Prince of Peace Westland Mission Partner Profile

Prince of Peace was founded in 1949 by a group of Lutherans who had split off from the Missouri Synod and others and met in a legion hall. They broke ground for small church in Wayne in July, 1951 and with the help of five mission builders, were able to dedicate the sanctuary by the end of November, 1951. Over the years they have been served by Pastors Heins, Beyer, Brown, Beckam, and Rorem. In 1961 they bought a large parcel of land in Westland and in 1971 broke ground to build the present church which was dedicated in 1973. They soon experienced financial difficulty in paying the mortgage and maintaining the Wayne church building which took years to sell. Eventually they sold a piece of their land to obtain stability. The following years the church successfully worked its mission and did some charitable helping through their outreach programs. Then Pastor Rorem moved to Alaska in January, 1991. In the spring of 1991 Pr. David Bonde accepted a call and became Pastor of the church. He helped Prince of Peace get their financial books in order separating capital funds and operating funds from benevolence. He emphasized increasing their reach out to others rather then being self centered. In one of his sermons he said, "A church that looks only inside is due for failure."

David Bonde had been a pastor "in the city." This was fresh in his mind, and he remembered clearly the isolation between city and suburban congregations, and he knew of the definite needs of the city church. The committee went to visit Faith Memorial and they were awestruck by the many programs they had, the strength of the Congregation and the joy they showed even though they were people of little means. Faith Memorial was later renamed Spirit of Hope. Spirit of Hope's witness to us was important- doing faithful ministry in their place in spite of the adversity, Spirit of Hope is a fine example of a community of hope in a difficult place and being a place of joy. One committee member said, "We decided to grow our giving, and we voted to give a percentage of our budget and increase the amount every year."

Thus began a mission partnering that has endured for eighteen years. "Having a mission partner helped make that giving 'cast in concrete" and connected us to the idea of mission which we had needed to renew within ourselves," said a committee member who has been with the partnership since the beginning.

"We sent our catechism class to Spirit of Hope for a tour and talk by current Pr. Bode. They then spent the Saturday afternoon serving lunch to 245 people who otherwise would have no food." This is good work, good fun, educational, and enriching for our kids. Both our church and our partner church benefit in various ways and benefit greatly," said Carl Ames, Pr. of Prince of Peace Westland.

The lessons learned from Pr. Bonde have not been forgotten by the congregants of Prince of Peace as they continue their generous giving despite the financial difficulties of the current times and the fact their church is in the shadow of the Ford Wayne Assembly Plant. "We are blessed that we are still able to keep our commitments and therefore serve both God and man," said Pastor Ames. He also said “ I have never served a church with more lay leadership, all I have to do is help make something possible like outreach to a particular need and the members take it up and then own it themselves.”

Prince of Peace is supporting:

• Habitat for Humanity with workers and financial gifts
• Veterans Homeless Shelter in Detroit with gifts and having them eat and worship with us three times a year
• Living Waters Camp Ministry. One of our members who is an engineer along with forty people goes to the camp to do maintenance and repairs of all kinds in the fall. We also support them yearly in our budget.
• Continue the support for Bette McCrandall, a missionary who is in Liberia and have supported missionaries for nearly forty years
• Fifty people for Cropwalk - one in an electric wheelchair
• Salvation Army food for after school program - cooking, serving, and cleaning on Tuesdays of each week
• LSSM at Wayne Family Center - bi monthly Sunday dinner
• We maintain our benevolence giving to the church at large as intended

The Prince of Peace Mission Partner Committee recommends every church should have a Mission Partner. This is good work with both heavenly and earthly dividends that cannot be taken from you.

Special thanks to Luan Purcell for providing history and most of the quotes.

Bill Swasey

Bill Swasey is a member of the Synod Stewardship Committee, the Synod Mission Partners Committee and St Thomas Grosse Ile.

South Lyon Power and Light Needs Statement

South Lyon Power and Light, founded in 2008, is the South Lyon, MI campus of All Saints Lutheran Church, (Hartland, MI). The goal of this additional campus is to reach the unchurched; those that have never had a relationship with Christ, those that drifted from the church and those that became disenfranchised with religion. South Lyon is in the south-western corner of Oakland County and is a middle-class, ex-urban, rapidly growing community.

We do not worship in a traditional church structure. Our church is situated in a strip mall next to a take-out pizza restaurant and a liquor store. Inside, the atmosphere is very casual. This is intentional. While we have a traditional Lutheran service for the members of South Lyon Power and Light who already have a Lutheran church background, we focus on providing other gathering and community events to offer our faith in other ways. We are building a "non-church" environment to reach those "turned-off" or afraid of a traditional church environment.

