From Our Pastor- Volume 20, Issue 7 July August 2017 Faith Lutheran Church PO Box 175 Wolverton, MN 56594 (218) 995-2556 [email protected]www.faithwolverton.org Rev. Clay Ellingson, Pastor 1303 24th Avenue S. Moorhead, MN 56560 (218) 233-3941 It is the mission of Faith Lutheran Church: To gather prayerfully as the Body of Christ; To grow in faith, love, and service; To go into the world joyfully as disciples. Sunday Worship 9:30 a.m. Holy Communion on the first and third Sunday of the month. Coffee Fellowship 10:30 a.m. July Food Pantry Item: Cereal Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ; As we continue to reflect on the impact of the Reformation on the world, one of the great writings that came out of that time and that is still central to our faith development is the Small Catechism. In the preface to the Study Edition of the Small Catechism commemorating the 500 years of Reformation are these words: “Luther wrote the Small Catechism for the home, so that parents could explain to their children in simple terms the most important things in the Christian faith. For Luther the household is a house church.” What a gift the Catechism has been to the church and the home down through the years. Peace, Pastor Ellingson Luther’s Small Catechism Of all the things Marn Luther wrote, he is probably best known for two things: the hymn “A mighty fortress is our God” and the Small Catechism. Interesngly, Luther himself was ambivalent about the lasng value of most of his wrings, with two excepons—and one of them was this lile pamphlet, the Small Catechism. And this from someone whose wrings changed the whole landscape of the Western religious world. Most of us know the Small Catechism well. Many spent hours memorizing it as teens. But how did it come to be, and what is it that makes it so helpful? In 2017 we are observing the 500th anniversary of the Reformaon’s start, when Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses. If that was the act of a passionate young man, a decade later he was facing the needs of the church he was reforming. If it was no longer enough just to go through the moons, following the lead of a Lan-rite priest, then what was at the heart of what people needed to know—and how were they to learn that? To meet that need, Luther the pastor and teacher created two catechisms—the Large (primarily intended for pastors) and the Small (for use in the home). A catechism is a document that lays out the basic ideas of religion in a simple queson-and -answer format. For the Small Catechism, Luther chose to open Powdered Beverages August Food Pantry Item
As we continue to reflect on the impact of the Reformation on the world, one of
the great writings that came out of that time and that is still central to our faith
development is the Small Catechism. In the preface to the Study Edition of the
Small Catechism commemorating the 500 years of Reformation are these words:
“Luther wrote the Small Catechism for the home, so that parents could explain to
their children in simple terms the most important things in the Christian faith. For
Luther the household is a house church.” What a gift the Catechism has been to
the church and the home down through the years.
Peace,
Pastor Ellingson
Luther’s Small Catechism
Of all the things Martin Luther wrote, he is probably best known for two things: the
hymn “A mighty fortress is our God” and the Small Catechism. Interestingly, Luther
himself was ambivalent about the lasting value of most of his writings, with two
exceptions—and one of them was this little pamphlet, the Small Catechism. And this
from someone whose writings changed the whole landscape of the Western religious
world.
Most of us know the Small Catechism well. Many spent hours memorizing it as teens.
But how did it come to be, and what is it that makes it so helpful?
In 2017 we are observing the 500th anniversary of the Reformation’s start, when
Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses. If that was the act of a passionate young man, a
decade later he was facing the needs of the church he was reforming. If it was no
longer enough just to go through the motions, following the lead of a Latin-rite priest,
then what was at the heart of what people needed to
know—and how were they to learn that? To meet that need,
Luther the pastor and teacher created two catechisms—the
Large (primarily intended for pastors) and the Small (for use
in the home).
A catechism is a document that
lays out the basic ideas of
religion in a simple question-and
-answer format. For the Small
Catechism, Luther chose to open
Powdered
Beverages
August Food Pantry Item
Please keep these people who are under medical care in your pray-ers. Let Pastor Ellingson know if you would like your name or that of a loved one added to this list.
Organ Informational
Meeting A Congregational Information Meeting was
held at Faith on June 4 to discuss the options
of replacing the organ. Two options were
presented
Pipe/digital organ installed by Nelson
Organ
Digital Organ by Rodgers Organs
Copies of the written proposal are available in
the church office.
Another organ informational meeting has
been set for September 24, 2017 after
worship.
Service Schedule during Pr.
Ellingson’s Vacation Pr. Arland Jacobson will lead the service on
July 16.
