Christus Victor Lutheran Church

Please join the recently returned Dominican Republic Mission Team on Sunday, May 22^nd at 9:45 AM in the Sanctuary.  Come & see our pictures & hear about our adventures at the Kid’s Alive Orphanage in Constanza, Dominican Republic.

Thanks to your generous support, on Sunday, August 8, we will be sending off four members of Christus Victor to Tanzania as Ambassadors of our church.  Pastor Kent, Barb Damlo, Malisa Kreutzmann and Paula Nierengarten will travel to Tanzania to strengthen and grow our partnership and ministry with our friends in Tanzania (Bega Kwa Bega/Shoulder to Shoulder).

This is a mission trip of relationship building, not building things, which is the foundation of all of the real building that has been going on in Mlowa, Tanzania these past 11 years.  Here are some of the things our Ambassadors we will be doing:

• Connecting with the students we sponsor and visiting their schools
• Spending time worshipping and building friendships in Mlowa
• Visiting all of the preaching points (Mlowa is a Parish with 1 main site, and 11 preaching points spread out into the surrounding countryside)
• Touring their Agricultural Demonstration Plot
• Exploring the possible need for a well for clean drinking water
• Learning more about their lay leadership training program and evangelism ministry as an incredibly effective model we need to learn from

Your continued prayers and support are greatly needed and appreciated.  If you would like to receive email updates while our Ambassadors are in Tanzania, please send your email address to Pastor Kent at pastor.kent@christusvictor.org.

SUNDAY MINISTRY MINUTES

How many committees are there at CV?  Who is working behind the scenes to make all of the ministries and programs happen, and keep the staff and the property going?  How can you get involved?

These are some of the questions we are going to address this summer with CV Committee Temple Talks.  Throughout the summer, the many committees of the church will give a short Temple Talk during worship about what they do, why they do ministry, and how people can get involved.   There will be hand-outs, maybe some treats, and a time to ask questions and get to know about who and how the ministries of the church happen.

“Wapendwa Katika Kristo Yesu, Salaam Katika jina la bwana wetu Yesu Kristo.” 

(Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, we greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.)

Thus began the latest letter from Rev. Lunogelo Mbwilo of the Mlowa Parish in the Iringa Diocese of Tanzania.  On behalf of the whole congregation of Mlowa, he sends their greetings and deep gratitude for your prayers and support of their ministries and their community.  Know that all of the members of the Mlowa Parish are praying for you every week, and thanking God for your partnership and support!

Just what does that partnership and support mean?  Thanks to your generous support:

•  The Mlowa Parish and surrounding community is receiving the resources for Agriculture Demonstration Plots to help increase their food production. 
• They have money for food during this time of drought, as well as funds for their many growing ministries.
• Their congregation is growing in membership by leaps and bounds. Your benevolence dollars help them build new churches and train their lay leaders, who are the Evangelists in the surrounding villages and out into the bush.

Thanks to your generous support, on Sunday, August 8, we will be sending off four members of Christus Victor to Tanzania as Ambassadors of our church.  Pastor Kent, Barb Damlo, Malisa Kreutzmann and Paula Nierengarten will travel to Tanzania to strengthen and grow our partnership and ministry with our friends in Tanzania (Bega Kwa Bega/Shoulder to Shoulder).  This is a mission trip of relationship building, not building things, which is the foundation of all of the real building that has been going on in Mlowa, Tanzania these past 11 years.  Here are some of the things our ambassadors we will be doing:

• Connecting with the students we sponsor and visiting their schools
• Spending time worshipping and building friendships in Mlowa
• Visiting all of the preaching points (Mlowa is a Parish with 1 main site, and 11 preaching points spread out into the surrounding countryside)
• Touring their Agricultural Demonstration Plot
• Exploring the possible need of a well for clean drinking water
• Learning more about their lay leadership training program and evangelism ministry as an incredibly effective model we need to learn from

Your continued prayers and support are greatly needed and appreciated.  If you would like to receive email updates while our ambassadors are in Tanzania, please send your email address to Pastor Kent at pastor.kent@christusvictor.org.

