President's Post

Occasional updates from our Church Council President.

Associate Pastor Call Committee & Notice of Congregational Meeting to Call Savannah Olaphson as Deacon

January 12, 2023

The Immanuel Church Council, at its January meeting, approved a motion to charge a call committee, working with the Minneapolis Synod of the ELCA, to identify candidates for call as an associate pastor. In formulating the parameters of this call the Council:

• carefully considered the work of the Visioning Team that was convened by our Council Vice President, Julie Maes.
• examined the ministry needs of Immanuel, our existing ministry staff, and how we can best meet our ministry needs with current and new staff.
• considered the availability of candidates interested in such a call and the financial position of Immanuel to provide sustained support for an associate pastor at various effort levels (including half time, three quarter time, and full time calls).

Based on these discussions, the Council has decided to call a new Associate Pastor to Immanuel for 25 hours per week, with the associate Pastor on site or providing caring ministries at least Sunday through Wednesday each week. Moving forward with this call and with ministry staffing at Immanuel, our goals are three-fold:

1. Meet the ministry needs of Immanuel, particularly related to welcoming fellowship and relationship building.
2. Continue to grow both vibrant outreach through our social ministry efforts, and compassionate in-reach through our Caring Ministry Team.
3. Maximize our staff while meeting a sustainable budget.

The Associate Pastor, along with Senior Pastor Paul Nelson and Deacon Savannah Olaphson, will form our ordained ministry team at Immanuel.

THE IMMANUEL ORDAINED STAFF AND CARING MINISTRY TEAM WILL BE CONSTITUTED AS FOLLOWS:

Senior Pastor Paul Nelson, Full time: Worship, Evangelism, Stewardship.

• Preach two times a month and lead worship.
• Work with the Evangelism Committee in outreach to the congregation and community including small groups and Tables of 8, the Bingo Benefit for PROP, and communication to the congregation and community.
• Work with the Stewardship Committee in inviting people to grow in faith through faithful and generous giving of time, talents, and treasure.
• Oversee and support staff, providing them with what they need to flourish.
• Work with the visioning about the future of Immanuel and how to keep its ministries strong. 
• Participate in Adult Faith Formation and Faith Stepping Stones.

Associate Pastor, Worship, 25 hours a week: Worship, Adult Faith Formation, Fellowship.

• Preach once a month and assist in leading worship.
• Work with the Adult Faith Formation Committee, lead in planning Adult Faith Formation on Wednesday Evenings (working with Pastor Paul and Deacon Savannah) and support lay leaders of bible study groups, circles, and Women’s Retreats.
• Work with the Fellowship Committee to plan and facilitate the fellowship of the congregation and enhance Immanuel’s hospitality ministry.
• Oversee and grow our small group ministries, especially focusing on developing small groups for young adults and young families.
• Provide opportunities for people to grow in caring relationships.
• Participate in Caring Ministry and Faith Stepping Stones.

Deacon Savannah Olaphson, 30 hours a week: Worship, Social Concerns, Caring Ministry.

• Preach once a month and assist in leading worship.
• Lead the Social Concerns Committee to coordinate the mission and service efforts of the congregation.
• Encourage and equip people in serving and sharing their time, talents, and treasure with diverse serving opportunities, provide leadership to existing ministry partner relationships.
• Oversee the coordination of Caring Ministry and coordinate with Parish Nurse Kari Totall and the pastoral staff regarding visitation to those hospitalized and homebound.
• Participate in Adult Faith Formation and Faith Stepping Stones.

Kari Totall, 10 hours a week: Parish Nurse.

• Provide support to Caring Ministry efforts in coordination with the ministerial staff, and provide resources for families when dealing with care concerns and end of life issues.

