We are excited to announce that Prince of Peace was chosen out of a large pool of applicant churches in the ELCA to be part of a two year cohort called the “LEAD Initiative.” The goal of the Lead Initiative is “to unleash and harness the collective genius of this cohort and discover new and useful ministry innovations together. By the end of this two-year initiative, more new, young, and diverse people will know about a life in Christ through bold, faithful courageous witness of your congregations - so that all might "have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).
This project is being funded in part by the Lilly Foundation and will help us to collaborate and innovate as a church. The team of 6 folks from PoP will update us over the course of the next months on their learnings and discoveries. Way to go Prince of Peace!
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As we look to the budget years ahead and plan for the next 5 years as Prince of Peace, your finance committee has a 5 year plan to help fund and grow the ministries of Prince of Peace.
The plan has been reviewed and endorsed by the pastors, finance committee, executive council, council, property, stewardship and the PoP+Zion investment committee. We invite you all to join us at one of four scheduled small group meetings to hear the details and give feedback on the plan. Three of the 4 meetings will be on-site and outdoors. One of these sessions will be on Zoom. To sign up to attend, please RSVP with this link OR email Anne or Pastor Sara. At the end of October we will have a congregational meeting to discuss and vote on the proposal. If you want to have a chance to hear more about the financial model, the process we've executed over the past 6 months, the recommended path forward and have an opportunity to discuss in a smaller setting, then these meetings are for you! In-Person Dates Offered: Sept 26th, Sunday 4pm-6pm (on back patio of hall) October 5th, Tuesday 430pm-6pm (on back patio of hall) October 17th: immediately following worship on the back patio Zoom Option: (to be determined based on need, please email your preference for time/date Greetings!
Did you know that this is a historic weekend? It is; and for other reasons than what happened twenty years ago. Why? It’s because this weekend marks the installation of Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer, the first transgender Bishop in the ELCA. That change, in and of itself ought to be important to us, but also there is so much more going on too. Speaking as someone who cares about the diversity of faithful expressions in our Lutheran church and the public proclamation of the goodness church can be, this synod staff is already doing very exciting things to help congregations like us live with more authentically joyous faith and more creative and inclusive ministries. And I totally hear you say, “Aren’t we already inclusive?” We are. And we try. But let me explain the difference through an obtuse metaphor: Say you are an artist who paints a picture you really feel excited about sharing. And, when you are done it occurs to you that, “Hey, I love this painting, but there are other people I care about who do not or cannot enjoy paintings at all.” And then you say to yourself, “How can I get them to love this painting?” This is the way we, as a church structure, so often try to approach inclusion. What I’m seeing currently from our synod office looks a lot more like, “Hey, how can we work together to share this stuff we are passionate about.?” If this difference is as exciting for you as it feels for me, please check out our synod website to learn more. And click here to watch this weekend’s installation livestream. Pr. Sara will be there as Dean of our conference. The kids and I will be at home with popcorn. God bless you, Pr. Nate Greetings!
I have two wildly different items to ask for your engagement with as we gather this weekend. I apologize now that I cannot find a creative way to connect them, but please don’t let my shortcomings here detract from either cause. :) 1) Get Your Headlines! I think a lot of us are feeling stressed and overwhelmed by what’s happening in the world around us - and with cause. So, I’m going to ask that we do something to respond, as a community, this Sunday. Please bring a newspaper clipping or digital article or whatever else from a story that has affected you this week. We are going to be using them in our Prayers of the People as we worship. You will be invited to share them yourself, or, if preferred, you can give them to me (Pr. Nate) to be organized. We will do a short example before prayer, so please do not let worries about public speaking keep you from sharing something if it’s been bothering you. 2) PoP Connections on the Back Page of Bulletin In an effort to be better about showing who we are and what PoP is about and connected with, you will see some pictures and links on the rear of our bulletin this week. You will also find the logos at the bottom of our web pages. https://www.propeace.org/ Click the logos to go to the websites. Some of us will already know all about these connections, but I am not sure we are always good about communicating such things on a regular basis in all the ways we can. I appreciate any feedback along these lines to help us learn more about sharing in clear and consistent ways all the amazing things PoP can mean for people. Thank you everyone for your engagement and feedback! See you Sunday! -Nate |
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January 2024
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