Tag Archive for: Michigan District

Navigating new chapters

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The book of Joshua opens with Israel on the banks of the Jordan River, a moment Joshua and the people had waited on for years. But Joshua’s journey didn’t start there. It began long before—training under Moses, climbing Sinai, wandering the wilderness. After crossing into the promised land, how quickly do you think time passed for Joshua?

In the days following Assignment Day at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, I found myself reading through Joshua during personal devotions. During the transition—new people, a new place, new work—I found comfort in how God used Joshua. But like Joshua, the story didn’t start in the new land. Here’s what life has looked like as my wife Grace and I walked toward our new journey:

April was full of studies with classmates. Studying Romans deepened our love for the message of forgiveness. The prophets reminded us of God’s faithful messengers. Projects and social events filled the calendar. We were all counting down the days until Assignment Day while making the most of the time we had left.

Rev. Jacob and Grace Ungemach at Ault Park in Cincinnati, Ohio.

May was busy. Classes wrapped up, countdowns began, and celebrations filled the days—a baby shower for friends and graduation at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minn. Meanwhile, excitement for the Call Day kept building.

Call Day was a blur. We started early with a devotion by Lake Michigan along with some classmates. At the Call Service, we sat nervously with family, waiting to learn where we’d go. We listened as friends were assigned to their new places. Then it was our turn: Beautiful Savior – New Mission Start; Oakley, Ohio. Neither Grace nor I knew where Oakley was, but we knew this: God would be with us there.

June began with a quick trip to Cincinnati to see where we’d be living. I’ll never forget driving into the city for the first time—rolling green hills and beautiful buildings rising into the skyline. We met a few members of our Oakley group during that short trip. Driving back to pack up, Cincinnati was already beginning to feel like home.

Moving day for the Ungemach’s!

July 1 was moving day! As we pulled into our apartment, we were greeted by members from Beautiful Savior ready to help unload. The congregation was excited to start work on the second site in Oakley, and so were we. Afternoons and evenings quickly filled with opportunities to meet new people in our core group and the community.

Today . . . things still haven’t slowed down. We’re just beginning to meet together, grow in the Word, and find ways to show this community the love of Jesus. There are still so many unknowns.

The greatest comfort I’ve found in Joshua isn’t in the change he experiences, but in the changelessness of God. Just as God was with his people in a new place and age, he will be with us in this new mission. And like his promises were fulfilled to his people before, the promise that his Word will not return empty stands with us today.

Please keep Beautiful Savior in your prayers as we begin planting a second site in Oakley, Ohio.

Written by Rev. Jacob Ungemach, home missionary at a new mission start in Oakley, Ohio.

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Life changing Christian education

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To some, an affordable Christ-centered education is a given. To others, it is an incredible blessing miraculously provided by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Palabra de Vida Lutheran Church in Detroit, Mich., has been serving the community of Springwells in Detroit for over 15 years. And while amazing outreach events like soccer camps, Vacation Bible schools, Easter for Kids programs, and many more help to spread the gospel with new families, the Crossing Bridges program impacts the lives of existing members.

The Crossing Bridges program was established around the promise given to us in Proverbs Chapter 22: “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old, he will not depart from it.” The program aims to do just that, by creating a partnership between Palabra de Vida and two local area schools, Hope Christian Academy (6-12th grade), and Peace Lutheran School, Livonia, Mich. (Pre-K-5th grade). Through this partnership, each year the Crossing Bridges program is able to help provide a Christian education to 10-12 children from Palabra de Vida.

Unlike some public schools, these two schools provide a positive, and most importantly, Christ-centered learning environment, where they can come and learn about Christ’s love every single day. A place where they can not only grow in their faith, but also make life-long Christian friends. Hearing the gospel message everyday doesn’t just impact the kids, but it strengthens the faith of the whole family as well. Children come home from school and share with their parents and siblings the truths of God’s Word that they learned in school that day.

It is truly by the grace of God that a program like this can even be offered in the first place. In a state where there is no school choice program and very little financial aid, private Christian schools just aren’t feasible to most people. That’s why the Crossing Bridges program covers approximately 95% of the students’ tuition. How is the program able to do that? By the Grace of God moving the hearts of his people to generously give money to his kingdom. Every year, the Holy Spirit moves the hearts of people around the country to give towards this mission, which is able to keep a program like this running.

Please keep Palabra de Vida and the Crossing Bridges program in your prayers, as we aim to continue to share the Word of God through Christ-centered education in the Detroit area and train children in the truth.

Written by Mr. Lucas Martin, staff minister at Palabra de Vida and teacher at Hope Christian Academy in Westland, Mich.

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Five years post-merger

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Just over five years ago, the congregation I served in suburban St. Louis decided to close its Early Childhood Center, prompting a discussion about our future. We were exploring different options and along the way we brought another nearby church into the discussion. It became clear that we were headed for a merging of the two churches.

We sought the assistance of the Minnesota District Mission Board (DMB) to guide us in the right direction. After running a demographic study of our area and talking to our leaders, the district mission board agreed to take this merger on as a project. They helped us secure unsubsidized mission status, which, among other things, gained us access to a mission counselor who helped us through the process. He recommended books to read (Better Together by Jim Tomberlin and Warren Bird was the most helpful). After he made several visits to the area and sat in on some meetings, he gave our churches some advice as we finalized the plan.

