Together

by Jameson Wakefield

Posted March 2022

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.

9th Grade Lock-in 2022

From the evening hours of October 7, well into the morning hours of October 8, our awesome Zion ninth graders…

Fall 2022 at Zion!

Our mission is to partner with families for faith formation and connection. We are always looking for ways to connect with you and to be helpful to families as they seek to raise their children in the faith. There is nothing like fall in Minnesota! But, there is also nothing like the busyness that accompanies it. Registrations, new schedules, new routines, new forms to fill out and keep track of, new school supplies to find and purchase, and new anxieties to calm. We started asking: what if the church found a way to curb some of that, instead of participating in it?

We started asking parents: “Would it be helpful if we moved the start of Sunday School and Confirmation to October?” And, overwhelmingly, parents told us that would be AWESOME and helpful. So, Sunday School (both at 8:30 & 10:30 this year!) will begin Sunday, October 2nd, and Confirmation will begin Wednesday, October 5th.

September will be focused on connecting your family to the joy of Sabbath. We hope you will be connecting back to worship if you’ve taken some time away. To help you focus on Sabbath and worship this Fall, the 10:30am outdoor worship service is continuing into September. Children love the chance to dance, run, and worship under the trees, and Zion has the perfect set-up. It is casual, low-key, a little bit shorter, and filled with music. Bring chairs or a blanket and worship outside the first two Sundays in September. Then, be ready for Z-Fest on the 18th! Food trucks! Games! Fun!

Each Sunday in September will have extra special ways of connecting with children & youth in worship (beyond our ever-popular children’s sermon time. Enjoy the breather and grace this new start date will provide and connect with friends old and new at worship this September. After all, God has commanded Sabbath rest, because we need it!

Choirs & Bells Sunday School Confirmation