Merrill Piepkorn and Roy Larson will provide
lots of special music during the July 23
worship service. This lay service will be lead
by RC Stein.
The July 30th service will be lead by Dave
Matz.
up some of the basics of Christian faith: the Ten Commandments, the
Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the sacraments of Holy Baptism and
Holy Communion, and the Office of the Keys and Confession. It’s worth
noticing that he based this teaching document on what already existed
rather than starting from scratch and inventing a whole new system.
Luther was committed to the church catholic.
His genius is shown in the way he opened up these statements of faith.
The famous question in each case was, in German, “Was ist das?” In
English, most of us know this as “What does this mean?” but a literal
translation would be “What is that?” And then he proceeded to tell, in
beautifully simple language, what each commandment, each part of the
creed, each petition of the Lord’s Prayer, tells us about God and about
us as God’s children. These explanations set out a God who is not the
stern judge of Luther’s own childhood, but a loving parent who offers
us unconditional grace and only then invites us to live accordingly.
How profound was Luther’s achievement in writing the Small
Catechism? A mark of it can be seen in the simple fact that nearly five
hundred years after its first publication in 1529, and after being
translated into hundreds of languages, it is still one of the most effective
tools for learning and teaching what the Christian faith is all about.
BAPTISM: Sadie Anne Bohner, daughter of Kirk and Sara Bohner
was baptized at Faith Lutheran on June 18. Sadie was born on
January 10, 2017.
FUNERAL: The funeral for Effie Weik will be Friday, June 30 at
10:30. Effie passed away June 23 at the age of 91.
July Birthdays 1 Erica Halverson 2 Lois Picotte 4 Chloe Nord 6 Carter Erickson 8 Harlie Nord 9 Mike Byars 10 Jordan Annette 10 Jeremy Maesse 10 Tania Merritt 13 Tony Emerfoll 14 Marie Skoblik 15 Kyle Affield 15 Madison Nord 15 Kaitlyn Israelson 17 Ben Krump 19 Elijah Beyer 19 Maren Cassidy 20 Adrianne Tucker 21 Colton Mastin 21 Mason Tucker 23 Randy Emerson
23 Brendon Skoblik 24 Elizabeth Aigner 24 Kirk Lindblom 24 Kaden Schroeder 25 Nancy Israelson 25 Lisa Miller 25 Ron Wilner 28 Boden Schroeder 29 Jessica Mastin 29 Lexi Hoeft 30 Chad Erickson 30 Natalie Nelson 30 Darin Smith
July Anniversaries 9 Spencer and Lanette Nord 17 Jay and Cindy Nord 19 Calvin and Tammy Annett 28 Clay and Sue Ellingson
Birthdays and Anniversaries
August Birthdays
1 Barb Wise 2 David Matz 4 Kristi Edwards 4 David Israelson 6 Sheyenne Dockter 8 Sage Tuel 9 Dennis Bohner 9 Jim Lucke 11 Scott Blilie 11 Jessica Nelson 11 Zayden Smeby 12 Dallas Israelson 15 Tammy Dockter 15 Eric Stark 15 Nev Tracy 16 Riley Kappes 17 Adrie Israelson 19 Amanda Nelson 20 Clay Ellingson
21 Claire Aigner 22 Kiyara Jinadasa 22 Candace Johnson 23 Karen Thompson 26 Mandy Schroeder 27 Grant Israelson 28 Carley Stark 29 Anton Smeby 30 Beverly Israelson 31 Marlow Cassidy 31 Delmar Nord
August Anniversaries
12 Amy and Raymond Traut 16 Jeff and Sue Rasmussen 21 Erick and Ellen Stark 22 Bradley and Vicky Nelson 25 John and Jessi Kappes 26 David and Gayle Matz 31 Karl and Karen Thompson
Anniversaries Recognized at Assembly At the Northwest Minnesota Synod Assembly in June, Faith Lutheran
Church was recognized as celebrating a 125th Anniversary. In addition, Pr.
Clay Ellingson was recognized for 25 years of ministry of word and
sacrament.
In 1892, the Wolverton Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church was
formed. It built its first church on land donated by Charles Nord north east
of Wolverton in 1895. That site is home to the Faith Lutheran Cemetery. In
1931 the current church structure was built in Wolverton and has since been
added on to in 1971 and 2011. In December of 1966, it consolidated with
the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Salem Church which formed in 1902.
Faith Lutheran Church is celebrating two anniversaries; 125 years since the
Wolverton Norwegian organized and 50 years since the consolidation of
Salem Lutheran and
Wolverton Norwegian.
