Why We Need A Second Pastor

For the last 23 years (during which time Pastor Demant has been our pastor), Immanuel has been growing; both spiritually and physically. Our Sunday worship attendance has grown from 105 to 235. Our budget has grown from $60,000 to $220,000. Our Mission giving has grown from $5,000 to $25,000. We have built offices, church bathrooms, a parsonage 2nd bathroom, remodeled the social hall and sanctuary. We are currently building an educational building. Our children's Sunday school had 10 kids, now we have 60. Service projects, once rare, are now common place.

We have grown in spite of being located in a small, rural, un-incorporated community of 1,500 to 1,800 residents.

The evangelical zeal that brought this about is still present but we have run out of leadership time and energy. There is a limit as to how much pastoral care and leadership one pastor can bring to the table.

A disturbing trend has been noticed in the last few years. We have developed a "Back Door". Though we continue to attract new comers and continue to add new members, we are failing to get them involved enough or to meet their needs enough to keep them coming back. Members are falling between the cracks. Programming that was once used to integrate new comers into the life of the congregation has fallen away due to time constraints of our current staff.

It is our prayer that calling a new pastor will help us to continue the programming that we currently have, bring back some programming that we have done in the past, and add new programming.

In 1991, our congregation went through a visioning process. Seventy-five of us met for 8 weeks. We set goals and new directions for Immanuel that were subsequently approved by the church council and the entire congregation.  

1) Goal: Support current ministries with more support staff. Explanation: It was felt that the current ministries of the congregation would run better and accomplish more if there was more help in doing the business end of programming. Update: Since that time our office secretary has increased her hours from 20 per week to closer to 35 per week, we added a paid youth leader position, we added a paid volunteer coordinator that helps find workers for current ministries, and we added a high school student that the church hires anytime the tables and chairs need to be moved.  

2) Goal: Increase the number of Ecumenical events in Easton. Explanation: We are not just brothers and sisters in Christ, we are really brothers and sisters! We are neighbors and friends and family with the members of other churches in Easton and we felt that Easton was loosing it identity as a community. Update: We invited the other churches to attend the 4th of July services and when, after several years, the heat kept this from being as successful as it could have been, we moved the service to an evening, Memorial Day, music concert. The new Baptist pastor is working to revitalize this service. The Thanksgiving Eve. service continues. FCA continues at our social hall, The Christmas Community concert was resurrected. Easter Sunrise service and Baccalaureate continue. Golden Club has become more of a community event. The Thursday morning men’s breakfast has a few community members. We worship at the Presbyterian church for Good Friday. One side effect of the Country Gospel service is that members of all the churches in Easton attend. Two community events which were begun and which have subsequently ended are square dancing and an aerobics class. 

3) Goal: Begin an alternative service on Sunday evenings. Explanation: There are many of us who feel a need for a more intimate, spiritual service. Update: We had one Healing service per month on a Sunday evening. This service was supplanted by the Country Gospel service 5 years ago. We have had a healing service at the AM service and once as the Maundy Thursday service and plan to have one per year. 

4) Goal: Enhance and increase the Youth program. Explanation: We had a good youth program but wanted to take it to the next level. Update: We hired our first youth minister. Next Summer will be the 5th major High School national event that our youth have attended. We sponsor Easton’s Boy Scout Troup.  

5) Goal: Increase visitation. Explanation: Shut-ins and the hospitalized were not being visited enough. Update: We added a Parish Nurse and Lay Visitation Pastor position. Barbara Petersen is our Parish Nurse and Darel Mehrten is our Lay Visitation Pastor. Darel visits our shut-ins monthly. Barbara, Darel and I do visitation with the hospitalized. We send the sermon tapes to our shut-ins. 

6) Goal: To become more Missionary focused. Explanation: Immanuel has a history of supporting foreign missions and starting churches in the Valley. We had lost that focus. Update: We began supporting Jan Kersgaard (missionary to Pakistan) and took a leadership role in forming the Mission Coalition. We have budgeted to support the two ethnic ministries at Grace, Fresno.  

