Worship Service Sundays 9:00am
Building B Sanctuary
Transition Team Updates
11/21/24 - Transition Team Update
The transition team has been working on a couple of things lately. Three of our members are getting together to organize the history materials that we shared in September. We hope to eventually have a display area for some of the items and albums will be created for the rest of the things.
Our next step as a congregation is to look at the vision, mission and values of our congregation. Our transition packet includes some activities to help us do that. Specifically it says -
"Encourage the entire congregation to think about these three areas: mission, vision and values. To do so, establish a Bible Study(or multiple studies) on the book of Acts, or 1 Corinthians or Nehemiah, and as you read each chapter, ask these questions:
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What is the vision of the passage?
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What is the mission of the passage?
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What are the core values of this passage?
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How does this vision, mission, and core values relate to our congregation? What can we learn?
After a few weeks or months of Bible study, gather the congregation together for three weeks of brainstorming and conversation, led by the Transition Team, Call Committee, Council or a combination of these three."
The leaders of our 3 weekly Bible study groups have agreed to participate in this activity between now and the end of January. You are welcome to join any of them - women on Wednesday, men on Thursday morning and mixed group on Saturday afternoon - if you would like. Or you can participate on your own by choosing one of or all of these books of the BIble and completing your own study.
After the Annual Meeting in January we plan to have several sessions with congregation members to address vision, mission and values.
Welcome to our Interim Pastor
Reverend Kim Sterner
"Pastor Kim"
Introduced at our 11/2 Worship Service
As an interim pastor, Pastor Kim is responsible for:
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Leading the ongoing ministry of the congregation
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Providing pastoral care including visitation
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Leading worship and administrating the sacraments
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Guiding the congregation through the transition process
A note of Gratitude from Pastor Jeff Gallen
The great German Catholic mystic, Meister Eckhart, said, “If the only prayer you ever say is ‘Thank You’, that will be enough.” During the past twenty six years, for the privilege of being your pastor, ‘thank you’ barely seems adequate but here it is: THANK YOU! Thank you for your commitment to loving God by loving your neighbor! Standing on the firm foundation of word and sacrament, you have become a beacon of love in the West Valley. Thank you for the memorable last service with the beautiful quilt from the flock, the send off with the lovely cake reception and many cards of good wishes. Looking forward to see what God will do in the future at CELC.
Your humble servant,
Pastor Jeff Gallen
Pastor Jeff's Last Worship Service 10/27
Farewell & Godspeed
Enjoy your retirement!!
10/16/24 - Transition Team Update
Update from the Church Council – 10/16/2024
The Grand Canyon Synod has identified to the council the intentional interim pastor that will be supporting CELC beginning November 1, 2024. Her name is Pastor Kim Sterner who previously was one of the pastors at Lord of Life in Sun City. She retired from Lord of Life at the end of 2023 and has been ordained for 38 years. Details are still being finalized. Appropriate Meet and Greet opportunities will be scheduled for November.
Update from the Transition Team – 10/16/2024
The transition team is working on how best to consolidate the CELC history information including the input from the congregation that was received on 9/29. We thank the congregation for helping provide additional information. It is expected that the following will be generated:
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A list of significant events/dates organized by decade that will be posted to the CELC web site and made available to the congregation through email.
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Scrapbook(s) organized by decade with a subset of the pictures that were sorted.
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A simplified graphical timeline showing major dates and a few pictures posted in an appropriate location in Building B.
Once our intentional interim pastor, Pastor Kim Sterner, is on board, the team will work with her support to begin to plan for the small group activities that are needed to fully develop and document the Ministry Site Profile which is critical to the Call Process.
9/24/24 - Transition Team Update
The Transition Team did some preliminary work related to history and demographics over the summer and met on 9/8/24 to review progress and began discussing Fall plans. Again, one of the primary responsibilities of the transition team is to develop the Ministry Site Profile (MSP). This document is a key input to the call process and assists the synod in identifying candidates and for candidates to assess their initial interest in CELC ‘s opening. The MSP is meant to communicate the following:
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Our history (who we have been)
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Who we are today
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What are our goals and directions for the future
Click on the button for a detailed status of what the team has been working on.
7/10/24 - Transition Team Update
The Transition team was formed earlier this year to begin to prepare for when Pastor Jeff retires at the end of October this year. One of the primary responsibilities of this team is to prepare the Ministry Site Profile which is key input to the Pastoral Call Process. The members of this team are:
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Ann Bruce - Chairperson
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Stevie Henderson
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Karen Olson
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Olga Blanchard
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Jim Erickson
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Judy Turpen
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Patsy Blankenship
This is the first of ongoing updates that will be sent to the congregation. The team has met twice and has begun working. In the summer, the team will be doing preparation work on CELC history, congregation demographics, community demographics, and other preparation work for the fall. In the fall, the team will be leading small group exercises with members of the congregation to prepare the Ministry Site Profile which provides information to candidates on CELC history, who CELC is today, and what CELC's goals and priorities are moving forward.
Click on the button for a detailed status of what the team has been working on.
Any questions can be directed to members of the Transition Team.
4/26/24 Update - Transition Team Formed
The CELC Council met with Pastor Phil Gustafson in March. Pr. Gustafson is our transition coach appointed by the Grand Canyon Synod. He will guide CELC through the process of getting ready to call a new pastor upon Pr. Jeff's retirement in October. The Transition Team has been formed and was installed during the May 5 worship service.
Members of the team are:
Ann Bruce, Chair
Judy Turpen
Karen Olson
Patsy Blankenship
Jim Erickson
Olga Blanchard
Stevie Henderson
Pastor Jeff Announces Retirement in 10/24
The CELC Council acknowledged Pastor Jeff's intent to retire October 2024, at the 10/15/23 council meeting. President Su Erickson has been in contact with the Grand Canyon Synod about next steps in the transition process. Bishop Hutterer has assigned Pastor Phil Gustafson to guide us through the process of calling a new Pastor to CELC. The Council will share more information with the congregation as it becomes available.