Rural Action Community Based Organization taught him how to properly care for his goats including how to build a pen, how to feed them properly with locally available foods and how to keep them from falling ill.

His goats each had two kids, and when the organization saw how well Sentongo was caring for his animals, they gave him two more. He was then able to sell four of the goats to procure books, pens, pencils and school bags for his siblings. Now Sentongo spends his days taking his goats to graze on the fresh grass in the hills where he lives, while his brother and sister get an education.

“I had given up all hope for life after our parents’ death. My siblings’ dreams of becoming teachers can now be realized because of the goat project. My future and that of my siblings is surely brighter.”

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Caring for the animals

2013-05-16T04:00:00-06:00

From left to right, Ethan Perkowski, Roland Zanger, Diane Donahue (with dog), Virginia Barrett and Patt Kauffman.

By Brandi Maczik

It all started when Diane Donahue, a member of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Port Jervis, N.Y., noticed that a dog in her neighborhood looked rather hungry.

As an animal rights activist, she decided she had to help. After a restless night and an urge to do something more, she devised a plan. When looking back on this night, Diane says, “God planted a seed in me.”

She immediately presented her plan to her pastor, Patt Kauffman, in hopes that she would like the idea. The idea was to form a pet food pantry that would provide food for pets throughout the community.

“Our local animal shelter was and is over flowing with adoptable pets, and I wanted a way to help.” And with the help of her community, her husband, Shamus, and a confirmation class, she was able to do just that. This pet food pantry is saving the lives of over 100 pets by keeping them out of the animal shelters.

On the pantry’s opening day, Diane had no idea how many people to expect, but she felt the warmth and support from those around her. And that support wasn’t only coming from within the community.

The local newspaper featured an article about the opening of the pantry and in turn caught the attention of a family in upstate New York. This family sent a $125 donation to help aid in startup costs!

And not only were people reading about the pet pantry, but they were volunteering to help. Diane said that there were over 21 families who signed up to assist.

Already the project is making a big impact on the community. Diane recalls two younger boys who had wandered into the church on a day that the pantry was not distributing food.

Patt led the boys to Diane where they told her that they needed food for their cat. They asked for help.

Diane bagged up some cat food and cat treats for the boys. She says the look of relief on their faces was “priceless.”

The impact that the pet pantry is making on this community is big. There are continual phone calls throughout the week from people who are interested or willing to help.

“Of course I have to admit I worry a bit before each pantry if I’m going to have enough food to give away,” Diane shares, “but God is good; one of his angels always shows up!”

Brandi Maczik is a student at Hope College in Holland, Mich., majoring in English and communications.

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Stewards of creation

2013-05-16T03:00:00-06:00

By Josh Denslow

It all started with an air conditioner. More specifically, the lack thereof.

The sanctuary at Emanuel Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in West Warwick, R.I., was more than 100 years old and was so stifling hot that many of the congregation couldn’t worship there. It wasn’t just the members with chronic lung conditions; even the healthy stayed away in the summer months.

So in 2005, Paul Krampitz, Emanuel’s pastor at the time, decided to do something about the situation. Support to install three air conditioners in the sanctuary was high, but he decided to add his own unique twist.

At an additional annual cost to the congregation, they were going to power everything with renewable energy. In his own words: “This was a perfect time to reduce the church’s carbon footprint.”

Paul’s great uncles were farmers. From an early age, he learned to “appreciate soil, water, air and all of nature as precious and fragile gifts entrusted to our care.” This was a way for him to give back.

Since he was new to the congregation, he enlisted the help of Emily Rochon, a much-loved member who felt the same way about the environment as he did. They decided to run with the idea of purchasing renewable resources from an outside provider.

Now they had to gain the support of the congregation.

“It’s tough to ask people to do something that would actually cost them more money,” Paul says, thinking back on the presentations he and Emily put together for the congregation. “We thought of it as a tithe, that we are the good stewards of creation.”

They focused on John 3:16. In fact, just the first six words: For God so loved the world. “It doesn’t say for God so loved humanity,” Paul says. “It says the world.”

Believing that all of humanity has been entrusted to care for creation, Paul thought they needed to look beyond the walls of their congregation and consider the long-term ramifications of installing the air conditioners.

