God has given many blessings to his believers, blessing which they as stewards are to use for the furtherance of his Kingdom. Among these are the blessings of time, talents, and treasure. Not all receive them to the same degree, but God expects good stewardship of each gift as it is given. The church body can help its members plan and carry out their stewardship.
The stewardship of a Christian's time and talents is reflected first of all in the individual's support of the Lord's work in the home parish and beyond. This is evident from participation in worship, in prayer, in confession of faith, and in witnessing that faith to family, relatives, neighbors, friends, and fellow-workers. It is also shown in the Christian's willingness to participate in the government of the congregation where membership is held.
See also "Life as a Member" under the Who We Are section for information about church services, baptism and holy communion.
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Audio Video Technology Team
- Our congregation is blessed with the opportunity to share with you the Word of God through video on the Internet and through Public Access television in River Falls and beyond through Internet video streaming of both pre-recorded and live sreaming. Our goal is to have the sermons and the entire service available online for you each week. Please join us virtually for a service, or hear our Pastor share the message of law and gospel.
Our audio and video team is made up of lay people that only have an interest in learning how to contribute to the unique ministry tool. Most team members start with no experience in live audio or video productions. Video editing is like editing a document with special software. Training and opportunities are always available. A rotational schedule is available on the church calendar, with rotations being about one worship service per month.
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Altar Guild
- What a privilege it is for our women to beautify the Lord's Altar, by setting up and removing the communion ware used at the Lord's Table. The Altar Guild Chairperson would like your participation in the rotation.
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Camp Croix Association
- Faith is a part of the St. Croix Conference of churches. These are congregations mostly from the Twin City metro area and west central Wisconsin. These churches are members of the Camp Croix Association. Camp Croix is located in northern Wisconsin, with an address of Danbury, WI, between Webster and Spooner, on the shore of Rooney Lake.
The Camp is available for us by members of these churches year around, with prior reservations. One of the major activities at the Camp is the annual summer bible camp weeks that occur in July. For a week, youth attend the camp for fellowship, fun, crafts, watersports, and Bible studies.
The Camp has many facilities for lodging; cabins, lodge, and camping sites for tent or camper. Check the website http://www.campcroix.org for details. Our congregation as a member supports the Camp with donations. The Camp makes Bible Camps available to our youth, and we reserve a weekend in early June for our members to go as a group to enjoy our fellowship in God's creation. For current information and details of Camp Croix, contact Pastor.
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Church Discipline
- There are times when the old Adam takes hold of members of a congregation, and they become lax in church attendance, giving, attendance at the Lord's Table, and in bringing up their children in the fear and wisdom of God. They may join some organizations which have goals incompatible with the faith professed by the members, or they may live impenitently in some open sin.
See the Church Discipline page for detailed information regarding God's Procedure and Attitude to this subject.
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Funerals
Preparations for death
You Personally. We encourage all to continue to trust in Jesus as their one and only Savior. This truly makes one ready to face the Almighty on your day of judgment. We encourage you to continually express your faith in your Savior to family and friends. You are his witness. We also encourage our members to designate a health care guardian and make a will so that your faith continues to have an avenue of expression. We encourage you to sit down with Pastor and recount passages and hymns dear to your heart so that your funeral service will reflect your faith.
Others for you. When it becomes apparent that a member of the congregation is dying, the family should contact Pastor so that he may pray with the person, read God's Word and give assurance of the forgiveness of sins as death approaches. In situations where this is impossible, Pastor should be contacted as soon as the member dies. Arrangements for the funeral service will be made together with the family and the funeral director.
Christian burial
The Christian burial is to comfort the family with God's Word and to give them the assurance that their loved one who died in Christ has finally received the crown of life.
We will conduct the funeral of those under our spiritual care and whose faith we were able to observe. Then, according to the Scriptures, we can with confidence assure the loved ones that the deceased has died in the Lord and has received the crown of life.
Memorials
Memorials may be given to the church. A memorial list of needed items and projects is continually being updated by the council.
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Cleaners
- Our congregation likes to afford all members, for whom it isn't a hardship, the opportunity to be alone in the Lord's House with Him. The bonus is that you get to hunt down the dirt that especially troubles you. The list of cleaners is found in the Annual Report. In the Banquet Hall store are supplies and a guideline for cleaning are found in the furnace room. If you are not able to serve on any scheduled date, feel free to exchange dates with another cleaner. If you have questions regarding the cleaning procedures please speak with a member of the Board of Trustees.
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Library
- The library is freely available for you to use. It is located on the North wall of the Preschool room. To check out materials, simply sign the card in the cover of the book and leave it in the marked box.
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Lock Box
- A lock box for accessing a key to the church is available at the entry between the Preschool room and the church. Consult with a trustee or with pastor for the current access code. Please feel free to access the church as you need, however please ensure to secure all doors when leaving. Please keep the code in confidence so that we can maintain the security of the church when it is not being monitored. First time cleaners should consult with a trustee for information about accessing supplies, tools and other keys for inside the church. Audio Video technicians and musicians needing access to the balcony should consult with a trustee for obtaining a key to the stairway door.