Our main focus at South Lyon Power & Light is to reach people in our community in a non-threatening way. Serving without asking anything in return is our passion and our way of letting people know that God loves them.

There is little in the way of precedent in the ELCA for a church such as this. But, we feel strongly that 1) the Holy Spirit has called us to do this ministry and 2) the work done here could be used as a model to grow our Churchwide-body.

We would like to welcome all to join us in this important work. Specifically, we would ask for:

o Prayers - for the Holy Spirit to guide us in this work

o Talents - for Ministry and Outreach. We are placing a strong emphasis on being an integral part of our community.

· Worship Services - musicians, readers, greeters, people in attendance

· Outreach - staffing and participation

· Community Events - talents that could be used to offer an activity to the community. Examples:

• Monthly knitting or scrapbook get-together
• Class on guitar playing, computer skills, a sport
• After-school activities, youth events

· Ideas - your ideas on how we can reach our intended audience

o Resources - to support the work we are doing

· Physical assets - equipment, furniture

· Money - in 2009 our budget calls for $40,000 to be raised either through congregational donations or fundraising. We believe the congregation can be relied upon for $20,000. The remaining $20,000 is planned for being raised though Mission Partners and other donors.

As we welcome everyone to join us in this ministry, we hope you might also consider this an opportunity to learn what this is about and start an additional campus ministry at your congregation!

Christ the King Needs Statement

Christ the King Lutheran Church in Lapeer exists in order that all may know the love of God in Jesus Christ. We strive to make this happen by sharing the good news of Jesus in our homes, our communities, and the world. Through your mission partnership, we have been able to move ahead with boldness in living out this mission and who God has called us to be. It is because of support from fellow Christians like you that we have outgrown our current worship space multiple times and are now planning for a third worship opportunity that will begin in January. We are overjoyed by the challenge that this growth poses, but we need special support in not only accommodating the growth, but also fostering and encouraging it to continue. For this reason, we ask you to consider the following simple three ways that you can help.

1. Prayers
Please pray for us and with us. Prayer is the fuel that drives the engine of the church’s growth. Specifically, we invite you to join with us in our three-part prayer for the establishment of a mission center on the land that Christ the King has purchased, because we realize that this project would be pointless without seeking the direction and power of God. First, we pray that God’s will would be done in the establishment of the mission center. Second, we pray that we continue to have unity behind the vision of establishing a mission center where people can gather to experience God’s love and be equipped to go out and share that love with others. Third, we pray that the financial resources needed to build the mission center are made available. Please pray with us in this endeavor not to “build a church”, but to establish a mission center where the church can gather for ministry.

2. Worship (Special Music) Support
Stretching always takes place during healthy growth, and in church life this can be experienced in a stretching of ministers and resources. Consequently, it has become challenging to raise up new leaders as fast as new people enter our community. Therefore, we need people with special musical gifts to join us in worship for one Sunday and share that gift with our community. We have been deeply inspired in our worship of God by guests playing a wide range of music. At Christ the King, we have enjoyed barbershop quartets, jazz trumpets, handbells, solo singers, and string quartets. If the music inspires us to worship God, it works. Please share with us the wonderful musical gifts that God has provided the church through your congregation.

3. Financial Support
God is changing lives for the better in the Lapeer area through Christ the King Lutheran Church and we invite you to invest financially in what God is doing through our community. As our community expands, we have assumed much greater financially responsibility through an increase in staff and programming. We have also increased our need for more space, which in the short-term will be provided through more worship opportunities, but in the long-term will be provided through the construction of a mission center. We have already conducted a capital campaign and those worshiping at Christ the King are responding wonderfully, but we are still in need of more resources to advance the project. Specifically, if you know someone who can provide us with a geothermal system, an engineered septic system, or other type of site prep for a reduced cost, please let us know. Also, we are in need of around $90,000 to further our goal. Even though things have not been wonderful economically, we know that now is the time to build, because now is when construction costs are lower. Please help us take advantage of this advantageous time to build a mission center by adding Christ the King to your congregational or personal budget.

We thank you for the many ways that you already support Christ the King Lutheran Church, and we ask that you prayerfully consider one, two, or three of the above ways to support what God is doing through our community. Please feel free to contact Pastor Nik Schillack at anytime at 810-358-2492 or at pastor@christthekinglapeer.org. As a gift to you, if you ever need a guest speaker, specifically on the topic of evangelism, please let us know. We would be thrilled to come to your congregation and share what we have learned, both the good and bad lessons, about encouraging congregations to grow.

