LETTER TO THE CONGREGATION

December, 2016

Dear St. John’s Members:
 

As we move out of the Thanksgiving holiday, begin the season of Advent and approach the celebration of Christmas and the end of another year, many of us take time to reflect on the many blessings that God continues to give to each of us. Many of us also spend time deciding what special year-end gifts we want to make to the various charities we support. As you consider those things this year, please keep St. John’s in mind.

The tremendous efforts that our congregation, pastors and staff make to assure that St. John’s continues in our 150+ year old tradition of clearly proclaiming the true Gospel and properly administering the Sacraments deserve our continuing support. We are the church home of our more than 1,400 members. Through our church, our pastors weekly proclaim the Gospel in its truth and purity and provide the Lord’s Supper to us in Divine Services. Through St. John’s, our pastors continue to baptize our babies, catechize our children, marry our young adults, tend to us in our last days and bury us in the certain hope of eternal life in Christ. Then our church supports our grieving families and friends by being a church home where this circle: weekly Divine Services, special baptism, confirmation, wedding events, and, sadly, funerals, remains and continues. And we are striving to assure that this congregation remains steadfast in our tradition and in those tremendous efforts for another 150 years and beyond. Is that not worth your continuing support?
 

But there is more. We are providing a quality, and Christ-centered, education to over 130 children in our parochial school. We are providing a nurturing and safe learning experience to another 40 younger children in our Christian pre-school. We are regularly providing social, service and educational opportunities to our children of all ages and all our members through many avenues, like our weekly Sunday School and Sunday and weekday bible classes, our Youth Group, and our various boards and committees. Our building is a beehive of activity from early morning to late most every day.
 

And, although we are a congregation of firm and long-standing tradition, we are not stuck in a rut. We are anticipating and planning for significant and imminent changes. We know that our pastoral staff will be changing. We are considering adding church and school staff. And we are investigating ways in which our congregation can be more than it now is to our members. With the expansion of personnel and programs will come additional cost. Please remember St. John’s and all that is done here for all of us as you consider your plans for the end of this year and into next year.
 

May God’s abundant and steadfast blessings continue to flow to all. In His service,
 

The congregational officers and Council of Deacons of
St. John’s Lutheran Church and School, Corcoran and Maple Grove, Minnesota 

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