Faith Community

Not closed, but deployed

Re-thinking the mission of the congregation during public isolation

 Have you taken the time to re-think what “church” means during this time of a public isolation?

If church is not meeting on Sunday mornings, then what is church? Furthermore, what is the mission of the congregation?

Our mission statement reads:

“Clairemont Lutheran Church/Iglesia Luterana Clairemont is a community of faith united in Word and Sacrament, building faith by inviting, welcoming, forgiving, accepting, helping, and praying for all of God’s people.”

How has the congregation lived up to this mission?

Despite the ban on large public gatherings, we have continued to offer the Word online on Sunday mornings and we hope that your life groups have found ways to keep connected as well. We have also continued to offer Drive-Thru communion as a way to keep our community in Christ connected to the sacrament. We have also continued our food distribution ministries to serve our neighbors.

But what about building faith? How are we doing that now, and how will we do this going forward? We can do this by inviting others to view our online worship by sharing the videos over Social Media. We can call others and pray with them. We can offer a sign of God’s peace to our neighbors and to those we may see at the grocery or drug store. We can help a neighbor who is having difficulty during this time. These are just some of the ways we can be inviting, welcoming, helping and praying.

For years Christian congregations have faced declining attendance and participation. Some have permanently closed their doors. One reason is that society has changed. Church is no longer the place to celebrate and mark life passages. People stopped coming to the church campus.

Now that most people aren’t going anywhere, we have an opportunity to re-think our mission outside of being a physical location in a neighborhood. We can instead think of it this way:

The church is not closed, it’s deployed.

I invite you to prayerfully consider how you can play an active role in the deployed church of Christ, both now and well into the future.

Being a blessing to others

From Eddie McCoven, church staff member:

The Sanctuary looked a little different on Sunday as we gathered for worship. About 130 quilts were spread out over the pews. 

Members of our Women's Ministry's Mission Quilters made all of these quilts in the last year. It's the seventh consecutive year of quilting as a part of our work with Lutheran World Relief.  

These quilts will be sent out with the quilts made by volunteers at other congregations in our area. Last year's shipment of quilts were sent to Lebanon and Iran, among other places. We said a blessing for these quilts and for the lives they will touch and bring warmth and healing to.

Janet Wood, one of our Women's Ministry board members, gave a talk of the importance of the quilt-making ministry as well as the Thank-offering Sunday, where donations helps to further the  women's ministry in our own congregation and as well as those throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean. 

Did I mention The Campanile Ringers, our hanbell choir, provided music for the worship as well?

You can watch the full worship gathering, including the blessing of the quilts and Janet's talk about the quilting ministry and Thank-offering Sunday here: