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.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
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.
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!
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!
Monday, December 1, 2008
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
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.
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.
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