English District of
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
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Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.
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Supporting Clergy Families - Spouses
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When the church worker wellness survey was accomplished a few years ago, it was designed to assess the wellness of not only the church worker themselves but the spouses and the family as well. The data obtained and collated clearly revealed that church workers cannot be islands to themselves and that being in ministry impacts family systems as a whole. Each member of a church work family is important and an important part of the whole family’s health.
One of the outcomes for us as the English District has been to change the message and the focus from "we support church workers" to "we support church workers, their spouses, and their families." Changing the message and focus has not been easy for several reasons. First, spouses have not often felt cared for unless there has been a huge crisis within the family. Second, spouses have come to expect to be relatively ignored by the churches and the synod. Both of these statements have been correct. Third, spouses have been afraid of letting people know about problems within the family and how that can impact the ministry.
Still we want to support families. We start by changing our focus. We continue by seeing the current situation. We move in a new direction in actions and not words alone.
To this end, we would like to provide clergy spouses an opportunity to be specifically supported during this time of Covid-19 as they are also living through the challenges being faced in our culture and our churches. We would like to create and provide our English District clergy wives with the opportunity to meet together for a private Zoom session with Dr. Beverly Yahnke. It would be similar to the session that was offered to church workers recently but would focus on the unique needs and situations that clergy wives encounter in their daily lives.
And we hit a wall. We have no method for connecting with clergy spouses directly apart from going through the clergy themselves. While we believe that most clergy would pass on the information and opportunity to their spouses, it is a less than optimal method of communication. It would be better and more respectful to communicate directly with the individuals themselves and invite them directly.
We have been left with one method and that is an open appeal to clergy spouses to share with us their email address. Our contact person is Holly Scheer. You can reach her at
[email protected]
. Holly is a confidential contact who works very closely with me at the District office.
We continue to keep all our church workers and their families in prayer as they make decisions and movements toward returning to worship and ministry activities or not, depending on the context of their ministry. We remain vigilant to care for our church workers, their spouses and their families as an English District. We pray for God's continued peace, protection, and guidance.
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Call Received
The Rev. Ian S. Pacey (Texas District) has received a call from Faith, Tucson, AZ to serve as the deployed Campus Pastor to the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.
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The English District wishes all of our Canadian friends a blessed Canada Day on July 1st.
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English District Professional Church Workers Conference
English District pastors and rostered church workers, mark your calendars for the Professional Church Workers Conference to be held October 5-7, 2020 in Akron, Ohio. Online registration will be available July 15
th
. Watch your email and the district
website
for further details.
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1-1-1 A Dollar for Missions
One Dollar - Per Member – Per Week
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At its 2018 convention, the English District launched a new model for funding missions to which every congregation is invited to participate. It is completely voluntary, but we believe that as God's people see and hear what is being accomplished, specifically and directly in support and development of new missions and enhancing existing missions, more and more of us will want to be involved.
Won’t you consider joining us as we support Tree of Life, Inverness, FL and Holy Cross Lutheran Mission, Hazelwood, PA. YOU can support them through your prayers for their ministries to grow as they evangelize to the community around them. Joining 1-1-1 will help our two missions as they continue to witness and share their heartfelt faith in Christ.
This is the power of many giving little as we are moved by God's spirit. Missions is what Jesus calls the Church to do.
Contact our District Mission Executive, Pastor
Derek Mathers
or Pastor
Justin Laughridge
, Chair of the Missions Council, with any questions regarding 1-1-1.
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Congregations should have received by email information r
egarding reviewing their information for the Lutheran Annual, LCMS locator page, etc. Updates for the Annual can be made on the same site used to report congregation statistics:
lc.lcms.org
. The due date for any updates to make it into the Lutheran Annual is September 1st.
If you have questions or need to receive a paper version of the form, email
[email protected]
, or contact the LCMS Church Information Center at 888-843-5267.
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Guide to Reopening Churches
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There isn’t a "flip the switch" moment when we will be back to normal, so ongoing, constructive, evaluative conversations are necessary.
There are no black and white answers, nor a one-size-fits-all way to respond. There are best practices, common sense behaviors, and actions that are medically advisable, but no plan will fit every situation. It is appropriate to distinguish between urban and rural settings as well as large, mid-size, and smaller congregations as leaders craft a plan that maintains health and wellness while allowing for services to resume.
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Amazon customers can support the English District of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod when shopping on their website (go to
smile.amazon.com
) or when using the Amazon shopping app on iOS and Android mobile phones! To turn on AmazonSmile in the app and start generating donations, follow these instructions:
- Open the Amazon Shopping app on your device.
- Go into the main menu of the Amazon Shopping app and tap into 'Settings'.
- Tap 'AmazonSmile' and follow the on-screen instructions to choose your charity and complete the process.
You may need to update your app if you do not have the latest version. Click
here
for more complete instructions.
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Lutheran Church Extension Fund's (LCEF) recent webinar "Let's Talk About Online Giving & Stewardship" is available to view
here.
The webinar focuses on...
- How pastors and church leaders can speak to congregations about online giving.
- Exploring alternate ways to accept offerings and keep ministry moving during Covid-19.
- Learning about LCEF's online giving solution.
