Teen Talk 2022.04

Newborns aren’t identifying themselves by their political affiliations, gender roles, religion or culture. They are just existing. That changes dramatically during the teenage years. Adolescence usually brings with it the exciting realization that maybe, just maybe…they can be anything they want to be.

This curiosity usually promotes a massive craving for autonomy and space to figure it all out. The challenge comes when our teens’ desire for autonomy clashes with our craving for control.

You may be saying, “But I don’t want them to make the same mistakes I did!”

Karen Young is a world-renowned psychologist. On her website ‘Hey Sigmund’, she writes; “The most valuable thing we can do is allow, even encourage mistakes in our teens. We’ve got to teach them it’s okay to fail. It’s through making mistakes that they will learn who they are, what they value, and who they want to be.”

Sounds scary to just let them screw up, but there are some things we can do to keep them on the right track.

  1. Live our own values explicitly. This will teach them by example, to live outwardly in harmony with what they value on the inside.
  2. Encourage autonomy and self-governing. Your teens’ inner moral compass is what will keep them moving along in a positive direction, long term. Empower them and teach them to trust themselves.
  3. Ask open-ended questions. “What are you passionate about?” “Who do you look up to and why?” “When do you feel the most at peace and why do you think that is?” This will help them find not only their identity but their purpose.

Most importantly, exude acceptance and love. During the teen years, our kids aren’t only asking “Who am I?” But also asking “Will you love me no matter who I become?” Research suggests that parental acceptance and unconditional love for their children is a critical protective factor in their lives. You will also have far more influence, as they will gravitate towards that acceptance and love you provide.

Don’t forget to get support yourself! Parenting teens can feel lonely, as some of their stories (even though they still affect you) aren’t your stories to share. So find your tribe. People you can trust to share the joys and the struggles that come with parenting teens. You deserve love and acceptance, just like your teen does.

“And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
Colossians 3:14

Sunday School Children Grow-in-Faith

Kristin

Zion KiDS have been working on learning various faith foundations such as learning how to bless one another, pray, and memorizing The Lord’s Prayer, The 10 Commandments, and Books of the Bible.

Holy Communion is a third-grade milestone (we had many 4th, 5th, & 6th graders join in as well). 36 Zion KiDS attended classes and received their 1st Communion on Sunday, February 6.

The first grade Sunday school class has been working hard on memorizing The Lord’s Prayer, and shared this event with their families and the congregation on Sunday, February 13.

An Expansive Lent

Pastor Kari Bahe

Lent has always been one of my favorite seasons of the church year. That may seem odd, since it is almost always equated with sacrifice, confession, and a sort of dreariness. Not that our Lenten journey shouldn’t elicit some solemnity as we journey alongside of Jesus toward his death on the cross. There is much to be gained from an intentional, introspective, honest look at ourselves during Lent.

However, given the solemnity and sacrifice of the past years, it seems like Lent 2022 may be calling us to a different kind of faith practice. Could it be that, in the desert of these past few years, God is calling us to the abundance of an over-flowing stream this Lent? Could it be that, in the desert of uncertainty, God is calling us to the abundance of God’s ever-flowing abundance? Could it be that, in the desert of weariness, God is calling us to faith practices this Lent that assure us of God’s soul-restoring, soul-refreshing love and grace?

Looking over the Gospel texts appointed for this year, I am struck by how the scriptures point to a different kind of Lent. One that fully refreshes us. Renews us. Restores us. Fills us. The stories we will hear this Lent describe a God who invites us to a life that is lived with the blessed assurance of God’s abundance of God’s love and grace. The stories are filled with extravagance (the anointing of Jesus’ feet), abundance (the prodigal son/father), and faithful love overflowing from a Shepherd who guides us to still waters to restore our souls (Psalm 23). All of these promises seem like God supplying us with the sort of Lent we need in 2022.

This Lent, let us commit together to faith practices that will refresh us. Your staff members have been dreaming, praying, and planning for ways to offer you a Lent that will be restorative rather than demanding. We decided to focus on offering ways for you to “fill up” rather than “let go”. We’ve all given up more than we’ve wanted to these past years. We felt the Holy Spirit nudging us to offer an “expansive” Lent this year.

Ex·pan·sive

The formal definition of expansive is extensive or wide-ranging, spacious, and all-embracing.

From a spiritual standpoint, we add to that definition. Expansive living is a life that reflects the fullness that comes from right relationships with God, yourself, and others. Faith practices can help us expand our hearts and souls to that kind of expansive living.

So, we’ve centered on sharing nourishing faith practices for Zion this Lent. Some of the faith practices will be offered through Zion’s social media: musical offerings to restore our souls, and short devotions that center on one or two words for your day. Some will be in person at Zion: worship on Wednesdays and Sundays. Book studies that focus on “Traveling Light”. Bible studies that gently wade into the quiet waters of Psalm 23. A Bible study offered specifically for our Youth that explores “Enough”. Some of the faith practices will be resources for you to use at home: devotionals, prayer cards, and reflections. All are provided with the hope of giving you ways to find renewal and refreshment.