Christ the King Case Statement

Imagine walking into a Christian community where economic, cultural, and political differences are set aside for the greater mission at hand. This community worships in the lower level of an office building and therefore draws people into its presence not with a stunning appearance, but rather with the powerful experience of God’s love. As you look across the many faces, you see that you are in a place where men are as excited as women to go to worship and help out in all activities. You also recognize that you are in the presence of a people who continue to give more of themselves in spite and because of the difficult economy. In this community, people can proudly and publically speak the name of Jesus not as a curse word but rather as the Living Word. You now see for yourself what you have been hearing about at the nearby coffee shop – the Sunday morning worship experiences are some of the most diverse gatherings of people in the local community. What you are imagining is God’s dream for Lapeer that is being discovered and lived out by Christ the King Lutheran Church, a congregation that exists in order that all may know the love of God in Jesus Christ.

Christ the King is a community where a 50 year old father of two recently learned to pray for the first time, where a 30 year old woman learned to forgive a person who used to abuse her, where marriages are being saved and old wounds are being healed all by the power of God. On an average Sunday morning, over 25% of the people in worship are 18 years old or younger. Half of the people who regularly worship with Christ the King had not worshiped God in any congregation for over ten years, or ever, before entering our community. When most of these people first set foot in the door at Christ the King, it was their first Lutheran worship experience. New worshipers tell us that they most admire the authenticity, grace, and hospitality of the Christians they encounter here. We regularly receive and love to answer questions such as: “What’s the difference between worship and Sunday School,” “Do you really believe you’re eating flesh and drinking blood,” and “How can an all-powerful God die?” We intentionally challenge people’s faith rather than shy away from difficult questions, because we believe that faith, like a muscle, must be stretched in order to grow stronger. We sincerely believe that this is why nearly half of the baptisms we administer are for adults.

As Christ the King Lutheran Church, we are dedicated to living out our mission, and we therefore have a clear strategy for reaching our neighbors. This strategy involves monthly evangelism projects, the purpose of which is to “share God’s love in a practical way.” These projects include, but are not limited to: 1) Handing out carnations at the local farmer’s market around Mother’s Day, 2) Giving 9-volt batteries to families in winter for use in their smoke detectors, 3) Doing a door-to-door distribution of flower seed packets in the spring to remind people of the new life we experience in Jesus, 4) Planting pumpkin seeds on the church land and then giving the grown pumpkins away in the fall, and 5) Raking leaves and trimming branches for people in the community. Our strategy also includes using direct mail to reach 11,500 homes at a time with the message of hope and love that is revealed in Jesus. This strategy has helped our attendance more than triple in three years (from around 30 people to over 100 people on an average Sunday).

As a community, we continue to seek new ways to reach those who have not come to know the power of God’s love in Jesus Christ. Therefore, we recently began an endeavor to establish a mission center on the congregation’s eight acres that are located on M-24. This mission center will be used for worship, evangelism, discipleship, service, and fellowship. Above all, it will be a center in which our mission is discerned and from which our mission is shared. We invite you, through your prayers and financial support, to take part in this life-changing opportunity that is part of God’s dream for the Lapeer community and beyond.

Good Samaritan Case Statement

Good Samaritan is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ’s presence in Pontiac and we have a good God and a blessed message to share with this community. The challenges faced by the residents of this area are immense, and we ask for your prayers for our ministry here. We are a congregation that prays for needs: every Sunday, the prayers of intercession here are a vitally important part of our worship, and we would humbly ask you to lift up the congregation of Good Samaritan in your own prayers. Pray for the vitality of this community of faith, that we would continue to be filled with the commitment to serve and grow. We ask your prayers for the unemployed and underemployed people of our congregation and city, and for the families and individuals who seek to live with faith and honor in a difficult area. Pray for the people who staff the Food Pantry and that the food may be given to feed those in need. And above all, give thanks for the new life and ministry of Good Samaritan Lutheran Church. And as you pray for us, let us know the needs of your own congregation; we pray fervently, and will lift you up even as you pray for us.

We have a need for your gifts and offerings both personal and financial. Our food pantry continues to serve the needs of families here. Throughout the summer, we are able to be open two Saturdays per month; in November and December, we are open three Saturdays to provide for the increased need at the holiday times, but we would fervently love to be able to be open every Saturday of the year. Financial donations and volunteers willing to be trained to serve on a team would enable that to happen.

There is a dream of our members for a van or a bus that would enable us to pick up some of the children and youth of the community so that they can safely get to church here for Sunday school and other events when their own parents aren’t part of the congregation or are unable to bring the children. And if the vehicle were so equipped, we could also transport some of the special needs people for our Saturday program and for our own members who are unable to drive.

