Below is a compiled list of questions and comments from our Omaha congregations regarding the Life Lutheran initiative, noted during recent Life Lutheran Presentations. Leadership from each church put together the following responses to those questions and comments. The list is organized to avoid duplication where possible, while preserving the essence of each question or comment.
· A larger church body allows us to focus on a few things and do them very well, for example the soccer camp a few years ago. We can capitalize on gifts that the different congregations have the others do not.
· The ability to be seen/remembered is greater with one church with one name.
· Small groups, both adult and youth, have a larger footprint and additional numbers and momentum when non-members or the unchurched are invited.
· Losing proximity has the potential to lose some church/school individual and families. The gospel message will remain true regardless of the location and we pray that many/most will follow for that very reason and new members will join.
· Our goal is to find a central location with easy access off the major thoroughfares. We still want easy access. They call Omaha a 20 minute town, so many folks are used to driving to get to places.
· We will lose some geographic advantages with only one location, and will need strategies to broaden our footprint city-wide.
· The Sudanese function primarily on their own. Pastor Burr may have a service after the late Sunday service. They have events and celebrations where many folks come from all over the country. These events last many hours and can go into the wee hours of the morning. Food is usually involved with these, so they would need access to a kitchen.
· No changes for Blair. They will continue to be a light in their community with support from a Life Lutheran Pastor/Vicar.
· The original group that was meeting picked the name out of several others. It also has the potential incorporation in naming multi-site locations too.
· We do have the domain name spoken for so it can’t be used by someone else.
· It will be up to the consolidated congregational voters to decide that.
· If that were to happen, a consolidated congregation would be easier to serve.
· That is one of the benefits of combining congregations. If we have 2 or 3 pastors and one takes a call, we are still being served by someone who is familiar with us. Many things would not have to change during the vacancy with lay help. Same with the school faculty.
· Yes, that is our intention.
· Yes. Once we are incorporated with a new name, constitution, and bylaws, new calls should be issued. There is a good chance some new duties could be part of those calls too.
· To be determined, but we believe we have adequate staffing with current levels.
· The called worker shortage is Synod wide. It affects both pastors and teachers. Our ministerial schools, seminary, and WELS leadership are working on ways to recruit and to reorganize to help alleviate the problem. Combining congregations is one of the ways churches across our synod will be addressing that. Some by choice and others without a choice.
· Agreed. Having all of our daycare and schools on one campus gives the teachers support in many ways. With a larger school, it may be possible to have a dedicated administrator who is able to assist with discipline, speak with parents, and not be disturbing his class while doing so.
· That would be a discussion along with a capital fund drive if the congregations decide to move forward as one church body. It could happen as properties are sold as well.
· It can be. There has to be discussion and planning going on as things evolve. Many times phasing increases costs. Prices are always going up. Building codes change, and then you may have to redo what you did previously. All ways should be investigated and the best way used once we decide to move forward as one church body.
· This would be discussed as one of the first moves once the congregations decide to merge. If it is feasible to do so, an evaluation of how to do that will take place to continue ministry while setting Life Lutheran up for success.
· We will operate as one church body, so the debt would be taken care of as one church. The financial situation of each church is fairly similar given property values, current cash assets and debt. It can be done with the proceeds of selling property or fund raising.
· There will be money for ministry in all 3 scenarios. The amount available will vary depending on the scenario and how God leads us.
· Yes, the numbers used were with current interest rates
· Yes, to a point. For the presentation purposes, basic facts were provided that are easily gathered with little to no cost. Once the merger is agreed upon, there will be a deep dive into the scenarios and it can be presented to the members for approval then.
· Once the merger is agreed upon, a new corporation will be formed with all the legalities required. We will be able to do everything business oriented that the individual congregations do now. The larger numbers of people and offerings will help our position.
· The BPOs include the purchase price of the land and buildings in today’s current market
· We understand the need for these but hard and fast numbers won’t be available until we spend money to get those utilizing an Architect and plans for a specific property. There aren’t funds to move forward with that until we have approval from the congregations, unless private donations came forward to fund that.
