‘Do whatever you can to fall back in love with your neighborhood. Ask, “What does my neighbor- hood need?” It means asking what are their hurts and hopes. It means offering the cup of cold water and the basin and the towel. It means listening and not speaking. Lutheran churches have to learn to love their actual neighbors. You’ve got to re-root in your neighborhood.’ Bill Hurst, ELCA pastor
Family Safety Risk and Permanency program.
Horell said the parents and chil- dren who come to the LSI program see Our Saviour as a warm and wel- coming place. “There are a lot of peo- ple in and out of the building,” she said. “We want it to be a safe, secure, loving place to be.” Partnering with Lutheran agencies is nothing new to Our Saviour. The church provided space to Lutheran Disaster Response in 2008 when it needed a local office for its work in the Iowa floods. Responding to com- munity needs is what Horrell said the church is called to do.
Calling clergy golfers Living Waters Lutheran Church in North Port, Fla., has seen the best of times and the worst of times. When Florida was growing and real estate was booming, Living Waters rode the wave. When the real estate mar- ket went bust and members left the area, the church experienced tougher times. Average worship attendance five years ago was approximately 170, said Dell Shiell, pastor. Today it’s about 110.
Although membership is down, 26 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Shiell said ministry is on the rise. “Having a vision that is exciting, along with congregational unity and being a Christ-centered and mission- centered church, makes us a church for others,” he said. Since Shiell came to Living
Waters in 2004, it has started a pre- school and respite care program. “The preschool was started to dem- onstrate our commitment to the community—that we are here for all people, not just for the elderly,” he said. These are break-even minis- tries, he added, that are more about responding to community needs than bringing in revenue. Shiell’s goals are to keep ministry fresh and alive for the congregation and to have a strong mission and values. Since money isn’t available to hire an assistant to help him in these goals, the congregation came up with its guest pastor program (
www.pastors2go.com). While Living Waters couldn’t take on an extra salary, especially after staff took a 20 percent cut this year, it could provide housing. Using endow- ment money, in 2009 the congrega- tion purchased a condo on a golf course and near the beach at below market value. For a month or two, a guest pastor from another congrega- tion can use the condo for respite or retreat while helping Living Waters with its ministry. In the past year, Living Waters has
benefited from more than a dozen guest pastors—some are seeking an affordable sabbatical while others who are single or retired are looking for a new experience or an interim ministry. Guest pastors commit to preach once or twice a month, lead adult Bible study and participate in the life of the church. In return, Shiell said, the program “helps me focus on leadership, gets me out of the day-to-day administra- tion, and I can do more preaching,
teaching and pastoral care.” Living Waters gets the services of a second pastor for the cost of maintaining the condo, about $6,000 a year, Shiell said, adding, “The pro- gram is a godsend.” Programs like this that enrich
ministry also show a certain fiscal fitness, Duran said. He points to Igle- sia Luterana Cristo Rey in El Paso, Texas, which reaches out to its His- panic community by selling tamales after church on Sunday and gives children of immigrants backpacks for school.
“They may not have all the money in the world, but this group is alive,” he said. “When I ask how they’re making it, they say, ‘We’re open to the community on Sunday. We put out food. We sell tamales. The church reflects the community, we’re connected.’ ”
Know your neighbor’s needs It might have been easy for First Lutheran Church in Torrance, Calif., to hike its school tuition when times got tough in 2008. But it did just the opposite—it set aside $50,000 for tuition assistance grants. The church, which attracts approximately 385 people for worship each weekend, valued its school as a central part of its ministry and mission too much to make cuts. “Fact is, were it not for the school, our ministry would not be growing and we would not be the center of mission that we are,” said Bill Hurst, pastor. “One secret to our vitality is having the school, which ministers to hundreds of families with children from infancy through eighth grade. “The biggest problem that congre- gations have is when they become irrelevant to the community. Congre- gations that are struggling become detached from the neighborhood. Being a church school ministry has kept us relevant.”
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