North Prairie Lutheran Mission Announcements for Sunday, August 12, 2007

This Week @ North Prairie Lutheran Church:
Sunday, August 12th 11th Sunday After Pentecost
Worship Service with Holy Communion, 9 a.m.
Bible Study: 10:15 a.m.
Monday, August 13th-Friday, August 17th
Pastor Work @ Algona, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Call Accepted Pastor Martin has accepted a call to serve as the sole Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa. Today is his last Sunday with us at North Prairie. His new call there will begin September 1st, 2007. We ask for God's blessing for Pastor & Lindsay as they move and as Pastor begins his new call at Our Saviour's.

ELCM Future in North Iowa Since Pastor has accepted a call to another congregation, it has been decided that due to low interest (an average of 4-5 have been in our services for several months now), it has been decided that a replacement for Pastor Martin as ELCM Mission Development Pastor for North Iowa/Pastor of North Prairie Lutheran Mission will not be called at this time and the preaching station will be dissolved.

In the future, if a group of 15-20 or more committed individuals would like to join together and organize a Centrist-Lutheran congregation, you are encouraged to contact either Pastor Martin or ELCM President, Rev. Roy A. Steward, for assistance in getting organized as a congregation and calling a Pastor.

Need a fan at home? If you or someone you know needs a fan in their home, please speak with Pastor after the service this morning, we have two fans avaliable and we will give them away. Also avaliable are a few like new black folding chairs that we used in the church basement this past winter for our services that were held in the fellowship hall. All property that was owned by the original North Prairie congregation, however, will stay with the church.

For more information about our denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium (ELCM), please visit our website at www.elcm.org or email President Roy A. Steward at revroy@elcm.org

A Letter from Our Pastor

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Dear Members & Friends of North Prairie Lutheran Mission:

Greetings to all of you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

I have been extended a call to serve as Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa. I have been a candidate for this call since the end of May, and had both a phone and an on site interview with Our Saviour's call committee in June. During the call process, Lindsay and I have been praying and seeking the advice of family, friends, and colleagues regarding this call. Our Saviour's is a congregation with 617 baptized members, and an average Sunday morning worship attendance of 230. This would be a full time pastoral call. After much prayer and deliberation through the call process, I have been led by the Holy Spirit to accept the call to serve as Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church. Thus, I will no longer be able to serve as your Pastor here at North Prairie.

Our Saviour's has requested in their call documents a starting date for me to be September 1st, 2007 due to the beginning of Sunday School and Confirmation classes soon after. Thus, my last Sunday in the pulpit at North Prairie will be Sunday, August 12th, and my last day of employment at American Marine, Inc., Algona will be Friday, August 17th. After taking a few days off for a brief vacation, Lindsay and I will pack and move to Audubon as soon as we can find adequate housing there. I will announce the date selected for my ordination/installation service at Our Saviour's as soon as it is set.

After consulting with the ELCM Executive Board, and those who have been active in our ELCM mission congregations the past two years, it has been decided that a replacement for me as ELCM Mission Development Pastor for North Iowa will not be called and that we will dissolve the ELCM North Prairie preaching station at this time. The leftover funds in North Prairie's account will be used to repay a personal loan given to the congregation last fall for the $1300 installation costs for the furnace at the North Prairie church. The furnace will be put up for sale in order to help repay this loan. If in the future, there is a group of 15-20 committed individuals who wish to band together and organize a Centrist-Lutheran congregation in the area, please do not hesitate to contact President Steward or myself in getting assistance to organizing and calling another Mission Development Pastor.

While I am saddened that the establishment of an ELCM congregation did not happen and that we will no longer have an ELCM presence in northern Iowa, I am excited to see that you will still hunger and thirst for Word and Sacrament ministry, and many of you have expressed to me your plans to find new church homes in the area. We have had over 40 different individuals come through our doors and attend at least one of our services. We are promised that God's Word will not return void, and it is our prayer that we planted seeds that will continue to grow in other places. I am also looking forward to the challenges that serving a larger congregation like Our Saviour's will bring, and once again, teaching confirmation classes to young people, and doing hospital and shut in visitations, things I have not had much of an opportunity to do the past two years. I certainly pray that God will continue to bless each of you, and I thank you for the love and support you have shown toward me in these past two years of service in God's kingdom in our attempt to plant an ELCM congregation in northern Iowa.

Your Servant in Christ,
Christopher W. Martin
Pastor, North Prairie Lutheran Mission, rural Scarville, Iowa
Pastor-Elect, Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa

Prayer Request

Members & friends of North Prairie are requested to keep our ELCM Secretary, Audrey Anderson, in your prayers. Audrey has served as ELCM Secretary since ELCM's organization in 1999, and faithfully has served over the years as organist and secretary at Faith Lutheran Church, Duncansville & Hollidaysburg, PA. This past week, Audrey was diagnosed with cancer, and is hospitalized for an infection.

We pray that God would grant healing and restoration of health to this good and faithful servant.