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Church and Community
Leadership Team
Hope Moede, Council Representative
Steve Graf. Chairperson
Allen Borgwardt
Trudy Dunham
Nancy Erickson
Linda Chavez
Hope Moede
Rich Kreitz
Barb Kreitz
Pastor Tabitha
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Church and Community is a Gloria Dei Ministry devoted to serving the wider church
and the community and world in which we live. Mission and Social Justice are are key objectives of this ministry. We work through our congregation, community organizations, and ELCA world mission and relief organizations.
Contact Steve Graf (Chairperson for CC Ministry Leadership Team), Hope Moede (Council Representative), or Pastor Tabitha (pastoral leader for Church and Community) for more information about this ministry and its activities . . . and to get involved!
Current Church and Community initiatives include . . .
COMMUNITY TABLE
Community Table is a "soup kitchen" ministry hosted by St. Paul Lutheran Church on Commerical Street in downtown Neenah. CT is governed and adminstered by a volunteer board of directors and is served by congregations and other groups throughout the Neenah-Menasha area.
Once each month . . . on the second Saturday . . . Gloria Dei provided the CT meal. Typically, one or more of our Shepherd Groups takes responsibility for the meal, planning the menu and preparing and serving the meal. From time to time other groups, for example, the Congregation Council or Thursday Morning Bible Group, do the meal.
Check out the "Community Table" page for more information about this ministry at Gloria Dei.
RED CROSS FOOD PANTRY
We collect non-perishable food items for the Red Cross Food Pantry as an on-going ministry. Members are encouraged to bring items to the drop off spot outside the church office. Consider developing a "spiritual discipline" of sharing food items from your pantry each month or on special occasions. This is a great family ministry opportunity.
In a recent month, we delivered 90 pounds of food items to the Red Cross Food Pantry.
COOKIES -- AND MORE - FOR FATHER CARR
Priscilla Circle serves a meal at Father Carr's mission in Oskosk each month. We need four volunteers to provide 4 dozen cookies each month . . . that's sixteen dozen cookies we take for dessert! Sign up on the bulliten board in the narthex or contact the church office.
FAIR TRADE COFFEE HOUR
Members are invited to sponsor our Fellowship Hour coffee. The cost is only $10. Sign up for a week . . . or more. You simply sign up on the Kiosk and send a check to the church office or put it in the offering plate marked "Coffee Sponsorship."
We purchase and serve "fair trade" coffee from Equal Exchange. The coffee is raised by farmers and sold on exchanges that ensure fair value to the farmers and other workers involved in the processing and delivery chain. Our Church and Community Ministry coordinates this unique form of stewardship and social justice.
MISSION TRIP TO ROMANIA
The trip is on! Ten persons from congregations throughout our synod will be headed for Sibui, Romania on May 13 and return on May 26. Gloria Dei members Rene Mehlberg, Roger Ernst, and Bryan Engstrom will be among the group. The mission project in Sibui involves refurbishing a parsonage into a youth education center.
Pastor Joel and Susan Schlachtenhaufen, Gloria Dei members, will be in Sibiu at the same time . They have recently returned from three months serving the Lutheran Church of Sibiu/Hermannstad and will be returning in March.
Please include this mission in your prayers and stay tuned for ways you can support our group and their project. Contact Bryan Engstrom (bengstrom(a)new.rr.com or 722-7582) for more information
HAITI AND CHILE EARTHQUAKE REPONSE AND RELIEF
Please refer to our ELCA Disaster Response page for details on ways we can respond now and in the future to assist our brothers and sisters in Haiti.
SYNOD MISSION TRIPS
Our ELCA synod - East Central Wisconsin Synod - continues to organize mission opportunities to assist in the aftermath of floods in Iowa and hurricanes in the Louisiana and Missippi. Alley Shepeck at Our Savior in Neenah serves as the synod Missions Coordinator. Contact Bryan Engstrom for more information at bengstrom@new.rr.com or 722-7582.
GLORIA DEI ENDOWMENT
Gloria Dei has an endowment fund to support projects within the congregation and in the community. Members contribute on special occasions and through their estates. Funds are invested, and income and dividends are made available as grants and loans. A committee of Gloria Dei members meet twice a year to review proposals and distribute funds. Any Gloria Dei member can submit a proposal. For questions and proposal forms, and deadlines contact any committee member or the church office. Committee members are Jim Lange, Vicki Uslabar, Gloria Larson, Chuck Dorn, and Jan Williamson.
MISSIONARIES
Gloria Dei, along with other congregations in the East Central Wisconsin Synod, support the work of Brian and Kristen Konkol in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Check out their blog to learn about tand stay up to date on their mission. Please pray for them as they are "God's Hands" in South Africa.
GIVE A WELL! OUR LENTEN PROJECT FOR WORLD HUNGER
With our missionaries, Brian and Kristen Konkol in South Africa, we set out to raise $2,500 during Lent to fund a well in a village in sub-Saharan Africa. Lutheran World Relief administer these funds, and 100% of our contribution is directed toward constructing wells. We met our objective. In fact, we more than doubled it! We raised more than $6,000 from small and large special offering gifts from Gloria Dei members. So, we will fund two wells and give the rest to ELCA World Hunger campaign.
In John 4, a woman meets Jesus at Jacob's well. In turn for living water, Jesus offers the woman . . . and each of us . . . the gift of eternal life. Here on earth, water is life, and we must make sure everyone has enough of it to sustain their lives.
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