Updates from congregations around the Church of the Lutheran Confession
“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” (Psalm 127:1)
Main church entrance.
Last May, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of our Christian day school (pre/K—eighth grade) with a seminar, special worship service, and potluck. This summer the congregation will be doing a total renovation of the school. This will include a complete gutting of the existing interior, removal of asbestos, and a rebuild from the bare structure. We pray that this will serve us for another fifty years of God’s grace!
School entrance.
We are grateful for all the hard work of our teaching staff. Our enrollment is at twenty-seven this year, including six non-members. Mr. Mark Wales, recently retired from his consulting job in the pallet industry, has stepped in to serve as our principal. Blair Sydow, having left a public-school teaching job, has accepted the call to serve as full–time upper grade teacher. Leah Fossum teaches preschool and kindergarten. Amy Osborne teaches the lower grades. Deana Pfeiffer teaches language arts, and Bob Long volunteers to teach advanced math.
Close to a third of our congregation, about fifty souls, is between the ages of five and twenty-five. The large number of youths mentioned in our last article (Lutheran Spokesman, July 2020) has now matured into a large group of young adults in high school and college. We are grateful that so many have been able to attend ILC (fourteen this year, and hoping for five more next year). We miss them dearly! The Christ Explorers Camp for youth has now evolved into the Christ Explorers Retreat in order to serve our high school through college age young adults. We are excited to host our first such retreat in Bryson City, North Carolina, June 19-22.
With the ILC students away and sixteen households living at a distance, we average about seventy to ninety members on a given Sunday. Our ministry has a particular focus on staying connected, mentorship, and small group fellowship. We regularly review a “keeping in touch” list with our council and elders so that members who seem isolated or in special need (widows, distant households, lonely members) are visited and kept in prayer.
For the last three years, we’ve been hosting quarterly “breaking bread” small groups that meet in members’ homes. The classes usually last about four to six weeks and feature Bible-based discussion. Members have appreciated a chance to get to know others they might not normally visit with. We hosted our first men’s retreat in February at a local retreat property, with about fifteen in attendance. We toured a fish hatchery and enjoyed a tasty shrimp boil. The theme was “Encouraging Each Other.”
We are doing well and are grateful for the Lord’s continued guidance and teaching. Thank you for letting us share our faith and life in Christ with y’all!
Current and former teachers and pastors at the fiftieth anniversary of Trinity Lutheran School.
Students and instructors at the fiftieth anniversary of the school.
Church re-roofing project, spring 2019.
is pastor of Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in West Columbia, South Carolina.