When Kathy and I first joined Christ the King Lutheran Church in 1991, worship was a different experience than it is now. The liturgy could be conducted from beginning to end without any interruption from a baby or fussy child. The stillness was pleasant, but it also was foreboding. If we were not dealing with children now, where would we be in the next ten years? The census information was indicating that families with children were moving increasingly toward downtown. The congregation was clear in its mission: to bear witness to the creative, redeeming, and sanctifying activity of God in the world.
The mission was clear and the plan that we laid out was do-able. We sought to expand our facilities in order to make possible the expansion of our ministries as a community of faith. If ever we were to have a sustainable and effective program for infants, children, and youth, we would need the facilities to support all the activities of those groups including the activities of adult parents and adult members who worked so hard to serve these age groups. By 2003 we accomplished the goal of building new facilities to which we adapted rapidly. It was an ambitious project and continues to be as we make mortgage payments in the range of $350,000 annually.
We now have well-developed programs for education, faith formation, fellowship for all groups. Who would have known that by 2007 we would have 71 children between the ages of 0 and 6, or that we would have established a new and creative curriculum for Bible study and faith formation called Godly Play or that we would have a Director of Youth and Family Ministries, or that the children’s music program on Wednesday evenings would continue to expand, or that we would have a campus pastor installed and at work?
It is now time to look forward and to prepare a long-range plan that will guide our steps for the next 10 years or so. Church Council has now appointed a team of members to begin the work of long-range planning.
Bryce Linsenmayer, chairperson
Robert Moore, ex-officio
Bill Mintz, ex-officio
Jay Beckman
Peter Boecher
Tom Bouldin
Alicia Goodrow
Courtney Harper
Pat Swanson
The committee’s task is to map out steps to be accomplished in light of our identity as a congregation with respect for our geographic location in the City of Houston.
Every congregation has an individual profile, and Christ the King Church has adopted a particular self-understanding based on
1. A firm trust in the Word of God as the presence of Jesus Christ in the assembly around Word and Sacrament.
2. Love of the classic liturgy by which we are gath ered, enlightened, nourished, and sent into the world as witnesses to the love God in Christ Jesus.
3. An explicit theology centered in the Reformation teaching of justification by grace through faith through Christ who liberates us to love God and neighbor, not in order to earn merit with God but because God has already favored us so that our lives can be lived out of gratitude (Eucharist!). 4. Deep appreciation for the musical heritage of the Lutheran tradition most evident in its hymnody and the works of Johann Sebastian Bach (the fifth evan- gelist).
5. Hospitality and openness to all who visit us regard less of economic, cultural, racial status or sexual orientation.
6. Care for others which was embodied especially in the AIDS care teams through which our members worked during the turbulent years when that epi- demic began. Now we are organized effectively into congregation care teams who care for mem- bers and others by praying for, calling, visiting, feed ing, driving, and providing them with the Eucharist directly from the Lord’s table.
7. Dedication to campus ministry in the effort to invite students into a remarkably satisfying, yet challeng- ing understanding of the faith that offers a world view that makes us more human in the image of Christ in a world that seems to want to make us less human.
Our location is inside the Loop, in the Rice Village, across the street from Rice University, near the Texas Medical Center, and among the varied neighborhoods of 77005, 77030, 77025, 77004, 77006, 77401, and 77098. This means that we deal with a vast degree of diversity. Our members live in several additional ZIP code areas. We cannot be all things to all people, but we can learn more clearly to express hospitality, a vitality of faith, and a witness through our deeds of love. Clarity is what we need to accomplish this.
For the thirteen years I have served as one of your pastors at Christ the King Church our mission has never changed. Our congregation, however, does change. We now hear constantly the life-indicating cries and noises of children in our liturgy. I love it. Please pray for and communicate with your long-range planning committee. Their work is crucial to our future.