The environmental presentations led to frank discussions among the members. Real progress happened as the congregation grew closer together, as they slowly rallied around the idea of leading by example and putting their faith into action. Everyone agreed they needed the air conditioners, but soon they all agreed that they had a responsibility to the environment.

The board approved the renewable energy contract, and when the energy provider showed up with their certificate, the congregation had a party. “The media came out and took pictures. It was a cause for celebration,” Paul says.

It was also an accomplishment for the ELCA, which turns 25 years old in 2013. Emanuel would be the first congregation in the church’s 25-year history to be totally powered by renewable energy.

Both the 2009 and 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assemblies accepted proposals designed to encourage congregations to reduce their usage of carbon-based fuels and take better care of God’s creation. Several ELCA congregations have since followed in Emanuel’s footsteps.

You can’t tell from the outside what Paul accomplished. To the casual observer, the air conditioners do exactly what they are supposed to do. The sanctuary has become the place that he envisioned and the congregation has a cool, quiet place to worship.

The true power of the air conditioning is in its story. This wasn’t just community building; it was community empowering.

And surely Paul’s great uncles are proud.

Josh Denslow writes stories and plays the drums in Austin, Texas.

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Building apartments in the sky

2013-05-16T02:00:00-06:00

Inside Gethsemane Lutheran Church.

By Mary Kettl

Some people will do anything to help.

For the members of Gethsemane Lutheran Church, the oldest ELCA congregation in Seattle, it took giving away the sky above them to put a roof over the heads of other people.

Gethsemane has been working to address the needs of people living in poverty and coping with homelessness for decades, according to their pastor, Joanne Engquist. But members were frustrated with only being able to treat the symptoms of growing poverty and homelessness in their neighborhood. They wanted to make more significant changes.

Years ago Gethsemane was facing hard choices about its own future. Although they had been in the same spot on Stewart Street since 1901, the congregation had shrunk to 35-40 worshipping members, and the congregation’s future was uncertain. They chose to stay — “in Christ, in the city.”

When Gethsemane sold a parking lot and an expensive high-rise apartment building went up on the spot, they were inspired. Gethsemane members wanted to use proceeds from that sale to serve people who worked in low-paying jobs in the neighborhood but could not afford to live anywhere near their work.

Through a partnership with a local non-profit, Gethsemane was able to design and convert its church property into three interconnected areas. Most of the first two floors provide space for the church’s ministries and community outreach.

The lower level houses the new ecumenical nonprofit Hope Center, which offers community services, meal programs and Mary’s Place Day Center, a weekday program where homeless women and their children can find community, enrichment and resources to restore their lives.

But perhaps the most unusual addition has been the five floors of affordable apartments that were built right above the church, changing the property’s profile from the old two-story box-like structure to a seven-story tower.

The building is home to 50 apartments, 30 of which are occupied by people who had been living on the streets or in shelters only six months ago. Others in the building are living with disabilities. Rents are based on income with levels for those at 30, 40, and 60 percent of median county income.

Having a safe, attractive place to live is “just transformative” for people, says Joanne. Both she and the congregation share “a deep belief that together we grow.”

A tiny, older church transformed into a center of service may not be what the original members envisioned a century ago, but Joanne sees it as “a signal that we believe in a future that we only have glimpses of right now,” a future that may become a model for other institutions and perhaps even for the church.

Mary Kettl is a recovering 7th-grade English teacher from Wyoming who lives and writes in Rochester, Minn.

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A community of participants

2013-05-16T01:00:00-06:00

The Lakota Lutheran Center is near the Pine Ridge Reservation.

The Lakota Lutheran Center, a worshiping community on track to becoming an ELCA congregation in Scottsbluff, Neb., is proud to say they don’t have a single member in their congregation.

Instead, says their pastor, Will Voss, they have participants.

“We’re participation minded; I’m proud of saying that because that’s important,” he says. “The character of our ministry has emphasis on social ministry and doing practical care in the community.”

The center is near the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, which is also important to its identity. “One of the things that makes us unique is that we are American Indian,” Will says. “We are a community of American Indian people who are serving those in need.”

While people may be quick to think of the area as primarily American Indian, the area the center serves is actually home to a mix of ethnicities from American Indian to Latino to Anglo, says Will.

One thing they have in common, though, are their struggles. “This is a very low-income region,” Will says, “and so we contribute to the safety net. We make a contribution to the kind of community care that is given around here for people in need.”