One major need and hope is that in two to three years, we can build a new building for worship and service designed around our mission to serve the community. A new sustainable/green development of a few houses for individuals and large families is planned adjacent to our site; it would be wonderful if we could incorporate some of those same goals of environmentally sustainable planning into our future church. We have some funds from the sale of one of the church buildings whose members are now part of Good Samaritan, but new building costs will be far higher than we were able to receive from the sale of an old building. Contributions to our future center for worship and service would be gratefully welcomed.

Good Samaritan’s worship is alive with organ, piano, flute, violin and trumpet every Sunday! We would invite you to worship with us and perhaps bring some of your own musical gifts to share with us, and would be glad to worship together with you.

We began this journey into what is now Good Samaritan Church with the question “What is God up to in Pontiac and Waterford ?” We know now that God has been up to some very good things, and we welcome your partnership in this ministry. May God bless you as you prayerfully consider joining with us and letting us join with you in serving the Lord in ever-new ways.

South Lyon Power and Light

South Lyon Power and Light has made a movie! It's a video made by their puppet ministry and submitted to the "God's Work, Our Hands" video contest sponsored by the ELCA. Very creative and definitely worth watching!!!

Faces of Mission Partner Churches

Many of the Mission Partner churches attended the Synod Assembly in May, 2009.



Rev. Nik Schillack, Christ the King, Lapeer, MI

Rev. Ken Fouty, Christ of the Lakes, White Lake, MI



Rev. Rani Abdulmasih, Mother of the Savior, Dearborn, MI



Rev. Matthew Bode, Spirit of Hope, Detroit, MI

Immanuel Lutheran Church Needs Statement

Mission of Immanuel
We are called by God to WELCOME all God’s children to be NURTURED in the spirit and become TRANSFORMED in the word to TRANSFORM the world and SUPPORT the body of CHRIST. The core values which lead the church are therefore: Welcome, Nurture, Transform, and Support.

Vision of Immanuel
“To be a lighthouse and spiritual center in the Chandler Park Community, reaching out so that all are welcome on the journey of giving praise and service to Jesus Christ”.

Mission of Immanuel’s Youth Ministries
To encourage strong, spiritual, respectful, responsible leaders with a hopeful and productive future.

The Vision of Immanuel’s Youth Ministries
To guide our youth in developing a personal relationship with Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit, through worship, prayer, education, and committed adult disciples.

Program Description
Immanuel Lutheran Church considers youth a high priority, therefore making a concerted effort to reach out and provide many support and programming opportunities for them. We have several youth ministries, which include Confirmation, Rites of Passage, Summer Youth Program, Pray and Play Basketball League, Youth Choir, Dance and Mime Ministry, S.T.E.P Ministry, After-School Program, and the S.H.A.P.E. Mentoring Ministry.

S.H.A.P.E. Ministry
S.H.A.P.E is an acronym for Strengthen, Heal, Act, Pray, and Educate. Each and every ministry and relationship that the youth develop within the church and community should somehow positively S.H.A.P.E their faith, S.H.A.P.E their thinking, and S.H.A.P.E their actions. The S.H.A.P.E ministry is the root from which the youth of the congregation and community will grow spiritually, academically, and socially. The mission of the program is to encourage strong spiritual, respectful, and responsible leaders with a hopeful and productive future.

S.T.E.P. Ministry
The goal of this ministry is to provide younger children in grades K – 5 the opportunity to step up to the God-given greatness within them through adult support, teaching, encouragement and preparation. Meets every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month.

Confirmation
The goals of the confirmation class are (1) To educate and elevate youth by teaching about the Christian faith and how to apply that faith to day to day living, and (2) to have youth articulate the basics of the faith, especially understanding the means of grace, personal and communal relationship with Jesus Christ and how to understand the Holy Bible. The Confirmation Class is comprised of 6th 7th and 8th graders from both Immanuel and Salem Lutheran Churches. The class meets every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month and is taught by the Pastors of both churches.

Rites of Passage
Mission: To develop powerful African-American men and women through cultural awareness and an identity rooted in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Purpose: To provide youth with a strong foundation on which they can build their lives as they embark on adulthood.

Rites of Passage meets every 1st and 3rd Friday, having discussions and activities focusing on self-esteem, education/college and career, sexuality and abstinence, financial responsibility, and cultural awareness. Currently there are 25 high school youth that participate in this ministry.

Summer Youth Program
The goal of the Summer Program is two-fold: 1. To provide quality employment opportunities for the youth of our congregations and community in order to combat the opportunity to be involved with negative influences during the summer months. The high school/college aged youth are instrumental in the facilitation of the program. 2. provide enriching activities for youth, in addition to providing a safe, family and Christian-centered environment to which parents can entrust their children. Last summer the program employed 15 high school/college aged youth and served 120 child participants, in grades K – 8 and their parents.

