01 january 2017

Page 1

Centennial Evangelical Lutheran Church 3558 S. 24th Street Milwaukee, WI 53221 414-281-2280| www.centennialwels.org

GREG PUFAHL, PASTOR ROBERT GARBE, STAFF MINISTER LIN KANITZ, ADMIN ASSISTANT JENNY PUFAHL, SUNDAY SCHOOL RICH KANITZ, PRESIDENT JOHN NOLTE, TREASURER DAVE ROCHESTER, PROPERTY MANAGER YOUTH GROUP MEN’S MINISTRIES WOMEN’S MINISTRIES MINISTRIES FOR SENIORS INTERNET MINISTRY GLOBAL OUTREACH MISSIONS MUSIC MINISTRIES SPECIAL NEEDS

Please join us for worship on Thursday nights at 6:30 pm and Sunday mornings at 9:30 am. “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

Thanks again to everyone who helped out with the Sunday School Christmas program. We had 100% attendance for our Saturday practice and for the Christmas service. If you were unable to attend this special service, it is on our church's website under the sermon videos for December 18th. The Sunday School will take part in the upcoming Palm Sunday service. Sunday School starts back up on Sunday, January 8th at 8:15 am. During the month of January, the children will be going to SonWorld Adventure Park, learning about the Blind Man, the 10 Sick Men, the Paralyzed Man, and the Rich Young Ruler. They will be playing carnival games and eating carnival snacks each week. Please come and bring a friend!!

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS TO COMMUNICATE PRAYERS Personal requests for special prayers are not uncommon however, it can be difficult to make sure all members prayer requests are heard and responded to. To save you time in tracking down church goers who desire prayer, and to make it easier for them to do so, we have created a new email address to better facilitate communication of your requests and to ensure everyone’s requests are being heard. The email address is easy to remember and is check many times during the week by Pastor Pufahl directly. We ask that you use this email for your non-emergency prayer requests whenever possible. Thanks.

prayers@centennialwels.org VOLUNTEERS NEEDED In this newsletter, you will find a listing of Volunteer Opportunities at Centennial. As many of you know, there are many things that need to be taken care of behind the scenes at Centennial so that we can keep our doors open and remain focused on reaching the lost for Christ. We are in desperate need of assistance in many areas of the church. We would love to be able to come up to you individually and personally ask each one of you to become involved but due to the amount of volunteers needed and the existing commitments of the church leadership, that is just not possible. Please consider this to be your personal invitation. In this newsletter, you will find areas in Centennial that are in desperate need of your assistance. Please examine these opportunities and pray about where you can best serve. Please contact the person listed to ask more questions or to express your interest in serving in a particular area. We will post these on the kiosk in the church lobby as well and including them in our upcoming service folders. As the old African proverb says, “Many hands make light work.” Can you help share the burden of responsibilities in God’s house? Can you please consider helping us? May God bless us all as we continue to serve Him.

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CENTENNIAL EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN JANUARY 2017 – VOL. II ISSUE I

Peace in the New Year The Lord blesses his people with peace. (Psalm 29:11) Well, the Christmas season is finally over. No longer do we have to worry about buying presents or putting up lights or trimming trees. That is all over. No more worries or pressures or deadlines. No more stress or commercialism slamming us in the face. Of course you know that is not true. First of all Christmas is a joyous time when we get to spend time with family and friends to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus. And just because that busy time is over for another year, does not mean that we do not have stress or worries or pressures or deadlines. It all begins again in the New Year. Every year when the New Year comes rolling around, people make new resolutions. I am going to lose wait this year! I am going to spend less and save more! I am going to spend more time with my family and less time with work. And we fill our lives up with goals - some times stressful goals - we want to reach by the end of 2017. All this does is show us that stress can happen any time of the year. You

see, no matter what time of year we enter, there is stress. Stress at the beginning of the New Year to change our lives with resolutions. Stress during the year to try to keep those resolutions. And stress at the end of the year when we realize that we did not keep those resolutions. But New Years’ Resolutions are not the only cause for stress this year. We look at our portfolios and see that maybe our net worth is not as high as it was at the end last year. We begin to worry about this coming year to see if we will have a job or not. We wonder if the house we bought is going to gain or lose value during 2017. The New Year is supposed to bring change, but it seems like we are entering into it with much of the same from the previous year. And along with the changing of the calendar, we bring stress to 2017 from 2016. I will not claim to know what the New Year has to offer for you, but I can make one promise with you that I know will come true; a promise that God makes with his people. Ready?

The Lord blesses his people with PEACE. (Psalm 29:11). How does that sound to you? You have the only True God promising to give you peace. No, we may not have true peace in this world. We may not find comfort for all the stresses that our lives bring year in and year out. But the greatest stress in our lives comes from our sin. It comes from the memories of past wrongs we committed. It comes from the hurt we caused in our lives to others and to ourselves. Now that you are thinking of those things, you may want to ask me: Where is the comfort then? How can I have comfort knowing those wrongs? Continued on pg. 2

The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; my father's God, and I will extol Him ... Exodus 15:2

SUNDAY SCHOOL UPDATE


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