In response to the needs to the community, the center provides a number of outreach ministries.

For example, it runs a soup kitchen that is partially funded by ELCA World Hunger. “It is Indian volunteers that cook and serve 136 meals a year,” Will says, providing meals for “whoever shows up.”

And every Tuesday the center runs a medical bus that drives community members to a nearby town for medical services. “Every Tuesday people can make appointments,” Will says. “Patients that go are eligible for services there but don’t have the transportation.”

They can also send prescriptions with the medical bus and get them returned the next day.

The center also provides coats and blankets to whoever needs them when it’s cold, runs a parish nursing program and hosts self-help groups, support groups and Alcoholics Anonymous.

“A lot of the very same things that we encourage for Christians to be at, social ministry and caring for one another, also are a part of the American Indian tradition,” Will says. “Getting everyone in the community fed or to a meeting, for example; there’s pride taken both as Christians and living out the native culture.”

This pride in culture also lends itself to a large number of people participating in the ministries. “It’s very intergenerational,” Will says. “We have kids to elderly being a part of it.”

The youth, in particular, get excited to help. “Young people are engaged in their culture and are very loyal to it and are very proud to be a part of it,” Will says.

All of this, of course, is in addition to the services they host. “We try to have all the basic characteristics of a church. We have worship, Sunday school, youth groups.” But their pride in the American Indian culture also shows in the way they worship.

“Our worship is culturally appropriate with the use of the language,” Will says, and on special occasions it may even incorporate traditional American Indian rituals or dance.

“When we have powwows here locally, typically you look out there when children are out there dancing, and that’s our Sunday school out there dancing,” Will laughs. “I’m not sure that’s every Lutheran’s Sunday school.”

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Carving out his role

Dinner and a deep breath

2013-05-15T05:00:00-06:00

A volunteer prepares for the community meal.

Carol Beeman says it all started with a simple question: “How hard can it be to cook some things and serve them?”

Faith Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in O’Fallon, Ill., has a history of being a congregation that cares for others. They’ve made donations to ELCA disaster ministries and support a number of other outreach ministries.

But, Carol says, “We didn’t want to ignore our neighbors,” So she found herself asking, “What can we do?”

She went around to a few other congregations in the area and starting asking questions. She visited with experts in food preparation and even worked with the state to become certified to handle food safely. She also applied for a grant from ELCA World Hunger that would help fund the project.

And now 24 times a year Faith Lutheran Church transforms itself into a bustling restaurant where anyone can come get a free meal.

“We have our volunteers who serve restaurant style,” Carol shares. “They seat the guest at a table, ask them their preferences, what kind of drink, what kind of salad dressing, then come up to the window and place the order, and the people in the kitchen hand it to them.”

The meal is open to absolutely everyone. “No questions asked,” Carol says. “In the food pantries a lot of time there are low-income qualifications; we ask none of that.”

And because of this, the community dinners have become a place where people from all walks of life can meet and mingle.

“We have a mix; homeless people come in who have seen our flier. There are people who are definitely in need and have been referred by agencies,” Carol shares. “We have people who come in maybe because they were busy that night, and it was convenient.”

Others, she says, come for the fellowship. Some recently widowed people come for the opportunity to sit and enjoy a meal with others.

“We were hoping that it would be a respite,” Carol says. “It’s nice to be served and get off your feet, [to] sit there and take a deep breath.”

“There are no strings attached and no questions asked. Everybody is welcome,” she continues. “We all truly feel that God was definitely in this work.”

You might also want to read:
How can people go hungry in a world of plenty?
Hunger Huddle: growing into the image
Saving the world, one meal at a time

Celebrating self-expression

2013-05-15T04:00:00-06:00

By Josh Denslow

Church of the Abiding Savior, an ELCA congregation in Durham. N.C., had a problem: They wanted their message to reach younger people in the community. Even though they were situated directly across the street from North Carolina Central University, a historically black college, not many of the students were making the trip across the street.

Enter Rhonda Hatton. Rhonda had studied theater as an undergraduate and had a master’s degree in church ministry from Duke Divinity School. Abiding Savior brought her in as an outreach minister and then sat back and watched the fireworks.

To call Rhonda passionate would be an understatement. She is powered by her love of God and the arts. And she was confident she could get the younger generation to listen.

