New friendships grow as God's Word is shared

New friendships grow as God’s Word is shared


When the PBC@W.COM (Prayer, Bible Class -at- Worship . Communion) team began meeting in April, a mission statement for the new ministry program of “Restoring My Faith” centered on bringing believing hearts to Jesus. Further the goal was to encourage St. Peters members to pray regularly and participate in Bible classes, worship services and Holy Communion.

With God directing us in every activity, many of those goals were accomplished in just a few short months.

Over the summer, we asked for your comments on how to best reach our members and what topics you would like to see offered in Bible classes. Your responses were shared with other ministry teams at church, many of whom agreed to help put your ideas into action. This winter our team will follow up with those areas of ministry to determine how much progress has been made in using your suggestions.

Perhaps the most visible suggestion that many of you had was the idea to visit our members on a one-to-one basis to share God’s Word and encourage prayer and more participation in Bible classes, worship and communion.

About 140 St. Peters’ members agreed to contact every family unit in our congregation this fall. These volunteers came to training meetings, learned the content of the “Restoring My Faith” booklet, and set out first to telephone and then to visit each of our congregation’s families. While the actual visitations took a few weeks longer than planned, the results were heartwarming.

To see St. Peters members’ eyes light up as they read the Word of God with us was a blessing in itself. To have members welcome us warmly into their homes (when we had not been previously acquainted) brought about new friendships. As we sat quietly with our fellow members and prayed with them and listened to their experiences through the years, we gave thanks that the Holy Spirit was working to extend and strengthen our Christian family.

Although we couldn’t make contact with everyone in the congregation and some decided to forego a visit, roughly half the families at St. Peters participated in the “Restoring My Faith” ministry. And that number no doubt will grow since several visits were still taking place at press time.

To celebrate the activities of the last several months, about 80 volunteers got together for a potluck in November to continue the fellowship and share stories of what a positive experience this has been.

“It wasn’t what people first expected,” one volunteer said. “They thought we were just going to tell them to go to church and give more money, but it wasn’t anything like that. Money was never mentioned.”

Instead “Restoring My Faith” focused on the blessings we receive when we attend worship services to hear God’s Word and participate in Holy Communion. It showed us how God encourages us to grow through Bible classes and how he strengthens our faith as we talk to him in prayer.

What a joyful experience we have all had in supporting each other in our Christian lives.

If we missed contacting you or you would like to visit and receive a copy of the “Restoring My Faith” booklet please don’t hesitate to call Pastor Kolterjahn at 920-743-4431 ext. 165.

But first let us pray, “Restore my faith in Jesus. Teach me to trust in Him with my whole heart. Drive away my doubts and comfort me with your Word. Amen.”

Big ideas come from small groups

BIG IDEAS COME FROM SMALL GROUPS

Small groups of St. Peters members meeting in June produced big ideas on how each of us can restore our faith in Christ.

Discussion centered on how we can encourage more frequent worship attendance and the best way to contact our members. Groups also talked about how to best encourage more frequent communion and bible class attendance and what subjects members would like to study in bible classes. And finally, ideas were offered on the best way to encourage a more complete prayer life for every one of our St. Peters’ members.

All of the comments and suggestions that came directly from our members in these brainstorming sessions will be compiled and presented to the St. Peters Executive Committee and later shared at the quarterly congregational meeting this July.

In addition, a specific plan of action based on the input from the small groups will be formulated and most likely will include ways and means to contact every family at St. Peters in the coming months. The Executive Committee and the congregation will hear about these plans later in July.

Our new home-based ministry PBC@W.COM (Prayer, Bible Class at Worship.Communion) is an acronym for what is most important for every one of us here at St. Peters. All of our members have a grace-filled opportunity to strengthen and restore their faith in Jesus as the Holy Spirit works in our hearts through the Word and Sacraments.

The mission statement for the PBC@W.COM ministry is one each of us can adopt:
“Giving all glory to God for bringing believing hearts to Jesus, we trust He will help us pursue a ministry that will encourage St. Peters members to pray regularly and participate in Bible classes, worship services and Holy Communion. As we restore our faith in Christ our Savior, we as a congregational family will support each other in the joy of salvation as we continue our walk to heaven.”

So we prayerfully ask the Lord as David did in Psalm 51:12, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

That personal prayer carries us throughout life as each of us develops a closer relationship with Jesus and, as a fruit of faith, gives us a joyful zeal to serve Him.

From the PBC@W.COM team

PBC@W.COM to ignite St. Peters

A new “reaching-out” ministry known as PBC@W.COM will set off a new burning desire at St. Peters this spring to get closer to God. You’ll hear more about it as the year goes by because 400 of our congregational leaders will gather in very small groups in June, to share ideas on how to get in touch with everyone in our church. And then, with God’s direction, they will put their plans into action this fall.

The intent is to encourage every St. Peters member to Pray regularly, attend a Bible Class and Worship services, and participate in Holy COMmunion. It’s easy to remember the goal; think:
Pray
Bible Class @
Worship.
COMmunion

We’re really serious about encouraging all our members to grow in their faith in Christ Jesus by coming to church, communion and bible classes and praying regularly. We hope that you, a beloved St. Peters’ member, takes to heart the theme “Restoring My Faith” as you explore new ways to develop a closer personal relationship with the Savior.

David said in Psalm 51:12, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.”

In reality, the Holy Spirit works to make our spirits willing to come closer to Jesus. So we pray as we feed on God’s spiritual gifts of his Word studied in bible classes and worship services as well as Christ’s saving body and blood in Holy Communion, and we experience a deeper faith, more joy in coming to church, praising God and serving others.

The hymn writer tells us,
“My faith looks up to thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine.
Now hear me while I pray; Take all my guilt away; Oh, let me from this day
Be wholly thine.

“May thy rich grace impart Strength to my fainting heart, My zeal inspire!
As thou hast died for me, Oh, may my love to thee Pure, warm and changeless be,
A living fire!”

Let God’s fire burn inside you. It’s time for PBC@W.COM!

Jay Zahn, chair, Ted Chaudoir, Rochelle Gilson, Cheri Harris, Larry Maas, Audrey Sweetman, Adeline Zak and Pastor Darrick Kolterjahn.

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