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Mailboxes
- Members have a mailbox located on the North wall of the preschool room. Please get your mail, including your monthly newsletter from this mailbox.
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Offering Envelopes
Sound doctrine
We also worship and serve our Lord in the manner in which we administer the financial gifts he has given us. Not all of us are able to preach and teach those throughout the world who need to hear of the love of their Savior. The monetary gifts which we have received from our Savior must provide the means by which others can be taught, called, and sent to carry out the commission to make disciples of all nations. Our gifts provide the place of worship and learning in our own midst and through offerings to the WELS we reach out into the entire world. Therefore because of the love of God in us, we give cheerfully, regularly, and proportionately as the Lord has blessed us.
Offering Envelopes
Upon becoming members of the congregation, then annually after, you will receive a box of “offering envelopes” for you to give to the Lord through our worship services. The purpose of placing your offerings in the envelop is to designate to the Church Council how you would like your offering to be used in support of spreading God’s Word. Each year the congregation sets a general budget that informs the council how to go about spending our offerings in support of spreading God’s word.
If you wish to support the efforts of the congregation by your offering going to the general budget, place your offering (cash or check) in the envelop and record that amount in the box on the left side of the envelope. Periodically there will be various special projects undertaken above and beyond the general budget. You can designate your offering to be used for those projects by recording the offering amount on the right side of the envelope and write in the project name on the line. You can use the same envelope to split your offering between the two, just be sure the amounts add up to the amount offered inside the envelope.
The “Financial Secretary” will record the information from your envelope and in January will provide you a giving statement for your taxes for the previous calendar year. The recording of your offering is only used for church financial records auditing purposes and to account for the giving statement to you for your taxes; it is not used to determine if you are meeting any goals or “giving your share” to the Lord. That is between you and Him.
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Pastoral Care and Your Responsibility
- The pastor is called not only to preach and teach publicly, but also to minister on a personal level to the members of the congregation. To take full advantage of this ministry, keep the pastor informed of your needs, hardships, and joys. Please watch for any opportunity to call, to invite, to welcome him into your homes and lives so that God's Word can be directly and personally pointed to your needs. You will find Pastor truly does stand ready to assist you in any way consistent with his office.
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Ushers
- Because involvement of the men of the congregation is so important, we use our usher program to teach male leadership, responsibility, and service. The young men after confirmation are encouraged to serve as ushers. Also, all other capable men are invited to serve in either the early or late service. The role of the usher in the service is to provide direction to congregation and visitors throughout the service, to collect and take the offering to the altar on behalf of those assembled, and to support the pastor in ensuring the service is conducted in a God pleasing manner.
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Weddings
- A Christian man and woman will certainly want their marriage blessed by God and will come to God in prayer on their wedding day. It is for this reason that the civil ceremony of marriage as set up by our State is brought into the church. Marriage is God-ordained and should be entered into with the Word of God and prayer.
When the couple becomes engaged, (or even before) they should come to the pastor for consultation and counseling. Perhaps already at this time a date for the service can be set. This should be done as far in advance as possible.
The wedding is a church service. For this reason: 1) Those who participate (the pastor, instrumentalists and singers) will be people who are in fellowship with our church; and 2) Christ, the focal point of the service, will be kept in mind.
Other matters and arrangements vary and will be carried out in a God pleasing manner according to the wishes of the bride and groom.
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Women of Faith (W.O.F.)
- A primary purpose of the Women of Faith is to find ways to serve Christ and support one another. To this end, W.O.F. provides opportunity for Bible study and time to support one another in our monthly meetings. Our desire is to encourage and support one another in Christian love and fellowship while promoting the growth and spread of God’s word and blessings. We open our meetings with devotion, conduct our business meeting, and conclude with refreshments and a presentation, speaker, or fun activity.
The W.O.F. coordinates the circles. The circles are designed to give every woman of the congregation the opportunity to help with some of the fellowship activities of the congregation before Advent/Lenten services. All women of the congregation are members of W.O.F. by virtue of their church membership, and we encourage them to get involved as they have opportunity and ability.
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Youth are Treasured
- Our youth are a gift from God. Therefore, it is our desire to thank God for them by passing on to them the wonderful truths of God's grace in a number of different settings. Visit the Ministry page for more information about the various youth programs that we do have within our church.
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Our Mission
As men, women, and children united in faith in Christ Jesus, we believe he commanded us to “go and make disciples.” We therefore will proclaim the Gospel of Christ through our words and actions to the community, campus, and others. We will teach God’s word in its truth and purity to help each other grow and mature in faith preparing us, God’s people, for “works of service.”
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Categorical Index
The index below will help you cross reference articles and pages elsewhere within this website.
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Church Calendar
Our church calendar is a Google calendar that contains our worship service, bible study, stewardship activities and other events within the Church.
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