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ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH

420 1st Street SE PO Box 118 Gwinner, ND 701.678.2401 www.ziongwinner.org

Divine Service 10:00 am Every Sunday

September 2016

Newsletter

Baptized Saints: I really enjoy an old quote by Martin Luther. He once said,

"I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And then, while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my Philip [Melanchthon] and my Amsdorf [Nicholaus von], the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor did such damage to it. I did nothing. The Word did it all."

What does Luther mean though? What he was saying is that the Reformation was not due to any profound abilities on behalf of the reformers, but that the power of the Reformation to challenge the 16th Century Papacy was solely in the Word.

What does this mean for Zion though? Here at Zion we do want to strive to be professional, friendly, and offer good programs such as Sunday School, Confirmation, and LWML. We want to have reverent and welcoming Divine Services. However, we need to keep in mind that these programs and ministries are only as good as that which is taught and proclaimed from them. In other words, our blessed church does not hang on the strength of programs and ministry functions and potlucks (as good as our food is!), but rather, our programs, ministry functions, and services hang upon the Word of God. It is about the Lord's Word and Sacraments. Indeed, the power of the church is not found in her programs, her architecture, or her personality, but rather, it is in the Word that goes forth.

So, as we look forward to our new school year, we can rejoice that the Word and Sacraments will continue to go forth from Zion: the Book of Romans at the Wednesday Bible Studies; the Book of Ecclesiastes at the Sunday Adult Bible Study; Growing in Christ Sunday School Lessons for the Children; the Small Catechism for Confirmation; and many Christ-centered Sermons on Sundays!

Blessed Baptized Saints, come and receive the Lord's Word and Sacraments, for the Word of the Lord endures forever!

+VDMA -Pastor

Pastor’s Note

Youth Events

September Birthdays

Mission of the Month

Service Lists

Calendar

Pastor’s Article

Fall Schedule

In This Issue…

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September Birthdays

1 – Mike McKenna

2 – Jim Asche Kaitlyn Wangler

3 – Joyce McDaniel Harry Neustel

6 – Adam Neustel Tim Rehborg

8 – Clarice Bunt

11 – Bill Grenier

12– Kay Drevlow

13 – Agnes Dudas

15 – Sparky Engquist Vicki Roeder Tina Vincent

18 – Lyle Halvorson

19 – Halle Nelson

25 – Matthew Metzen

26– Brian McKenna

27– Liz Neustel Randy Rotenberger

What better way to kick off the year than with a game of dodgeball!

Pastor is coordinating with the other Pastors in our circuit for a massive dodgeball tournament!

Watch for the date…coming soon! Of course there will also be pizza

Youth Event for October

Wednesday September 14 at 4:00pm

11 students will be gathering in God's Word to be catechized in the Christian

Faith. There will be time between when school lets out and class starts to hang out and eat pizza, visit with friends, hear some great music.

Congratulations to the Dudas Family!!

Words cannot express how excited I am for the Dudas Family. For starters they have found a spiritual home here at Zion - they are such a blessed addition to our church family. Secondly, they are coming home to America. In other words, after 5 long years of being in the United States and after all the paper work and after all the naturalization tests, they are being sworn in as United States Citizens on September 13th at 11:00 AM at the US District Court of North Dakota (If you are able to attend: 2525 9th Ave. South in Fargo).

Please join me in celebrating this life achievement with the Dudas Family!

Welcome Home! -Pastor

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Parish Assistant Office Hours

Monday-Friday 9:30 am to 12:30 pm

Wednesday 9:30 am to 5:00 pm

Email: ziongwinner@gmail.com

Please call or email either Pastor or the Church Office if you need spiritual care,

know of somebody in the hospital needing a visit, have prayer submissions for the

divine service, or for any other church related circumstance.

Mission of the Month –

God’s Reign in Spain The Missionary Journey of Pr. David & Shelee Warner

Make note of these:

Pastor’s Office & Study Hours

Monday Pastor’s Day Off

Tuesday 9:30 am to 5:00 pm

Wednesday 11:00 am to 3:00 pm

Thursday 9:30 am to 5:00 pm

Friday 9:30 am to 5:00 pm

If Pastor is out for visitations, meetings, etc…

during the scheduled times above, he will

generally have a ‘be back soon’ sign on the

church’s front door informing you of

his estimated time of return.

Need to Contact Pastor?

