February 2008
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Pastor’s Column for Feb. 2008 New leadership I have seen and experienced more and more what a colorful and gifted congregation Mindekirken is! A lot of skills, many talents and gifts, and a lot of opinions, too! Which is not a bad thing. Rather on the contrary! God created us to be different, on purpose. So that we could be a good team, filling different positions, doing different tasks, filling in for one another. This is the time to say thank you to several officers and church council members who have served Mindekirken for a number of years. Forgive me for mentioning just one of them this time, Cindy Hatlevik, our president for the last three years. She has spent a lot of time and energy on meetings, e mails, telephone calls, prayers, paper work, being present at different events in our church, giving the announcements every Sunday and so on. We thank her for her strong leadership, using the skills that God has given her! When these lines are written, the nomination process is still going on. Not all positions are filled yet. Let me just ask all of you to support the new leadership. Both by prayers, encouraging words, offering practical help, sharing ideas etc. It is always a challenge how a fellowship and its leadership handle disagreement and critics. Especially we have to be aware of how we handle each other as persons and as Christian brothers and sisters. None of us are perfect. For my own sake, I feel that I am in need of a lot of patience and also forgiveness. Let us at least meet every person with respect. Mindekirken is quite a diverse fellowship when it comes to opinions. Not only concerning practical things. But also in theological positions. Even if I myself believe in a classical theology, and that God’s word and will come first, I try to be a good listener, and to respect persons who disagree with me. We are not a big congregation. Our resources are limited. The tasks and challenges we face are on the other hand more numerous than we can handle at certain times. The year that is behind us can be described like that. We have a lot of work to do, and we know that it will take time and energy. We will do it together, as a team. My most important task as your pastor is to administer the sacraments and share the word of God with you. The Sunday morning service is the heart beat of our congregation. We have treasure chests to share from. The Bible texts of the church year, the hymns, the liturgy, the music. We will continue to build Mindekirken as a place where our faith can mature and our fellowship can improve in being loving, caring, welcoming and encouraging for every soul that longs for fellowship with the triune God. Per Inge Vik
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The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church · 924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 · (612)874-0716 |