Welcome to Redeemer Lutheran Church in Jasper, Indiana

 

The Shared Ministry Interim between Redeemer Lutheran Church in Jasper and St. John’s Lutheran Church in Otwell, will begin as soon as Pastor Adam returns from sabbatical August 4th.  The Shared Ministry worship schedule will begin the weekend of August 9-10.  

From August 9-10 through the end of October, unless otherwise announced, the weekend worship and Christian Ed Schedule will be:

 

Members of both congregations are encouraged to attend whichever worship service they are able to.  Envelope offerings and checks made out to your home congregation, will be accepted in the offering plates of both buildings and will be recorded and deposited in your home congregation’s account.  (Please understand that offerings given to Redeemer at St. John’s or to St. John’s at Redeemer will most likely be counted and deposited with the following week’s offering.)

It’s official!  St. John’s and Redeemer’s church councils have officially approved a proposal for a six-month shared ministry interim together--starting August 4, 2025 and lasting through January 31, 2026.

 

Answer:  For these six months Pastor Adam will become the interim pastor of St. John’s (Boone Township) while remaining the called pastor of Redeemer.  While Redeemer and St. John’s will remain separate organized congregations with their own governance, finances, and buildings, we will seek to do many different ministries together and work to live into the vision of being one ministry with two sites.  This will necessarily involve a lot of change in the ways we have always done things and we will be asking all parties involved--members of Redeemer, members of St. John’s, Pastor and his family, and regular visitors to both congregations--to be willing to try some new things and approach this with a spirit of openness, flexibility, and forgiveness.  This six-month interim is a trial period for us to experiment with shared ministry and discover if and how we might continue moving forward as two congregations together.  Not everything will go smoothly, some things will have to be adjusted, some we may discover won’t work in the long run, but hopefully we will also find many new and exciting ministries going forward that will enrich the faith and life of both congregations.  During this interim, the shared ministry task force will continue to meet and begin work on crafting a shared ministry covenant--that, with the approval of both councils, may be put forward to a congregational vote at each congregation’s annual meeting in January.  In other words, at the end of these six-months, both congregations will vote on whether to make this a long-term shared ministry arrangement (perhaps with some changes from how we’ve done things during the interim as we discover what works well and what doesn’t), to renew the shared ministry interim for a set period to continue discernment, or to part from any shared ministry arrangement. 

 

Answer:  Both congregations will be giving up their 10:00 am worship time for the sake of Pastor's ability to preach and preside at worship at both buildings on Sunday morning.  The early service will be held at 9:00 am and the late service at 10:30 am.  But neither congregation will be “stuck” being either the late service church or the early service church--either of which could be harmful for the long-term ministry of each congregation.  The interim will be divided into two 3-month periods so that each congregation will have three months hosting the early service and three months hosting the late service.  There will be no change to Redeemer’s Saturday worship schedule-which will still be at 5:00 pm.  

From August (10th) through October the Sunday morning schedule will be:

From November through January the Sunday morning schedule will be:

  8:00-8:45 am--Adult Education/Fellowship time with Pastor Adam at St. John’s

Members and visitors are encouraged to attend worship at whatever time their schedule allows and to feel welcome and at home in either building.  Arrangements will be made so that offering money will go to one’s home congregation regardless of which building one worships in during the weekend.  (This will be true of envelope offerings and checks, but for obvious reasons loose offerings will go to the congregation where it was received.)  

 

Answer:  Two major desires/goals underlie the plan for Christian Education during this shared ministry interim.  One goal is for Pastor Adam to be able to teach/lead an Adult Christian Ed time prior to the first worship service on a Sunday morning.  For in his 13+ years of ministry he has found this Sunday morning Christian Ed time one of those aspects of pastoral ministry that gives him energy and enlivens and enriches his ability to be fully present and engaged in Sunday morning worship.  Something feels missing when he doesn’t have this class time on Sunday morning, and while it takes a lot of work to put classes together, Pastor really enjoys and values the conversations and education that happens in that time.  

 

Answer:  Many other details will need to be sorted out in the coming months and we will also be coming up with some new ideas and plans in the midst of the interim ministry--especially in ways our various committees at Redeemer and St. John’s can work together to do better and more ministry than we can do apart.  We’ve been encouraged by what we’ve seen so far at our joint midweek Lenten services and hope to see the cooperation and willingness to be two congregations in ministry together continue and deepen in the time to come.  We all know that this is a hard time to be the church--living in culture that increasingly feels that has “moved beyond the need for God,” and in a time when all the social pressure is against church involvement rather than encouraging of it.  But shared ministry may offer us a way forward in this time--not a life boat to merely stay afloat a little longer, but a new ship capable of traversing these choppy waters--better and stronger together than apart.  It will require all of us to step outside our comfort zones, but isn’t that what Christ always calls us to?  Perhaps it’s time for us get out of our comfortable but small boats and walk on the water where Jesus is calling us.