“Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” — Matthew 25:37-40
Serve
Outreach
Serve at Worship
Ushers
Ushering offers an opportunity to participate in the worship service and meet fellow parishioners.
Greeters
Offers an opportunity to participate in the worship service and meet fellow parishioners.
Lectors
The lector invokes God’s presence of God in the reading of Scripture.
Members of the Saint John community who wish to assist in making the Saturday and Sunday services meaningful and fulfilling make up the membership of the altar guild.
Members work in teams of two or three for a one week period. This usually occurs once a month with the present number of members.
Responsibilities include restocking the pew racks, hanging the correct paraments, preparing the communion trays, preparing for baptisms and other duties as dictated by the needs of the liturgical year.
Monthly meetings are 1:30 p.m. on the fourth Monday of the month.
Confirmands and high school youth can serve as crucifers. Their duties include carrying the processional cross and leading the acolytes, the choir and the Pastors in the processional and recessional of the worship service.
Confirmands and all youth from the fifth grade up can serve as Acolytes. Their duties include lighting candles at the beginning of each service and extinguishing those candles. Special duties are also performed during special holidays such as Lent, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, Thanksgiving Eve, Advent and Christmas
Serve through Music
Chancel Choir
A choir for high school students through adults. Rehearsing on Wednesday evenings, they sang regularly for Sunday worship services plus six Saturdays, and special Lenten, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas services.
Bell Choir
A choir for high school students through adults. Rehearsing on Wednesday evenings, they played for Sunday services once a month plus several Saturday and other worship services throughout the year.
Praise Team
A group of adult and youth singers and instrumentalists. Rehearsals are on Tuesday evenings and lead music in different worship services.
Choir On Fire
A choir for children of Sunday School age.
To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. — Ephesians 4:12-13
Ministries in Our Community
Since 2005, Saint John Lutheran Church continues as a Stephen Ministry church. That means that our congregation’s Stephen Ministry equips lay people to provide confidential, one-to-one Christian care to individuals in our congregation and the community who are experiencing difficulties in their lives.
Another title for a Stephen Minister is the ‘After Person’. He or she are the ones who step in after you find the pink slip in what’s now your final paycheck, after the doctors have said there’s nothing more they can do, after the relationship ends but the wounds are still bleeding, or after family and friends have heard your story one too many times but you still need to talk it out.
One of the programs offered by Stephen Ministry are the Care Notes, which you will find just inside the Door. Please take time to look them over and take those you find of interest.
We want you to contact the church if you want to have one of our Ministers visit with you. We need you to contact us if you might be interested in becoming a Stephen Minister.
The ChristCare Program continues to be an integral part of the ministries provided at Saint John Lutheran Church. The ministry is based on four pillars that include Prayer and Worship, Community Building, Biblical Equipping, and Missional Service.
Presently, ChristCare has 4 groups meeting on a regular basis. The groups are S.T.A.R.S, The Seekers, The Golden Oldies+3, and The ‘Book’ Club.
The ChristCare Groups bring care and concern to others through missional outreach. Several of the projects have helped our church families and have also gone into the Co. Bluffs community at large.
God continues to walk with all of us in this ministry. We praise Him for His faithfulness. Our thanks to all participants and to the congregation for their continued love and support.
Our prayer chain consists of six captains, who direct phone calls to a total of twenty-seven members. Prayers are given for support and comfort in times of mental, physical and emotional needs, also times of thankfulness. We dispatch this service with respect for privacy.
Local Outreach
Members of Saint John Lutheran Church continue to contribute to the food pantry at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church.
From its beginnings in 1972, the pantry system for the Omaha – Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area has grown to include forty food pantries.
Inter-Faith Response, Inc. is a Council Bluffs faith-based agency established in 1988, serving local working poor. Instances of unexpected expenses such as housing, transportation, medical can wreak havoc for families and individuals with a marginal income. Assistance with prescriptions or auto repair, for example, can make it possible for a family to “keep their heads above water”.
The MICAH House is an emergency homeless shelter in Council Bluffs, IA. Our mission is to “provide a safe, secure and nurturing environment for families and single women who are experiencing the crisis of homelessness.
Since opening our doors in 1986, MICAH House has been dedicated to its established mission. For over 20 years, our purpose has been clear and unaltered. We endeavor to provide residence for those who are without shelter. We seek to provide the resources necessary to find housing and employment. Most importantly, we strive to give lives direction. The MICAH House is a homeless shelter focused on goals.
“Those who can…do. Those who can do more…volunteer.”
MOHM’S Facility at 1435 North 15th Street continues to serve the needy and the homeless. MOHM’S Place feeds approximately 6,000 meals per month to the homeless and nearhomeless of our city, an increase of about twenty percent. That includes 1,000 children’s meals. These meals are served at our new facility that can seat 250 people at any one time. MOHM’S Place also partners with thirteen different social service agencies, who provide 69 different services to the homeless and near-homeless. MOHM’S Place has built a $4 million facility, “Joshua’s Place”, to provide shelter for forty-eight single men.
They also have a transitional living facility, Timothy House, which houses twenty-six single men and women. The average stay for our guests is a year. The goal is to move these individuals to permanent housing.
Global Outreach
Southern Diocese of the Evangelical Church in Tanzania
Companion Congregation
VISION
The Companion Congregation relationship between churches of the Western Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Southern Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania exists to deepen the companion synod relationship whose purpose is strengthening one another for life and mission within the body of Christ. It offers us the privilege of participating in the life of another church through prayer, study, communications, and exchange of persons and resources. It opens our eyes to the global challenge that Christ offers us today through and involvement with a church of another culture and calls us to deepen our commitment and discipleship as individual persons and as a community of faith.
MISSION
- Through our Companion Congregation program, we will
- Be renewed and empowered in faith and commitment to mission by the witness of Christians.
- Share in the vision, life and mission of the family of Christ.
- Be educated and challenged by this encounter which will reflect an awareness of problems and possibilities as we share our life in Christ.
- Recognize our own gifts and resources for participation in the Companion Congregation mission for Christ.
GOALS & COMMITMENTS
- Encouragement of regular corporate and individual prayer support for one another and communication with one another.
- When possible, facilitate the exchange of people and resources through partnering in mutually-agreed upon projects that forward the mission of Christ.
- Foster a sense of mutual walk in the journey of Christian faith.
- Celebrate the relationship annually on Companion Synod Sunday set for the 1st Sunday of each June.
- Work through the respective synod/diocese office to engage with and maintain a companion synod/congregation relationship that is mindful of the various pillars of our companion synod projects and takes into account the principles of accompaniment, sustainability, transparency, and accountability.