Bethlehem Lutheran Church of Lewiston

Transition Task Force

Tuesday April 5, 2022

Member’s Present: Pastor John Bookshaw, Tom Coburn, Kathy Marsh, Julie Price, Jaci Roark, Ed Rosa, Sandy Rosa

Member’s Absent:  Mike Faust 

1. Opening Devotion – Ephesians 6:10-20

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  13 Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.  14 Stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the work of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

The lesson for us is that we are doing battle with Satan as we make plans to move forward in building our church.

2.  Review of Congregational Meetings – Pastor shared notes from a couple of the congregational meetings.   This information is fascinating.  We are learning about how people feel, sometimes things we didn’t know. One point that seems to come up time and time again is the need to be aware of our perception in our local community.  We need to wrestle with how to address the unchurched people in our community.

3.  Developing New Mission Statement – the group reviewed the two diagrams that Pastor provided.  The first one reflects our present ministry.   

The second one reflects our possible future ministry. 

The group then started brainstorming a possible new mission statement to better reflect our ministry. The group finally came up with the following rough draft that we will continue working on in our next meeting. 

Bethlehem Lutheran Church seeks to move forward in bringing Christ Jesus to our communities.

We need to remember that God grows the church, and we are the instrument He uses.

4.  Next Meeting – Wednesday April 13, 2022  6:00 p.m.

Pastor closed with prayer.