provides a friendly, warm place to be in community and get out of the rain. “During the course of the week, nearly 1,000 people are in and out of this space,” Engquist said. “And all of a sudden this tiny congregation with 130 members has this enormous impact.”
Although the congregation dif- fers significantly from the church established by Swedish immigrants in 1885, the mission remains the same, Engquist said. “Yes, it looks different, but the core is still driven by the very same gospel that led the first folks who said, ‘Let’s build a church,’ ” she said. Proceeding on the large-scale project has been a “giant trust walk,” she added. “We are incredibly aware that the ground beneath us is shifting. The world is not the same as it was a century ago. We are renewed, for God is making all things new.” Members of First Lutheran
Church, Garland, Texas, wanted to reach out to their community, which had seen an increased Latino popula- tion over the years. “We were looking for some way to carry on our church,” said Randy Jones, president of the congregation. “We had the building, but we didn’t have the people.” In 2007 the congregation, which had averaged 12 to 16 at worship each Sunday, contacted the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod with the idea of starting a Spanish- speaking ministry. And with careful planning, and a lot of enthusiasm, a new congregation was born: First Familia Sagrada (Holy Family). Today the church that had once discontinued Sunday school because of a lack of children, hums with activity. The congregation has called Irma Banales, a student in the Theo- logical Education for Emerging Min- istries program (an alternate route to ordination), as their leader. Banales continues to lead worship in English
for the remaining members, while seeing attendance grow to a total of nearly 400 at both Latino worship services. “The Anglo members are excited and happy that their neighbors are using the building,” Banales said. “And even though the Anglo minis- try will fade in the coming years, the Latino ministry will keep growing.” Jones, who grew up and baptized his children at the church, said, “I’m excited to see youth here again. It gives the whole place life. You have to be open to new possibilities to share God’s love … to get out the message of Jesus and God’s grace.” About 10 years ago, Patricia Cal- laghan, pastor of Lutheran Church of Sunburst (Mont.), noticed a lack of services for seniors in the commu- nity. She also thought about the con- gregation’s parish hall, which had a well-equipped kitchen and accessible dining area sitting empty all week. And with a background in nonprofit administration, “I knew what the possibilities were,” she said. After sharing her idea of starting a senior lunch program at the church, congregation members “sprang into action,” she recalled. “Our church council got into the process so they could negotiate with county com- missioners. It all came about because people went right after it.” Today the federally funded pro- gram includes exercise and blood pressure checks, drawing in a steady core of seniors from the community. The program does more than just provide meals for the elderly who might not be cooking nutritiously. “It is a gathering place where they can visit and keep track of each other,” Callaghan said. “And if somebody doesn’t come for a few days, they check on them.
“When we first started working with this idea, we knew from the beginning it had to be a community-
wide program. We really did see this as a mission. It has transformed our congregation and turned it out toward the community, even more than it already has done.”
About four years ago, the pastor and members of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Baltimore, approached the Delaware-Maryland Synod about starting a new ministry in their declining congregation. Through planning and working with the synod, members saw their vision come to fruition with Breath of God on Easter Sunday 2010.
The new congregation now draws in more young people and families, offering bilingual worship and new opportunities for neighborhood service, education and community building.
The congregation offers vacation Bible school; a back-to-school cel- ebration that provides supplies and educational materials for neighbor- hood children; a Thanksgiving Eve banquet and worship service; and a program for third- to fifth-graders that emphasizes nutrition, physical fitness and academic preparation for middle school and beyond. The goal of this rejuvenated min- istry: to build a neighborhood church that reflects the diversity of the com- munity, said Mark Parker, pastor. “Absolutely everything we do is aimed with the neighborhood in mind,” he said. “The most important thing for us is to be firmly grounded in our community and our context in the mission field.”
Breaking down barriers plays a
large role in this ministry, Parker said. For example, the congregation has renovated the front entrance to make it accessible for those with dis- abilities and offers worship in both English and Spanish. “We exist to do God’s work in our community. The future is really exciting,” he said.
March 2013 23
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