NEXT STEPS

• Feedback Opportunities. If you would like to provide your thoughts or feedback, please feel free to:
  • contact congregational president, Paul Savereide, president@immanuel.us, and/or
  • Join Paul Savereide and Pastor Paul next Wednesday evening, January 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall for a discussion of staffing plans for Immanuel. This meeting will also be Zoomed: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81057476246?pwd=azBHRmUwNnI5RWtob0xndy82OVZCQT09   Meeting ID: 810 5747 6246   Passcode: 107905
• Annual Meeting: Sunday, January 22, 12 noon.
• CONGEGATIONAL MEETING TO CALL SAVANNAH OLAPHSON AS DEACON. There will be a congregational meeting on Sunday, February 5th, following the 9 a.m. worship service for a congregational vote on calling Savannah Olaphson as Deacon at Immanuel (read more about the role of Deacon).

Please join us in supporting our search for our next associate pastor with your prayers. And may the Holy Spirit guide Immanuel as we continue to serve God.

Pastor Paul Nelson                                

Paul Savereide, President

 

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Staffing and Associate Pastor Call Update

December 15, 2022

Blessings to each of you during this Advent season. My hope is that you may find hope, joy, peace, and love within yourself and with those around you. Advent marks the beginning of the church calendar, and with new beginnings we have new possibilities, including here at Immanuel as we evaluate and assess our ministry needs.

The Church Council met this week to discuss these needs and how to address them:

• Savannah is finishing her training as a Deacon and Council plans to call her at a 75% appointment at the next Council meeting in January. She will continue to support Immanuel’s service and justice ministries as well as to coordinate caring ministries. Learn more about Savannah and the role of Deacon.
• The Council also looked at the other church needs including visitations, adult faith formation, small group ministries, fellowship, baptism orientation, as well as leading worship and preaching to be addressed by an associate pastor. Based on these needs and review of church finances, a preliminary assessment is that a call for an associate pastor with a 50% appointment is possible within current giving and budget. Expansion of the role to 75% or 100% would require reduction in benevolence or for the church to tap into financial reserves.

Calling an associate pastor is vitally important for our congregation, and I would like to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to contact me at president@immanuel.us.

Paul Savereide 

 

Church Council Retreat: Five Strategic Priorities

April 12, 2022, By Paul Savereide

The Immanuel Church Council met on Saturday April 9 for an all-day retreat at Immanuel.  Our task for a good part of the day was to review three of the Five Strategic Priorities to begin moving from statements to action by the church.  We reviewed:

• Priority 2: Listening and learning from our community
• Priority  3: Reaching out to our community, and
• Priority  4: Welcoming and retain members

The notes from each of the nine reviews sessions are being compiled.  In future Council meetings, we will review these results and prioritize actions and identify resources to put this work into action. 

Read about all Five Strategic Priorities

 

Building Up Campaign Winds Down - Immanuel’s Mortgage Paid Off Early!

March 25, 2022, by Paul Savereide 

As we start to close out our Building Up capital campaign and look forward to our upcoming Raise the Roof campaign, it seems fitting to take the time to:

1. reflect back on all of the great work that has been accomplished over our last two campaigns through the generous and faithful giving of the Immanuel community. 
2. celebrate the early pay off of a mortgage we took out 6 years ago.

OPENING DOORS, 2016 - 2019: Let’s start all the way back to 2016 when we launched the Opening Doors Campaign with the multi-year objective of updating and modernizing our facilities and making significant contributions to two wonderful outreach programs. We received pledges of $700k for this campaign and in an effort to jump start these initiatives we took out a 10-year mortgage for $680k in the fall of that year.  As part of that campaign, we:

• made a $200k investment in a youth housing initiative now known as Onward Eden Prairie, and
• made a $100k contribution to Redeemer Lutheran Church, our partner congregation in North Minneapolis.
• started work on our facility updates which included the repurposing of the stain glass windows from Luther Hall, technology updates, replacing several HVAC units, creating a children’s play area, and refreshing the narthex, nursery and music room.

BUILDING UP, 2019 - 2022: In 2019 we launched the Building Up campaign which continued the facility updating efforts and also made significant contributions to two additional outreach initiatives. We will wrap up this campaign in June and if current trends continue, we will exceed $700k in giving. As a part of this campaign, we:

• have been able to give $40k to AMEXTRA and $10k to Christo Obrero, a Hispanic mission church in Shakopee. 
• continued our building updates which included the installation of the sanctuary stone wall, renovation of the Sunday School hallway and class rooms, replacement of additional HVAC units, installation new roofing over more than half of the building, resurfaced the parking lot, and completed sky light and window replacement in the Sanctuary and Luther Hall. 