“But now, more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases.  But [Jesus] would withdraw to deserted places and pray.” – Luke 5: 15-16

“Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God.  And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles.” – Luke 6: 12-13

Dear Friends in Christ at Christus Victor,

Change is both exciting and frightening. 

There are good changes.  When kids are graduating from high school and college, there is celebration and expectation, as well as fear and worry, on the part of parents and their children together.  Marriage brings huge change, not just for the couple, but for the whole system of family and friend relationships.  The birth of a child brings a lifetime of changes – sometimes faster than parents can handle. 

There are bad changes, too.  The diagnosis of cancer or some deadly disease brings unwanted change and dread.  Getting laid off from a job brings unforeseen changes that threaten the stability of families, not only financially, but emotionally as well.  The ending of relationships – whether through divorce, a break-up or moving to a new community or new church – are full of painful changes and adjustments.   

The question about change, “What will happen next? can be asked with anticipation or anxiety, and often times both.

“What will happen next?” has been a big question for a lot of people as Spirit Bound heads out on their farewell tour after 24 years of music ministry.  When people ask me, with anticipation and anxiety, “what will happen next?” I have to say, “I have no idea what will happen next.”

 But, I do know that whatever new ministries will arise here at CV will only come after people take time to pray and discern God’s leading and calling.  Just like Jesus, all of us need to take a little time every day to get away from all of the distractions and demanding voices to pray, to be in God’s Presence, and let the Holy Spirit guide us and bring us together to discern what God wants to happen next.

As we celebrate 24 wonderful years of Spirit Bound’s ministry, I thank God that Anne Nyquist and Deb Archer listened to God, in their own unique way, and started Spirit Bound.  God showed them a very real need for a ministry for senior high youth at CV.  They looked at the gifts God had given them, namely a passion for music.  They shared their idea and passion with a few other supportive people and then got going, even in the face of resistance and lack of support.  It has taken a lot of energy, a huge commitment of time and resources, and a lot of love to keep this ministry going over these 24 years.  Through the many ups and downs of Christus Victor’s ministry, Spirit Bound has been a central and consistent ministry that has kept CV going through thick and thin.  Spirit Bound has not only touched the faith and lives of hundreds of people at CV, but also many thousands of people from the 30 states and 4 Canadian Provinces to whom Spirit Bound has brought their musical Gospel message.

What happens next at CV will come from prayer, passion, and committed people using their gifts, talents, time, and treasure to serve God and make a difference in the world and in the lives of other people for the sake of Jesus Christ.

I invite you to join me in celebrating 24 years of Spirit Bound’s ministry at their homecoming concert on Sunday, June 27, at 7:00pm!  Let’s make their homecoming potluck and concert a big celebration, and show our thanks and appreciation for all that Spirit Bound has meant to the life and ministry of Christus Victor!

 Yours in Christ,

Pastor Kent Claussen Gubrud

Please join us for the annual silent auction for the Mission Committee of Christus Victor – on Sunday, March 21. The sounds of the Dominican Republic and Tanzania will be woven into our 8:30am and 11:00am worship service and the auction is scheduled from 9:45 to 10:45. Funds raised will go to our partnership congregation in Tanzania and to send four Christus Victor ambassadors to Africa in August 2010. Contact KC Claussen Gubrud at 612-722-2896 or email her at kcgkcg@msn.com with any questions.

If you are willing to fill a basket, follow these simple steps:

1. Pick up a basket from the CV office or find some other container to fill;
2. Be creative & fill it;
3. Return it to the CV office by Sunday, March 14th

On March 21st, we need basket bidders. If you are willing to bid on a basket, follow these simple steps:

1. Join us on March 29 at 9:30 am in the Fellowship Hall;
2. Bid on a basket – or 2 or 3;
3. Enjoy some African coffee, treats, music & fellowship;
4. Watch your bids and be sure to rebid so you outbid your friends.

This year’s Baskets of Love event goes to support our partnership congregation in Tanzania and the ambassadors from Christus Victor who will travel to Tanzania in August 2010.

The get an appreciation for the scope of our agricultural partnership with the Mlowa parish, and how Christus Victor is part of a large agricultural movement in Iringa, head over to the Tumaini University Institute of Agriculture website.

If you are more of a visual person, maybe these pictures from the project will be more helpful.