Follow this page for more detailed updates
Pastor Anne Schaefer's first day at Elk River Lutheran will be Sunday, September 25, 2022!
Special Congregational Meeting Results, July 24, 2022
With a unanimous vote, Elk River Lutheran Church voted to extend the call of Associate Pastor to Pastor Anne Schaefer.
It is expected that she will start at Elk River Lutheran the last Sunday in September.
It is expected that she will start at Elk River Lutheran the last Sunday in September.
Meet & Greet Ice Cream Social, July 20, 2022
Special Congregational Meeting Reminder and Zoom Link, June 30, 2022
Dear Members and Friends of Elk River Lutheran,
On behalf of the Call Committee and Church Council, I am excited to share with you our final candidate for our Associate Pastor position, Anne Schaefer. We unanimously recommend Pastor Anne for this call as we believe she will be a wonderful fit at Elk River Lutheran, and we are excited for you to meet her. You are formally invited to two events:
Ice Cream Social Meet and Greet w/ Pastor Anne
Wednesday, July 20 6:30-7:30PM
Special Congregational Meeting to Call Pastor Anne Schaefer
Sunday, July 24 10:30AM
Pastor Anne is a first call candidate, which means she has just graduated from seminary and is currently completing her internship. As you will see in her bio below, prior to seminary she worked in children, youth, and family ministry at two different congregations, so she brings excellent experience with her. Once Pastor Anne has officially been called by Elk River Lutheran she will begin planning her ordination service, which I hope many of us can attend! While there are many details still to work out, we believe she would be ready to start at ERLC this fall.
Thank you to the Call Committee for your excellent work and faithful discernment. What an exciting time for our church. I can’t wait for you to meet Pastor Anne and for her to experience the joy and love of Elk River Lutheran Church.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Nathan
On behalf of the Call Committee and Church Council, I am excited to share with you our final candidate for our Associate Pastor position, Anne Schaefer. We unanimously recommend Pastor Anne for this call as we believe she will be a wonderful fit at Elk River Lutheran, and we are excited for you to meet her. You are formally invited to two events:
Ice Cream Social Meet and Greet w/ Pastor Anne
Wednesday, July 20 6:30-7:30PM
Special Congregational Meeting to Call Pastor Anne Schaefer
Sunday, July 24 10:30AM
Pastor Anne is a first call candidate, which means she has just graduated from seminary and is currently completing her internship. As you will see in her bio below, prior to seminary she worked in children, youth, and family ministry at two different congregations, so she brings excellent experience with her. Once Pastor Anne has officially been called by Elk River Lutheran she will begin planning her ordination service, which I hope many of us can attend! While there are many details still to work out, we believe she would be ready to start at ERLC this fall.
Thank you to the Call Committee for your excellent work and faithful discernment. What an exciting time for our church. I can’t wait for you to meet Pastor Anne and for her to experience the joy and love of Elk River Lutheran Church.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Nathan
About Pastor Anne
Pastor Anne Schaefer
Anne is energetic and excited to be considered for the Associate Pastor position! Anne has worked in ministry as Faith Formation staff in two ELCA congregations, and has been a pastoral intern for the last year and a half. She has a heart for youth and family ministry, enjoys teaching & preaching, and providing care & support to people of all ages. Anne's core theological beliefs are grounded in the reality that people are made good and loved by God. Her leadership style is to encourage people to actively engage in a two-way relationship with God by loving their neighbor and being the Church in all aspects of their lives.
Anne has been married to Anthony for 17 years. She is mom to Emma (21) and Jeremiah (15), and stepmom to Maddie (19). Some of her favorite things include hiking, camping and traveling, but also board games and quiet nights at home. She graduated from Crown College in 2014 and Luther Seminary in 2022. After being a full-time student for 6 of the last 10 years, Anne is looking forward to more time for reading, crafting and maybe even finally learning the ukulele! She cherishes dark chocolate and friendships more than the average person, and has recently joined a golf league which is as comical as it is fun. Anne cares deeply about people and is very much looking forward to new relationships with a new congregation in her first call.
