Are you new to Our Saviour’s and interested in membership, baptism, or otherwise deepening your relationship with this congregation?   Please contact Pastor Martha Schwehn Bardwell: , or at  612-871-2967.    During this time of being community virtually, we are welcoming new comers to Our Saviour's in a different way until we can gather once again together and resume Living Questions.  

Here’s what Living Questions is: newcomers and oldcomers alike will gather to share experiences, questions, and faith with one another, building community as the body of Christ and digging deep into the central teachings of the Christian faith.   Living Questions ran through the season of Lent and culminated with new members being welcomed into the congregation at Easter Vigil.  If you have questions, please contact Pastor Martha: .

A Little Background...

In 2014, we hosted a workshop led by Paul Hoffman. Pastor Hoffman had started a process called “The Way” at Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church in Seattle. His ministry inspired us to launch “Living Questions”. We used his book, Faith Forming Faith, as we discerned the shape of our ministry.

In October of 2014, our first Living Questions group drew 29 newcomers. It culminated at Easter Vigil, the time of year when traditionally we invite newcomers to become members by receiving baptism or affirming their earlier baptism. Since then, we have continued to offer "Living Questions" sessions once or twice a year.

We believe that baptism – the moment when we are washed into promises of mercy and life, joined to Christ’s death and resurrection, and declared beloved child of God in community – is the source of our membership and our unity as the body of Christ.

 

Creating a Vital Congregation

We embrace three central practices from Scripture and tradition for creating a vital faith-forming congregation:

  1. The practice of hospitality. During his life, Jesus was a guest in many homes. He continues to be present as the stranger in our midst (Matthew 25:35).  We are called to welcome this stranger.  Driven by the Spirit who breaks down all boundaries and creates community, we challenge ourselves to offer Christ’s welcome to all, particularly those who are not “like us.”
  2. The practice of celebration. We celebrate the creative and redemptive activity of God in the midst of the realities of human need, struggle and pain. In celebrations like our Easter Vigil,  we anticipate, prepare, participate and reflect on these qualities, rooting ourselves in the living, transforming presence of God.
  3. The practice of living our questions and convictions. Young people, old people, questions, stories—with our conversation we honor the experience and insight, testimonies about God, laments, and thanksgivings that each person offers for our development and understanding. Together, we seek to discern how God is calling each and all of us in our lives at work, home, school, church, and beyond.  

 --Inspired by From Generation to Generation by Charles R. Foster

 

Living Questions: Welcoming Newcomers

New members are welcomed to our community.

Questions? Interested in participating? Please contact Pastor Martha Schwehn Bardwell: , 612-871-2967.

When we were able to meet in person, we welcomed newcomers through a process we call “Living Questions.”   If you are interested in membership, check in with Pastor Martha  about how to become a member.  

This ministry is not only for newcomers; it is a faith-forming experience for our whole congregation. Newcomers, with the fresh questions and experiences they bring to us, give us an opportunity to explore our faith, deepen our life-long commitment, and grow in our understanding of what we mean by “faith”. Most important, we make this journey together as a community.

How Living Questions works:  Each newcomer is paired with a sponsor from the congregation who has been around for a while. Sponsors journey alongside newcomers, sharing their questions and insights and listening for how God is calling them in their lives today.

These sponsor-newcomer pairs are placed in small groups led by a facilitator. In a typical session, we

  • Meet all together to share a meal.
  • Break out into small groups for conversation. We will talk about our spiritual journeys and discuss our questions about Baptism, Communion, the Ten Commandments, the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and other questions about faith, church, and life.

 

 

 

 

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