Ministries At St. John’s
At St. John’s we focus on Equipping for life, Encouraging in discipleship, and Engaging in service. Our Ministries provide opportunities for this to take place. If you would like to know more information about any of these areas, please contact us.
Ladies Bible Study
Wednesday Evening Bible Study
Coffee & Donut Fellowship
Altar Guild
W.I.N.G.S. – We In God’s Service
Sunday Bible Study
Adult Bible Study takes place on Sundays in the church sanctuary following the worship service. The topics discussed range from books of the Bible to topics of current interest. These classes are open to anyone who wants to learn more about Jesus and being his disciples. Led by Pastor CJ, you will learn about some of the great treasures found in the Scriptures. Please contact the church office if you have questions or are interested in participating.
Ladies Bible Study
Every Tuesday we gather in the church basement at 1:00to study God’s Word. We use studies from different Christian/ Lutheran authors. This is a wonderful time of sitting at the feet of our LORD, studying with fellow believers and growing in faith and strength. We are all at different places in our spiritual journeys, so the feed back provides various thoughts and opinions. Many friendships have begun in this group and all ladies are always welcome. You are not required to be a member of the church.
Wednesday Evening Bible Study
Beginning at 6:00, this is a time for study, and fellowship. The classes are an hour and provide and opportunity to engage the Scripture and grow in the Christian faith. During the seasons of Advent and Lent, the class time is replaced with mid-week worship.
Coffee & Donut Fellowship
On the 2ND Sunday of every month, there is a Fellowship time that follows the Worship Service. Each month is sponsored by a different ministry area. Everyone is invited and encouraged to join us in the church basement.
Altar Guild
The Altar Guild is made up volunteers who serve the Lord and our church by preparing the sanctuary for Sunday worship and special events such as baptisms, Advent, Christmas, and Easter. We work in teams of two to prepare the altar for Holy Communion and ensure that the sanctuary is kept beautiful and in good order. Each week, usually on Saturdays, we set up for Holy Communion, fill the candles, change the eternity candle, and clean the sanctuary as needed. In addition, we ensure that the paraments/banners are the appropriate liturgical color, flowers are placed in vases, and pews are supplied with Stephen Ministry brochures, pencils, and offering envelopes. On Sundays after service, we clean up the altar, clean and store the special vessels for communion, and take home the purificators to clean and iron for next week’s service.
Servicing on the Altar Guild is spiritual, quiet, and prayerful. It is a privilege to serve God as we care for the altar and enable the congregation to worship in a meaningful way.
Assisting Ministers
Assisting Ministers assist the pastor with the worship service. They may carry in the processional cross, light the candles for worship, help collect the offering, and participate in the distribution of communion.
Eucharistic Ministers
Eucharistic ministers are lay members who take the consecrated bread and wine from Sunday’s worship and distribute them to our shut-in members. This allows the shut-ins to be connected to the worship life of the congregation and to receive the gifts that Jesus gives in the sacrament. The fourth Sunday of every month is Eucharistic Ministry Sunday.
Lutheran Women in Mission
“Serve the Lord With Gladness”
The Object of LWML is: Mission Education, Mission Inspiration, Missions Service through financial grants for mission needs.
The official title of the women’s auxiliary of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is the “Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML)”. Our beliefs are in line with the statements found on the LCMS website. However, after the 75th year Anniversary a new title has been given to describe those working within local congregations. The consensus is that Lutheran Women In Mission (LWM) better describes who we are and what we are about. Our Mission is “to assist each woman of the LC-MS in affirming her relationship with the Triune God so that she is enabled to use her gifts in ministry to the people of the world”.
Mite Offerings are the primary means to support and fund Mission Grants, which are an important part of our mission outreach both locally and globally. Membership into LWML is available to any woman who is a communicant member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod who chooses to join. This entitles her to voting privileges within the organization. However, ALL women are welcome to participate in the fellowship and ministry activities of LWM at St. John’s as well as other LWML groups.
Click here to read today’s LWML Mustard Seed Devotion
To learn more about Lutheran Women in Mission, click here.
