John Louk

Photo by  Clem Onojeghuo  on  Unsplash Most of us witness regularly, without even being aware that’s what we’re doing. We tell people about the good restaurant where we ate, the good movie we saw, the good book we read, or the fun new show on Netflix. We do this without being told we should do this. It’s natural. After the resurrection, Jesus told his disciples they were his witnesses in their own city, in the surrounding regions, and throughout the world (Acts 1: 8). This is not difficult. Like telling a friend about the good food you ate at a restaurant, it’s simple to tell a friend about Salem and invite them. We share our experiences of food and stories quite naturally. That’s what Jesus wants us to do, although with something vastly more important. It’s so important that it’s one of the habits we promise to practice as members: sharing Jesus with others. It’s importance doesn’t reflect the need for Salem to grow larger. Of course that is important. Most Unit...

General Conference, our global family reunion that speaks officially for The United Methodist Church, just concluded last night. This was a specially called session of 864 delegates (half lay, half clergy) from all over the world to discuss and act on the report of the Commission on a Way Forward over the issue of human sexuality. Two of the plans presented had the most support: the Traditional Plan as well as the One Church Plan, which was endorsed by the Council of Bishops. The One Church Plan would have given each local congregation and pastor the authority to make their own choices regarding same-sex weddings based on their cultural context. In an emotional, contested, rancorous, yet majority decision, the General Conference chose the Traditional Plan. The vote was 438 to 384 (this doesn’t equal 864 as some of the international delegates did not make it to St. Louis because they didn’t get visas). The chosen Traditional Plan basically keeps the current language in our ...

Each year, in assessing the state of Salem, we take a look at some benchmark statistics. As of the end of 2018 our membership now includes 276 professing adults. We also have 70 baptized infants and children— so 346 total.  This past year 3 members died, and we received 16 new members. That means we have received 130 new members since arriving at our current location a little over eight years ago! Additionally, we have 83 active non-members. So we could say we actually have 429 people who are a part of Salem, however, it’s likely the case that we have an equal amount of our members who are inactive. It’s unfortunate when members become inactive. We have to spend time and energy to help them become active again or to withdraw their membership, since they’re not upholding their membership vows. One of the important things we did this past year was hire more staff, getting the right people in the right positions to lead ministries and people. This was part of our goal to ...

I need to tell you the end of the story. For our worship series in December, Nine Months , we read through the entirety of Luke chapter 1 and almost all of the second chapter. We heard about the angel, Gabriel, visiting the old priest, and the young virgin, telling them they would soon have babies. We heard about John the Baptist’s birth, Jesus’ birth, the angelic announcement to the shepherds, and the presentation of Jesus in the temple, where Simeon and Anna, faithful people waiting expectantly for God to act, shared in the joy of Jesus’ birth. Now here is the rest of the story in Luke’s second chapter. Once, when Jesus was twelve years old, Mary and Joseph took him to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. They did this each year. When the celebration was over and they started for home, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t know. They thought he was with their group of travelers, but when they couldn’t find him after the first day of their journey, they frantically...

Our Leadership Board intentionally sets Salem’s direction each year. They shared our goals for 2019 with our annual Church Conference on October 29 and were subsequently approved. Therefore, this is where we are headed next year: First, we want to improve the Discipleship Pathway to engage people more, specifically to worship, connect, serve, and share their faith with others. Second, we want to create and implement an intentional plan for hospitality, serving as Christ's ambassadors to invite, welcome, and connect people into the life of the church. Third, we want to create and implement a strategy for growth of the congregation. The reality is, if we do not grow, we will decline. Fourth, we want to create and implement a strategy for intentional funding of the ministry, including another three-year capital campaign. You might notice that paying our apportionments is no longer one of our goals as it has been in the last several years. This continues to be an expectati...

The book of Exodus tells the story about building the Tabernacle, the sanctuary for God’s presence to dwell. The people whose hearts were stirred and whose spirits were willing brought their offerings for the Tabernacle and all its service. The people kept bringing their offerings every morning until the workers told Moses the people had given more than enough to complete the work the Lord had commanded. So Moses told the people they had given enough. In fact, they needed to stop giving because there was too much. The people had to be restrained from giving more! (Exodus 25, 35, 36) This story exemplifies generous giving to God’s kingdom. Unfortunately, it also shines a glaring light on our unfaithfulness with money. Charitable giving has remained stuck in our country at 2% for nearly fifty years, ever since we started measuring it in the 1970s. That accurately reflects the average giving in The United Methodist Church, too. The problem, of course, is that 2% is a far cry from s...

Recently, we hosted Bishop Laurie Haller and the East Central District. 215 people came to hear about the official proposal going before the specially-called General Conference in February 2019 about our way forward as United Methodists. Currently, The United Methodist Church declares that all are welcome and all individuals are of sacred worth but the practice of homosexuality (not homosexual people themselves) is incompatible with Christian scripture and tradition. Further, the church prevents clergy from officiating at same-sex unions, teaches that marriage is between a man and a woman, and prohibits the ordination of self-professed practicing homosexuals. Not everyone agrees with this position and want it changed. Therefore, some have broken our covenant as an act of defiance or justice by marrying same-sex persons. Further, some annual conferences have ordained LGBT persons. This debate around human sexuality has been waged, really, since the first General Conference in ...