Holy Cross Lutheran Church      

5402 US Hwy 6, Portage, IN

Pastor Timothy A. Engel

(219)763-6343

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February 11, 2008

Vision for Ministry

By January 2011 Holy Cross Lutheran Church will nurture the lives of families through ministry to children & youth and their parents through its pre-school and after-school programs. Holy Cross will care for those who are hurting through intentional caring ministry, such as Stephen Ministry. Holy Cross will embrace the diversity of the Portage community, especially through its ministry to the growing Hispanic population. These ministries will be carried out in the congregation’s Education and Multi-Purpose Facility.

This is the Vision for Ministry at Holy Cross Lutheran Church. That paragraph capsulizes where we want to be in three years. Some of those ministries can be started in the next six or seven months, such as Hispanic outreach or after-school programs. A pre-school ministry will take longer to launch, because we need to build the Education facility to carry out the ministry.

The opening three words are perhaps the most daunting -- "By January 2011". Those words mean that the clock is ticking. Those words mean that long before January 2011, a lot of other work has to be planned and accomplished. Those words mean that this Vision for Ministry is a commitment, not just a good idea.

The joy of this vision is that it gives our church a clear picture of the ministry that we want to offer to the community.

The challenge of this vision is that it doesn't spell out how we will get from here to there. Where will the people, volunteer hours and money come from? I don't know. What are the obstacles that we will encounter on the way? Again, idk.

What I do know is that, even though our resources at Holy Cross seem limited and inadequate, the Lord will provide what we need when we need it. This is the same Lord Jesus who took five small loaves of bread and two dried fish and fed a multitude of well over 5,000 people (See Matthew 14:13-21). When Jesus' followers brought this meager amount of food to Jesus, they couldn't envision feeding this vast number of people. But Jesus blessed these meager resources and the crowd was fed, with food left over. The blessing of Jesus made all the difference. That's one thing that I know.

What I also know is that our vision is based on Jesus' vision. Jesus had a three year plan of His own. The first step was His baptism, when He committed Himself to being our perfect substitute. The last step was His death on the cross, where He offered His life as the sacrifice to win God's forgiveness for you and me. Jesus' vision that led Him to the cross was the picture of you being with Him in heaven. He was willing to die for you to make that happen.

Our Vision for Ministry at Holy Cross is based on that same desire, that the people of our community have an eternal home with Jesus.

Posted by timengel63 at 10:44 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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