Linman Pastoral Message
Pastoral Message
Week of the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 22, 2022
Dear People of God at Faith/La Fe!
Here is this week’s installment of my regular pastoral messages to keep you up to date about what is going on in our congregation. Please note there are some re-runs here to reinforce and reiterate important current information about our life together.
Now you can call me directly!
Thanks to Logan’s efforts, I now have a dedicated phone number at church for your use to contact me directly. It is my understanding that should I not be in the office, when you leave a message, I will receive an email which includes the audio recording of your message. Since I regularly monitor email, I will quickly be aware of any messages I receive and can get back to you promptly. So, you can email me if you like (pastor@faithalive.com) and now you can call me directly – 602-265-5860. Please make note of this dedicated phone number for the pastor’s office.
Calling a half-time pastor for our Spanish language ministry
Accompanying this communication is a letter from John Johnstonbaugh, our President, giving official notice of the special congregational meeting on October 2 to call Veronica Alvarez as a half-time pastor to shepherd our Spanish language ministry.
Below, to reiterate and reinforce the particulars of this proposal, I include again what I wrote last week:
As I suggested to you in last week’s message, congregation leaders and I have been in conversation with Grand Canyon Synod Bishop Hutterer and churchwide staff about their desire to help fund a half-time pastor here to work with me and with us on shepherding the Spanish language ministry of our congregation. Our Executive Team gave an enthusiastic green light to proceeding with the submission of an application to receive grant funding from both the Grand Canyon Synod and our ELCA churchwide organization. I am delighted to report to you that these grants have been approved for the remainder of this calendar year 2022 and for all of 2023. This funding will be eligible to be annually renewed for a period of a few years, giving us time to strengthen this ministry toward self-sustainability. The outlay of costs to the congregation will be about $5,000 more than what is currently budgeted annually for the Spanish language services. Members of our Spanish speaking community will be given the challenge of offering about $2,500 to this effort as an expression of their commitment to growth. Likewise, members of the English-speaking community will need to commit an additional $2,500 annually, an achievable goal in my estimation. The Grand Canyon Synod is committing $10,000 up front to this proposal, and the churchwide grant is $22,500 annually. So, our wider church is making a significant commitment to this ministry, as they desire that there be a Spanish language Lutheran ministry in central Phoenix and one in a congregation committed to nurturing fully inclusive Christian community.
Veronica Alverez, who completed a significant portion of her practical training as a candidate for ordained ministry here at our congregation, has been named by Bishop Hutterer as the candidate for this half-time pastoral position. At our meeting on September 13, our Congregation Council voted unanimously and enthusiastically to proceed with this proposal and to present Veronica to our whole congregation for a vote to call her as a pastor for our Spanish language ministry at a specially called congregational meeting on Sunday, October 2 (to take place between our two liturgies). So, please plan to attend this special meeting.
Should our congregation vote favorably to call Veronica, Bishop Hutterer is available to preside at her ordination at a special liturgy on Reformation Sunday, October 30 at 2:00 pm.
This is a very exciting and hopeful development in our life together which we share in partnership with our wider church. I would look forward to working with Veronica, that together we would lead and serve as a pastoral team not just for our Spanish-speaking members, but for our whole congregation which has both English speaking and Spanish speaking members.
Concluding thoughts
The “Pack Rat” container pod did in fact arrive safely last Friday – and it was the same pod that was packed with my worldly belongings several weeks ago in Arlington, Virginia! A small crew of our congregation-related folk and others unloaded the pod and got the stuff safely into my condo. Last Saturday, another crew of church folk was present to focus on unpacking kitchen-related items so that I could immediately have a working kitchen. Thousand thanks to those who offered their time and energy and sweat equity for these moving-in efforts!
On this past Sunday evening, I retrieved my two litter mate cats – Ben and Benny – from Wanda Frenchman who generously boarded my feline friends until such time as I could move into my new place. So, I drove the twins to our new home, and we spent our first night there last Sunday. The transition is making good progress, and will continue for some time until I’m truly and more fully settled in. But thanks be to God and to you for this tangible forward movement toward my making a new home here in Phoenix!
Appreciatively in Christ,
Pastor Jonathan Linman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 20, 2022
Greetings Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church,
It's with great excitement and anticipation that I announce there will be a special Congregation Meeting on Sunday, October 2nd at 10:15am to vote to officially extend a call to Veronica Alvarez as a half-time pastor to shepherd the Spanish language ministry of Faith/La Fe.
Veronica, who served Faith/La Fe as part of her internship in preparation for ordained ministry, was recently approved for ordination by the Candidacy Committee of the Grand Canyon Synod. As a candidate in the Theological Education for Emerging Ministries program, Veronica is under the care of Bishop Hutterer who has recommended her to us for this ministry which will largely be underwritten by grant funding from our synod and the ELCA churchwide organization. This proposal for our Spanish language ministry has been enthusiastically and unanimously approved by both our Executive Team and Congregation Council, which has called for this congregational meeting on October 2.
Pastor Linman has offered in previous written messages and spoken announcements further information about this proposal, how it will be financed, and so on. I direct your attention to those statements for further information. And should you wish still more information, please do not hesitate to contact Pastor Linman.
Please make every effort to be present for the special congregational meeting on October 2. And I invite your prayers for the Holy Spirit’s guidance that mission and ministry may flourish at Faith/La Fe in the coming months and years.
Respectfully yours in Christ,
John Johnstonbaugh
Church Council President