Transformation - Welcome to Bethlehem Lutheran Church--Spokane WA

Transformation

Bethlehem Lutheran Church is a place of transformation. We expect God to show up and work miracles among us.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God reaches out to each and every one of us. In Word and Sacrament, God's Grace is proclaimed to us and for us, not because we deserve it or have earned it, but simply because God loves us. Once that Amazing Grace takes hold of us, we are changed--transformed. Our God brings life out of death, hope out of hopelessness, light out of the deepest darkness. We gather to hear again and again the story of Jesus, to experience the love of God, and to be sent by and with the Holy Spirit into the world.

Here at Bethlehem Lutheran, we experience the transforming power of God in our own lives, and we also long for that transforming power for our congregation. We have recognized that the challenges before us as a small and aging congregation will not be solved simply by trying harder. Instead, we are beginning a process that calls us to listen prayerfully for the call of God for us. We call this process "Transformational Ministry" as we re-connect to God's dream for us and allow the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to work on us as a congregation.

As we have spent time in prayer and discernment, we believe that God does have a dream for Bethlehem Lutheran Church. We believe that we are called by God to continue to work in our community, a community that desperately longs to hear the Word of grace made real. Christ is alive and working in our midst! As we seek to transform our congregation and respond to God's call, we aren't sure where we will be led. But we continue to pray for God's guidance and direction. And we expect God to do amazing things!

Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN

New Directions for 2010 and beyond

At our annual meeting in January 2010, Bethlehem Lutheran committed to embracing a missional vision for our life together and centering ourselves not on the past, or even what's going on now, but on God's dream for us (and for the whole Christian church) in the future. We're going to be off on a bold journey, a new phase of transformation. Here's what we adopted, and there will be much more to come.

What do we mean by "missional"? This list from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's division for Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission is a pretty good summary. "Marks of a Missional Congregation"

Purpose Statement

In the Transformational Ministry model, congregations are called to come up with a purpose statement, the core "reason to be rather than not" that we believe God has for our congregation in God's mission in the world. This has been a long, long process for us. We began asking questions about purpose in Feb 2006, have had several events, discussions, Bible Studies, conversations, cottage meetings, and any other sort of thing we could think of to discern God's purpose for us. We decided not to wait for a sense of purpose before getting at our Guiding Principles (see below) and have been living into those for several years.

In 2008 we developed a purpose statement for our property (To make clear that everyone is welcome and to help everyone encounter God in this place) this seemed to fit quite well, and has led to some property changes for the sake of mission and our neighbors, and opened the doors (literally) to us welcoming Bethany Presbyterian Church and Emmanuel Metropolitan Community Church (as well as several recovery groups) in the Summer of 2009.

Finally in October 2009, after practicing with our property purpose statement and seeing how God used it, we felt as though we could draft a purpose statement for our congregation. This will be on the agenda to be adopted at our Annual meeting in January 2010. (We also came up with a mission statement)

Purpose: The Purpose of Bethlehem Lutheran Church is to welcome everyone to encounter God's grace.

Mission: The Holy Spirit calls us to shine forth as witnesses of God's grace in Jesus Christ for the sake of our neighbors.

Guiding Principles

In the Transformational Ministry model, congregations are called to come up with "Guiding Principles," central things that are non-negotiable and directly related to the biblical values of Jesus and God's vision for the church in mission. These are meant to shape and guide us as we continue to look for--and be a part of--what God is up to in the world.

In September 2006 we began work on our Guiding Principles by addressing the question: "What does God want our neighbors to know is true about us?"
(click here to see the results)

A series of cottage meetings led us to the development of what we are calling our "Identity Statements"

Click here for some more info on what these mean to us

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We follow Jesus as Lord and Savior

We are welcoming and friendly to all people

We study, hear, and teach God’s Word

We are an active part of the whole community

We care for each other and we care for others

We grow and sustain faith by encountering and worshiping God

We are rooted in tradition and open to God’s dream for us

Then we addressed the question: "What does God want our neighbors to know is true about God?" (click here to see the results)

Drawing on the identity statements and this new work, together with the transformation work we have been doing for the past year we developed the following Guiding Principles: