The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod - New Family Ministry Logo

The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod - New Family Ministry Logo: "New Family Ministry Logo


The LCMS District and Congregational Services is pleased to reveal a new signature logo to promote Family Ministry.The logo is the creation of LCMS member, Jason Brauer, a professional graphic artist from Minneapolis, in consultation with Dr. Steve Christopher, Interim Associate Director for Children's and Family Ministry.
The logo spells out the word Family in flowing cursive letters giving a sense of forward movement, symbolizing that families are often in motion and moving toward the future. Each letter in the word family, if you look closely, is separated just a little, indicating that while a healthy family is united; they are made up of individuals living their own unique lives, yet connected with other family members.

The focus point of the logo is the cross, which dots the “i” and is in the color blue, representative of Christ as the focal point in the Christian home, rising up and drawing us close to him. The color blue is a reminder of Baptism, by which all of us become members of the holy Christian family, united with each other as the church on earth and with our Father in Heaven."

How do we keep 20 somthings in the church? Please comment!

The following was included in an e-mail from our church body today.  What are your thoughts?

FINAL THOUGHTS . . . Seems like every day there are new numbers to ponder as we consider how to respond to the challenges of youth and young adult ministry. And, it's really not a pretty picture. In the book, Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You Can Do to Stop It, the authors note George Barna's finding that "six out of ten 20-somethings who were involved in a church during their teen years are already gone." They note that nearly 50% of teens in the U.S. regularly attend church - related services or activities. More then three-quarters talk about their faith with their friends. Three out of five attend a least one youth group meeting at a church during a three month period and one-third participate in Christian clubs at school. Yet, most disengage from active participation in the Christian faith after high school. Youth and Young Adult Ministry simply present a huge challenge to the church. What are we doing for them? What do we have that will keep them engaged? How are we encouraging them in the faith? What are we doing to support them? What do we offer that would attract them to our Gospel message? Sometimes we seem to simply assume that they'll be back when they get married and have children. While that might have been true in the 50's and 60's (last century) it's no longer true when young adults marry and have their children in their mid-to-late 30's. The fastest growing segment of church programming is for Baby Boomers and older adults. I'm thinking we need to seriously rethink that and recommit to ministry with children, youth and young adults. To quote my favorite words from C.F.W. Walther, "You cannot use your time to better advantage than by serving well the young people of the congregation." Perhaps those words, said more than 100 years ago, need to guide our efforts today.

Some people are just too cool for words

You have got to see this amazing video.  Have you seen the extreme runner/jumper guys in Russia?  Well, this is an extreme bicycler in England.  You won't beleive the amazing places he "rides"* his bike.  He uses a bike which he can pedal forward as well as backwards and the tires are the old baloon type.  In addition he has an amazing sense of balance.  Its also fun to watch the reactions of people when he rides off of bridges, walls, etc. into what would seem oblivian, yet, he just keeps on riding.  Enjoy!

* "Ride" is a relative term as he has no seat on this bike.

St. Luke the Healing Messenger

On October 18th we get to celebrate St. Luke the Evangelist on a Sunday. His is the example for us as we apply the balm of the Gospel to heal broken lives. The following excerpt is from a longer commemoration on the LCMS web page.

The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod - Saint Luke, Evangelist: "One commentator writes: 'In St. Luke's Gospel our Savior is pictured as the merciful Physician of bodily and spiritual ills. It has, therefore, been called 'the Gospel of mercy and love.' The beautiful passages of God's loving-kindness touch us deeply, for example the parables of the prodigal son and the Good Samaritan, the account of the penitent woman, and the good thief on the cross. Of inestimable value are the first two chapters on the incarnation and childhood of Jesus. Here Luke preserved for us the three precious canticles…the Benedictus, the Magnificant, and the Nunc Dimittis' (Pius Parsch, The Church's Year of Grace, Vol. 5, Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1958, p. 295)."