John Louk

It has been about six months since the flood and my arrival to pastor Salem Church. As we begin a new year, it is good to examine the state of the church. The flood is the worst disaster in Iowa’s history. It is one of the ten worst in our nation’s history. Along with the terrible destruction throughout the city, many of our own members lost homes and business. Likewise, it devastated the Salem church building. We received gracious hospitality from Lovely Lane UMC and from Echo Hill Presbyterian Church in providing us space to gather. Still, Salem has experienced loss, chaos, and instability from the disaster. As if that wasn’t enough upheaval, two-and-a-half weeks after the flood, Salem received a new pastor. Even in the midst of disaster, however, Salem has continued to gather as a worshiping community. Each week we gather together to worship the Lord God and support one another in community. Though it would be easy to simply look inward, we have continued paying our apportionments i...

I am proposing a new, transitional organization for Salem for 2009. This information has been shared with the Executive Leadership team as well as the congregational Q&A session on December 17. The decision will be made by the Ad Council at the January 20 meeting (our Charge Conference in November gave the Ad Council authority to make this decision). The Book of Discipline 2004. The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world (¶ 120). The Book of Discipline requires that a local congregation be organized so that it can pursue its primary task and mission in the context of its own community…In doing so it shall be organized so that adequate provision is made for these basic responsibilities: 1. planning and implementing a program of nurture, outreach, and witness for persons and families within and without the congregation; 2. providing for effective pastoral and lay leadership; 3. providing for financial support, physica...

Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more. ~ Dr. Seuss (1904-1991) How The Grinch Stole Christmas Perhaps Christmas does mean a little bit more. I have struggled with how we celebrate Christmas for several years. I wonder if you struggle with it too. For the last ten years the average spending on Christmas gifts has been around $1,000. Last year, Christmas spending dropped a little to $859. This year, most shoppers are planning to cut their gift spending by 50%. The American Research Group conducted their twenty-third annual survey on holiday spending and found that shoppers are planning to spend an average of $431 on gifts this year. This is the lowest amount recorded since 1991. I am really pleased to see this shift, however, I imagine the reduction in spending is mainly because of the poor economy and not because of a sudden realization that Christmas does not come from a store. But we are the church. We do kno...

Jesus said, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:22 NRSV) Three weeks ago we met together during the Administrative Council meeting to talk about our future as a congregation. Many who participated in that Q&A session came thinking we would talk about the possibility of purchasing a building. Instead, that evening I said several things that took us in a new direction. For the sake of communication, I want to reiterate what I said that evening, add a little more specificity, and answer some questions that have arisen. I said two things: 1.We are not ready to build or buy a building. 2. We need to take the next year or two and define our identity: Who are we? What is our mission? What leadership do we need? Before we focus on “brick and mortar” we need to be a healthy, strong congregation engaged in a radically different world in the 21st cen...

I often hear church folks wondering how we can attract people to come to church. We have a rich history and wonderful people. Who wouldn’t want to come to Salem Church!? Even so, I wonder if we might not have things turned around. Our God seems to always be on the move, unwilling to wait for people to make the first move. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is God’s supreme move, coming to us, reaching out to us. “The Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14). Following God’s missionary example, however, has been difficult. Figure 1 shows how most churches in our culture have operated. The biggest circle is the individual. What seems most important is getting the individual saved, in the traditional language. In some newer churches the language is more about improving one’s life. Either way, the Christian life is about the individual and his or her needs. Once the individual’s needs are met then we think about how one might serve the church. After that, if there is anything left ov...

O God, we pray for this congregation, Salem Church, and our future with you. Show us what you are doing, Lord, and allow us to be a part of it. Amen. We have prayed this prayer for the last several weeks in our worship services. Now the Administrative Council has unanimously agreed to consider purchasing the King of Kings Lutheran Church building. As we continue to pray, how will we as a congregation decide to move forward? Some things are outside of our control . We do not control time. If the Kenwood Park building sells, we will need to be out in sixty days. Furthermore, if we do not begin making decisions now, we will not be ready to act later. We cannot make time stand still. Life is not static. Change happens. The question is, will we be intentional about making change to follow God’s leading or will we passively receive change that we do not choose? The future of our downtown location is also beyond our control. We should have a better idea in another month what decisions the cit...

Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. So how do we make disciples? The Apostle Paul tells the church at Philippi that they are to conform their thinking and their practices to Christ, as well as to Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus, who are models in discipleship. “Brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example” (Philippians 3:17 NLT) Again at the end of the letter Paul says, “Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me – everything you heard from me and saw me doing” (Philippians 4:9 NLT) . This may seem somewhat presumptuous to us, maybe even pompous. Paul says this five or six times in the New Testament, “Imitate me, follow my example.” It’s not presumptuous, however, it’s discipleship! And we didn’t learn it from Paul. We learned it from Jesus. Jesus chose Twelve to be his disciples, to follow him closely. Jesus was the model, the Master. The disciples were the stude...