Community Lutheran Church -- Enfield NH

Welcome

We are happy that you have discovered Community Lutheran Church – a historic congregation located in the heart of New England’s Upper Valley. Our church has faithfully served Enfield and the surrounding community for more than 150 years; and we remain a growing congregation that is excited about God and what He is doing in our midst. We believe that our church is more than just a building, it’s the locus of God’s people striving to proclaim our love for God and Creation through worship, service, fellowship and prayer.

Our Sunday morning worship service begins at 9:30 AM in our sanctuary, and we gather afterwards in our Fellowship Hall for an informal communal Coffee Hour. We also host special worship services throughout the year for the congregation and for members of our community. Our Sunday School and youth programs help to serve the young people in our congregation and provide another form of outreach to the community.  We invite you to come “as you are;” and we pray that you find our welcome sincere, our faith genuine, and our need for God’s mercy and blessing to be at the center of all that we do.

At the present time we are in the "search process" for a new pastor. Our "contact pastor" in this intrum period is The Rev. Susan Thomas plus we are fortunate to have Rev. Tom Atkins, a retired pastor and US Navy Chaplan in our congregation who is working with Rev. Thomas to insure that the pastoral work at CLC continues.

PASTOR'S LETTER
    

PRESSING ON

Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it on my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.  Philippians 3:4

At the first meeting of the 2016 Council in February, I asked each member to identify a strength they have. I spoke first, citing many years of experience as a pastor and--since I’m a pastor and always have a second, third or fourth point to add--an ability to listen.
Others followed and the list became quite a full one. Among the strengths mentioned were:
1. Leadership
2. Big ideas (that need to be delegated to detail people in order to happen)
3. Communication skill
4. Good at working out the details (see #2)
5. Love of working with children
6. Caring
7. A lifetime in the church
8. Organizing get-togethers
9. Seeing what needs to be done and either doing it or getting others to do it
10. Goal-setting
11. Joy in working for a good cause
12. Empathy
13. Editing (correction and clarifying intent)
14. Questioning rules (a healthy disrespect for what may be expected)
15. Networking
16. Analysis of data and issues
17. Technology skills
18. Frugality
19. Loving people (especially kids) others find difficult to love
20. Patience
Now, since CLC doesn’t have a 20-member Council, you can see that some followed my lead and were able to identify and bring more than one strength to the table!
I find this list of self-identified strengths among those in Christ’s service on the CLC Council very encouraging, in part because they are such useful strengths for the congregation now. Certainly there would be at least as long a list of weaknesses, had I also asked for people to identify those. But my point is that these strengths, joined with the many other strengths to be found among your members, have the potential to serve the congregation well during this transition time and beyond.
Recognizing one’s strengths also brings to mind accompanying weaknesses or the possible negative aspects of a strength. For example, someone good at detail might lose sight of the goal. Someone who is empathetic might hesitate to make constructive criticisms so as not to hurt feelings. Someone who is frugal might be unwilling to invest in a something that could bring a long-term (or even short-term) benefit.
Self-awareness is key. And self-awareness as a congregation will also be key during this period of CLC’s journey in faith. It’s important at all times, but particularly so as issues are addressed and decisions made for the congregation’s immediate and longer term future.
You have many, many strengths that, given as an offering for God to shape and use, will serve you well at CLC. Let us pray, then, for increased self-awareness and discernment of the role that God, in turn, is giving to each in this beloved community as well as to the congregation as a whole as we press on together toward the goal “for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” during these coming months and years.
In hope and expectation,

Pastor Susan--February 23, 2016