· Moving the school(s) brings with it the potential to lose families. Our schools have folks coming from all over the city, not just from our neighborhoods. The reputation of the schools is what brings those families by word of mouth to both members and non-members.
· That would be one of the blessings of a shared staff/location
· That would be a potential blessing of a shared staff/location
· Combining OPL and the two schools would alleviate this challenge.
· One of the blessings we have found through the years is many times a stay at home mom or relative will become active with helping the school out in many ways while the family has kids attending there. Merging would help grow the number of possible staffers and volunteers.
· We want/need to think bold and long term when we start to think about a new site. We don’t want to get into a new facility and have to move soon after because we didn’t have a place to grow into. Ultimately, costs/debt ratio will factor into what we do, but long range planning has to be factored into those decisions with input from our members.
· This is not in the current scope even though it was brought up at multiple meetings. The current scope is a church and Pre-K-8th grade school. All of our current congregations support NELHS with our gifts and students.
· Yes, the current scope being discussed would include daycare, Pre-K and K-8 with aftercare available during the school year as well.
· This is a wonderful question and one that we will be discussing at upcoming Life Lutheran meetings.
· We would encourage all members to begin pondering these questions as we prepare for this. How do we bring in a new pastor or teacher with new ideas than the way we have always done it? How do we welcome visitors and new members into our congregations? Are we regimented and stiff with things that can be changed to accommodate others? Do we change things that should not be changed? Jesus asks us to love one another, and that love is going to be what allows us to adjust to meet each other’s needs.
· Yes, there has been a lot of discussion about that. The gospel message will remain true regardless of the location, and we pray that many/most will follow for that very reason.
· Additionally, many members stated they will go where the church goes as long as the message stays true to the word of God.
· This is where we as members convince them that they will hear the truth of God’s word when they come to Life Lutheran in addition to the various worship, fellowship and study opportunities one larger congregation can provide.
· Offer to pick them up, friendship ministry works! If we do the best we can and make ministry intentional, the Holy Spirit will be at work to overcome those barriers.
· We do not have a solid number for that. We have heard the possibility of up to 25% but that is speculation at this point based on the past and different situations.
· We do not have a solid number for that. We have heard the possibility of up to 25% but that is speculation at this point.
· This has been a big discussion point at the Life Lutheran meetings. The plan/goal is to remain a generational church where we grow in intimacy/closeness to one another and we grow our relationship with our Lord and Savior through hearing and studying the word.
· Small groups are ways to promote and grow that intimacy through Bible/topic studies, Mingles, card club, OWLS, softball, youth, etc.
· This is acknowledged and has been discussed. Similar to what happens when we have joint services, there will be intentional things from each individual church brought to be part of the joint congregation.
· We pray this is the case for all of our members and school families.
· The Voter’s at each church would make the final decision to move forward or not.
· We are currently putting a timeline together that will be shared with all congregations.
· Currently there isn’t a hard timeline, but we don’t want to delay ministry opportunities at the individual congregations or Life Lutheran by dragging it out. A call taken, a health issue, an accident would greatly affect our current ministry among the churches.
· The Life Lutheran group with representation from each congregation met at the end of June to discuss church culture and how we could best merge the 3 congregations.
· The school Principals and representatives from Gethsemane and Good Shepherd met at the end of June to discuss the possibility and potential blessings of combining the schools.
· Open House on July 27 at a potential property to discuss/visualize a non-traditional option and how that property or one like it could meet our ministry needs.
· Continued sharing of ideas and facts with all of the members of each congregation to keep you informed and knowledgeable about options and what is going on.
· Yes. There is information available out there as the Synod has a program for this. We do think that our group of churches has some great talent and knowledge to be able to do this sort of thing on our own with minimal help from the synod.
· Yes. We believe King of Kings and several of the Baptist churches in Omaha did this years ago. We don’t know the details behind those mergers but the churches seem to be thriving.
· We are not aware of any funding for this potential Life Lutheran merger.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.