MORTGAGE PAID OFF: During this time, funds from both campaigns have been used to pay down the mortgage. At our most recent annual meeting in January 2022, a plan was presented and received congregational approval to use reserved funds currently on hand to pay off the mortgage early leaving Immanuel debt free. We are excited to share that the final payment was made earlier this month.

MORTGAGE BURNING CELEBRATION, JUNE 5: Join us on Pentecost Sunday, June 5th, when we will celebrate the burning of our mortgage as a congregation.  

Thanks to your faithful giving, our congregation can enter the next capital campaign debt-free and continue to expand upon the great work that was started with these two previous campaigns.

Paul Savereide – Church President, president@immanuel.us
Connie Cadden – Church Treasurer

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Focus Groups: Five Pillars

September 20, 2021, by Tony Szczepaniak

This spring we communicated a general plan and timeline regarding our efforts to develop a long-term plan that will guide Immanuel over the next 3-5 years. 

In September we released a summary of Council’s work thus far. We have received feedback that affirms the Five Pillars, or areas of ministry focus, that we have identified; however, it is important to give you an opportunity to provide feedback and input before we start the work of developing specific plans for each of the five pillars.

You are invited to attend one of two Focus Group sessions

We will provide an overview of the five pillars and ask for specific feedback and input. We will also solicit volunteers to participate in the next step which is to develop the specific plans. 

For clarity, neither of the sessions will be hybrid. This is to ensure we can focus on either the in-person or virtual audience, rather than both simultaneously. Note that should the pandemic numbers dictate that the October 10th session needs to become a virtual session, we will adjust accordingly.

For the in-person session on Sunday, October 10th, we do ask for a confirmation of attendance so that we can plan to provide food for those in attendance and minimize waste. Again, please confirm your attendance by registering online.

Thank you for your consideration in attending.

 

Tony Szczepaniak, President (president@immanuel.us)

Pastor Paul Nelson, Senior Pastor (paul@immanuel.us)

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September, 2021

As the summer heat begins to give way to cool, crisp fall days, the activity at Immanuel begins to heat up as preparations are in full swing for our September kick off! Your Council was busy this summer reviewing our Vision, Mission, and Values and developing several strategic pillars or priorities for us to consider embracing over the next 5-years or so. 

REVIEW OF VISION, MISSION & VALUES

After reviewing these, Council agreed that these remained relevant and resulted in a few updates to language, but largely intact.

Our Vision: God is calling us to reach deeper into our congregation and further out into our community to better know and care for one another.

Our Mission Statement: CELEBRATE that God is with us!  GROW as Christ lives in us!  SERVE as the Spirit loves through us!

Our Values

• Loving God and one another: Through one another, we meet Jesus Christ as we focus on relational faith through a welcoming and inclusive community.
• Intentional faith development and expression: We experience God in our midst through engaging, vibrant, and authentic worship that brings faith to life.
• Active service in the community: We are God inspired and committed to collaboratively engaging within our community to respond to its needs with fearless love led by the Holy Spirit.
• Practicing transformative generosity: We are intentionally grateful and purposefully share our gifts and blessings with the joy of deepening our relationship with God.

STRATEGIC PILLARS

In addition to the review of the Vision, Mission, and Values, we began the process of looking forward asking the important question – “What does our community of faith look like in 5-years? 10-years?" After much discussion, drafting, discerning, and praying, we present the following pillars. As you review, please consider that you are reading these statements 5-years in the future, not today. Therefore, these pillars are aspirational and may not demonstrate completely who we are as a community and what we look like.

1) We know who is at the center of all we do – Christ. We remind ourselves continually that we are together in the name of Jesus Christ and seek to follow Him and become a reflection of His love in everything we do. We focus on maintaining and deepening a relationship with Him and sharing the Gospel as He calls us to.

