St. John’s Ev. Lutheran Church
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

 

 

THE MISSION OF OUR CHURCH

 

As men, women, and children united in faith by the Word of God, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin exists to nurture believers for lives of Christian service (Ephesians 4:11-16) joyfully reaching into our community and the world with the good news of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20) all for the praise, honor and glory of our Savior God (Ephesians 1:11-14).

 

 

These three statements reflect how we envision the effective fulfillment of our mission:

 

I. Under God’s grace we will instill a strengthened sense of unity, community, and purpose within our congregation.

II. Under God’s grace we will provide expanded opportunities for member involvement, service, and ministry through promoting, elevating, and utilizing the universal priesthood.

III. Under God’s grace we will glorify Him and carry out our mission through our facilities.

I. Under God’s grace we will instill a strengthened sense of unity, community, and purpose within our congregation.

 

A. In the area of Public Worship:

1. We understand worship of our Savior God as central to our existence, mission, and vision and will continue to pursue excellence in this area to the glory of His name.

2. We understand worship style in the context of our Lutheran Christian heritage while recognizing that variety in worship style/components is our Christian freedom.

3. We increase the visibility and participation of outside agencies with which we are in partnership (choirs, etc.).

4. We keep before our people the fact that worship services are "entry level" occasions for many visitors and foster a visitor-friendly mindset among our people.

5. We foster unity, community, and purpose within our congregation through an annual Unity Sunday.

B. In the area of Child Discipleship/Youth and Family Ministry:

1. We develop a clear, unified understanding of the role of our school and teachers in the overall mission of our congregation.

2. We instill in parents their God-given responsibility to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and develop ongoing programs to strengthen the Christian family.

3. We explore the role of day care (child and adult) as it pertains to our overall mission.

4. We continue to view youth ministry as an important part of our mission and expand opportunities for growth and service.

5. We create new ways to foster a sense of Christian community within the congregation by understanding "family ministry" as encompassing our entire Christian family.

6. We elevate the importance of numbers 2-5 above for the mission of our congregation through the services of a full time Staff Minister.

C. In the area of Adult Spiritual Growth:

1. We expand Bible class opportunities and variety.

2. We develop a sequential repeating core curriculum.

3. We offer courses aimed at various levels of spiritual maturity and or specific groups within the congregation.

4. We offer small group Bible study opportunities (train and develop leaders, provide access to interested members, etc.).

5. We offer periodic but consistent special event retreats and seminars.

6. We commit ourselves to the understanding that adult spiritual growth is essential to our reason for existence, and that only those consistently connected to Christ will wholeheartedly embrace our mission and vision.

 

D. In the area of Fellowship and Group Life:

1. We create and foster a sense of Christian community and family through an active shepherding program.

2. We sustain a sense of community and family by encouraging regular worship and the use of the Means of Grace.

3. We continue, create, or revamp efforts to provide fellowship activities, support groups, service opportunities, etc. for an ever increasing percentage of members.

4. We customize fellowship activities, support groups, service opportunities, etc. according to the various needs, situations, and positions in the lives of our members.

5. We also provide ample fellowship opportunities to bring together our entire family of believers.

6. We pursue a wider sense of unity, community and Christian fellowship through active participation in our sister congregation relationship with St. Philip’s.

 

E. In the area of Outreach:

1. We elevate the importance and work of outreach commensurate to its position in our mission statement.

2. We make continued efforts to become more visible and more of a "known quantity" to our surrounding community.

3. We utilize all existing opportunities and technology to present ourselves to the community.

4. We clearly define the role of our school as an outreach tool.

5. We make every effort to extend genuine warmth and friendliness to those who visit us.

6. We understand outreach as extending beyond our local community and support all outreach efforts on a conference, district, and synodical level.

7. We understand outreach as also applying to the weak, wounded, straying, inactive, and newest members within our congregation.

8. We actively pursue our sister congregation relationship with St. Philip’s for the purpose of strengthening our fellowship bonds, mutual encouragement in Gospel ministry, and opportunities for wider outreach.

F. In the area of Communication:

1. We provide regular, clear, and concise information to our members regarding Gospel ministry, the opportunities and challenges for ministry, and the decisions made by our leadership in carrying out our mission.

2. We provide regular, clear, and concise information to our members regarding the correlating financial support needed to do our envisioned work through an annual stewardship program.

 

II. Under God’s grace we will provide expanded opportunities for member involvement, service, and ministry through promoting, elevating, and utilizing the universal priesthood.

A. In the area of Public Worship:

1. We explore ways and opportunities to utilize the musical and artistic gifts, talents, and abilities of those among us.

2. We continually promote the importance of choirs to our worship and also explore increasing the number and type of choirs (mass choirs, event choirs, youth choirs, etc.).

3. We continue to offer a well-staffed nursery during services and expand it to twelve months.

4. We continue to involve our people through an active greeter program.

5. We actively apply Romans 12:1 (our lives = our spiritual act of worship) to the lives of our members through elevating expectations of membership and service to and within our congregation.

B. In the area of Outreach:

1. We promote the importance of reaching out with the Gospel.

2. We identify and provide outreach opportunities for members on a congregation, local, district, and synodical level.

3. We develop a system of ongoing training in Law-Gospel presentation for our outreach volunteers.

4. We offer/publicize periodic seminars/training sessions on witnessing.

5. We develop outreach methods and opportunities specifically geared for our youth.

6. We foster and encourage a spirit of creativity as it applies to outreach goals and opportunities for service.

7. We provide thorough training for members to minister to other members, especially those who are straying or inactive.

C. In the area of Child Discipleship/Youth and Family Ministry:

1. We expand our commitment to our teens and develop increasing opportunities to serve.

2. We develop our summer Bible School program into an increasingly greater outreach tool.

 

D. In the area of Assimilation:

1. We make assimilation of newest members a high priority and an assigned task.

2. We provide opportunities for our newest members to become actively involved in some facet of service to our congregation within six months.

3. We continue and expand the interview/assimilation process.

 

E. In the area of Fellowship and Group Life:

1. We strive to have independent or cooperative groups of sufficient number and variety available to match the interests of all our members.

2. We clearly communicate the existence of these groups.

 

F. In the area of Training and Equipping Members for Service:

1. We re-institute a periodic course on the identification and use of spiritual gifts.

2. We expand the opportunities to serve in the congregation.

3. We utilize the services of a Member Ministry Coordinator position(s).

4. We create position descriptions for all volunteer ministry and service positions.

5. We develop and implement an annual volunteer appreciation event.

6. We elevate respect for the public ministry and actively encourage entry into preaching, teaching, and staff ministry.

 

 

III. Under God’s grace we will glorify Him and carry out our mission through our facilities.

A. In the area of Maintenance:

1. We will dedicate ourselves to glorifying God through conscientious maintenance of the facilities He has given us.

2. We will seek the services of a full time maintenance person to oversee the general upkeep of our entire facility.

B. In the area of Improvements:

1. We will dedicate ourselves to improving our present facilities so as to best facilitate the needs of our people and to most effectively carry out our mission.

2. We will view our facilities not as entities in themselves, but merely as tools to carry out the mission to which we have dedicated ourselves.

C. In the area of Expansion:

1. We will compile, review, and assess all former master site plans and, if necessary, develop a new one which will allow us to do effective ministry into the 21st century.

2. We will take active steps to realize the fulfillment of our master site plan (master site plan as a living document).

3. We place special emphasis in our master site plan on the addition of a child-to-adult education/fellowship/outreach facility.