Meals for the Homeless
The first Thursday of every month, bring a prepared meal item to the church parking lot between 4 and 4:30 pm. The collected food will then be delivered to the Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing.
During the state of emergency related to COVID-19 we encourage you to make monetary donations to either of the following:
“I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU AS ORPHANS, I WILL COME TO YOU” John 14:18
Mid-Atlantic Branch Mission Statement
In loving response to Christ, the Servant, the Orphan Grain Train movement encourages and enables God’s people to share personal and material resources in bringing Christ’s name and character to needy people, both far and near.
Genesis 12:3 – “I will bless those who bless you…and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Purpose
To provide relief for human need worldwide by collecting and shipping donations of clothing and shoes, household items, and medical equipment.
Contacts
Roger Hazzard
Carla Niesen, carlaniesen@verizon.net
How You Can Help
> Pray for the Lord’s blessings on the work of OGT Mid-Atlantic Branch!
> Donate gently used or new clothing for all seasons and in all sizes. (Please see “Considerations for Donors” below for the full list of what we can and cannot accept.) Donations may be dropped off at the church.
> Help sort and pack donations at our Jennersville, PA warehouse on Wednesdays from 10:00am to 2:30pm. GPS address: 8 Federal Rd, West Grove, PA, 19390.
> Make a financial contribution by mailing your check to: Orphan Grain Train Mid-Atlantic Branch, c/o Christ Memorial Lutheran Church, 89 Line Rd, Malvern, PA, 19355.
More Information
* Visit our webpage at www.ogt.org/branches/mid-atlantic
* To subscribe to our newsletter and monthly News Flash please email Carla Niesen.
Considerations for Donors
- All items must be clean, in good repair, and only gently used
We NEED men’s/women’s/children’s/infant’s – clothing and shoes in all sizes and for all seasons as well as:
-
- Purses & handbags
- Accessories – scarves, gloves, belts
- New (packaged) underwear
- We ALSO ACCEPT these non-apparel items:
- Domestic goods
- Curtains, drapes, tablecloths
- Sheets, blankets (no used bed pillows), and towels
- Sewing supplies
- Children’s items
- Soft toys in good condition
- School kits
- Personal care items
- New toiletry items – e.g., soap, shampoo, deodorant, shower caps, toothpaste and toothbrushes
- Medical items – Canes, crutches, commodes, and wheelchairs
- Hand tools
- Bicycles
- Domestic goods
- We CANNOT ACCEPT these items:
- Used underwear – e.g., bras and underpants – and used swimwear
- Glass, ceramic, hard plastic and/or battery powered items
- Items with questionable themes/logos – e.g., satanic, skulls, skull & crossbones, death heads, swear language, demeaning to a gender or other group
Readers
Readers assist with the reading of the scripture lessons in the worship service. Each service will typically have a reading from the Old Testament and a reading from the New Testament.
Social Concerns
Saint John’s Social Concerns Ministry receives mission outreach funds each month in the amount of $300; additional personal donations are occasionally received. All funds are used for folks from our congregation or community who are in need of help. Some examples of such support include shelter, transportation, food, medical expenses and utilities.
Non-congregation folks who call St. John’s in emergency situations have to be screened through the Williams State Service Center; we call the Williams Center to verify that they are, in fact, in need of help. As long as we have funds available, Social Concerns Ministry will try to help.
Once a year St. John’s receives a supply of food from the Post Office food drive. Additional donations of food are received from our congregation members all year long. Individuals and families in need of food can receive canned and other nonperishable foods from our food pantry.
Delivery of the altar flowers to shut-ins after Sunday services is another Social Concerns Ministry responsibility.
At Christmas time we adopt families who need help with providing Christmas gifts for their children. Our congregation plays an active part in providing the “wished for” gifts.
Stephen Ministry
Stephen Ministry is a Ministry for a congregation that equips lay people on how to give care to people in need. The lay people are trained to provide distinctively Christian one-on-one care to those experiencing all kinds of life needs and circumstances, both in the congregation and also in the community. Men meet with men; women meet with women.