2) We welcome, affirm, and celebrate diversity in all contexts as we work toward a fuller understanding of God’s call to justice. We believe that all people are created in God’s image and that God’s imagination for diversity and justice is limitless. We listen to and learn from diverse voices resulting in deeper relationships with individuals within and outside of Immanuel, and with partner ministries. We participate in God’s continuing work of restoration, reconciliation, and redemption for all creation.

3) We have strong engagement within our community. The engagement of members and faith partners is high and broad. We do this by encouraging each member to maintain a personal ministry to help meet the needs within our church and surrounding community. We are demonstrating a love and faith in Jesus Christ through the programs we offer to our members. These programs support our faith and encourage members to seek Christ in all circumstances and situations.

4) We are a growing congregation. We strive to welcome people of all generations, to understand their needs and perspectives, and help them grow in their relationships with Jesus Christ. Our activities and plans reflect a lively, rich, inclusive congregation with a deep and sincere passion for worshipping, learning, and serving God together with people of all ages.

5) We are transitioning staff effectively. Through open, honest dialogue, we are executing against plans to transition a long-term, seasoned team and leadership. The new faces and perspectives are bringing forward new ideas and perspectives that build upon and acknowledge the foundations that have been built. Our systems and processes help attract and retain a strong staff team.

NEXT STEPS

It is our intent to engage the congregation in small, working group discussions groups to strengthen our collective understanding of the pillars and to develop 3-5 plans to pursue them.  As part of our September kick off, we will be inviting the Congregation to select one of the pillars and commit to participating in the working groups In September – December.

This is an exciting time for our community of faith. Please prayerfully consider how God is calling you to help us continue to keep our eyes on Him and spreading the Gospel within our community.

Peace,

Tony Szczepaniak, President

Paul Nelson, Senior Pastor

 

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March '21 - Update

Greetings!  March has been a busy month for your Council!

First, Council completed one action item from the 2021 Annual Meeting.  During the January 2021 Annual Meeting, it was clarified that the Bylaws prohibits individuals from service on the Nominating Committee for more than one year.  Therefore, the plans to move the 2020 Nominating Committee forward required a revisit.  To simplify forward movement, Council was given the authority to fill the committee for 2021.  This occurred with a vote to approve the new committee who includes – Jeannie DeReemer, Jody Ebert, Jerry Martin, and Scott Anderson,

Second, as part of the Annual Meeting, we conducted Zoom breakouts to receive feedback about how the church is meeting your spiritual needs and how it can continue to support you in a post-pandemic environment.  This was the first step of a year long journey to develop a 3-year plan that is focused on 3-5 key pillars that support our vision and mission while amplifying our values.  At this time, the effort to identify the pillars is strategic, not operational, and will not seek to address matters such as the number or times of services, the themes of upcoming church seasons, or which service partners to continue to support.

Council met on Saturday, March 13^th to review the Zoom breakout discussions and discuss the vision, mission, and values, which are nearly 20-years old.  An April meeting is scheduled to create a list of potential pillars that could become part of our 3-year plan.  The list will then be reduced to a manageable number before giving the congregation an opportunity to provide feedback and help shape the work in a special mid-year meeting.  The timing of all of this remains fluid but here is an outline of the general plan, which is subject to change.

WHEN	WHAT	OUTCOME	WHO
March	Council Retreat Part 1	Understanding of Annual Meeting breakout feedback and deepened awareness of vision, mission, values	Council
April	Council Retreat Part 2	Long list of potential strategic pillars	Council
May	Strategic Pillar Meeting 1	Short list of strategic pillars and general sense of timing for each one	Council Small Group
June	Council Meeting	Council discusses and affirms strategic pillars	Council
	Mid-year Meeting	Congregation provides input into the strategic pillars	Congregation
July – September	Small Group Meetings	Prepare 3-year action plans	Council and At large volunteers from Congregation
October	Council Meeting	Review 3-year action plans	Council and small group chairs
November	Council Meeting	Approve 3-year action plans	Council
January 2022	Annual Meeting	Review and vote on 3-year strategic plan	Congregation

 

We welcome feedback you have on the above plan or interest in being a part of this plan.  Feel free to reach out to me at president@immanuel.us if the Spirit drives you to do either or both!

Thank you!