Pastor's Pen

      
Dear Members and Friends of Immanuel Lutheran Church,

I’ve always found it rather interesting how this time of the calendar year seems to often conflict with what is going on in the church. Here we are, just about ready to enter into the season of Advent (the beginning of a new church year) while the calendar tells us that we are approaching the final weeks of our current year. Therefore, although we (who are in the church) seem to be much more intently focused on what is coming (the message and meaning of Advent), the rest of the world appears to be quite content with musing over the past.

As we now prepare to install your new Pastoral Transition Team members here at Immanuel, both the past and future will play an important part in what these team members look at. Looking back at the past history of your congregation will say a lot about who you are today. It will reveal a great deal about who is most likely to come and who is most likely to stay. It will reveal where your congregation’s passion for its mission and ministry comes from.

However, looking back at the past also exposes a congregation to its self-imposed limitations. It reveals both the real and artificial boundaries that a congregation often places upon itself. The past can offer some tremendous insight into “what we’re all about”, but does not help us very much in “getting to where we need to go”. That’s why we must also look to the future.

One of the reasons why many congregations are struggling today is because their leaders have been asking the wrong questions. In order to set goals and reach objectives, leaders have been asking people to look at and share their needs, while often overlooking their dreams. Needs are not the same thing as dreams. And that is why it’s also important for us to look toward the future with new eyes. Congregations that focus just on their needs (i.e. we need new members; we need more income; we need younger families) are often restricted to looking only at the past. Focusing on the dreams and promise of a bright future opens up the potential for a congregation to go anywhere.

As your Pastoral Transition Team prepares to begin their work, I ask that you pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in helping them to understand and interpret Immanuel’s past in a way that allows for the dreams and promise of a bright new future to immerge.

Have a blessed Advent!

Shalom,
Pastor Matt