Sharing The Good News With Every Neighbor: Home Missions: Michigan

God is richly blessing the work of WELS Home Missions. Missionaries and their members are finding ways to share God’s good news with friends, relatives, neighbors—and sometimes even strangers at local fast food restaurants. Here are some of their stories.

Nicole R. Balza


 

Residents and caretakers of a local adult care home join members at Spirit of Life, Caledonia, Mich., for worship every Sunday. As Allen Kirschbaum, home missionary at Spirit of Life, reports, “Our members love to walk out to the cars and guide the residents into our sanctuary. Each month we have activities for those residents, such as making decorations for our Christmas trees and a Christmas play. Their faith is a massive encouragement to a young mission congregation.


A HOME MISSIONARY REMEMBERS: GOD HAS A PLAN

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Crown of Life, Cadillac, Mich.

When I was assigned to Crown of Life as a home missionary, I knew that a major part of my job would entail sharing the gospel with the unchurched. But after my first nine months and no one interested in Bible information class, I was pretty down on myself and on the work.

But the Lord had a plan.

On the day my daughter was baptized, a young couple visited our church. They were expecting twins and looking for a church home. After the service, I talked to the couple and invited them to our potluck. They talked to more people and decided to enroll in Bible information class.

Four months later, I confirmed the parents (my first confirmands) and baptized the twins in the same service. Three years later, they are faithful in worship and Bible class. This fall, they will be part of our inaugural preschool-aged weekly Bible camp.

Jeff Sonntag, home missionary at Crown of Life, Cadillac, Mich.


Nicole Balza, a staff writer for Forward in Christ magazine, is a member at Bethlehem, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. 

MISSION STORIES

Read more about how WELS missionaries are working to spread the gospel in the U.S. and around the world on the WELS Missions blogs.

HOME MISSIONS

Learn more about WELS missions in North America.

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Author: Nicole R. Balza and various writers
Volume 103, Number 9A
Issue: September 2016

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