Email: pastor@ziongwinner.org

Cell: 701-680-2658

Office: 701-678-2401

Blog: www.pastormattrichard.com

God is at work in Spain, and Zion Gwinner is a big part of that! Pastor David and Shelee Warner have been working in Spain for 16 months, and the Holy Spirit is pouring out many blessings. To start, we can rejoice over two baptisms, a wedding, a wedding blessing, and dozens and dozens of services of Word and Sacrament, with congregations as large as 35, and as small as 2. A second LCMS missionary family joined us in December 2015, and as the new pastor´s language skills come along, he is contributing more and more to the work. We have increased the frequency of worship in all three of our locations, Sevilla, Madrid and Cartagena, and we are getting out to visit and care for our 78 members scattered in 17 different cities. (Yikes!) Your support makes all of this possible, so thank you again. We face other challenges beyond the scattered nature of our church, including the slow grind of Spanish bureaucracy, and the ongoing need to improve our understanding of Spanish culture and our language proficiency. We have improved our worship facility situation, but we are still working towards optimal long term facilities. We have also felt lonely and homesick from time to time, but knowing that we have so many people supporting us and praying for us lifts us up, and we rejoice in the opportunity to bring the pure Gospel in Word and Sacrament to the people of Spain. Thank you for your continued support in prayer and finances. If you have questions, feel free to contact us at pastorwarner@outlook.com or sheleew@outlook.com. Peace and joy in Christ to you all, Pastor and Shelee.

We will be Skyping with the Warners during our Potluck on Rally Sunday – September 11!

We look forward to coming together as they share some of the highlights of their mission work in Spain!

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Ushers

September 4

th Ron & Chelie Greenmyer

11th

Jason & Hollie Asche

18th

John & Patti Thompson

25th

Grover & Jan Riebe

October 2

nd Jordan & Heather Swanson

9th

LWML Sunday

16th

Betsy & Collin Greenley

23rd

Scott & Teresa Illies

30th

Rodney & Sandy Mathias

CHIP Families (Christians Held in Prayer) September 4

Curt & Shelli Colemer 103 4th Ave SE Gwinner, ND 58040

September 11

Alice Decker 1600 Veterans Drive Lisbon, ND 58054

Acolytes

September

4th Carissa Stroh

11th Bladen Wangler

18th KyAnna Halmrast

25th Brady McKenna

Cleaners List 4th to 10th

Jason & Hollie Asche

Jay & Karen Enderson

Alex & Sam Opdahl

Andy & Stephanie Stroh

11th to 17th

Jan Swanson

Scott & Teresa Illies

Duane & Sharon Orth

Jody Schreiner

Roger & Kathy Schreiner

Note: If you are unable to usher or acolyte on your scheduled date, we ask that you please contact another member to switch with.

18th to 24th

Dale & Martha Asche

Joey & Cindy Enderson

Lonnie Hoechst

Derek & Jennifer Wangler

25th to 1st

Rodney & Sandy Asche

Vince & Donna Olson

Ella Rempfer

Teresa Rodahl

Kevin & Cindy Dietz

September 18

Gary & Lola Decker 182 Maplewood Drive Gwinner, ND 58040

September 25 Kevin & Cindy Dietz Mackenzie, Shelby, Troy 105 4th Ave SE Gwinner, ND 58040

*Please remember to sign your name

on the chart on the bulletin board

by the kitchen noting which area of

the church you have cleaned*

October

2nd Christina Mathias

9th Schuyler Utecht

16th Allie Bopp

23rd Howie Neustel

30th Annika Nelson

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September 2016 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 am Divine Service

*Communion

*Labor Day

Church office closed

10 am Staff Mtg

7pm Sargent County Food Pantry Meeting

9am Pastor’s Study

5:30 pm Divine Service Planning Meeting

10 am SE Circuit Youth Planning Meeting

12 RALLY SUNDAY

9 am Sunday School for adults and children

10 am Divine Service

12 Pastor’s Day Off

13 10 am Staff Mtg

14 9am Pastor’s Study

10:30 am 4Season’s Chapel Service

2 pm LWML

4pm Confirmation

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16

17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 9 am Sunday School for adults and children

10 am Divine Service

*Communion

Pastor’s Day Off

10 am Staff Mtg

9 am Pastor’s Study

4pm Confirmation

25 26 27 28 29 30 9 am Sunday School for adults and children

10 am Divine Service

Pastor’s Day Off

10 am Staff Mtg

*Newsletter Material Due

9am Pastor’s Study

4pm Confirmation

7:15 pm LWML

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Pushing Back Against the Statistics and Culture!