Faith Lutheran
celebrates with the
Ellingson Family by
recognizing that Pr.
Ellingson was ordained in 1992—25 years ago. He has served as
Faith Lutheran’s minister for 18 years.
We will be celebrating all of these anniversaries along with
confirmation on Sunday, October 29 as part of Faith Lutheran’s
recognition of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. More
information will be in the September newsletter.
Family picture taken at Pastor Ellingson ordination
in October 1992.
Save the Date
October 29
Recognition of
• 500th Anniversary of
the Reformation
• 125th Anniversary of
Wolverton Norwegian
• 50th Anniversary of
Faith Lutheran
• 25th Anniversary of Pr.
Ellingson ordination
• and Confirmation
FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH COUNCIL
Meeting Minutes June 1 2017
NOT APPROVED
Members Present: Mike Aigner, LaDawn Turner, Chad
Erickson, Mark Miller, Ross Aigner, Dave Matz, Debi
Byars and Robert Stein
Members Absent: Scott Smith
Other Present: Pastor Ellingson
Prayer: Pastor Ellingson
Opening Devotions: Debi Byars
July Devotions: Dave Matz
Communion Assistant June 18th: Debi Byars
Communion Assistant July 2: Dave Matz
Offering Counter: All of Council
Food Pantry Item for July—cereal August—powdered
beverages
Secretary’s Report: Approved with no changes.
Treasurer’s Report: Approved with no changes
Leadership Development – RC Stein
Committee Reports:
Finance - Scott Smith – no report
Property and Maintenance- Wally is working on getting
someone to do the panels in fellowship room in basement.
Wally has replaced the light bulbs in the side lights in the
sanctuary. Motion made and second for property and
maintenance to purchase and install a new hot water heat-
er without a rod for the kitchen-passed. Motion made
and second to get a condition report on the church roof
from Doug Ness and Krueger Roofing-passed. Motion
made and second to get an estimate of cost for the elec-
trical hook ups to put hook up a generator and the cost
to install a usable generator. Passed
Education - Chad Erickson: VBS is June 20th
Music and Worship Debi Byars: nothing to report
Youth - Mike Aigner: LYO went to Mexican Village and
Thunder Road
Faith Women and Decorating- LaDawn Turner: Mother
Daughter Tea was a great success
Stewardship and mutual ministry: Ross Aigner – A work
in progress.
Endowment - Mark Miller: meets in July.
Old Business:
Organ Replacement Informational meeting June 4th was
very well attended and many good questions. Next infor-
mational meeting is set-up for Sept. 17th with the 24th as a
backup.
New Business:
Report on Equipping congregation: Report from RC and
LaDawn.
Report on Conference Meetings: Report from RC
Constitutional Amendment—tabled to July meeting
Kickball—Thursday nights in Wolverton—everyone is
welcome!! Motion and second to supply ice cream bars
Thursday June 15th from Faith Lutheran. Passed—
Debi Byars will pick them up.
Adjourn
The Lord’s Prayer
Submitted by Debi Byars
V B S
V B S
Build a Burger with Jesus!
WELCA 101: What does WELCA even mean?
Have you wondered what is Faith Women all about and how does it differ from WELCA? What is WELCA stand
for?
Faith Women is the women’s organization here at Faith Lutheran Church. They meet about five times a year, create
quilts together for missions and for high school seniors, serve funerals and other meals, gather for book reviews, host
the Mother Daughter Other Tea, and hold an annual church auction where the proceed benefit area organizations as
well as our church. WELCA stands for Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Faith Women is
Faith Lutheran’s WELCA organization.
In the Winter publication of the SNOW newsletter (Northwest MN Synodical Women’s Organization’s newsletter), a
list of glossary terms appeared that helps us not so familiar with the women's organization of our church make sense
of the verbiage used.
Glossary of Terms Assembly term for “convention” by the ELCA.
Churchwide designation for the national ELCA
Conference a division of a Synod; I.e., Northwestern Minnesota is divided into eight conferences 1-Roseau, 2-
Thief River Falls, 3-Crookston, 4-Bemidji, 5-Moorhead, 6-Detroit Lakes, 7-Fergus Falls, 8-
Alexandria.
Congregational unit Local women’s group, “WELCA”, “Ladies’ Aid”, or as we at Faith Lutheran call our group
“Faith Women”
Convention A meeting where governing decisions are made for an organization by elected delegates (voting
members)
CWO Churchwide Women’s Organization, or the national ELCA Women’s Organization
