Interim Update for March 1, 2019

Transition Team convened

At the Annual Meeting Sunday, Mike announced the St. John's members who will serve on the Transition Team. Those members are Dale Wilson, Mike Todd, Paul Lieber, Tonya Hayward and Sue Folk. A sixth member had been approved by council, a high school student, but that person has withdrawn. The primary task of the Transition Team will be to complete the Ministry Site Profile, the document that will explain St. John's to prospective pastoral candidates. To do this, they will be seeking in put from the congregation in the form of small group meetings and surveys. The Team will meet about two times per month over the next several months, with the first meeting this Sunday at 11:30 am. Tonya has volunteer to bring a snack, so we will have the energy we need for the meeting.

Legal Checklist Webinar Video Link

Last Thursday Shaun and I both viewed the webinar 2019 Legal Checklist for Congregations offered by the ELCA Churchwide office. We gave a brief report at last week's Council meeting, but the full video (mostly audio with illustrative material on screen) can be viewed here. It's about an hour and 15 minutes long. It's password protected, so, when prompted, enter the following password: 2019checklist! (don't forget the final exclamation mark!). Pages and resources referenced in the webinar are linked below, and you can find additional resources on the ELCA website here.

• Legal Checklist for Congregations
• ELCA.org Legal Resources Library
• Risk Management Resources
• For Purchasing Insurance
• Guidelines for Keeping Insurance Records
• Sexual Misconduct Resources
• Financial Resources for Congregations
• Records Retention Schedule for Congregations

Confirmation youth bake Communion bread

Confirmation youth began a unit on Holy Communion, and a class activity this week was baking Communion bread. We will plan to use this bread for Holy Communion on Ash Wednesday, and we made sufficient loaves that they can also be used Sunday mornings. So be ready for a slight change in the bread you will receive for Communion beginning Ash Wednesday. "What is Holy Communion? Holy Communion is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Chrsit given with bread and wine instituted by Christ himself for us to eat and drink." (from Luther's Small Catechism)

Hospital visit

Prayers have been requested for Charley Baum, who has been hospitalized at Firelands. He underwent a procedure on Thursday morning, and is feeling much better. I stopped in to see him on Thursday afternoon. He's hoping to be home somtime this weekend.

Church Attendance is Dying

Church attendance isn't what it used to be. This is true or St. John's, and for many other congregations as well. Church leadership specialist Carey Nieuwhof offers some insights as to why this is happening, and "what's next." You can read that article here. Linked in this article is another article Nieuwhof entitled "7 ways to grow church attendance by increasing engagement." To go directly to that page, click here.

Methodist General Conference

Some of you may have heard in the news that the United Methodist Church made a decision in its Annual Conference to retain traditional rules barring gay partnered clergy and same-gender weddings in Methodist churches. The vote was a rejection of the United Methodists Bishops' plea to allow local congregations to make their own decisions. Dr. William Willimon, a highly respected United Methodist professor, preaching guru (has published preaching resources used by thousands of clergy from many denominations for decades), and former Dean of Duke Divinity School and former UMC Bishop, weighed in on the decision in the Christian Century. You can read it here. You can also read our own Bishop Elizabeth Eaton's response to the UMC decision here.

Fundraiser for Kennedy Black

Terri Black made a request to hold a fundraiser for her daughter, Kennedy, to do a fundraiser at St. John's to help her raise money for a mission trip in May through Otterbein College where she is a student. She will be traveling to Kenya, to do community health education. The fundraiser will primarily be gift baskets that members can bid on, and will be placed in the narthex and lobby sometime this month. I gave the go ahead on this to Terri on this. Info was placed in the March newsletter, and will appear for several weeks in the bulletin.

Don't forget the Sunday School Canned/Boxed food drive

The Sunday School is sponsoring a canned/boxed food drive, creating a food "tree" in the narthex. This is in conjunction with recent presentations by the Sunday School kids regarding the "Three Trees" story. The first tree (used to make the manger) was the theme of the Christmas program. This past Sunday, the Sunday School kids told the story of the second tree, which was used to build a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. Stay tuned to learn how the third tree was used. The Sunday School kids will tell that story on Palm Sunday.

Flame pastors meeting

On Tuesday afternoon, I attended the meeting of the Flame pastors. I was able to have a brief conversation with Pastor Eric Bodenstab from Zion, Sandusky, about the possibility of sharing a confirmation program with that congregation. The Education team has begun conversations with next year's Confirmation parents and youth, so this is a work in progress.

Bishop Daniels's latest email message

You can read it here.

March Newsletter in the Mail

Kristen mailed the March newsletter on Thursday. It should be in your mailboxes soon.

Get your ash in church on Wednesday

Just a reminder that Lent is upon on. Ash Wednesday is this coming week, March 6. There will be one service at 7:00 pm. Imposition of ashes and Holy Communion. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Hope to see you all there.

Midweek Lenten Worship: “Continuing in the Covenant of Baptism”

We will observe Lent this year with a series of five light suppers in the fellowship hall beginning at 6:00 pm. A brief worship around the tables will follow from 6:30 – 7:00. We will continue a discussion of the confirmation promises that Confirmation youth explored in their recent retreat. Here is our schedule and a list of our themes:

• March 13 Focus: To live among God’s faithful people
• March 20 Focus: To hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper
• March 27 Focus: To proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed
• April 3 Focus: To serve all people, following the example of Jesus
• April 10 Focus: To strive for justice and peace in all the earth