St. John's Connections E-Newsletter

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Connections E-Newsletter - September 9, 2021

Faith Haven Gets an Upgrade!

Dear Friends in Christ!

We are pleased to report that Faith Haven has been blessed with a newly resurfaced driveway and parking lot at its North Entrance (by the Maintenance Garage). With these improvements, people will find Faith Haven more accessible in the winter. We can now clear the North Entrance and parking lot of snow (either by a plow or with a snowblower). Now Faith Haven can better accommodate people who want to enjoy God’s creation in the winter - hiking, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing! It also allows for better parking during scheduled events and for workdays to care for the property.

How did the North Entrance get re-worked and expanded? We added about 5-8” of “cold” recycled asphalt. It looks a little rough which is normal. It has been rolled and will harden over time. The depression in the middle of the driveway should drain excess water away from the garage and onto the grass. Please note that access to the driveway/parking lot is temporarily off-limits (for 10 more days) to allow the asphalt to harden under the heat of the sun and rain.

Praise God for this improvement to the Faith Haven through the time, talents, and treasures He provided through His people! We were able to take on this project through Donor Designated Gifts (for Campus Care needs) to the St. John’s West Bend Foundation. With these gifts, St. John’s set aside funds in its budget for this restoration project. It shows again how the Foundation’s mission of “Supporting and Advancing the Mission and Vision of St. John’s for Today’s and Tomorrow’s Generations” is real! A special “Thank You” to Herb Wolf who helped oversee the work on this project! And thank you, Faith Haven Committee, for your continued labors of love caring for the Faith Haven property!

Please come and enjoy what God has provided to us. Faith Haven is located about 15 minutes from St. John’s Church. The address is 7622 Townline Road in West Bend (east side of Townline Road, just a few blocks south of Hwy D). See you there!

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Hesse & The Faith Haven Committee

All of the ministries at St. John's continue to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic as we seek to faithfully carry out our mission. Regarding in-person worship, we would like to remind you of the following protocols:

Masks continue to be welcomed and encouraged during worship
The balcony continues to be reserved for mask wearers only at all worship services.
You are free to greet one another in whatever manner you feel most comfortable-Shaking hands, waving, or a simple kind "Hello!" are all ways to acknowledge your brothers and sisters in Christ.
The offering will continue to be collected via the box in the narthex or via the St. John's app.
Worship will continue to be livestreamed on all of our platforms and archived on our Youtube page for those who would prefer to worship at home during this time.

Please continue to pray for an end to this pandemic and for all affected!

Discipleship Hour Returns Sunday, September 12

What: Discipleship Hour / Kids Discipleship Hour (Fall Session)

Where: St. John’s Lutheran School (Gym) / ECC (2^nd Floor Activity Room)

Starting: Sept. 12 (Large Group/Promises of Grace) / Sept. 19 (Breakouts)

Ending: The Fall Session will run through November 14

When: Sunday 9:25 AM – 10:30 AM (between 8:00 AM & 11:00 AM worship services)

Kids Discipleship Hour: Children ages 3rd – 7th Grade

Option: 6th Graders+ can join in Adult Breakout Sessions with their parents

Child Care Available for infants – 2-year-olds! Drop off in the ECC 2-year-old room

Mask Req.: Masks are welcomed and encouraged, but not required at this time.

Download Brochure HERE.

Join us for Promises of Grace, a nine-week class taught by our Pastors. This class will kick off Sunday, September 12th during our 9:30 am Discipleship Hour in the school library. For those unable to attend Sunday sessions, we offer the same class each Wednesday evening at 6:30 pm in the lower level fellowship hall at church. The classes meet for an hour each week.

If you'd like to attend our Fall Promises of Grace sessions or need more information, please contact Cheryl Rudolf at 262-334-4901 ext. 308 or email crudolf@stjohnswestbend.org.

Kids Discipleship Hour is starting Sunday, September 12 at 9:25 am! It's a wonderful opportunity for the kids to re-connect, re-care, and re-share in Christ together as we return to hands-on, in-person discipleship for our young ones! There is child care for children ages infant-2 years old in the ECC 2-year-old classroom. Children age 3-7th grade will learn through age-appropriate lessons with fantastic teachers! Drop-off for them will be in the ECC Activity Room. Sign-up with the link below for your children to attend!

We are looking for volunteers; adults and as young as 5th grade! If you are interested in volunteering, contact Desiree Titus at dtitus@stjohnswestbend.org.

