Rejoicing Spirits grows in Souderton

TheReporterOnline.com
Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Souderton, with the lay leadership of Jay Grimes of Franconia, has started a service that allows developmentally delayed members of the community to worship in a ministry that is tailored just for them.

“We’re all part of the same community is what it comes down to,” Grimes said.

Grimes is the ministry coordinator for the Rejoicing Spirits service at Emmanuel Lutheran Church

This monthly service has been providing a Christian outlet for developmentally delayed individuals, their families and their care givers for the last 2½ years.

reporteremmanuelrejoicing

Little church with big heart celebrates 100th

TheReporterOnline.com
A small Ambler Borough church with a rich history will kick off its centennial with a community celebration Sunday.

St. John’s Lutheran Church of Ambler was chartered April 26, 1908. It was founded by a young pastor from Upper Dublin Lutheran Church, Samuel F. Tholan, who began leading services in the heart of Ambler in 1907.

For five years services were held in the Ambler Opera House, at the corner of Butler Avenue and Maple Street. In 1913 the congregation moved to a new church building on the corner of North Ridge Avenue and Race Street, where it still stands.

“I think what’s interesting in anything that lasts,” the Rev. Sandra Ellis-Killian said, “it’s what changes and what stays the same through all the ups and downs.”

reporterambler100th

Oregon pact models Methodist, Lutheran communion

When a United Methodist congregation and a Lutheran congregation in McMinnville, Ore., formed a cooperative ministry two years ago, the decision emerged out of a desire to share a common mission, not out of desperation.

Neither the McMinnville United Methodist Church nor Trinity Lutheran Church, part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was in danger of closing, according to the Rev. Stephan Ross, the United Methodist pastor.

“Both of our churches could survive quite well on their own,” he explained. But the congregations liked the idea of being “a model of and a testimony to the unity of the church, which transcends denominational distinctions.” (United Methodist News Service)

wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 178-Oregon pact models Methodist, Lutheran communion

wfn.org | Lutheran Disaster Response Nearly Completes $27.7 Million Expenditure

wfn.org | Lutheran Disaster Response Nearly Completes $27.7 Million Expenditure

Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) has nearly completed the expenditure of more than $27.7 million collected to support recovery work along the U.S. Gulf Coast in response to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and other hurricanes from the 2005 season. And in an effort to continue rebuilding the Gulf Coast in the long-term, LDR — a collaborative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) — is asking for more funds.

William Lazareth, Former ELCA Synod Bishop, Author, Professor, Dies

wfn.org | William Lazareth, Former ELCA Synod Bishop, Author, Professor, Dies
The Rev. William H. Lazareth, former bishop of the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) died of cancer Feb. 23 in Bar Harbor, Maine. Lazareth, 79, had a distinguished career as a college and seminary professor, author and leader with the ELCA, the former Lutheran Church in America (LCA) and the World Council of Churches (WCC), Geneva.

Colleges offer programs in church finance | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/18/2008

Colleges offer programs in church finance | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/18/2008
Many U.S. churches have been victims of embezzlement over the years, reflecting not just moral weakness on the part of the wrongdoers, but lax financial controls. Often, church budgets are overseen by volunteers or employees with little guidance or professional training.

Now, some colleges are hoping to prevent such abuses by offering programs devoted specifically to managing church finances and personnel.

Two Sides of the Street

Two Sides of the Street | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/24/2008
Center City’s street population - 85 percent of whom are mentally ill or addicted or both - is the highest in 10 years, according to the city’s homeless outreach center. But that’s only the most visible part of the homeless situation. Shelters, which cater more to families, are running at capacity with 20 percent more beds than five years ago, city statistics show.

Peace-Tohickon eyes expansion

The roots of Peace-Tohickon Evangelical Lutheran Church run deep, very deep, with a presence in the Perkasie area that can be traced back 265 years.

But church officials say now is the time to look to the future, and that means expansion.

To accommodate a growing Upper Bucks community, Peace-Tohickon in East Rockhill is planning a $2 million to $3 million expansion project. The goal is to give the Old Bethlehem Road church some breathing room.

Peace-Tohickon eyes expansion phillyBurbs.com | Intelligencer

Pastor to speak to faithful from the Holy Land

Two local Lutheran leaders are marking the start of Lent in the Holy Land, and the power of the Internet will allow them to share the experience with parishioners back home.

Pastor to speak to faithful from the Holy Land phillyBurbs.com | Intelligencer

One faith, oceans apart

The Rev. Eric Shafer, senior pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, will be in the holiest of holy lands on Ash Wednesday: Jerusalem.

It will be there where Shafer will give a 10-minute sermon on the first day of Lent from the Mt. of Olives outside Jerusalem.

Through Internet and Google Video, that same sermon will be witnessed by members of Trinity Lutheran at the three Ash Wednesday worship services.

Shafer will be accompanied on his trip by … Bishop Claire Burkat of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod.

“I want to experience the culture and I really want to better understand the dynamics and possible solutions to the conflicts in the Middle East,” (Burkat) said. “I want to listen to the stories and witness the minority Christian population in the Holy Land.”

“It will be very poignant and spiritual for me,” Burkat said.

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