The program includes reading classes, arts and crafts, music, outdoor recreation, weekly water park visits and field trips, arts/interest classes (mime, fashion, sports, drama, cheerleading), and free lunches provided by the city of Detroit.

Pray and Play Basketball League
The Detroit Pray and Play Basketball League is a faith-based, sports activity that provides the youth within a church community an opportunity to grow spiritually while providing them with the opportunity to participate in organized sports. Through a unique combination of prayer, bible study, and competitive basketball, the Pray and Play League has been serving the Detroit Community since 2000. The league is made up of teams developed from the youth ministries of participating churches who compete against each other in basketball while also receiving mentoring and spiritual guidance from volunteers and church leaders.

Youth Choir
The mission of the youth choir is to be a conduit through which young people can sing praises to the Lord and minister to the Lord’s people in a way that is unique to them. The youth choir rehearses every Thursday at 6 p.m. and has children ranging from Kindergarten to post high. The youth choir dynamically leads Sunday worship 1 – 2 times per month.

Dance and Mime Ministry
Mission: To give glory, honor and praise to God utilizing dance and the art of mime, and to enhance children’s spirituality through education, increasing self-esteem, and developing mutual respect for adults and one another. The ministry meets every Tuesday evening at 6:15 p.m.

S.H.A.P.E. MINISTRY
The shape ministry has specific financial needs to allow these programs to continue. Click here to see the exact needs of the S.H.A.P.E. Ministry

Good Samaritan Lutheran Church

Good Samaritan is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s presence in Pontiac and we have a good God and a blessed message to share with this community. The challenges faced by the residents of this area are immense, and we ask for your prayers for our ministry here. We are a congregation that prays for needs: every Sunday, the prayers of intercession here are a vitally important part of our worship, and we would humbly ask you to lift up the congregation of Good Samaritan in your own prayers.

Pray for the vitality of this community of faith, that we would continue to be filled with the commitment to serve and grow. We ask your prayers for the unemployed and underemployed people of our congregation and city, and for the families and individuals who seek to live with faith and honor in a difficult area. Pray for the people who staff the Food Pantry and that the food may be given to feed those in need. And above all, give thanks for the new life and ministry of Good Samaritan Lutheran Church. And as you pray for us, let us know the needs of your own congregation; we pray fervently, and will lift you up even as you pray for us.

We have a need for your gifts and offerings both personal and financial. Our food pantry continues to serve the needs of families here. Throughout the summer, we are able to be open two Saturdays per month; in November and December, we are open three Saturdays to provide for the increased need at the holiday times, but we would fervently love to be able to be open every Saturday of the year. Financial donations and volunteers willing to be trained to serve on a team would enable that to happen. There is a dream of our members for a van or a bus that would enable us to pick up some of the children and youth of the community so that they can safely get to church here for Sunday school and other events when their own parents aren’t part of the congregation or are unable to bring the children. And if the vehicle were so equipped, we could also transport some of the special needs people for our Saturday program and for our own members who are unable to drive.

One major need and hope is that in two to three years, we can build a new building for worship and service designed around our mission to serve the community. A new sustainable green development of a few houses for individuals and large families is planned adjacent to our site; it would be wonderful if we could incorporate some of those same goals of environmentally sustainable planning into our future church. We have some funds from the sale of one of the church buildings whose members are now part of Good Samaritan, but new building costs will be far higher than we were able to receive from the sale of an old building. Contributions to our future center for worship and service would be gratefully welcomed.

Good Samaritan’s worship is alive with organ, piano, flute, violin and trumpet every Sunday! We would invite you to worship with us and perhaps bring some of your own musical gifts to share with us, and would be glad to worship together with you.

We began this journey into what is now Good Samaritan Church with the question “What is God up to in Pontiac and Waterford ?” We know now that God has been up to some very good things,and we welcome your partnership in this ministry. May God bless you as you prayerfully consider joining with us and letting us join with you in serving the Lord in ever-new ways.

Pastor Rod Buland is the pastor of Good Samaritan in Pontiac, Michigan. Visit their website at www.ServingGodandYou.com.

Spirit of Hope Case Statement

Spirit of Hope: Living lives of hope and love in our city as followers of Jesus Christ.
In the late 1990s the congregations of Faith Memorial Lutheran and Trinity Episcopal Churches, located just blocks from one another, began exploring what it would mean to do ministry together and share a pastor. Times had changed since the congregations’ founding. The closing of numerous neighborhood housing projects and movement of members to other neighborhoods meant a shifting mission for both congregations.

