Minnehaha CommunionLutheran Church:

A history of hope, healing,and wholeness

Throughlife,

death, resurrection,

and new life

Death, resurrection and new life

2007

Holy Communion

Minnehaha

Our Redeemer

1994merger 2004: A two-point parish

Oromo Church

New life

• In 1994, parish nursing was added to MCLC’s ministries. Sue Arens is MCLC’s current parish nurse.

• In 2005, Pastors Sally and Dan were called to assist Our Redeemer’s and Minnehaha Communion’s merger.

• In 2014, a need to emphasize intergenerational practices and communication was identified.

MCLC responds to the needfor hope, healing and wholeness

Teenage prophets

MCLC initiatives “watering”this new life together

• InterServe Ministries– Assessment

• God in our Garden– Cottage meetings

• Communication• Leadership• Community• Intergenerational ministry• Worship• Expansion, and• Growth

• Children, youth and family surveys– Tenders of the Fire– New educational ministry position

Ground-fed streams flowing into

one mighty riverInterServe Ministries

God in our Garden

Children, youth and family surveys

Current direction

One mighty river bringing hope, healing and wholeness

to our faith community and neighborhood

What’s coming next

MCLC will develop a vision of what it means to become an environment that supports hope, healing and wholeness, particularly in the face of trauma.

MCLC will also discover what its role might be as part of a larger community that participates in God’s healing work in the world, particularly as it addresses trauma.

And MCLC will become a generationally integrated faith communitythat participatesin God’s work of bringing hope, healing and wholeness to this broken world.

How the sabbatical fitsIn addition to their travel plans, the pastors will study aspects of trauma ministry, such as:• Introducing classroom practices that support children whose

behavior has been adversely affected by trauma or other influences

• Leading mindfulness training for adults and children• Developing strategies for helping people who have had

difficult experiences• Addressing and ministering to those experiencing guilt and

shame• Becoming a source of healing for traumatized communities• Learning how a congregation has revised its core practices to

consider those who need healing and hope

Congregation’s activities during pastors’ sabbatical

• During worship, MCLC will hear groups and individuals within our community and neighborhood identify where, despite difficult experiences, they have found meaning both within and outside their faith communities.

• Book groups will read and discuss Healing the Wounds of Trauma: How the Church Can Help.

• MCLC will begin developing its own understanding of its call to participate in God’s work of bringing hope, healing and wholeness to this broken world.

Learning outcomes for MCLC

• Naming causes and forms of brokenness and trauma in the world

• Identifying places where God is present and at work healing the world (God moments)

• Clearly stating how our Christian beliefs support hope, healing and wholeness in the world

• Sharing a common definition of the church’s role in responding to brokenness and trauma in the community

• Developing communication practices that contribute to a safe, supportive and hopeful environment both inside MCLC and in the wider community

• Practicing a common attitude of compassionate, healthy support for those in need of hope, healing and wholeness

• Identifying and participating in programming that fosters hope, healing and wholeness in the community.

Educational ministry position will:

• Develop and support intergenerational practices

• Provide educational support to the congregation in pursuing its goals of becoming a faith community that participates in God’s work of bringing hope, healing and wholeness to this broken world, particularly to those who have experienced trauma

Equipping congregation members by

• Developing the vocational identities of adults, adolescents and children as members of God’s beloved community with particular gifts and talents given to them by God for the sake of the world’s wholeness and well-being

• Incorporating the biblical narrative and Lutheran doctrinal convictions that illuminate God’s work of hope, healing and wholeness

• Connecting learning, mission, vocation and outreach to the community.

• Assisting individual members of the congregation to find and develop their particular callings to the work of hope, healing and wholeness

Discovering your purpose in this ongoing story

• Participate in learning opportunities• Identify your gifts and talents• Listen for God’s call • Find your passion• Join others who share your passion• Develop a outward missional focus for your passion in the

surrounding Minnehaha community/neighborhood• Develop relationships with community partners who

share this missional focus• Identify ways of meeting those needs in the community• Develop a delivery model for meeting those needs

Together, through Christ,

through radical hospitality,responsive worship,and real relationships,

we can participate in God’s work of bringing

hope, healing and wholenessto this broken world.