The theme “Live the Love” guides us in living out God’s love by remembering that
everything starts with God’s love coming to us in Christ. In the Holy Spirit we are then enabled
to live out that love in reaching out in worship, witness, and service. “Live the Love” becomes
guidance for all of our ministries and directions us in living out our ministry in an easily
memorable phrase.
Within the theme “Live the Love,” there are four specific areas in which we focus on living out the love we receive in Christ:
- Love within our congregation
- Love our local and global community
- Love all of God’s Creation
- Love through diverse inclusion
These general areas are to encourage our imagination as a community on ways to live out Christ’s love in those specific areas. At the same time, to help us get started there are several concrete initial proposals under each of these areas.
Love within our congregation
a. Continued food and coffee opportunities on Sunday mornings
b. Increased accessibility, including creation of a hybrid meeting space
c. Creation of one or two part time ministry positions, totaling 20 hours per week
- Position #1: Family Ministry and Christian Formation support – enable family participation in Christian formation
- Position #2: Congregational Care – visitation, Eucharistic ministry, enable caring service by congregation members
Love our local and global community
a. Participate in “God’s Work, Our Hands” Sunday
b. Development and launching of parenting group to provide support for parents struggling to match the level of demands placed on them
Love All of God’s Creation
a. Begin celebrating “Season of Creation” in Sept/Oct
b. Undertake studying and implementing recommendations from the ELCA’s social statement “Caring for Creation”
Love through Diverse Inclusion
a. Permanent display of the “Faces of Jesus” artwork by congregation members
b. Seek connections with faith communities different from us
There is a goal that details for implementing these concrete proposals be determined by September for any of the proposals that are accepted as part of a strategic plan by council. Please share your feedback on the theme and the specific proposals.