In This Month’s Issue: From the Pastor, President’s Points Page 1 Birthdays, Prayer Requests Page 2 Ministries, Announcements Page 3-5 Calendar Page 6 School News Page 7-8 ST. JAMES LUTHERAN CHURCH MISSION STATEMENT Called by God, centered in the Word and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we rejoice in the Lord, proclaim His gift of Grace through liturgical worship and service and share Christ’s love and forgiveness in all we do. The Reverend Keith Getz, Pastor [email protected]Sunday Worship: 10:00 AM Sunday School: 9:00 AM Wednesday: 10:30 AM: Bible Study (Library) & Noon: Holy Communion Service (Sanctuary) St. James Lutheran Church 1137 Alice Drive Sumter, SC 29150 Office: 773-2260 E-mail: [email protected]Church Office Hours: 8:30 am - 12:30 pm Monday – Friday St. James Lutheran School 934-8727 775-8724 T Th he e M Me es ss se en ng ge er r: : S Se ep pt te em mb be er r 2 20 01 15 5 Words from Your Pastor Greetings to you, brothers and sisters in Christ, from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Many people remember Martin Luther as the great reformer of the church, but most people don’t realize that he was also a reformer of schools. There was a great need for educational reform at the beginning of the sixteenth century. There was no official school system and the education of children was often limited to the wealthy. In many places the Roman Catholic Church supervised the training of the youth in monasteries, cloisters, and other church institutions, but these were falling into disrepute and disrepair due to the people’s reaction against the corruption and abuses of the clergy. Many parents stopped training their children and focused on work or didn’t have the financial means to do so. Martin Luther proposed different reforms for schools (he also proposed turning the monasteries into schools). Many of the other Reformers followed his example. The Reformers were the first to express the principles of reformed education and to develop objectives and methods. Luther, not concerned with separation of church and state, believed all children had a right to a Christian education, and it is the government’s duty to provide for this. The Reformers provided an important basis upon which later educators were to build. As a result of the Reformation, public education was greatly altered by the end of the sixteenth century. Martin Luther believed that at the foundation of a good and orderly society is Christian education for its youth. As we begin another school year, I am reminded that our school at St. James is following in the spirit of Luther and the Reformers by providing a strong Christian education for our youth. This is an important ministry of God and our church. I give thanks to all those teachers that give of their talents and time to give our children a strong foundation to succeed. I thank our teachers at St. James, who are dedicated to giving our children the best Christian education possible. I am thankful to all private school teachers, who have a passion to teach children and work for less money than a public school teacher. I thank our public school teachers, who are unable to pray and tell students about Jesus at school, but show their students the love of Christ in their actions. I thank our Sunday school teachers for giving of their time and talents to give the youth of our church a solid program where they can grow in the faith. I also thank home school teachers for their dedication in providing a solid Christ-centered, well-rounded education. To all these educators, I give God thanks. Let us keep our educators and students in our prayers this school year, and may we have a wonderful new school year of academic learning and growing in the faith, remembering the words of Martin Luther: “When schools flourish, all flourishes.” Christ’s Peace, Pastor Keith
Transcript
In This Month’s Issue:
From the Pastor, President’s Points Page 1
Birthdays, Prayer Requests Page 2
Ministries, Announcements Page 3-5
Calendar Page 6
School News Page 7-8
ST. JAMES LUTHERAN CHURCH MISSION
STATEMENT Called by God, centered
in the Word and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we rejoice in the
Lord, proclaim His gift of Grace through liturgical worship and service and share Christ’s love and
CRUCIFER AND COMMUNION HELPER SCHEDULE: September 6: Crucifer: Andrew Bratton Communion Help: Caroline Getz Attendant: Lisa Bratton September 13: Crucifer: Owen Getz Communion Help: Andrew Bratton Attendant: Karen Hesselbart September 20: Crucifer: Christian Strange Communion Help: Owen Getz Attendant: Kim Strange September 27: Crucifer: Caroline Getz Communion Help: Ashley Crawshaw Attendant: Karen Hesselbart LITURGIST & CA SCHEDULE: September 6: Liturgist: Hugh China CAs: Bob Bessel & Cheryl Schmeling September 13: Liturgist: Karen Hesselbart CAs: Harold Chandler & Gary Harbath September 20: Liturgist: Ford Kamin CAs: Cheryl Schmeling & Bob Summers September 27: Liturgist: Dick Rasmussen CAs: Bob Bessel & Judith Terry LAYREADER SCHEDULE: September 6: Judy Lessard September 13: Rob Easley September 20: Gary Harbath September 27: Harold Chandler CHILDREN’S SERMON SCHEDULE: September 6: Karen Hesselbart September 13: Lisa Bratton September 20: Carolyn Brandt September 27: Elton Hallman ALTAR CARE: September: Margaret Taylor & Judy Pollock USHER SCHEDULE: September 6: Mike Stewart & Ray Ziecker September 13 & 20: Tony Myers & Max Schmeling September 27: Gary Harbath & Ford Kamin
COUNTER SCHEDULE:
September 6: Mike Stewart September 13: Shelley Crawshaw September 20: Shelley Crawshaw September 27: Shelley Crawshaw EVANGELISM GREETER SCHEDULE:
September 6: Karen Bailey & Tom Lovett September 13: Scott & Sheri Palmo September 20: John & Helen Kinser September 27: Carolinda Getz & Janet Turner FLOWERS
September 6: Weishuhn/Bultman September 13: Ray & Carol Ziecker September 20: Lois Heal September 27: Susan Caulkins
TALENTS SCHEDULE
If you will be unable to make it on a Sunday when you are serving please call the office: 773-2260 and let Stephanie know so that we can find a replacement and make the necessary changes to the bulletin.