God’s love for us is breathtaking. God desires for us to have full, expansive lives. God’s promises come to us in many forms and always provide a love that is overflowing and expansive. There are so many ways this Lent to connect and be restored at Zion! Come find worship, art, music, study, fellowship, and service together. Come, let this Lent be like water in the desert for you! Come, and be restored. God’s promises are waiting for you.

What is Next?

Immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine

An update from Zion’s Transition Team

March 16th through April 17th will be a crucial time frame for Zion’s next steps in this transition period. To help make the search for our next Senior Pastor as effective as possible it is vitally important to have congregational participation in these next steps. Your input, prayers, and participation will help shape the future for Zion’s mission and ministry.

  • On March 16th, the link for taking the Congregational Assessment Tool (CAT) goes live, giving Zion members the opportunity to participate in shaping the future of the ministry of Zion.
  • The CAT is a professionally designed survey tool created by a church consulting company.
  • Hundreds of congregations have successfully used the CAT in the Call process for their senior pastor. The CAT helps summarize the prioritized mission emphasis and leadership qualities for the next Sr. Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church.
  • In order for the CAT to be most useful to Zion, we need a high degree of congregation participation.
  • The CAT will be available on-line via a confidential link. Your answers are completely confidential.
  • Zion’s Transition Team will be providing computer labs for taking the CAT for those who do not have computer access and/or do not feel comfortable completing the survey electronically from home.
  • This is also a confidential way of taking the assessment. We will provide 1:1 help in getting you set-up and comfortable taking the survey at Zion and then you will be able to complete the assessment, with help nearby should you need it.
  • Around April 25th, the results of Zion’s CAT will be made available to the Transition Team.
  • After a consultation with the HolyCow! Church consulting firm (to help us interpret and summarize the results of the CAT), the Transition Team will schedule Q & A opportunities for the congregation to see the results of the CAT and learn about our next steps in the transition time. We anticipate it will be early May when these sessions are offered.

Membership Data

Dirk

How many members does Zion have? Simple question, but the answer is complex and this time last year, we really didn’t have an answer that we felt was very accurate. So, the council formed a small working group to develop policies and processes associated with membership at Zion. The constitution provides some information and direction on membership but not a lot. Chapter 12 states “The Congregation Council shall provide for an annual review of the membership roster,” but doesn’t give any direction on how that annual review is done.

Over the course of the year, the group developed a separate membership procedure that provides additional guidance on membership. Also, the group produced a Venn diagram which graphically provided information about Zion’s membership.

In addition to being baptized and confirmed, adult membership is defined by three key activities which are contributing, communing, and connecting in the current or previous year. Contributing refers to someone who has contributed financially to Zion. No amount is defined so the date of the last contribution is considered, not the amount. Communing is just what it says; receiving the sacrament of communion at Zion. The group defined being connected to Zion as someone who volunteers or is involved in some way with Zion. It could be as a committee member, Bible study member, Sunday school volunteer, or even a member of a social activity. The key is that the contribution, communing, and being connected are recorded in the church’s membership database called “Fellowship One.”

Venn diagram of membershipLooking at the associated Venn diagram, Zion has 864 contributing members, 511 communing members, and 319 connected members. An active member is someone who has contributed OR communed OR connected in the current or previous year. Zion has 1031 active members. An engaged member is someone who has contributed, AND communed, AND connected in the current or previous year. Zion has 188 engaged members.

Information is only as good as the accuracy of the data. The data for our membership comes from our Fellowship One database. All financial and communion information is recorded in the database. So…. it is very important that when you contribute you provide your gift in a marked envelope. It should be noted, that only a couple of individuals have access to the financial information which is kept very confidential. Not even the pastors know the financial contribution of a specific member. Same when you commune, please fill out a communion card, so that it can be recorded.

Recording how people are connected to Zion is more problematic; however. All of the committees and groups of Zion are organized in the database, but attendance at meetings and gatherings is not always recorded. We could greatly improve the accuracy of our data if we all did a better job of recording our attendance at the various meetings, gatherings, and activities going on at Zion.

One take-away from the associated diagram is the number of individuals who had at one point contributed, communed, or volunteered, but have not done so in the current or previous year. There are 2153 people who fall into this category and represent a great opportunity for us to reach out to them and invite them to become active in church again. This will be done officially, but if you know of someone that doesn’t seem as active at Zion as they have been in the past, please reach out to them and invite them to Sunday morning service or to be part of a group or activity. You’ll be surprised at how little it takes to make a difference in someone’s life.

Now that Zion has more clearly defined our membership policies and developed some processes for keeping our membership rosters accurate, keep an eye out for information about membership in this newsletter, mailings, and announcements and how we can all can become more engaged members of Zion.

Together

I would like to start off by answering what I believe will be a question many of you reading this article will be asking yourself. “I thought he said he would not be serving a second term as council president.” So did I. At the beginning of this year I was given the opportunity to serve on the Buffalo City Council to fill a vacancy for the remainder of a departing councilman’s term.

Given the duties of this role, I wasn’t comfortable committing to another term as council president because I didn’t feel I could fulfill both roles adequately. This brings me to the reason for the title of this article which is Together.