By: Rev. Dr. Matthew Richard

The statistics are very troubling. They cause me a

lot of sorrow as a pastor and a father. According

to Lifeway Research, 70% of Christian youth no

longer attend church after they graduate. But why

is this the case; why is this so high? For starters,

the devil, the world, and children’s sinful nature

are active 166 hours a week – trying to destroy

and undo any and all of the Lord’s work upon

your son/daughter. There are also other reasons

why children and youth no longer go to church

after high school as well, reasons such as: the

church inadequately prepared them, parents

failed to attach importance to the Christian faith,

the church entertained

rather than taught the

fundamentals of the

Christian faith, the youth

got a job resulting in them

having to work on Sunday

mornings, and so forth.

Our society isn’t helping this matter either. That

is to say, over the last several decades America

has become more and more unashamedly pagan.

For example: the Christian story has been lost in

our culture and Biblical illiteracy is at an all-time

high. This has resulted in: abortion being a right;

the definition of marriage being changed for the

first time in 2,000 plus years; same-sex marriage

being legalized for the first time in history; and

just this last year, the gender distinctions of male

and female are being deleted and deemed by

some as oppressive.

Now, I share these statistics and conditions not to

create a raincloud over your head or to be a fear

monger, but rather, to highlight that our children

and youth face some very difficult challenges in

regard to the Christian faith. They are growing up

in a world where instead of Christians being

respected, Christians are now labeled bigots and

haters, with lawsuits and government mandates

stomping on religious freedom.

With that stated though, we do have an

alternative. That alternative is to push back

against the statistics and our culture.

But how can we push back specifically?

First, in regard to keeping our children and youth

in the church beyond graduation: we can bring

our families to Church consistently, where we will

be continually met by the Lord’s gifts of

forgiveness, life, and salvation. In other words,

though it is not a formula for complete success, it

is interesting to note that 82% of children raised

by parents (i.e., parents who attached great

importance to the Christian faith and were active

in their congregation) ended up ‘staying’ in the

church after graduation, whereas only 1% stayed

in church if the parents had a hands off approach

to Christianity (National Study of Youth and Religion).

The point being, going to church with the family

is of tremendous importance and matters, for

when children and youth are in the church, they

can receive the Lord’s gifts and be equipped for

the challenges that lie ahead.

Secondly, in regard to combating our paganized

culture: we can bring our families to Sunday

School, so that everybody can be equipped for

the dramatic changes in the culture. In this

regard, we are blessed at Zion to have Sunday

School for preschool to 8th grade and a

Youth/Adult Bible Study that meets each Sunday.

At Sunday School, the children and youth will be

taught the Word of God: getting prepared for

confirmation. At the Youth/Adult Bible Study, we

get to study the Bible, as well as examine the

current culture that we find ourselves in.

Continued on next page…..

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Considering this, we are launching the 2016

Fall Schedule on September 11th. At 9:00 AM

the children, youth, and adults will be meeting

in the Sanctuary for opening announcements.

Then at 9:10 AM the Youth and Adults will

break for their Bible Study, while the children

and junior high will have a short Handbell

Choir Practice. Following the Handbell

Practice the children and junior high will be

dismissed to their rooms/activities.

Furthermore, the Divine Service for September

11th is at 10:00 AM, followed by a Potluck

Meal for the whole church family (Please bring

your favorite food dish to share).

In closing, no other factors, such as programs

or service projects or church gimmicks or

church entertainment, match the influence of

parents. Parents are the most influential on

their children, which means that we – as

parents and even grandparents – are in a

position to bring our children and youth to

the Lord’s Word and Sacraments here at Zion.

We indeed get to drag them out of bed on

Sunday Mornings (and ourselves), for we

know that what we all need is a robust

teaching of God’s Word and the joyful

reception of the Lord’s Sacrament. Truly, we

parents and grandparents are in a position to

care for our children's physical, emotional,

'and' spiritual well-being… and this happens

when we are coming to the Lord’s church; week

after week after week.

Rally Sunday September 11

Sundays

9am Sunday School for children & adults 10am Divine Service *communion 1st & 3rd Sundays

Wednesdays

9am Pastor’s Bible Study 4pm Confirmation

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Zion Lutheran Church A Church of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

THE MISSION OF ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH IS TO

CONTINUE THE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST BY

BEING ROOTED IN THE WORD,

BY GROWING IN FAITH,

AND BY BRANCHING OUT

WITH THE GOSPEL

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