After years of deliberation and prayer, Trinity and most active members of Faith Memorial took a leap of faith in April of 2006 and began worshipping together as one congregation, since known as Spirit of Hope. Today we worship God in everything that we are, blessed followers of Jesus Christ.

Ministry is neighborhood-based and seeks to serve whosoever walks in the doors as well as those who stay around us in our community. Sunshine Community Preschool, 12-step recovery programs, Pray and Play Youth Basketball, a food pantry, and our Saturday community kitchen serve the immediate needs of addressing early childhood and family education, youth activity, and poverty. In addition, we seek to reach a community largely "unchurched" through our Spirit Spit Open Mic Poetry as well as our Urban Farm Project. Both projects reach to those who might not otherwise enter our church doors, and still address and learn from their spiritual curiosities outside of Sunday morning worship. In addition, we serve as founding members and hosts of the Corktown Residents' Council and work closely with other important community or faith-based groups including Acts In Common, MOSES, Greater Corktown Development Corporation and the Woodbridge Development Corportation. All of these diverse ministries provide opportunities not just for service to neighbor, but also to witness to the power of Jesus Christ given to us to change our communities for the better.

The neighborhood of Spirit of Hope is experiencing a rebirth as renovation of historic homes and the building of new developments rise around us. We work closely with Greater Corktown Development Corporation as new homes and business are envisioned and built in the community. Some residents have been in this neighborhood for generations while others are brand new. But one commonality between them is a passion for uplifting the City of Detroit. Artists, activists, business professionals, healthcare workers, lawyers, non-profit corporation staff members, writers, real estate investors, small business owners, restaurant workers, architects, homemakers, retirees, students and many others make up the diversity of our community.

In addition, we are located near some of the largest homeless shelters in the city. We take that call seriously as well, serving meals and providing a food pantry. We also assist in providing shelter on a rotating basis with other congregations. Our community can be a study in contrasts, rich and poor, and this is where we will remain to bring a message and spirit of hope.

Spirit of Hope Needs Statment

God is a good God. We give thanks for the presence of a Spirit of Hope within and emerging from our congregation. We thank God for the hard work, the inspiration and the faith that makes redevelopment possible. God has blessed us through the gifts of mission partners, including congregations, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Episcopal Church. We pray to be the Church present in one of the poorest neighborhoods in our state, and yet also the ELCA congregation closest to downtown and southwest Detroit. We pray for a continued ecumenical spirit and we learn what it means to be a multi-denominational church in a post-modern world. We pray for a spirit of faithfulness in a neighborhood of contrasts and compliments, and that the evangelical spirit of God may continue to bless us with growth of faith, mission, ministry, and membership. We invite your prayers too as we represent the church in this community. It is very supportive to know that we and the mission God has called us to are lifted up in many congregations across our synod.

God continues to bless us with the presence of many and various saints, and we invite you to be one of them. Experts in early childhood or educational fundraising are invited to learn about the advisory board of Sunshine Community Preschool, serving Detroit families with quality family services and education. Build gardens with us as we turn four city lots into an urban farm, eradicate contaminated soil, and feed our community with the harvest. Serve food with us, or just come and eat, as we open our doors for 200 hungry people every Saturday. Mentor with us, as we continue to seek African American men to help guide our Pray and Play Basketball youth. Share your poetry, spoken word or music with us on the second Sunday of the month (5-8 pm) during Spirit Spit, our community open mic for artists and neighbors looking to explore the spiritual and sacred. Your presence not only makes more ministry possible but changes you too as you engage in it here with us.

We also invite your generosity. Garden tools and gloves, preschool books and toys, 20-30 gently used folding chairs, a small portable mic system and a few basketballs all go toward the programs that uplift the people of God in downtown and southwest Detroit. Financial partners of Sunshine Community Preschool support not only a quality educational program, but a church agency that seeks to provide just employment, with competitive salaries and full medical benefits for childcare workers. Whether your presents are money or items such as listed above your partnership enables us to do so much more than we are capable of alone.

Finally, we thank you for being you, being the body of Christ where you are planted. Please continue to pray for us as we seek to do the same. We look forward to building new realtionships with more congregations across our Synod as we engage in God's call together. And may God continue to grant you a Spirit of Hope!

Mother of the Savior Needs Statement

We give thanks and praise to our most gracious and loving God for the Arabic speaking Lutheran ministry in Dearborn. God has blessed us with a great opportunity to continue to serve in the midst of the Middle Eastern community in the city of Dearborn. We thank God for the work of the Synod and for the support of our mission partner congregations that have blessed us with their gifts and prayers. We ask that you may continue to pray for us to be strengthened as we share Christ’s unconditional love with our next door Muslim neighbors. We treasure the precious relationship and friendship that we have with the Muslim community in Dearborn and at large in the metro area and we still need the strength to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Pray for our community of faith at the Mother of The Savior Lutheran Church that our faith may be ignited with a passion to share the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with others and to be witnesses of such a sacrificial love starting here in Dearborn, and even unto the ends of the earth.