Anne has been married to Anthony for 17 years. She is mom to Emma (21) and Jeremiah (15), and stepmom to Maddie (19). Some of her favorite things include hiking, camping and traveling, but also board games and quiet nights at home. She graduated from Crown College in 2014 and Luther Seminary in 2022. After being a full-time student for 6 of the last 10 years, Anne is looking forward to more time for reading, crafting and maybe even finally learning the ukulele! She cherishes dark chocolate and friendships more than the average person, and has recently joined a golf league which is as comical as it is fun. Anne cares deeply about people and is very much looking forward to new relationships with a new congregation in her first call.
Call Committee Update, May 24, 2022
Following Bishop Svennungsen’s visit to ERLC, the call committee met with a representative of the Synod on May 18th. During this meeting the call committee received the names of nine potential candidates and are now in the early stages of reviewing the candidates and determining if any of them could be a good fit for ERLC. Once the initial review is complete, the call committee will plan to move forward with interviewing candidates who they believe to be the best fit for our needs.
Members of the Call Committee include: Rick Bock, Sarah Chur, Audrey Horner, Pastor Nathan Mugaas (ex officio), Matt Rotz, Mark Schwarze, & Jenny Stanley
You can find past updates on our Call Committee webpage:
https://www.elkriverlutheran.org/call-committee.html
Members of the Call Committee include: Rick Bock, Sarah Chur, Audrey Horner, Pastor Nathan Mugaas (ex officio), Matt Rotz, Mark Schwarze, & Jenny Stanley
You can find past updates on our Call Committee webpage:
https://www.elkriverlutheran.org/call-committee.html
|
|
Elk River Lutheran Ministry Site Profile Summary, May 11, 2022
Elk River Lutheran Church is a forward thinking RIC congregation located on the Mississippi River in beautiful downtown Elk River, on the NW edge of the Twin Cities. We are active within our community and neighborhood, and we work to be intentionally welcoming of all people.
We are seeking a caring associate pastor who will work with all areas of the church, with special emphasis in Children, Youth, and Family Ministry and Pastoral Visitation.
Community Context
Depending on who you ask, Elk River is described as a small town, 2nd ring/outer ring suburb, or exurb. In prior years the city's slogan reflected this reality: Where the city flows into the country. Elk River continues to see rapid residential growth. After seeing our most explosive growth in the early 2000's Sherburne County continues to be one of the fastest growing counties in the state of MN, and our school district, ISD 728, is the ninth largest in the state.
Elk River Lutheran Church
Our purpose is to live out our mission: Trusting in God's Grace, an accepting, joyful community serving God and neighbor. Focussing on this mission we seek to:
We provide worship opportunities, programs, ministries, leadership opportunities and pastoral care to all who seek God in this place.
Specific areas of focus include continued education around LGBTQ issues and other forms of diversity (racial, socio-economic, etc).
The early days of ERLC were marked by fast growth in membership, location change, and leadership changes. In the past several years we've become a more established and stable congregation. We have a permanent location, consistency in leadership, and set policies and procedures, and membership continues to grow. We have experienced great growth in financial stewardship and support of the congregation. We conducted a successful capital campaign in 2019 and are currently finalizing plans for a building project this fall.
COVID certainly forced us into an increase in technology, which has proven to be a great blessing. The majority of our meetings are now hybrid (with people on Zoom and/or at the church) and worship services are always online, allowing snowbirds and anyone not able to attend in-person to still be connected to the life of the congregation. Online worship has also proven to be a "front door" for first time visitors, as now almost everyone who attends worship in-person has first checked us out online.