CHILDREN’S SUNDAY SCHOOL UPDATE
Now that summer is over and school has started back, our Children’s Sunday School classes will resume on September 13th at 9:00 A.M. for a really fun time. Our classes will cover the ages from Preschool up to High School. All classes will be held in the Sunday School Building. We invite all the children to join us on Sunday mornings
St. James Lutheran Men will be meeting on
Monday, September 14th at 7:00 p.m . in the
Fellowship Hall.
The Epiphany Conference of the WELCA will be held at
St. James on September 19th at 10:30 a.m. All women
are invited to come and welcome our sister
congregations to a morning of fellowship, with a
program that will delight each and every one. Be sure
to check us out.
Please plan to
attend
PRAISE
and
FELLOWSHIP
on Tuesday,
September 1st
from 6:30 –
8:00 p.m.
Please bring a
snack to share.
The Lula June Circle
will be meeting on
September 1st at 9:30 am
at the home of Arletta Price.
Please meet at the church
at 9:15 if you would like
to carpool.
The question was asked: “What is a Conference?” In the spring of 1998, the SC WELCA followed the suggested re-alignment of the SC Synod to form conferences within South Carolina. Conferences are geographical groupings of congregational units within a synodical organization, which seek to bring congregational units together for leadership and special events. The purpose of conferences is to support the activities of unites that are close in geographic proximity to one another. A map of our conference locations is on the “Leaders” page next to “Conferences” on our website at www.scsynod.com and under “Who We Are” Click on SC Women of the ELCA. Submitted by Margaret Shirer
Welcome our new youth program for our young girls and
young ladies to American Heritage Girls. AHG is excited to start it’s new program on September 24, 2015. This will be our first parent night for the initial meeting and information. We have had our first leader meeting already and have opened our first bank account. We are so excited to be able to touch the lives of our girls here in our church, and our community for Jesus Christ. We are raising girls of integrity to love and serve God and our neighbors. We still need some leaders for the different age levels to guide and teach the girls skills and the love of our Lord. So far, we have 2 confirmed leaders and possibly 2 more are coming on board. I still need about 2 more leaders and committee members and 5 more co-leaders if you are interested. This is open to men as well as women; fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers. All are welcome and encouraged to come and teach our girls or share a skill for one night or every night we meet. Men have a special perspective that is very important to our young girls that can lead them to have lives of self-acceptance and integrity. We also are looking for talented adults to teach skills that match your talent. If your talent is cooking, sewing, animal care, art projects, jewelry making, songs, drama, music, healthcare, engineering, camping, etc., we have a need for your talent. Even for just one night to teach a skill. We meet the first 3 Thursdays of each month at 6:00 p.m. starting in October. I’d love to hear from you and coordinate a time so that we could learn about your special skills. Please contact me, Kelly Powell, Troop Coordinator at 803-468-2097 or [email protected]. Please note new information for:
JoAnn Bruce 997 Rolling Hill Lane
Sumter, SC 29150 803-869-4303
Church Women United will hold it’s Annual Salad Luncheon on Saturday, September 26th at 11:30 a.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, 226 W. Liberty Street. A $5.00 donation is requested. If you have questions or would like tickets, please contact Judy Lessard at 499-3799. Take outs are available at 12:00 p.m.
UPDATE ON VBS I wanted to thank everyone that participated in our Journey Off the Map Vacation Bible School in July. We are truly grateful for those of you that donated your time and for those of you who donated supplies, or fruit and desserts to accompany our meal every night. We are also very appreciative for those of you that contributed with a monetary donation. All of those things allowed for us to have a successful VBS. It takes a large team of dedicated volunteers to make VBS happen and we were truly blessed to have so many wonderful volunteers. We touched the lives of 40 children and shared our faith. They definitely had a lot of fun with all of the activities that we had planned. They also learned that Jesus loves them so much! Thank you to each of you that had a part in this wonderful program and thank you to everyone that lifted us up in prayers. God Bless! Shelley Crawshaw VBS Director
Dear members of St. James, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all dearly for not only the financial support that I received on your behalf, but also for the many prayers. St. James and it’s people are of particular importance to me, as I grew up there and was surrounded and formed by many wonderful, godly people. I look favorably upon the years I spent at St. James. I keep St. James in my thoughts and prayers. I will be beginning a one year internship in Annapolis, Maryland in September. My fiance, Rebecca, and I would appreciate your prayers as we embark on this new and exciting opportunity. Thank you once again. Your support has been much appreciated!
