The Mission Assessment Profile (MAP) offered through the Synod’s Forward Together in Faith campaign “changed the way we do church here at University Lutheran,” says Pastor Fritz Fowler. Scroll down to watch video University Lutheran, the campus ministry serving Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania, was asked to participate shortly after Fowler was called...
As a visitor to a different congregation almost every Sunday since September 2002, Beth Lewis, President and CEO of Augsburg Fortress, the ministry of publishing of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has developed a strong sense of what works and what doesn’t in terms of how congregations reach out to visitors and prospective members. In...
The Welcome Church is collaborating with a number of partners to provide nighttime housing for women experiencing homelessness in Center City. The shelter, called “the Well,” will open at the Church of the Crucifixion at 8th and Bainbridge Streets on Sunday, Feb. 14. It will offer a place for gathering and renewal from 7:30 pm to...
Images are worth at least 1,000 words in today’s digital communications. Photos and videos give viewers of your web and social media presence a sense of who you are as a congregation. But because of concern for the safety of children and the privacy of members, use of images can pose challenges. In this article we’ll...
Pastor Thomas Rusert doesn’t drink coffee — except for Thursdays when he shares coffee and “Free Prayer” with people who stop in a Doylestown coffee shop. “One brisk October morning, a man I had not met walked through the ever-swinging door of the local Starbucks. Amari, from West Philadelphia, had business at the courthouse in...
Sunday, Oct. 25 is Reformation Sunday. And it’s also Social Media Sunday – a perfect opportunity to share your Lutheran witness and tell your church’s story. The concept is simple: encourage your social media connected people to share about your church’s activities and the Gospel message with each other and their social circles. All posts should...
“Part of the reality for synods in the 21st century is they have to act and live differently,” Jeff Kjellberg of Kairos and Associates, consultant for Forward Together in Faith, told a gathering of congregations participating in the mission assessment process made possible by this campaign. “One way to start behaving differently is to do...
When he arrived at Reformation Lutheran Church in Media in 2013, Pastor Wayne Matthias-Long saw that the congregation had “a lot of energy, a commitment to outreach, to service, to mission.” Watch video, below. The feasibility study for a capital appeal, however, indicated that the congregation was not ready to move forward. So leaders accepted the...
Three Northeast Philadelphia congregations have agreed to share clergy and some ministries in a collaboration known as God’s Grace Lutheran Community. St. John (Mayfair), Redemption and St. Petri-Hope congregations voted by large margins Sept. 13 to enter into the new network. The move is not a merger – congregations retain their own councils and buildings....
Volunteers at Lutheran Church of God’s Love in Newtown and community volunteers spent a year converting a plain red shipping container into a colorful self-contained medical clinic that’s almost ready to be sent to Kisumu, Kenya. And as they neared the finish line, they reached out to CBS-3 to tell their story and help raise...
The Mission Assessment Profile (MAP) offered through the Synod’s Forward Together in Faith campaign “changed the way we do church here at University Lutheran,” says Pastor Fritz Fowler. Scroll down to watch video University Lutheran, the campus ministry serving Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania, was asked to participate shortly after Fowler was called...
As a visitor to a different congregation almost every Sunday since September 2002, Beth Lewis, President and CEO of Augsburg Fortress, the ministry of publishing of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has developed a strong sense of what works and what doesn’t in terms of how congregations reach out to visitors and prospective members. In...
The Welcome Church is collaborating with a number of partners to provide nighttime housing for women experiencing homelessness in Center City. The shelter, called “the Well,” will open at the Church of the Crucifixion at 8th and Bainbridge Streets on Sunday, Feb. 14. It will offer a place for gathering and renewal from 7:30 pm to...
Images are worth at least 1,000 words in today’s digital communications. Photos and videos give viewers of your web and social media presence a sense of who you are as a congregation. But because of concern for the safety of children and the privacy of members, use of images can pose challenges. In this article we’ll...
Pastor Thomas Rusert doesn’t drink coffee — except for Thursdays when he shares coffee and “Free Prayer” with people who stop in a Doylestown coffee shop. “One brisk October morning, a man I had not met walked through the ever-swinging door of the local Starbucks. Amari, from West Philadelphia, had business at the courthouse in...
Sunday, Oct. 25 is Reformation Sunday. And it’s also Social Media Sunday – a perfect opportunity to share your Lutheran witness and tell your church’s story. The concept is simple: encourage your social media connected people to share about your church’s activities and the Gospel message with each other and their social circles. All posts should...
“Part of the reality for synods in the 21st century is they have to act and live differently,” Jeff Kjellberg of Kairos and Associates, consultant for Forward Together in Faith, told a gathering of congregations participating in the mission assessment process made possible by this campaign. “One way to start behaving differently is to do...
When he arrived at Reformation Lutheran Church in Media in 2013, Pastor Wayne Matthias-Long saw that the congregation had “a lot of energy, a commitment to outreach, to service, to mission.” Watch video, below. The feasibility study for a capital appeal, however, indicated that the congregation was not ready to move forward. So leaders accepted the...
Volunteers at Lutheran Church of God’s Love in Newtown and community volunteers spent a year converting a plain red shipping container into a colorful self-contained medical clinic that’s almost ready to be sent to Kisumu, Kenya. And as they neared the finish line, they reached out to CBS-3 to tell their story and help raise...
