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If you're looking for a congregation to call home...I was in your shoes a short time ago, and I'd like to share my impressions of our congregation with you. I hope that recounting my personal experience may help you in deciding if this congregation might be a good fit to your needs. I was looking for a church home a few years ago, and attempted to get a picture of various congregations from the ELCA statistics - their size, the growth or decline of their membership, ministries, whether there was much in the way of children and youth, etc. While statistics are no doubt useful and may be fascinating to a statistician, I found them to be unable to capture the "feel" of a congregation, and that's what I'd like to do here. Come to United in Faith!United In Faith Lutheran Church is a missional congregation organized in 1998 as a merger of eight smaller congregations. These eight congregations have found a new life in their unity, and I find that worshipping here certainly does reflect this! It's very much alive, growing, exciting, joyful. It's rare to not see a new face or two on any given Sunday. Our Sunday School is for children ages 3 through 5th grade. Confirmation classes are for grades 6 through grade 8. There's usually a Vacation Bible School for a week or so in the summer. The Youth group is for teens, grades 9 through grade 12. Children and youth are a big part of our ministry. Which isn't to say that we're a congregation of those in their 30s. I'm not certain of our demographics, but looking over our congregation on Sunday reveals there to be a significant number of folks that must have seen their sixtieth birthday, and there's also quite a number of those in their twenties and thirties. It's really quite a mix, and a more lively, joyful bunch would be hard to find. What to Expect at worshipThere's nothing somber or staid about worship at United in Faith. Worship here is a genuine response to Christ's love! There are three services on Sunday, as our worship page indicates. The 8:30 service is more traditional, with the liturgy closely adapted from the Green Book ELCA hymnal, and the music being mostly from that as well, with occasional songs from With One Voice. The 10:30 service is more contemporary and full of praise-filled joyous response to Christ's love for us - the liturgy is livelier, reminiscent of some of the additional settings to be found in With One Voice but skillfully adapted for United In Faith by our very talented music director! The music consists of more contemporary pieces with an occasional song from With One Voice. I find that it often invites me to consider my place in God's kingdom, reminding me of God's unconditional love for us all. I've regularly attended three ELCA congregations in my life, and United In Faith is certainly unique to my experience. My wife and I were enthusiastically greeted the first time we attended, and people made it a point to welcome us back on subsequent visits. I must admit that when we first began attending, our experience from a previous congregation had left us wanting to worship "anonymously" for a while, and we were hoping this enthusiasm wouldn't turn into a hard sell. That never happened; it seemed to us that folks were just glad that we came, never asking a thing in return. It didn't take long for us to feel comfortable talking to our new friends. Our actions are driven by our Core ValuesWhen our congregation was first forming, we identified eight core values that have propelled our ministry. These are: Weekly Worship Each of these values is realized by a group of people who each feel called to their respective ministries. These groups operate autonomously; our church council acts only to provide general direction and doesn't manage the details. As a result of this novel organization, much gets accomplished in a short time. Today, these ministries witness Christ's love to over 1,000 people every week. I find myself overjoyed to have found a congregation that is so freely responding to Christ's love. |