7) Goal: To become a church that is more “visitor friendly”. Explanation: We want visitors to feel welcome at Immanuel. We want people seeking Jesus to find him here at Immanuel. And we want our church to reflect the needs of the visitor/new comer. Update: We put the service, in its entirety, in the bulletin. We added a nursery attendant. We added the children’s bulletins. We began the “Sit in the front & Park in the back” emphasis. We began giving a loaf of bread to visitors. We began singing more contemporary music as part of worship. We created a “Visitor’s Center”. Sermons became more “teaching” and less “preaching”. We launched www.immanueleaston.com. We put up signs that show visitors where things are. Linda Demant staffs the visitor center after church and catches new comers as they leave. Refreshments after church are almost always in front of the exit doors. The Country Gospel service fits in here in a number of ways. The screen was installed and the service is projected. Technology is a take-it-or-leave-it issue for most people over 30 years old, but is an expected part of life for those under 30. 

8) Goal: Improve Worship. Explanation: Worship has become routine for many of us. Update: I began spending a great deal more hours on the worship service every week. The service is changed every week to reflect the message of the Gospel lesson. 5 years ago, we began the Country Gospel service. Having the projection screen lifts the worshipper’s head during singing; allows for visuals and art work; and, gets the announcements read by everyone.  

9) Goal: Improve our Worship Space. Explanation: The lighting was terrible. The P.A. needed improvement. The heating/AC system needed upgrading. The communion rail was too short to facilitate our larger attendance. Update: The lighting has been replaced. The P.A. system has been upgraded. The Heating/AC unit has been rebuilt and upgraded.  The front of the church has been rearranged to facilitate a longer communion rail. The organ is still being upgraded. The P.A. has one more move to make that would put the sound board in the back of the sanctuary. 

10) Goal: Get more Lay involvement in the ministry of the church. Explanation: The church had fallen into a “let the pastor do it” or “hire it done” mentality. Update: We added a volunteer coordinator position. 

11) Goal: Increase and improve our fellowshipping ministries. Explanation: As the church began to grow, new members and long-term members did not know each other. The congregation was becoming divided. Update: A number of programs were held. Some were held once; others a few times; some continue. Birthday Bunch, Dinner for 8, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, Father/Son Retreat, Marriage Enrichment Retreat, New Year’s Eve party, Small Groups, Growing Kids God’s Way, Moms and Tots, Summer Film Nights, Pairs and Spares, Aerobics, Square Dancing, The 40 Days of Purpose. Virtually all of these were one-time events that do not continue. 

11) Goal: Fix the overcrowding of the Sunday school rooms. Explanation: We are growing out of the current rooms. Update: It is being built in 2006. 

12) Goal: Reach out to the unchurched. Explanation: At the center of the church’s purpose is evangelism. As Lutherans we are just not very good at it. We need help to fulfill the great commission. Two great programs were already in place but more were needed: The Smorgy; FCA. Update: We stopped charging for weddings and funerals. Several programs were begun: Growing Kids God’s Way; The 40 Days of Purpose; Baptismal banners; Meals on Wheels; Mass Mailings; Spanish Speaking Worship Service; Boy Scouts; The Country Gospel Service; The Fair Booth; The Eggstravagansa; and, resurrecting Golden Club.  

Next Goal: Shutting the back door. Explanation: Our work on the previous goals has worked! We are growing. Members are inviting people to our service. Unchurched folk are coming to our congregation and staying! The challenge is that our newest members are not getting tied into the congregation fast enough or deep enough. We are seeing them come in the front door and then leave. Though we continue to take in new members, our Sunday morning attendance has been on a plateau for 5 years.

Update: Call a second pastor. The added ministries (whether Pastor Demant does them or he/she does them) need to be fellowshipping, tie-the-congregation-together ministries. For example: 

Birthday Bunch, bus trips, parenting classes, seniors events, volleyball and softball leagues, marriage retreats, pot-lucks, men’s retreats, father/son events, mother/daughter events, church picnics, college/careers events, Valentines Day dinner, singles’ events, summer movies, motorcycle trips, seniors’ trips, Easton Community organizing, Dinner For 8, Easton Seniors organizing, and etc.