Confirmation Orientation Meeting

Are you are a parent of children who are, or soon will be, mature enough to begin confirmation conversations? Are you a teen or adult who’s been wondering about confirming their faith?

Whatever your situation, there can be many questions to answer; questions like: How do you get started? How does the St. John’s confirmation process work? What’s needed to begin? What’s confirmation actually about? What if my kids go to St. John’s School, or what if they don’t? Which Pastor will help me with confirmation?

To help you answer these and other questions, the pastors of St. John’s invite you to attend a Confirmation Orientation Meeting, where Pastor David Nieman will talk about the confirmation process in a relaxed atmosphere that invites open discussion. The goal will be to equip our people with an understanding of what to expect from the confirmation conversations as a family, how to prepare for the conversations, how confirmation connects to Promises of Grace and New Member Sunday, and how the process has been specially prepared to help grow the people of God in their lifelong walk as disciples.

The meeting will be held on September 26, in the Gathering Space at 12:15 PM. Very delicious cookies will be provided to help you think of great questions.

If you can’t make it to the orientation or would prefer to speak one-on-one with a pastor, please give the church office a call (262-334-4901) and we’ll see how we can walk together with you to support your household of faith.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” (Ps. 122:1)

We are seeking a person to serve as our next Communications Coordinator.

This is a part-time position (12-15 hours) that oversees all of St. John's forms of communication, especially in the digital realm. Interested or know someone that would be a good fit?

Contact Pastor Stephen sreynolds@stjohnswestbend.org

Connecting, Caring, and Sharing in Christ

It's Good to be Together in the Lord

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel HERE!

View our Livestream HERE!

Discipleship in as many places as possible.

E-mail your photo to crudolf@stjohnswestbend.org by September 20, 2021. Need us to take a quick Household snapshot for the book? Call the church office OR Click the photo link on our APP to schedule your appointment on Sunday, September 12 or Sunday, September 19 between 9:00-11:00 am in the church gathering space.

St. John’s Pictorial Directory Guidelines:

The pictorial directory will be printed in house
Each Household will submit a simple household photo (a vacation photo, picture from a family gathering, holiday, etc.) AND family name, name of everyone pictured, address, preferred phone, and preferred e-mail to: crudolf@stjohnswestbend.org
Photos will NOT be cropped or edited in any way, but may be resized
Photos should be submitted using the highest photo quality
St. John’s has the right to refuse any picture submitted
Contact information is assumed to be shared for internal use unless specified otherwise
(unlisted phone number)

Faithful Disciples, Academic Excellence, Christian Leaders

St. John’s Early Childhood Center is hiring! Part-time and Full-time positions are available. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the St. John’s Early Childhood Center at ecc@stjohnswestbend.org or 262-429-1061 ext 501.

Click HERE to Register

Contact St. John's Elementary & Middle School for Enrollment Options: 262-334-3077 or email school@stjohnswestbend.org.

Contact St. John's Early Childhood Center for Enrollment Options: 262-429-1061 or email ecc@stjohnswestbend.org.

Partner Ministries

Attention all women! You are invited to Concordia University Wisconsin’s first Intergen event of the Fall 2021 semester. We will be gathering at Concordia in the Robert Plaster Business building on September 14, from 5:30-7:00 for a light dinner, followed by a speaker, and an opportunity to connect with other women. The Intergen theme this year is Women of the Bible. For this first event, we will be hearing from Concordia Professor Lori Woodall, the story of Rahab and its connection to daily grace. To sign up, follow this link - https://forms.gle/CjFdXSGpeSxuTsVJ7. With any questions, please contact Kylee at kylee.miller@cuw.edu.

Intergen is an intergenerational women's group focused on fostering conversation around relevant topics. Each event will include time for introduction, a brief speaker on a chosen topic, and time for open conversation with others.

Make Revelation Great Again

The book of Revelation is widely known for how it speaks about things that are way “up there” and way “down the road.” While this is most certainly true, its real greatness is in the many fascinating ways it reveals the “right here” and the “right now” of what is taking place in Christian worship. Come take a fresh look at this challenging book on September 14, 21, and 28 from 6:30–8pm at Pilgrim Lutheran Church in West Bend with Dr. Brian German, Associate Professor of Theology at Concordia University Wisconsin and Director of the Concordia Bible Institute.