Pray that God may use us and use this humble ministry that we have been entrusted with to be a hope for the hopeless, a voice for the voiceless, and a little ray of “Son Light” to shine in the darkness of hearts that have been voided of meaning and purpose and have been left to drown in a sense of total helplessness. God’s grace is still sufficient, in weakness God’s strength is still complete!

We invite you to join us in this ministry. As sisters and brothers we walk together in this journey of faith. We encourage you to be part of our Thursday night dinners on the last Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM and meet some of our members, learn about the Arab Christian culture, listen to the stories of people who have come thousands of miles to live out their faith in a “foreign land” that now they call their home. But above all, come so that others may learn about you and your journey. Each of us have a story to tell, what is you story? How can we be strengthened together through our fellowship? The home made Middle Eastern food that our volunteer women cook can only add some spice to this wonderful fellowship. This dinner is intended for others to learn and engage in the life of this ministry in an informal and welcoming setting. This dinner is for you and for members of your congregation. It is breaking bread together as members of the same family in God’s house.

We kindly and prayerfully ask for your gifts and talents. If you feel called to support our mission as a mission partner you will be making a difference in the life of this ministry. Already Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, and Church of the Master have played an important role in their financial support to our ministry as mission partners. This financial support helps us in providing English as a Second Language classes free of charge to the community. It helps provide means for us to outreach and share the gospel with more of the community through mailings and through media. Our resources are still limited when it comes to the great mission field that is ahead of us. We are in need of low cost medical services and legal immigration consultations to provide to low income families. We seek professionals such as electricians, plumbers, and architects who can volunteer or provide low cost services to support this mission as we look into futures programs and seek to implement a vision of adapting the church facility to be community centered and to provide services to the community.

We are all ONE body in Christ, but we are different members with different resources and talents and we pray that this ONE body will continue to work together to the glory of God.

Amen!

Pastor Rani Abdulmasih,
Mother of The Savior Lutheran Church

Immanuel Lutheran Church Case Study

Immanuel Lutheran Church is entering into its 89th year of ministry on Detroit’s eastside dedicated to loving and serving Jesus by loving and serving our community. Just as many city Lutheran parishes encountered, Immanuel has experienced times of loss and gain. As the Chandler Park community in which Immanuel is located experienced ethnic and cultural changes, the congregation also went through changes. There was a tremendous amount of loss that saw Immanuel reach an average worship attendance of 60 people.

However, at this point in our history, Immanuel is experiencing a renaissance of growth, growing to a worshipping community with two worship services each Sunday and multiple educational opportunities. The ministries of Immanuel include the usual with ushers, greeters, nursery attendants, choirs, assisting ministers, maintenance ministry, bible class instructors and congregational council members. But in addition, we offer an active food pantry feeding ministry, health care advocacy and awareness ministry, MOSES core team organizing ministry, audio visual ministry and we have become an integral part of the community in which we serve.

One of the biggest areas of focus for the ministry is with the youth ministry. Currently Immanuel offers a Friday youth night for over 60 youth in grades 1 through 12 featuring Confirmation Prep, Confirmation and Rites of Passage through the school year , SHAPE mentoring ministry, youth choir, dance and mime ministry, Pray and Play Basketball, Sumer Youth Program and Wednesday night youth Bible Study. Our youth ministry has grown so much, on any given Sunday our 11:00 a.m. worship service will be comprised with a majority of youth and young adults who grew up in our ministry.

We are dedicated to reversing the current trend we see in our community of widespread hopelessness and high dropout rates as we seek to expand our ministry and offer after school services in the fall. We are proud of the Lutheran witness to the love of Christ which is exhibited at Immanuel.

Beautiful Savior Bloomfield Hills - Profile of a Mission Partner

Beautiful Savior began as a mission church when in 1957 Pastor Herman Kuhlmann traveled to Bloomfield Hills from his church, Grace Lutheran Detroit, weekly to preach, baptize, and grow the new church. Last November the congregation celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a special offering dedicated to one of its mission partners, Christ the King Lapeer.

BSBH has been a Mission Partner since Pastor MacClean in 1969 accepted the call from the fledgling congregation. The congregants were well aware they were a mission church that accepted help from other congregations, and they are eager to return the favor ever since. Partnering has been a tradition, a part of sharing what they learn from the gospel in the Great Commission to go forth and teach all nations, and love thy neighbor as thyself.