We identify our top strengths as a congregation as follows:
Leadership Needs
We are seeking an associate pastor to join our fun, committed staff. Top priorities for this new pastor would include:
This pastor should enjoy working with people of all ages, be an effective communicator, enjoy working as a team, bring joy and good humor to relationships, have experience planning and leading programs, be creative and innovative, desire to build a sense of community, and be able to use technology and media.
We will consider candidates who are passionate and gifted in some, but not all of these areas, knowing that our current senior pastor is willing to adjust his current role.
We are seeking a caring associate pastor who will work with all areas of the church, with special emphasis in Children, Youth, and Family Ministry and Pastoral Visitation.
Community Context
Depending on who you ask, Elk River is described as a small town, 2nd ring/outer ring suburb, or exurb. In prior years the city's slogan reflected this reality: Where the city flows into the country. Elk River continues to see rapid residential growth. After seeing our most explosive growth in the early 2000's Sherburne County continues to be one of the fastest growing counties in the state of MN, and our school district, ISD 728, is the ninth largest in the state.
Elk River Lutheran Church
Our purpose is to live out our mission: Trusting in God's Grace, an accepting, joyful community serving God and neighbor. Focussing on this mission we seek to:
- Raise up future generations -- We seek to attract young families, while maintaining intergenerational worship. This also includes continuing to embrace new ministry styles, especially keeping the positive adaptations that came out of the pandemic.
- Deepen Relationships -- We want to grow deeper in relationship with one another, while together exploring our relationship with God
- Expand Community Outreach -- We want to continue to serve our neighbors and be a loving presence in this community.
We provide worship opportunities, programs, ministries, leadership opportunities and pastoral care to all who seek God in this place.
Specific areas of focus include continued education around LGBTQ issues and other forms of diversity (racial, socio-economic, etc).
The early days of ERLC were marked by fast growth in membership, location change, and leadership changes. In the past several years we've become a more established and stable congregation. We have a permanent location, consistency in leadership, and set policies and procedures, and membership continues to grow. We have experienced great growth in financial stewardship and support of the congregation. We conducted a successful capital campaign in 2019 and are currently finalizing plans for a building project this fall.
COVID certainly forced us into an increase in technology, which has proven to be a great blessing. The majority of our meetings are now hybrid (with people on Zoom and/or at the church) and worship services are always online, allowing snowbirds and anyone not able to attend in-person to still be connected to the life of the congregation. Online worship has also proven to be a "front door" for first time visitors, as now almost everyone who attends worship in-person has first checked us out online.
We identify our top strengths as a congregation as follows:
- Good Committed People -- We have a strong base of support within the congregation (strong and stable leadership from the senior pastor and council), with many talented, committed, people with meaningful connections in this community.
- Facilities and Finances -- We have stable finances due to dedicated generous givers and we have a wonderful building located in downtown Elk River, which will only be made better through the upcoming building projects.
- Connections in the Community -- We are known in the community as "the church downtown" or as "the church with the bounce house," which we own because we want to participate in and enhance events in our neighborhood. We have great and fruitful relationships with the Downtown Business Association, the City of Elk River, Dare's Funeral Home, Meals on Wheels, and CAER. We also have many members who are well-connected and involved in the community, providing opportunities and resources.
Leadership Needs
We are seeking an associate pastor to join our fun, committed staff. Top priorities for this new pastor would include:
- Build programs that integrate CYF into the life of the congregation
- Get to know the congregation by building meaningful and collaborative relationships with members of all ages.
- Provide care and leadership for members unable to attend in person
- Enhance the worship service experience by delivering joyful, inspirational, challenging and thought-provoking messages.
- Engage with the Church's community partners (CAER, Farmer's Market, Downtown Association, etc)
This pastor should enjoy working with people of all ages, be an effective communicator, enjoy working as a team, bring joy and good humor to relationships, have experience planning and leading programs, be creative and innovative, desire to build a sense of community, and be able to use technology and media.
