Pastor Thomas Rusert doesn’t drink coffee — except for Thursdays when he shares coffee and “Free Prayer” with people who stop in a Doylestown coffee shop. “One brisk October morning, a man I had not met walked through the ever-swinging door of the local Starbucks. Amari, from West Philadelphia, had business at the courthouse in...
February 18, 2016
‘Sometimes, Our People Are The Ones We Have Never Met’
Pastor Thomas Rusert doesn’t drink coffee — except for Thursdays when he shares coffee and “Free Prayer” with people who stop in a Doylestown coffee shop. “One brisk October morning, a man I had not met walked through the ever-swinging door of the local Starbucks. Amari, from West Philadelphia, had business at the courthouse in...
February 9, 2016
Using Images In Your Church’s Communications
Images are worth at least 1,000 words in today’s digital communications. Photos and videos give viewers of your web and social media presence a sense of who you are as a congregation. But because of concern for the safety of children and the privacy of members, use of images can pose challenges. In this article we’ll...
February 9, 2016
‘Dust Is Not the Final Word’
The crosses marked on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday are signs of both life and death. The ashes suggest our eventual return too the dust, but “the dust is not the final word,” says Welcome Church Pastor Violet Little. At an Ash Wednesday service on Logan Park in 2013, Pastor Violet told her flock “What...
February 9, 2016
Welcome Church Shelters ‘Women of the Well’
The Welcome Church is collaborating with a number of partners to provide nighttime housing for women experiencing homelessness in Center City. The shelter, called “the Well,” will open at the Church of the Crucifixion at 8th and Bainbridge Streets on Sunday, Feb. 14. It will offer a place for gathering and renewal from 7:30 pm...
February 1, 2016
Celebrating God’s Grace Community
Our Synod celebrated the three-church collaboration in Northeast Philadelphia known as God’s Grace Lutheran Community on Sunday (Jan. 31). St. John’s Lutheran Church, Redemption Lutheran, and St. Petri-Hope now share three pastors and a board of trustees. Pastors Dee Emmert, Dana Heiserer and Tricia Neale are called by Synod Council to serve God’s Grace. Bishop...
January 22, 2016
Lutherans Honor Dr. King
The Rev. Lamont Anthony Wells offered a dynamic sermon at the African Descent Lutheran Association, Philadelphia Chapter’s annual worship service honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Sunday, Jan. 17 at Reformation Lutheran Church in Mt. Airy. Wells is director for evangelical mission in the Metropolitan New York Synod, ELCA, and newly elected national...
January 22, 2016
Winter Storm Preparations for Churches
With a winter storm set to deliver significant snow, sleet and ice to our region again, we urge you to be prepared for the possibilities of heavy snowfall, limited travel and potential power outages. Congregations can play an important role by checking on vulnerable people in the community and opening as a “comfort station” to provide...
January 15, 2016
Lutherans Join Mayor’s Prayer Service
On his third day as the newly inaugurated 99th mayor of Philadelphia, Mayor Jim Kenney joined an interfaith gathering of Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus for a moving and inspirational Interfaith Worship Service, hosted at the Salvation Army Croc Center in North Philadelphia. After a procession of nearly 100 pastors, priests, imams, and...
January 14, 2016
Upgrade Your Congregation’s Hospitality
As a visitor to a different congregation every week for over a decade, Beth Lewis (president and CEO of AugsburgFortress) has developed a strong sense of what helps congregations reach out to visitors. She’ll share that wisdom with us on Monday, Feb. 1, noon to 3 pm at the Seminary’s Brossman Center, co-sponsored by the...
December 8, 2015
Get the Facts About Syrian Refugees
Lutheran Children and Family Service is the largest refugee resettlement organization in PA, and is involved in resettling Syrian refugees in Allentown. Did you know that refugees are the most scrutinized and vetted individuals entering the U.S.? Or that the process takes on average two years? LCFS has created an online resource center so that...
December 8, 2015
Refugees Welcomed in Allentown
As Christians celebrated Christ the King on Nov. 22, 500 people gathered in Allentown, Pa., to stand in solidarity against the face of fear and hatred at an interfaith event to welcome refugees from Syria. Those in attendance included young and old, the mayor of Allentown, clergy from the community, and people of many faiths...
November 9, 2015
Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice
The Synod is co-sponsoring live webcasts of “Listen for a Change: Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice” featuring New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, actor Anna Deavere Smith, and Vanderbilt Divinity School Dean Emilie Townes on January 21-23, 2016, at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. The webcasts from Trinity Wall Street’s annual theological conference will...
September 22, 2015
Celebrating the Parkway as Home
While tourists strolled and workmen set up huge video screens for Pope Francis’ open air Mass, Welcome Church celebrated the “sacred ground” along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway as home to a number of Philadelphia’s unhoused persons. Participants sprinkled the ground with water that had been taken from the Logan Circle fountain and blessed. The Rev....
September 22, 2015
Collaborating Through God’s Grace
Three Northeast Philadelphia congregations have agreed to share clergy and some ministries in a collaboration known as God’s Grace Lutheran Community. St. John (Mayfair), Redemption and St. Petri-Hope congregations voted by large margins Sept. 13 to enter into the new collaboration. The move is not a merger – congregations retain their own councils and buildings....
September 18, 2015
Trinity Models Conversation About Race
Asks “Can we talk?” about Black Lives Matter After a post of “Black Lives Matter” on the church sign sparked community controversy, Trinity Lutheran Church seized the opportunity to bring members and Lansdale neighbors together to talk about issues of race in the community. “Even though this was not what we were looking for...
