Pastoral Message

Dear Flock: 

As a part of our 175th anniversary observance, I sat down with some of the younger members of our flock to get their insights about what church means to them, times in their lives when they really needed God and their faith, and how they think younger generations could benefit from the Church.  I met with:  Betsy Horst, Jon and Kara Banfield Vermeire, Sarah and Tianna Lecander, Juan Rivera, Calista DeCoster, Susan Lundeen, and Lisa Gorgal.  I want to thank each of them for spending the time with me and offering their thoughtfulness.  Their answers were truly inspiring to me, as I hope they are for you.  One disclaimer: They had a lot of good things to say and I had to write fast, so I hope I got it right.  

1.  The first question I asked was:  Why do you come to church?         Do you value it?  If so, why? 

Sarah:  The people.  There are really good people in the church. 

Tianna:  The people.  And I like to help. 

Jon:  I got a good foundation growing up and in youth group.  

Betsy:  It helps me know my purpose. 

Kara:  It gives me focus. 

Calista:  It helps me give thanks to God. 

Juan:  It gives me a place of rest and peace. 

Lisa:  I go to ask God for forgiveness, to talk with Jesus, and to apply the gospel to my life. 

Susan:  I have good parents who instilled the faith in me.  Church is everything to me.  It’s in my heart.  

2.  Is there a time in your life when the church and faith was extra valuable or needed?   Mind sharing why?  

Sarah:  During hard times.  For example, the death of my mom.  The church was a loving community. 

Betsy:  In life passages:  Baptisms.  Deaths.  Divorce.  The church has been there, sturdy, across generations.  

Calista:  I lean on the community to help me grow.  It helps me with insecurity. 

Juan:  The community is important – and the socializing.  It’s hard to find places where people talk to each other.  Here they do.  The connection is important. 

Kara:  I came to the church later in life.  I’ve just celebrated my tenth anniversary of baptism and confirmation.  Back then, I was exploring where I fit in and it has been a real anchor.  It has helped me steer through turbulent times and provided an atmosphere of security, support, and lovingkindness.  

Susan:  (In the last year), the death of my sister, Julie.  The customs of the church bring me a lot of comfort.  Without my faith, I couldn’t have gotten through the last year.  I have deeply relied on my faith to help me. 

Lisa:  Two times in particular:  When my father passed away (unexpectedly, when she was young) and when my son had a bad injury.  I struggled with ‘why do bad things happen to good people’ and I prayed for God’s guidance for both myself and my family in church and in random places where I felt comfortable.  

3.  How do you think we in the church might encourage our own generation and those younger to participate in the church and experience its value? 

Jon: To be a community of friends; to become family.  And – showing the practical applications of faith. 

Kara:  The younger generation is collaborative.  They want to work together and be involved – and they would be interested in learning about Jesus’ teachings. 

Sarah:  We need to tell our faith stories and why it matters to us. 

Calista:  The younger generation is curious and open.  There are a lot of people looking for purpose and community and the church has a special place in representing the loving Jesus. 

Lisa:  I would hope that the value and importance of the church would be passed down from generation to generation.  I think that the younger generation needs to understand that our world is a crazy place and having God in our life and a church we can go and worship at is always constant.  It doesn’t matter what is happening each day of our live; the church and God will always be there for you. 

Susan:  By being examples in our Christian lives.  By showing our own individual ministries in daily life and to celebrate and share them with other people.  Also, by showing that it can be fun, it can be exciting to grow in faith. 

We ended our time with a good conversation:  Betsy said the church needs to modernize through the use of technology and Juan thought the traditional expressions (examples:  pipe organ, stained glass windows) are fine.  As Sarah summed it up:  Modern and traditional can go together.  It raised the question for us:  in what ways does the church need to go along with the culture and in what ways does it need to be different? 

Ours was a short conversation packed with great insights.  I left a happy pastor because I could see that the younger generation does think about these things, cares about the life of the Church, and benefits from it.  If you get a chance, do yourself a favor and chat these people up about their experiences and views. 

Sincerely,
Pastor Dan