As a spoken word artist, she had connections with the college and the community. Rhonda decided to begin hosting an open mic every second Thursday at Abiding Savior where young people could come sing, rap or perform spoken word pieces.

And there were no excuses for not showing up: “We’re serving dinner. It’s free. Bring your children. We’ll even pick you up if you don’t have a ride.” There was no arguing with Rhonda.

The open mic brought in people from all walks of life and socioeconomic backgrounds. But the real work was just beginning. Now they needed to come to worship.

Some of the participants in the open-mic events began attending the 11:00 a.m. Sunday service, but, Rhonda says, “They were disappointed.” The open forum was gone. There was no room to express themselves. They felt lost in the crowd.

Thus Celebration Ministries was born. As a synodically authorized worshiping community, twice a month Rhonda leads a more contemporary worship service that includes reworked hymns and other gospel music.

Those in attendance are encouraged to clap along and dance, and self-expression is encouraged. Before Rhonda’s sermon, anyone can come up and share stories of testimony, prophetic poetry, liturgical dance or gospel rap. “God gave us our gifts to bless others and to bless God,” Rhonda shares.

Even as Celebration Ministries continues to grow, Rhonda hasn’t stopped her outreach. She has invited spiritually based spoken word artists to perform to standing-room-only audiences on campus. She has also written and directed two plays that brought together students and members of the congregation. “We developed a family through rehearsals. Sometimes it became a Bible study or worship experience.”

The key to reaching out to the community may have been finding a way to speak to the youth. But the real secret to Celebration Ministries is that it gives them a voice. And they can be heard.

Josh Denslow writes stories and plays the drums in Austin, Texas.

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Globally linked

2013-05-15T03:00:00-06:00

Members of Global Linked raise awareness about the crisis in Syria.

By Megan Nuehring

Decorah, Iowa, is a town of about 8,120 people. It’s a town that is not very large in numbers but certainly has a big heart. And now thanks to a project some young ELCA members are organizing there, the town is learning more about how it can help their neighbors overseas.

It started when the youth directors Adrian Walters at First Lutheran Church and Todd Hove at Decorah Lutheran Church, both ELCA congregations in Decorah, wanted to take part in a pilot project through ELCA Missionary Sponsorship that would help their youth connect with the ELCA’s engagement overseas.

A former professor at Luther College in Decorah, recommended Rachel Messier, a student, to head up the project. Luther is one of the ELCA’s 26 colleges and universities.

“It was kind of a unique situation where Rachel has created her own major — global mission and youth,” says Todd. “We met with Rachel and talked with her, and it sounded like something she liked to do for her senior project.”

Todd and Adrian recruited some students from their youth groups, and the project Global Linked was born!

“Global Linked was developed as a way for youth to get involved in ELCA global ministries — a way to help youth serve as bridges to bring the world into their home congregations,” says Rachel.

Rachel brought the students together to meet and brainstorm about projects that could be done to impact their community.

“The youth decided that 7 a.m., before school begins was the best time to meet, so that’s when we meet, plan, talk about where God is leading us, and pray together,” says Rachel.

After reading through the ELCA Missionary Sponsorship e-newsletter Global Links, the students decided they wanted to raise awareness about the crisis in Syria and see what they could do to help. Since the students had learned about the situation in Syria in school they were interested in the topic.

“They kind of did some research,” says Adrian. “They were like, ‘You hear on TV that something’s happening in Syria,’ but their research made it more real for them. That’s when we started putting publicity out.”

The students performed temple talks and hung posters and flyers around their congregations to help raise awareness about the situation. They also put out a newsletter and started a Facebook page dedicated to the topic.

“They didn’t want to just stop there, though,” says Adrian. The students wanted to do something that would actually help those involved in the Syrian conflict.

“It’s a messy situation,” Todd shares. “We wanted what we sent to actually get to the people who need it.” So rather than collect money, the students reached out to their congregations to collect toiletries that will be assembled into kits that can be sent to refugees.

“This project has been a great way to serve both those in our world and those in our backyard,” says Jacob, one of the Global Linked students. “It has opened our eyes to the needs of our world and the needs of our neighbors. It gives us a great opportunity to help all of God’s people and share the gifts God has entrusted to us.”

