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
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
posted by Pastor Christopher Martin | 8/08/2007 09:42:00 AM
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