Pastor Garrett's Report for 2024
In the book Simple Church, co-authors Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger recommend that churches focus on doing fewer things with greater intentionality. A simpler church, they argue with convincing data, will be a more effective church. More specifically, it will be more formative of its people, more hospitable to newcomers, and more aligned in its mission.
In 2024, we took aim at this very goal. Below are notes on how it went, along with what to look forward to in 2025.
Sunday Mornings: The church’s Sunday gathering has long been called the “source and summit of the Christian life.” It is, in other words, the most important thing we do together. In 2024, we made intentional efforts to continue rooting our worship in ancient practices, convinced of their growing relevance for modern people. In a culture in which distraction and isolation are the norm, Sundays are the church’s counter cultural pushback, cultivating focus (on God) and fellowship (with each other). To quote a song we sing, it is “for His glory and our good.” We hope these two things – God’s glory, your good – are what you experience Sunday to Sunday.
In 2024, average attendance at worship was 325 per week.
New Members: Discovering Membership is our pathway into membership, providing a comprehensive introduction to our beliefs and ministries. In 2024, Kristi and I began adding one last piece to that pathway – namely, a new members’ dinner at our home. It is our sincere hope as a family, and also our stated goal as a church, to cultivate a sense of genuine community wherein each person is known, loved, and prayed for.
We received 44 new members in 2024 (31 adults, along with 13 children).
Men’s Ministry: Data shows that men are far less likely than women to engage in the life of a church and to form friendships with one another. We want to buck the trend. Toward the end of 2024, we began the formation of a Men’s Ministry Leadership Team. This team has been tasked with leading ministries that equip men for lives of faithfulness, friendship, and courage.
In the coming year, a Men’s Breakfast Ministry will be monthly (the second Saturday of each month), a Men’s Retreat biannually (spring and fall), and a Men’s Six-Week Covenant Group three times (winter, spring, and fall). In 2024, our Men’s Six-Week Covenant Group met on Wednesday nights in the spring and fall, averaging 18 men in attendance.
Student Ministry: The teenage years are at once formative and complicated, full of bright moments and big questions. Since the pandemic hit in 2020, our junior high and high school students have been led by a combination of parent volunteers and temporary staffing. In 2024, this group began to outgrow that structure, leading us to begin the search for a full-time Student Ministry Director. This led us to Zoë Watts, who comes to us from the internship intensive at Trinity Lutheran in San Pedro (the same internship that Pastor Matt completed).
Zoë began here on January 6, 2025. She is bright, organized, and kind. She also has a mature faith that will benefit and bless the families and students she serves. Welcome, Zoë!
Wednesday Night Ministries: At this time last year, there were significant concerns over the future of Wednesday nights. They had once been so well-attended and vibrant, but they had been in noticeable decline for the last ten years. So, in 2024, we made minor changes to Wednesday Night Ministries so that they met for fewer sessions (just six weeks per session in the fall, winter, and spring) with greater commitment (separate Men’s and Women’s Covenant Groups ask participants to commit to coming every week). We’ve also been more intentional about inviting new members and also preschool families to our churchwide dinner.
The response has been tremendous, with weekly attendance regularly nearing 100 people. The future of our Wednesday nights looks bright again.
Gospel Partnership: To paraphrase John Donne, no church is an island unto itself. Our partnership with House of Joy Church on the Navajo reservation continues to flourish, benefiting both us and them.
In the summer of 2024, a team of twelve young adults spent a week with Pastor J.R. at House of Joy. They worked tirelessly (and for free!) on the mesa, helping with the ongoing construction of a food distribution warehouse. Another young adults’ team will return to House of Joy again this summer.
In the fall of 2024, I was able to be part of a small team that traveled to Black Mesa for House of Joy’s annual coat distribution to the community. Never have I witnessed such deep poverty and true joy. This spring, a team of handy men (I have not been invited) will spend five days at House of Joy, completing a much-needed replacement of the flooring in their Fellowship Hall.
Pastor J.R. has been rooted at House of Joy for over twenty years, and the longevity of his commitment to the people in that place is bearing beautiful fruit right now. It is our honor to partner with him in the ministry of the gospel.
A Closing Note: This March will mark five years since I came to Christ Lutheran as your Lead Pastor. According to studies on pastoral call cycles, that puts us well past the honeymoon phase, right past the disillusionment phase, and now at the beginning of what’s usually called the stability phase.
Stable families are healthy families, and that is my ongoing prayer for Christ Lutheran Church. Simple church, stable church, sanctified and salvific-for-those-who-don’t-know-Jesus church. That is the kind of church the world longs for and needs.
I look forward to the next year of ministry and life together.
Your pastor,
Garrett