“God calls us to serve others. Although, he may not tell us in person, he does make needs in our communities and around the world evident for us to see,” Rachel shares. “Sometimes it is easier for us to serve certain groups of people than others, but God calls us to a higher standard; God asks us to willingly serve everyone.”

Megan Nuehring is a student at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, majoring in public relations and religion with a minor in leadership.

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A generous spirit

A little ‘TLC’

2013-05-15T02:00:00-06:00

The TLC Community Garden provides food and education.

By Megan Nuehring

Palmer, Alaska, is in south-central Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna Valley, just a few miles south of Mount McKinley. It’s also place where many people go hungry each and every day, says Diane Krauszer, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Palmer.

But thanks to a partnership between Trinity, ELCA World Hunger, and some enthusiastic students, the TLC Community Garden is working to change that.

The garden was started through a partnership between Trinity Lutheran Church and The Next Step Day School, a school for young adults with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 22 and a tenant of Trinity Lutheran Church.

Rolling up their sleeves

Students and teachers from the school approached Diane with the idea of starting a garden.

“We got together and talked about what we wanted to do and what we hoped the garden might be,” Diane says.

After plans had been made, the congregation and Next Step Day School broke ground in May 2011. The garden occupies unused land across the street from the church building.

“We wanted the garden to be a place where people could work together, learn from each other and provide food for others,” says Diane.

The planting, harvesting and delivery are all done by the congregation and students of Next Step. With a focus on learning life skills, the TLC Community Garden provides the opportunity for learning how to dry and can potatoes, as well as how to cook with them.

“The TLC Garden has been a learning opportunity for all of us, staff and students. It gave our students a chance to be providers, to help themselves as well as others,” says Carmen Thomas, who works as a special education assistant at Next Step.

Getting to work

To get started with the planting of the potatoes, a local farm donated 100 pounds of seed potatoes. Those seed potatoes grew into 1,100 pounds of potatoes, all harvested by Next Step students.

The potatoes went to many beneficiaries: the families of the Next Step students, the families of the preschoolers in the congregation, various food pantries and to local homeless teenagers from the area who are welcomed into Trinity Lutheran Church on Sundays.

Before the delivery of the potatoes, the Next Step students prepared the potatoes for distribution and eating.

“I liked cooking the garlic mashed potatoes. That was my job. I also liked digging the potatoes and finding red and pink ones in the dirt,” says Victoria, one of Next Step’s students.

Cole, another student, shares, “I liked digging, cooking and eating the garlicky potatoes!” “I liked being outside to plant the potatoes. I also liked washing them,” says Stephen.

Coming together

The goal of TLC Community Garden is to bring different communities together to learn from each other and facilitate interaction.

“This is a place where different communities who wouldn’t normally come together come together to garden and get to know one another,” Diane says.

Next summer, Diane hopes to make the garden more open to the community. The congregation has received a grant to construct raised beds. These beds will make it more accessible for people of all ages and disabilities to garden and join in the community.

Megan Nuehring is a student at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, majoring in public relations and religion with a minor in leadership.

You night also want to read:
Increasing God’s children
Feeding body and soul
A place of hope

A moral voice

2013-05-15T01:00:00-06:00

Members of Spirit of Truth at a protest in Stillwater, Minn.

By Mary Kettl

Pete Marincel and Grant Stevensen, the founders of an ELCA developing mission congregation in St. Paul, Minn., first met while Pete was working as a community organizer in a quest to help big-box store janitors get better working conditions.

At the time, Grant was president of a faith-based community organizing coalition in Minnesota. In that work, Grant says, “I met so many people who were hopeful and passionate — and almost all unattached from any church because, in this society, they don’t see church as a meaningful place for change.”

Their congregation, Spirit of Truth, which is supported in part by gifts to ELCA churchwide ministries from congregational offerings, meets on Sundays in the basement of St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church for prayer, singing and small group discussions, and while Sunday gatherings are small, 50-150 people will often show up for “actions,” like the “Justice for Retail Cleaners Campaign” that Pete began.

In May 2012, a delegation of 30 people, including members of Spirit of Truth, collected and presented over $100,000 in receipts to officials at Cub Foods in Stillwater, Minn., to demonstrate their buying power.