One congregation. One site. Double the staff. Double the resources. Double the outreach effort. That was the plan.

This past fall we celebrated our fifth anniversary at our united church, Christ Alone.

Looking back, not everything went according to our plan. There were missteps and miscommunications, especially in the early going. Doubling the people led to disagreements, ranging anywhere from how the two church cultures would meld together to which of the two sets of paraments would adorn the one altar. Doubling the volunteer pool led many volunteers cutting their own involvement in half. New responsibilities were not clearly communicated, which led to the Great Paper Towel Shortage of Easter 2018. (Many casualties.)

Having the mission counselor as a sounding board was important. He kept reminding me that a church merger doesn’t work if it’s survival-driven. It must be mission-driven. Holding out the mission in front of members must remain the priority. It was our why. We did not only do this so that our institution would survive, but rather that Christ’s kingdom would thrive.

In the fall of 2017, Christ Alone consisted of roughly half the members coming from one church and half from the other church. Although we really think of ourselves as one congregation today, our members could be identified in thirds. One third from one church. One third from the other. And one third of the members are brand new to Christ Alone—some brand new to Christ—whom God brought to us over the past five years.

God knew what he was doing from the beginning. Though our hands were a little wet, we were still able to open our hymnal pages to Jesus Christ is Risen Today that first Easter together. Though there was a clash in cultures, Christ has brought about unity. Though it hasn’t all gone according to our plan, God is providing opportunities for us that were not previously possible.

While not every situation would be necessary for the district mission board to get involved, congregations who find themselves considering a merger may want to reach out to a member of their DMB. Doing so will certainly result in some sound wisdom, possibly a mission status designation, or, if the Lord wills, maybe even becoming one of those 75 mission enhancements that will accompany the 100 new mission churches over the course of the next ten years.

 

Written by Pastor Steve Waldschmidt, pastor at Christ Alone in Dardenne Prairie, MO, and Minnesota District Mission Board Chairman

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Perseverance in the mission field

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How many times have you heard this story…

Our church, Spirit of Life, hosted a Christmas for Kids, Easter for Kids, or Vacation Bible School and had a bunch of children from the community show up. . .but nobody came to church after the events. We do all these events and sure, the kids learn about Jesus, but families aren’t joining our church and it doesn’t add to our membership numbers. For a new home mission church, it can be quite demoralizing to put in a ton of work, prayer, and volunteer hours and never see any fruits of labor.

In the early years at our mission in Caledonia, Mich., we experienced this same scenario and saw little progress. We went to parades and handed out 1000+ invites, but no one showed up. At our Easter for Kids event, right before COVID began, we had more than 200 kids in attendance. None of them would be able to attend a worship service.

Though this routine was disheartening at times, you keep planning and trying different things. You keep trying because you know that God tells us to, “Go and make disciples.” You find comfort in knowing that his Word will not return to him empty. You don’t know when the Spirit will allow faith to take root and grow.

Spirit of Life has grown over the years through personal evangelism efforts more than anything else, so I was never too excited for the bigger “outreach events.” But I know they present those opportunities for personal evangelism. So when we started working on a second site in Hastings, Mich., we thought, “Let’s try having a Christmas for Kids. There are a lot of kids near our venue.”

Sure enough, the event started as I had suspected. It was more work and less attendance than I would have hoped for. And I started to think. . . “You know, I can invite people personally with better results and less effort than this!”

One family, the Slagel’s and their three children, came to our event. They participated and had a lot of fun with their children. But what encouraged me the most was seeing the Slagel family the next Sunday morning. They had made the drive up to our Caledonia location and arrived for church an hour before the service started. They stayed and chatted with our members and are now going to be a part of our new church site in Hastings.

This story acts as a reminder to my missionary self that God works faith and does big things through his Word. Even when I think the hard work didn’t pay off.

Keep sharing the Word in season, out of season, at events, and individually. There’s no exact science to this mission work thing. In the end, it’s the Holy Spirit opening people’s hearts when and how he chooses. Stay humble, God works.

Written by Rev. Allen Kirschbaum, home missionary at Spirit of Life in Caledonia, Mich.

 

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Faces of Faith – Alicia

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Alicia first came to church with her family for a special worship service in the fall of 2019. Although her family came to church as a courtesy to someone who invited them, they agreed to a follow-up visit with me. The next week, I arrived at their apartment around 10 p.m. for a visit.

At first, they were skeptical of this pastor they didn’t know. However, they kindly shared they were new to the country—having emigrated from Honduras—and didn’t have a church home. Alicia convinced her family to give our church a shot. Over time, they attended worship, baptized their son, and took Bible information classes. By summer 2020, Alicia and her parents were confirmed in the faith they now professed.

When her parents can’t come to church due to work, Alicia drives on her own. She often brings her younger brother and has brought various friends. She participates in our online adult Bible studies. She even helped start our small choir. Then, she asked if she could start a youth group. We gathered a few other teens from church and launched “Palabra Youth.” Now she’s a part of a thriving small group of teens centered on Christ.

Alicia is an amazing example to follow. She’s an immigrant teenager who is making friends at school, learning English, and keeping up with her studies. In all things she looks to glorify God and to contribute to her church’s mission!

From Ryan Kolander, home missionary at Palabra De Vida in Detroit, Mich.

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