BSBH has partnered with at least eighteen congregations according to available records, and the amount of participation has varied. As an example, in 1982, they partnered with Truth Lutheran while in 1988 they partnered with Divinity Lutheran, Holy Savior, Zion, St. Martin, St. Olaf, and Faith Memorial. They also helped to fund ELCA ASOP (a summer program) and Lutheran Social Services.

A committee of the church members meets regularly to review requests received directly or from the synod office. The committee, as good stewards, monitors all the programs they are funding and in rare cases has fund it necessary to discontinue funding a particular program due to non performance. Recently a member of the church came to the committee and told of a church his mother attended that was having difficulty in paying current operating expenses and the Pastor's salary. His appeal eventually resulted in a new partnership with a church in the northern part of the Synod.

BSBH currently partners with four local congregations and one in West Africa. Due to BSBH support, a high percentage of their partners over the years were able to continue to do God's work, and a few are thriving. The congregation benefits because they know they are working in a local mission effort. They feel involved because they know who they are working with and can rejoice in the successes and work hard to prevent failures; BSBH participates in exchange of pulpits with their partners which gives a new perspective and understanding. A parishioner told this writer that the Partnership Program is hands on. It is real, the benefits are measurable and recognizable, not theoretical. They highly recommend that any congregation that is considering a partnership do so. The experience is enriching and joyful.

In 2008, BSBH is partnering with Christ the King Lapeer, Mother of the Savior Arabic Lutheran Church Dearborn, Peace Southfield, Salem Flint, and Gendabi Mbulu, Tanzania. BSBH also supports with volunteers and funds through The Matthew 25 Group which is dedicated to feeding the hungry (soup kitchen), healing the sick (drug and alcohol abuse) visiting those in prison (ex-convict support) and clothing donations (the naked). BSBH further supports the Emergency Assistance Ministry of Birmingham, Southfield, and Troy.

Bill Swasey

Special thanks to David and Marie Nordstrom

The Abundant Life Arabic Lutheran Church Case Statement

The Abundant Life Arabic Lutheran Church
19100 Ford Road
Dearborn, MI 48128
(313) 336-0036

A mission start of the ELCA and the Southeast Michigan Synod, the Abundant Life Arabic Lutheran ministry is only the third Arabic speaking congregation in the ELCA. The Abundant Life is located in Dearborn, MI and is the only Arabic Christian congregation in the city of Dearborn.

Michigan, and more specifically Southeast Michigan, has one of the largest Arab/Middle Eastern communities outside the Middle East. This unique immigrant community originates from countries such as Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Iran, and others.

The city of Dearborn has a population of about 96,000 of which about 35,000 are of Middle Eastern descent. 90% of this Middle Eastern community is of the Muslim faith. This leads to a minority presence of the Middle Eastern Christian community in Dearborn and hence elevates the uniqueness and necessity of the ministry of the Abundant life in Dearborn and the Metro Area. The Abundant Life has become the Arab Christian voice in Dearborn.

The Abundant Life continues to live its mission of witnessing the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through the love of God and love of our neighbors. Physically located next to several religious organizations, our church is also a neighbor to the largest Mosque in North America. In the community of Dearborn the Abundant Life has been known as a leader in establishing and nurturing the Christian-Muslim dialogue, and has been featured in the most watched video of the ELCA: “Understanding Islam” with over 23,500 viewers since June of 2006. Also our church has been recognized and received the “bridge building Award” by the ADC under the patronage of her majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, queen of Jordan for building this Christian-Muslim relationship in our community, October of 2003.

Since the Middle Eastern world continues to lack a deep understanding of the Lutheran identity, it is no wonder that almost all of the members of the Abundant Life come from other Christian traditions such as the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Melkite, etc. and embrace the doctrine of grace embedded in God’s love for us sinners manifested in the act of redemption of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that we as Lutherans proudly, humbly and dearly hold in our hearts.

God has touched many people through this humble ministry of the Abundant Life. Whether through an ESL (English as a second Language) program, or assistance in filing an immigration form, referral to community resources and centers, counseling, worship and Bible study in Arabic, leading the community and with the community in addressing racial profiling and injustice inflicted upon the immigrant community, advocating for peace in the world and especially in the Middle East, or building an awareness about the Arab Christians that so often have been forgotten, I believe and I know that God has been and continues to be at work in our midst.

Glory be to God! Amen.

Welcome!

On this site, you will find resources, documents, success stories and blogging related to Mission Parnters in the Southeastern Michigan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. We hope you will find this site useful, and, as you become a part of Mission Partners, share your story!