Because they typically work at night and because stores outsource this labor, cleaners are unseen and unheard, Grant says. “We need to raise more attention and more of a moral voice” in how they are treated.

When Cub Foods did not show interest in negotiating a code of conduct for treatment of workers, Grant was moved to join some of the retail cleaners in a hunger strike. It was, he said, a humbling experience. “I felt a sense of solidarity and shared humanity. Those of us who are more insulated from economic deprivation don’t always understand what it means to have trouble putting food on the table.”

The hunger strike, while short, did get attention and resulted in a 50 cent an hour raise for workers. “It’s not much, but it means something to these people,” Grant says. “If Jesus didn’t invite us to be with invisible people, then I don’t know where else he would want us to be.”

The economic justice focus of the group has been timely in light of the current situation in the country. “We want to be clear about what our values say about community,” Pete shares. “For example, things like taxes and banking were traditionally a civic question — the church didn’t comment much on that. We’re making it our question. This is a moral question. We need to be able to express that this is not a neutral question.”

Mary Kettl is a recovering 7th-grade English teacher from Wyoming who lives and writes in Rochester, Minn.

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Advocacy in Hong Kong
Following the drinking gourd to God
Words of the prophets

Giving back to God

2013-05-15T01:00:00-06:00

Central Lutheran Church in Spokane, Wash.

David Kappus has always had a fondness for giving back. He attributes it to his experience growing up in the church.

“I’ve been around the church a lot and been the recipient of lots of generosity,” he says. “I’ve seen first-hand people working out their faith and lives through generosity.”

So as the pastor of the ELCA’s Central Lutheran Church in Spokane, Wash., David makes sure to keep stewardship in everyone’s minds as much as he can.

“For a children’s sermon back around Thanksgiving last year I came to worship with a bunch of ten dollar bills,” he recalls. “I told the kids, ‘This is not my money. This is God’s money. I’m giving to you. I want you to find something to do with this that would make God happy.’”

One of the children challenged all of her cousins to match her donation to a local Thanksgiving turkey drive and ended up donating twelve turkeys. Another bought supplies to build a lemonade stand, donating everything she raised to a food pantry.

Then there was the time during another sermon on stewardship when a visitor was inspired to empty his pockets into the collection plate.

“We have a fellow, a veteran, who I have given permission to kind of live on our property,” David shares. “He was sitting in the front and during the offering time, the plates had gone by, and he just sort of jumped up and went down the center aisle and told the ushers quite loudly that he wanted to give, too.”

David has also been hosting an ELCA stewardship program called “Ventures in Growing Stewards” for several congregations in the ELCA Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod. “Ventures” is a four-part workshop series that develops a vision and plan for growing stewards through a year-round stewardship ministry.

“I think these days in the difficult economy congregations and individuals alike are looking for different ways to think about money and how we handle it and how we relate to it,” he says. “The ‘Ventures’ series really gives you an opportunity to think deliberately about money and the role it plays to be a blessing.”

In particular, the workshop planted seeds for new ways of looking at stewardship — like building budgets around stories instead of numbers or thanking a congregation for their offering each week.

With the first round of workshops behind him, David says he can definitely see more excitement around the idea of stewardship.

“We’ve been doing little things to try and help people keep in front of them the idea that stewardship is kind of a yearlong act of worship,” David shares.

“Stewardship isn’t giving 10 percent back,” he continues. “Everything belongs to God, and he gives us the delightful permission to give some of it back.”

You might also want to read:
Worship and stewardship: foundations of the life of faith
Gearing up for financial stewardship
Is stewardship a dirty word?

Off the Grid

2013-05-10T06:00:00-06:00

By Tyler Creed

“A lot of folks aren’t interested in walking into a church building in this day and age,” says Angela Fairbanks.

Angela, a recent graduate of Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., one of the ELCA’s eight seminaries, is a mission developer at a new worshiping community in the Chequamegon Bay area of the ELCA Northwest Synod of Wisconsin that aims to address this problem. According to a 2012 Gallup poll, only about 25 percent of Americans attend church on a regular basis.

“The reason for this drop isn’t because people are becoming atheists or were wounded by something the church has done to them; people are simply having a falling out,” Angela says.

In conversations with people, Angela says she heard over and over that people aren’t losing faith, they’re simply not finding the time for church. And that’s where Angela came up with the idea for “Off the Grid”— an ELCA synodically authorized worshiping community where people can learn about faith and doubt in a more casual setting.