If you are interested in moving your ministry forward with ideas like these, please c
ontact David Thiele, English District LCEF Vice President, by
email or phone
517-980-2857.
LCEF is here to support you and your congregation.
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For more information contact the English District Gift Planning Counselor Ron Grimm by phone (
412)-584-7039
or
email
.
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Livestreamed/Recorded Services
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We encourage everyone to take advantage of alternative opportunities to hear God’s word and to be blessed by the Divine Service. We have compiled a
list of opportunities
on the English District website that is continually updated.
If your congregation is recording or live streaming and is not included on this list, please email us at
[email protected]
and let us know how people can access it.
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PPP Loan Forgiveness Requirements CHANGES
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The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 has amended The CARES Act. The amendment now allows 24 weeks to use proceeds of the loan for qualified forgiveness purposes (some borrowers can still use an 8-week period), an increase in forgivable non-payroll expenditures to 40% of the forgiveness amount, and several other modifications.
The June 30, 2020 deadline for applying for a PPP loan has not changed and funds are still available. The Treasury has indicated additional guidance and updated loan forgiveness documents have been released.
Links to the revised PPP loan application and additional information on CARES Act amendments are available on the
PPP Loan Information
page of our website.
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Ministerial Health Commission
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Hello, and prayers and blessings to you that you are safe and well in this time of lockdowns, isolation, and uncertainty. In these unprecedented times we desperately need our pastors to share the Good News and support us in strengthening our faith. We also need the wisdom and experience of health professionals to share clear, concise guidelines for us to follow.
We know that we all have had times of worry, doubt, and, yes, even fear. However, as Christians, we all have the joy and peace knowing that our Lord is with us, and He will strengthen us with all that we need. Our future is not known to us; but, praise God, we know that HE knows! We ask God to protect us; yet, we must do all that we can to grow in our faith, follow good health practices, and promote patience as we ask for His mercy and accept His plan for our future.
We live in a broken world full of all kinds of sin, and we are now experiencing the sin of the coronavirus pandemic. Folks, just as the coronavirus is alive and well and we must use all of our resources to combat this evil, the devil is also alive and well and we MUST use the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus to combat Satan. Just as we may not get a second chance to fight the
coronavirus
if infected, we may also miss the chance to know, go, and share the Good News of Jesus to our world.
If there are concerns or questions please let me know.
Blessings,
Parish Nurse Sue Neff, on behalf of the MHC
If you have questions or concerns, please contact:
Assistant to the Bishop and Mission Executive
1-800-755-9335 x 311 or 248.476.0039 x 311
416-320-6366 (Canadian cell)
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Your prayer concerns are important to the English District. When you submit a prayer request, with your permission, it will be posted in this weekly eNewsletter. The Bible's promise is true: "If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us" (1 John 5:14).
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St. Mark, Janesville, WI
St. Mark Lutheran Church began worshiping outdoors, drive-in style. A platform was built by members of the congregation for visibility.
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St. Mark honored their high school graduates with a special Graduate Blanket Blessing Service. Physical distancing broke for a quick picture after worship.
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St. Mark held a recent congregational voters meeting in their cars. Two new council members were voted in and installed the following Sunday.
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St. Mark participated in Holy Communion for the first time since quarantine began.
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Sherman Oaks, Sherman Oaks, CA
The improvements continue at Sherman Oaks Lutheran Church: sanctuary and outdoor painting, new security cameras, and the parking lot is finished and beautiful! They hope to re-open on a limited basis sometime in July.
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Messiah, Danville, CA
This month, Messiah Lutheran Church held their first in-person, outdoor, social-distanced service since the pandemic reached them and the "Stay at Home" orders went into place. They give utmost thanks and praise to God who has watched over and protected them during these days of waiting and has brought them back to commune with Him and one another through His Body and Blood in the Eucharist! Alleluia!!
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Redeemer, Pittsburgh, PA
Redeemer Lutheran School (RLS) had a very different VBS this year! Everything was online and families were given craft kits to work on at home. Thank you to Redeemer Lutheran Church who supported VBS with monetary donations and to the VBS committee as well as the RLS staff who worked hard to create this virtual VBS so that children could still learn about the love Jesus has for them! Jesus said "Come follow me". Matthew 4:19
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Bethesda, Chicago, IL
Summer camp at Bethesda International Academy.
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Part-Time Accounting Assistant
The English District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is seeking a part-time (approximately 25 hours per week) Accounting Assistant for their Farmington, Michigan office. This position is available immediately.
Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, providing support to the finance office executive and staff through a variety of tasks related to bookkeeping, accounting and finance, and data management. More information
available
.
Please submit a resume and cover letter, which includes compensation requirements and availability, to
Sally Naglich
, Business Manager.
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Please share the information from Servant to Servant with members of your congregation.
All are invited to subscribe to this weekly publication. Forward the newsletter to members of your church. They can subscribe by clicking on the "Sign up for our emails" link at the bottom. Thanks for spreading the word!
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Please share your congregation's or school's unique ministries with the rest of the District. Send pictures and stories for consideration to
Holly Scheer
by Wednesday, 12:00 pm ET. We want to see how YOUR congregation or school is showing the love of God to those in your community and around the world.
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If you'd like to share our emails, please forward
using your email's forwarding option.
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