Fulfilling Our Mission
For LCH’s 125th anniversary year, the Stewardship Team organized the year around the guiding principles outlined in our haiku mission statement:
Welcoming to all
Worshiping, growing, serving
Christ’s community.
- December: Introducing our Theme—Writing for the Stewardship Team, Cindy Scheinert focused on the first line, “Welcoming to all” and announced the revival of the Aloha Ministry at morning worship. She ended by reminding us that “There are many places in the Bible where God tells us to welcome the stranger and show hospitality to others. We are to do this because God first welcomed us. The love and acceptance we receive from God is love we then can share with the fellow members of God’s family.” Read the entire article….
- January: Welcoming to All II—Bill Potter observed that beyond simply welcoming those who attend worship, we need to actively invite others to share in our community, but “getting Lutherans to talk about their faith or invite people to church is the bigger challenge.” To help with this, the Stewardship Team was going to give demonstrations of how (and how not) to invite people to worship. Read the entire article….
- February: Worshipping I—Phyllis Hörmann wrote about helping to prepare the church for Christmas worship and the way that made real for her how many people are involved when we worship together. We make this effort “because it makes a difference when we come to LCH and gather to worship.” Read the entire article….
- March: Worshipping II— Bill Potter wrote about the value of in-person worship, both for us as individuals and for the community. He encouraged those who need help getting to church for worship to let the office know so we can find a way to make it possible for those folks to be with us in-person Read the entire article….
- April: Growing I—Cindy Scheinert observed that while growth in nature may happen without conscious effort, her own spiritual growth has required conscious effort and take several different paths. “The road to spiritual growth appears to be a wide one that can accommodate all our individual differences and preferences. But no matter how we decide to walk this journey of faith, we know that we never go alone, for we walk with each other and with God, who both leads and accompanies us on our journey.” Read the entire article….
- May: Growing II—Phyllis Hörmann wrote about the Ala Wai Canal held in April and a Prayer Walk in May. Read the entire article….
- June: Serving I—Willow Chang used the story of Jesus and the rich young man to explain why we are thinking about “serving” in our mission statement as “sharing and providing for others in the community—not just with our ‘ohana but also our neighbors.” One aspect of this will be the free store we are having in July. Read the entire article….
- July: Serving II—Barbar Poole-Street wrote about how the free store “gives us an opportunity to make a difference to our neighbors.” Read the entire article….
- August: Christ’s Community I—Bill Potter noted that the group who proposed our current mission statement interpreted this last line as “emphasiz[ing] that we are not a mass of individuals but a greater group with bonds that hold us together.” After taking about the value of community, he talked about the “great cloud of witness” from the history of our congregation that we celebrate in this 125th anniversary year and who are part of our community. Read the entire article….
- September: Christ’s Community II—Considering our 125th anniversary celebrated this month, Phyllis Hörmann was reminded of the hymn We Are Called (ELW 720) which ends with the verse “Sing a new song! Sing of that great day when all will be one! God will reign, and we’ll walk with each other as sisters and brothers united in love.” She concludes by writing that the promise in that hymn “gives us strength and hope to persevere in the race set before this particular yet ever-evolving community of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu.” Read the entire article….
- October: Fulfilling Our Mission I—“Enlivened by all this celebration [of this 125th anniversary year]” wrote Phyllis Hörmann, “our hearts are filled with gratitude for everything that God has made possible. God has been with and loved us through it all. God has blessed us with so many gifted people to do God’s work—to be God’s hands and feet and heart in a world that so greatly needs it. Filled to overflowing with this gratitude, we bring all the gifts that God has given to support this congregation as we enter into our 126th year of ministry and move through the interim process to the future God is preparing for us.” Read the entire article…. Commitment Materials
- November: Fulfilling Our Mission II—Barbara Poole-Street reflected that over the past year, “we, as a community, have been both strengthened and encouraged as we journeyed together through grief, a variety of stewardship activities, special music programs, remembrance activities, and a grand 125th celebration. Now the very intense work of preparing for what’s next begins in earnest.” She concluded by encouraging everyone to make their commitments in time for the dedication on November 23. Read the entire article….