The group meets at locations like backyard barbecues, coffee shops, kitchen tables and even bars.

Angela remembers one particular Irish pub that was exceptionally receptive of a traditional Celtic-themed service being held in their bar. She proposed the idea to the pub’s owner of a service being held in the pub during the location’s closed hours. The owner said, “Nonsense! Hold the service during our open hours!”

Some of the most popular conversations members of Off the Grid have revolve around faith and doubt. Angela says that people love the idea of doubt being valued rather than just tolerated. She’s heard members say, “Doubt is a spiritual gift” and “Faith and doubt are not opposites on opposing sides of the spectrum — the opposite of faith is absolute certainty.”

Off the Grid is also gaining a lot of traction in another unconventional location — Facebook. Many of the people who connect with Off the Grid on Facebook are not from the Chequamegon Bay area.

Angela offers a word of caution, though, to those who want to start a similar community. She says it’s important to make sure you to take your community’s uniqueness into account.

Tyler Creed is a second-year writing major from Urbana, Iowa.

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Social media sparks a new worship community
Cathedral in the Night
The Catacomb Churches

Making a big difference

2013-05-10T05:00:00-06:00

St. John Lutheran Church in Jacksonville, Fla., put out a jar to collect money for the ELCA Malaria Campaign.

St. John Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Jacksonville, Fla., knows you don’t have to be big to make a big difference.

“We’re a small congregation. Our membership is just a little over 100,” says William Hamilton Jr., St. John’s pastor, “but we’re really strong on justice issues. We join in where we can. We don’t always have to start ministries, but we’re really strong on supporting ministries we believe in.”

One of the ministries St. John is proud to support is the ELCA Malaria Campaign, an initiative that aims to help prevent, treat and educate communities in Africa about malaria and eliminate deaths from this disease — for good.

The congregation took up a special collection for the ELCA Malaria Campaign by putting out a jar for one month and ended up collecting $630 — no small feat for an inner-city congregation that sometimes struggles to pay its bills.

“They struggle to get by but do a lot,” says Jim Dennis, who is a regular attendee. “630 some odd dollars is huge!”

In addition to being a member of the community at St. John, Jim has been working with the ELCA Malaria Campaign since 2011. A surgeon at the University of Florida Medical Center, when Jim first heard that the ELCA Malaria Campaign had been approved by the Churchwide Assembly in 2011, he immediately wanted to get involved.

“I don’t treat malaria, but I’ve always had an interest in it,” Jim says. “We know why you get it, we know how to treat it, but despite that people are still dying from it.”

So when Jim and his wife, Jan, were offered an opportunity to join a group of ELCA Malaria Campaign representatives, including Mark Hanson, the ELCA’s presiding bishop, to visit Africa and see the ELCA Malaria Campaign — and St. John’s donation — at work, they jumped at the opportunity.

The group flew to Johannesburg, South Africa, together and then split into smaller teams to visit Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Jim and Jan were a part of the team that visited a number of villages in northwest Zambia.

“In such a huge undertaking — trying to eradicate malaria in sub-Saharan Africa — it is so important that the job is structured and manageable,” Jan says. “The ELCA has such a great partner with the Lutheran churches in Zambia.”

In Zambia, the government, the Lutheran churches and other organizations are training people to diagnose and treat malaria.

“Literally, people would line up under a tree,” Jim shares. There they would have their fingers pricked and their blood tested for malaria. Much like a pregnancy test, if the person tested negative for malaria, one line would appear. If the person was positive, two lines would appear and the person would immediately receive treatment.

“The neat thing was we got to talk to the people and talk to the local pastors and the trained personnel,” he continues. “We got to see right down to the very grassroots of the program and not only that but then we also could see the African people and their culture.”

After visiting Zambia, the team met up with the larger group in Johannesburg to share their experiences. “I think we all felt that when we got back to Johannesburg what we experienced was really the heart and the soul of the Lutheran church and what we should be doing,” says Jim.

Now Jim is excited to go back to St. John and tell everyone about how their donation is being used. “We walk around saying ‘God’s work. Our hands.’ and this truly was God’s work.”

You might also want to read or watch:
Make malaria history — a video
Fighting malaria one net at time
Fighting malaria with honey