The ministry began in 1975 by a St Louis Missouri Synod Pastor, Dr. Kenneth Haugk, who also was a trained psychologist. Upon reaching his first assignment, he realized that one pastor couldn’t meet the needs of an entire congregation. He and his wife (who was a trained Social Worker), then trained a core group in basic caregiving skills. He named this ministry after St. Stephen, who was one of the first disciples the apostles asked to care for the needs of the early congregation – see Act 6:1-6. Today there are over 13,000 congregations enrolled in the Stephen Series. There are more than 170 Christian denominations and more that 75,000 Stephen Leaders have been trained by the Stephens Series Leader Training courses. Stephen Leaders then go back to their own churches and train laypeople to become Stephen Ministers. I have been a Stephen Leader since 2001. Today there are more than 600,000 Stephen Ministers in their own congregations and more than one and a half million people have received care from Stephen Ministers. Currently, in our church, we have 3 Stephen Leaders, 10 Stephen Ministers and 95 people have received care since 2006, when we began Stephen Ministry here at St. John’s.
To clarify what Stephen Ministry is – think of the Pastor as fireman who goes in and puts out a fire. Just like a fireman, Pastor only has time to do that-put out the fire. Stephen Ministers are the ones who go in after the fire is put out, and stay until every piece of the rubble is picked up and the house in put back in order.
How are Stephen Ministers qualified? Stephen Ministers receive over 50 hours of training on topics such as How to Listen, the Meaning of Confidentiality, Ministering to those Experiencing Grief, Caring for people Before, During and After Hospitalization, Ministering to those Experiencing Job Loss, and many other life crises. There are 25 topics in all. Each session is 2-1/2 hours long. We train every 2 years.
Each session is based around what is known as the Caregivers’ Compass which has at its center the Greek Symbol for Christ because He is the center of Stephen Ministry. Just as a compass lets you know if you’re headed in the right direction, instead of geographical direction of N-E-S or W, our 4 points of direction are: Compassion, Full of Faith, Skilled and Trust Worthiness. Those are the points of every lesson we study during our training.
There are 2 key requirements to become a Stephen Minister.
- Caring enough about people to want to learn how to listen effectively to them.
- Being able to devote 1 hour per week to show up and “be there” for that person. It’s an 18 month commitment without judgment but with confidentiality. It’s that simple.
Who does Stephen Ministry help? It helps Pastor; he no longer has to shoulder the entire burden of caring in the congregation, as if he were the only one able or willing to care. It helps to free up his time to focus on the ministering that only a pastor can do.
It helps lay people who discover, cultivate and use spiritual gifts they’ve been blessed with. Stephen Ministers grow spiritually as they experience the Lord’s loving presence in the community with other Christian caregivers. Stephen Ministers find all aspects of their lives are enriched by the distinctively Christian care giving skill they learn and practice.
Finally, it helps the Congregation who discovers that many members want to be involved in a meaningful ministry and will respond to the call to be a Stephen Minister or a Stephen Leader. The congregation then becomes aware that it is a more loving community that is sensitive and responsive to peoples’ need for care. In this way, fewer people slip through the cracks. No one should have to suffer alone, but a Pastor may not be able to physically reach everyone. Stephen Ministry is an effective extension of making sure no one has to suffer alone.
Please contact us if you want to know more about Stephen Ministry.
Ushers
Ushers have a very important role in the life of the church. They help people find seats, and give them directions when needed. They hand out bulletins. They help with the collection of the offering, and dismiss people for the reception of Holy Communion.
W.I.N.G.S. – We In God’s Service
What does this ministry do? Trace, cut, pin, sew, loom weave, crochet and knit. All to create baby blankets, washcloths, and hats. These completed articles are then given to the Airman’s Attic or Pregnancy Help Center of Dover, DE. On the 3rd Tuesday of every month, members of W.I.N.G.S visit Dover Place, a senior living community, to do crafts with the residents. Don’t think you can help? – there is a task for everyone. Come join us for creating, fun, and fellowship on the 2nd Thursday of every month at 10:00am. If you would like to learn more about how you can support this ministry, please contact the church office.