What do I mean by Together? When we were electing the executive positions for our council at the meeting in February the other members of the council said they could help take some of the tasks and together we could address the duties of the council. The idea of together makes it possible when I thought it wasn’t possible.

Perhaps this is a long way to get to the main idea of what I want to talk about this month. We go into a new year with as many questions as we have had for the past two years. We may have better insight in some ways but we still don’t have all the answers, but together we can continue to move forward. On Sunday, February 6, we had 290 people at the 10:30 service.

Families were there to celebrate the first communion of their children and mark a milestone in their journey in Christ Jesus. We also had 19 new members introduced to the congregation! These are ways that together we can continue to move forward and grow our dedication, involvement, and commitment to the ministries of Zion.

Please think about what you can do in the church to help advance our ministry. Whether it is preparing for the Blessing Closet, volunteering for Sunday school or youth programs, working in the nursery, helping with communion, or just greeting people as they come to Sunday worship services, think about how you can contribute to the congregational community. Together we make Zion a welcoming home for so many and we can welcome even more because together we are capable of so much more.

Christmas Market Report

Thank you for all your support for our 2021 Christmas Market event. It was a smaller event than our normal Harvest of Hands event in November. We raised $10,360.89. This amount includes money raised from our craft sale, bake sale, silent auction, and donations from our December event. The most recent event did not include our normal brunch, white elephant, and egg rolls, so we are extremely happy with the results of our mini event!

The Wilderness Room and our supply room are organized and ready to work on crafts. Craft groups are working on beading and knitting with assorted knitting loom shapes this month. All crafters are invited to stop by to work on projects on the second and fourth Wednesday evenings (March 8 and 22) in the Wilderness Room (behind the kitchen) at 7pm.

We are also working on the details for a packaging event during SERVE Weekend in April.

What is Next?

An update from Zion’s Transition Team

March 16th through April 17th will be a crucial time frame for Zion’s next steps in this transition period. To help make the search for our next Senior Pastor as effective as possible it is vitally important to have congregational participation in these next steps. Your input, prayers, and participation will help shape the future for Zion’s mission and ministry.

  • On March 16th, the link for taking the Congregational Assessment Tool (CAT) goes live, giving Zion members the opportunity to participate in shaping the future of the ministry of Zion.
  • The CAT is a professionally designed survey tool created by a church consulting company.
    • Hundreds of congregations have successfully used the CAT in the Call process for their senior pastor. The CAT helps summarize the prioritized mission emphasis and leadership qualities for the next Sr. Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church.
  • In order for the CAT to be most useful to Zion, we need a high degree of congregation participation.
  • The CAT will be available on-line via a confidential link. Your answers are completely confidential.
  • Zion’s Transition Team will be providing computer labs for taking the CAT for those who do not have computer access and/or do not feel comfortable completing the survey electronically from home.
  • This is also a confidential way of taking the assessment. We will provide 1:1 help in getting you set-up and comfortable taking the survey at Zion and then you will be able to complete the assessment, with help nearby should you need it.
  • Around April 25th, the results of Zion’s CAT will be made available to the Transition Team.
  • After a consultation with the HolyCow! Church consulting firm (to help us interpret and summarize the results of the CAT), the Transition Team will schedule Q & A opportunities for the congregation to see the results of the CAT and learn about our next steps in the transition time. We anticipate it will be early May when these sessions are offered.

Why Women’s Ministry?

Women’s Ministry at Zion seeks to compassionately engage women through fellowship, service, and study to encourage and strengthen faith.

Two and half years ago, any member of our committee could have easily defined our mission through the events, Bible studies, and fundraisers we have been involved with over the years. We have offered fellowship opportunities like the St. Lucia supper, women’s spring brunch, retreats, monthly Bible studies, and the Christmas cookie fundraisers in December. Although things may look different for us, our mission statement is still intact.

It is reassuring to know that God is not restricted by a pandemic. During this pause in our ministry, I’ve taken time to consider why I’m still a part of Women’s ministry. The answer was clear. The greatest reward was continued fellowship with a dedicated and inspiring group of women. As we reevaluate what will happen next in the life of our group, we invite you to explore your own desire to be a part of a ministry at Zion. If you have a heart for strengthening your own faith and serving others, this may be the place for you.

Mission Jamaica Update

MIssion Jamaica logo

A Mission Jamaica trip provides a way for us to love and serve our neighbor as Jesus taught us (Mark 12:30-31), and a time for reflection and spiritual rest.

Over the past years, Zion members have served on several projects in the Montego Bay, Jamaica area:

Ja’Bode is short for “Jamaican Abode.” Mission Jamaica missionaries help make simple, decent, and affordable housing a reality for families with the greatest need.

West Haven Children’s Home is a residential facility that is home to about 80 children and young adults with special needs. Opportunities are here to serve on construction and repair projects, assist the staff, help at the on-site school, and aid in the care of the residents.

Medical Clinics provide free medical and spiritual health care to different communities. While medical professionals are needed to staff the clinic, many of the most important jobs do not require medical training, just a willing and open heart.

Zion hopes to resume our Mission Jamaica trips in 2023.