We will consider candidates who are passionate and gifted in some, but not all of these areas, knowing that our current senior pastor is willing to adjust his current role.
Call Committee Update March 24, 2022
The process of calling an Associate Pastor to Elk River Lutheran Church has officially kicked off. The Call Committee met for the first time on Wednesday, March 23, and has started working on completing some of the administrative steps needed to move the process forward.
The best way to find good people is through recommendations, if you know of any good candidates please reach out to any of the Call Committee members.
The best way to find good people is through recommendations, if you know of any good candidates please reach out to any of the Call Committee members.
|
Rick Bock Sarah Chur Audrey Horner Pastor Nathan Mugaas (ex officio) Matt Rotz Mark Schwarze Jenny Stanley |
Call Committee Update March 3, 2022
Dear Members and Friends of Elk River Lutheran,
I am excited to share that our Church Council has elected the following members to the Call Committee to call an Associate Pastor:
I am excited to share that our Church Council has elected the following members to the Call Committee to call an Associate Pastor:
Rick Bock
Sarah Chur
Audrey Horner
Pastor Nathan Mugaas (ex officio)
Matt Rotz
Mark Schwarze
Jenny Stanley
Sarah Chur
Audrey Horner
Pastor Nathan Mugaas (ex officio)
Matt Rotz
Mark Schwarze
Jenny Stanley
Please pray for this committee as we plan for our first meeting with Pastor John Hulden, Assistant to the Bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod in the coming weeks. Know that you, the congregation, will also be involved in this call process with opportunities to provide input and feedback, and ultimately vote to call a pastor. The Call Committee and I will also keep you informed of our progress every step of the way.
Call Committees are elected by the Church Council per our constitution and serve in this role until the installation of the newly called pastor. Earlier this year, in my section of our annual report, I wrote about our call process as I shared that we are preparing to say goodbye to Jeremy Hallquist, who has filled a variety of roles at ERLC including Minister of Congregational Care & Discipleship, Intern Pastor, and Interim Director of Children Youth and Family Ministry. Upon completing seminary, Jeremy has been assigned to the Southwest Minnesota Synod and is currently interviewing at congregations in that synod.
Last fall, when we hoped that Jeremy might be able to stay at Elk River Lutheran, we had conversations with the Minneapolis Area Synod about what would be involved in creating a position for a second pastor at ERLC. Once Jeremy was assigned to another synod and unable to stay at ELRC, the Church Council moved forward with creating a position for an associate pastor and included that position in the 2022 budget. We hope that an associate pastor will provide:
We look forward to involving the congregation in the call process and ultimately voting to call an associate pastor to ERLC. Thank you for your commitment to this church and our life of faith together.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Nathan
Call Committees are elected by the Church Council per our constitution and serve in this role until the installation of the newly called pastor. Earlier this year, in my section of our annual report, I wrote about our call process as I shared that we are preparing to say goodbye to Jeremy Hallquist, who has filled a variety of roles at ERLC including Minister of Congregational Care & Discipleship, Intern Pastor, and Interim Director of Children Youth and Family Ministry. Upon completing seminary, Jeremy has been assigned to the Southwest Minnesota Synod and is currently interviewing at congregations in that synod.
Last fall, when we hoped that Jeremy might be able to stay at Elk River Lutheran, we had conversations with the Minneapolis Area Synod about what would be involved in creating a position for a second pastor at ERLC. Once Jeremy was assigned to another synod and unable to stay at ELRC, the Church Council moved forward with creating a position for an associate pastor and included that position in the 2022 budget. We hope that an associate pastor will provide:
- Greater longevity and stability in the staff.
- Children Youth and Family Ministry that is more integrated in the overall life of the congregation.
- A person with gifts and interests different than what I (Pastor Nathan) bring to the role of pastor.
We look forward to involving the congregation in the call process and ultimately voting to call an associate pastor to ERLC. Thank you for your commitment to this church and our life of faith together.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Nathan
