John Louk

"The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established." Proverbs 19:21 The first of our Healthy Church Initiative prescriptions to be completed is our new vision statement: connecting people building community transforming lives through Jesus Our prayer team and others throughout the congregation have been leading us in prayer about what God is calling us to be. How does God see us? At the Day of Visioning meeting on March 9, it was unanimously approved by the 35 people participating. The vision statement pictures an ideal future in which we connect people, build community, and transform lives through Jesus. Therefore, decisions made by Staff, the Leadership Board, and church members should be consistently aligned with the vision. This is who we are. The vision directs the course of our church. It is short — only eight words — so that it is easily memorized and able to inspire us to action. We can’t fulfill it if...

I went back to work after my open heart surgery on February 9. It was wonderful to be welcomed back so warmly. I was surprised by and grateful for the celebration of my successful surgery, my return to Salem, and my birthday! Coming back means getting up to speed on all the things happening with Salem, and we have a lot going on right now. Salem is on the move! Finances . Our Treasurer, Linda Curson, does a fantastic job, along with the entire finance team. She told me that we ended 2013 in the black with more than $7,000 over expenses. Thank you for your faithfulness and generosity in your stewardship. This year we intend to get back to paying our apportionments in full. That will be $45,000 in 2014. Our apportionments reflect our missional giving to support the general church (Bishops, general agencies, etc.) as well as ministries and missions beyond our local community. You can see exactly where our apportionment dollars are working at http://www.iaumc.org/calculator/viewyear/20...

How are we doing at making disciples of Jesus Christ who transform the world? 2013 was a great year for Salem. Still, in assessing the state of Salem, there are some benchmark statistics to which we want to pay attention. Salem’s membership includes 244 people. This past year 2 members died and none transferred to other congregations. We received 24 new members in 2011, 19 new members in 2012, and in 2013 we received 15 new members (11 by transfer from other congregations and 4 by profession of faith). That means we have received 58 new members since arriving at our current location a little over three years ago! Our worship attendance increased just slightly. We now average 177. With our membership at 244, however, we continue to get healthier. Whereas many congregations only see about 30% of their members in attendance, Salem has over 70%! The healthiest congregations, though, have greater attendance than membership. Not only are all the members present but several new people...

Our goals for 2014 were shared at Salem's annual Church Conference on November 19. They come directly from the prescriptions we received at our Healthy Church Initiative consultation in September. This next year we will: 1. Hold a season of prayer and day of visioning to receive, articulate, and work toward a clear, compelling, shared vision for the future (then design a plan to implement the vision); 2. Develop a discipleship pathway for all ages; 3. Create a permission-giving culture for participation and process for developing ministry teams in the life of Salem, identifying one-time and short-term service options, providing opportunities to identify and share their gifts, and moving from an informational to invitational culture; 4. Design a comprehensive, lay caring and accountability system to meet the needs of all who are a part of Salem as well as a system to connect new guests fully into the life for the congregation; 5. Plan and hold a minimum of 3 "bridge...

We are having a very exciting Fall! We had our Healthy Church Initiative church consultation in September. After two town hall meetings where we discussed the prescriptions given to us by the consultation team, we voted October 14 to accept the prescriptions and begin working on them. Before the end of the year, I will be naming teams of 3-5 people to lead us in the different prescription areas. On October 13, the day before that official vote, our Salem Rising capital campaign kicked off. We are now in the midst of our six week stewardship appeal. This is an opportunity for us to grow in faith and generosity. The goals for our Salem Rising Appeal include two purposes and two commitments. We are asking everyone to prayerfully consider 1) a one year commitment to the 2014 Annual Giving Fund [i.e. our regular giving], and 2) a three year commitment to our Building Fund. Building Fund commitments need to be over and above annual giving. We are asking, most of all, that you keep Salem in...

Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. 2 Corinthians 13:5 Our Healthy Church Initiative consultation occurred September 20-22. After several months of preparation and the three-day consultation, we received the report consisting of five strengths, five concerns, and five prescriptions with deadlines for implementation. We had two town hall style meetings the first two weeks following the consultation. These times of holy conferencing were followed by a church conference on Monday, October 14 at 7:00 pm with the district superintendent. There we voted officially as a congregation and agreed unanimously to implement the five prescriptions as a whole. My initial response is that I am very pleased with our consultation experience and the direction we have received as a congregation. In terms of strengths, our consultation team experienced Salem as a warm, welcoming, spiritual congregation with gifted and effective leadership and a long history of forming Ch...

Jesus said, “Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.” Matthew 20:26b-28a A few Sundays ago we read Jeremiah’s call in worship. I said the Lord calls all of us to do something (or many somethings!). Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ who join God’s work of transforming the world. So I asked, “What is God calling you to do?” both within the ministry of the church and outside the walls of the church. In her book , Ultimately Responsible , Sue Nilson Kibbey writes, “...when a person makes a decision for Christ, the old life is gone and the new life of Jesus fills the believer. So if the life of Jesus lives and is embodied in you, then you have joined Jesus on mission to serve the needs of the world. Not serving is not an option.” At times there are people who think it’s my job as the pastor to do the ministry. It is certainly ...