This Summer St. John Lutheran, Charter Oak will be celebrating how God has used them to bless His people, asking Him to show them how they can share the love of Jesus with open arms today, and looking to how they can better serve the needs of their congregation and community in the future.
Several events will be happening at St. John that will help people to praise, pray, and make progress.
A number of members will be speaking about how God works in our lives at the beginning of services. These short talks are mean to draw attention to St. John's past, present, and future.
Congregation President Bill Magill will be speaking about praise on Sunday, May 29. That Sunday, American Legion Post #66 will hold Memorial Day observances at St. John, including a reading of the congregation's fallen and a 21 gun salute in front of the church after worship.
St. John's Missions Secretary, Don Fredriechs will be speaking about prayer on June 5.
On Saturday, June 11, St. John will be holding a day of prayer. The day will begin with a Prayer&Praise service in the sanctuary at 9:00 a.m., followed by a
Prayer-Walk beginning at 10:00 a.m. Prayer-walkers will begin inside the church and walk around the church property, making stops along the way to pray for various ministries of the St. John, for Charter Oak and surrounding communities, other churches in the area, the Lutheran Church -Missouri Synod and Iowa District-West, the nation and the world.
After the Prayer-Walk, a Prayer-Vigil will be held from Noon till 5:00 p.m. Volunteers can sign up ahead of time to pray in 15-minute shifts during the day at the Church. Members are encouraged to commit to pray on June 11, whether it be at the service, on the walk, during the vigil, on their own at home, work, or wherever they are- or some combination of any of these.
Sunday, June 12, Byron Weiss will give the third talk at the beginning of the service on progress.
After worship this day there will be a special voter's meeting to decide whether or not to move ahead with the final phases of the building projects. The first phases included an auction of the contents and interior of the old Lutheran school building on the corner of First Street and Birch Avenue in Charter Oak, demolition and removal of the school and remodeling of the church basement to accommodate Sunday School class rooms. If approved, the final phase would add a new fellowship hall to the South side of the church building.
On Sunday, June 19 (Father's Day) St. John will say farewell to the old school building with an old fashioned School Picnic after church. It will be a great way to kick off the summer by remembering the past and looking forward to the future.
If the voters approve the building project, St. John expects to undertake a capital campaign to raise funding to defray the costs of the project. St. John voters offered to donate the Sunday School house located at 108 Birch Ave. to a family that lost their home in to the tornado in Mapleton. If there is a recipient family that will accept the house, Habitat for Humanity will assess the structure for the feasibility of a move.
