By Pastor Devlyn Brooks
Faith Family … We've entered a time in which we are being called to be bold in terms of the future of our church.
And if you weren’t able to join us for our annual meeting a couple of weeks ago, I announced then that this Lenten season we are going to engage in a bold experiment of collaboration with our friends to the north, the Comstock-Hoff Lutheran Parish.
Comstock-Hoff Pastor Jill Steichen offered, and I have accepted their parish’s gracious invitation, to join them for a Lenten learning series that will be hosted at their churches, alternately at Hoff one week and Comstock the next.
That learning series will include a representative of the synod sharing about their recent trip to our synod’s sister synod in India, a local Comstock man discussing the mission he supports in his home country in Africa, a seminar on Mormonism and I will be hosting two of the five sessions myself. One about Churches United, a mission opportunity right here in our backyard and another about the storytelling ministry that I am so passionate about!
We will begin each week with a supper served by members of Comstock-Hoff, and then there will be a 45-minute or so presentation. All we have to do is attend and bring our curiosity!
Now, if you weren’t at our annual meeting, I know that some folks’ reaction may be: “Wait, we’re not holding Lenten services?”
And to that, I’d say, “No, we’re jointly holding Lenten services with a close neighbor, but none of this year’s services will be at Faith Lutheran.”
As I wrote above: I’m asking us to be bold and lean into this invitation this year in the hopes that this collaboration continues to help grow our future relationship with Comstock-Hoff.
Faith Family … We seem to be at a crossroads regarding our future. As I mentioned at the annual meeting, our Faith Forward committee has now been meeting for a year. And while we have experienced a number of tremendous events and have built memories a plenty this past year, the efforts have not resulted in a growth in worshipping numbers.
Have our efforts at revitalization increased the joy we’ve felt? I would say, unequivocally, yes! Have our many events raised our profile in the community and surrounding region? Again, I would say, absolutely! And I wouldn’t have changed any of it this past year. It was amazing!
But we cannot argue that these efforts have not increased the number of worshippers regularly attending church. And we continue to plan, organize and execute all of these events in addition to all of our worship activities with the same number of hands and feet.
Given all of this, I think it’s time to begin thinking more in earnest about what it means to “grow.” And if we can’t grow in the number of folks in our pews to ensure our future viability, then maybe we need to think about “growing” in terms of a partnership with another congregation in proximity to us undergoing the same issues.
Faith Family … partnering with Comstock-Hoff is not new to our congregation.
Going back eight years ago, Pastor Jill served as my mentor during my S.A.M. years here and as my supervisor during my internship years. During the pandemic, Pastor Jill and I regularly shared resources and pastoring duties together. And we’ve held Vacation Bible School together, and members of both congregations have attended special events at each others’ churches.
This growing partnership is way past the “new” stage.
This Lent, I would encourage you not to focus on the fact that we will be celebrating Wednesdays in other churches, with another congregation. But I would ask you to focus on the learning opportunities, the fellowship we will have during shared meals, the groundwork being laid to a more collaborative future, and finally where you may see the Holy Spirit in action this year in a different setting!
Besides, we will still be in our own beautiful church for Holy Week. We’ll be celebrating Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday, with me at the helm, in the familiar confines of our beautiful Faith Lutheran!
And in addition, we’ll also hopefully have some wonderful stories to tell about what we learned in this bold experiment with valued neighbors this Lenten season!
If you have any questions about this exercise, please feel encouraged to reach out to me!
Blessings to you this February, Faith Family! ... See you in church!
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