November Update: Who Are We to Be?

From Vicar Josiah Junkin, Planting Team Chairman

Work on the church plant in Viroqua continues with planning meetings as well as social engagements. Our Planting Team is working on pinning down what our particular identity and ministries will be and how we are going to get there. Thanks to good training, helpful materials, and diligent team members, we have been able to document four Core Values, a Purpose Statement, and a Mission Statement. Our mission: “Learn God’s Word. Live with Christ. Love our neighbors.” What more could we ask for in life than that? With these thoughts set down to guide us, we are already beginning to look ahead to how those values will play out in practice. Pray that the Lord would work to make these plans bear fruit pleasing to him! “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Prov 16:9). 

At the same time, I have continued to build relationships with the people of Viroqua. I was (finally!) officially inducted into the Viroqua Lions Club (see photo) and also enjoyed a morning of cleaning up a segment of a local highway with them.

Some local pastors are also getting used to my regular presence at monthly prayer breakfast. Most recently, I listened with interest to their perspectives on election-related preaching and learned that they do not observe days like Reformation Day and All Saints’ Day. All the more reason to plant a distinctively Lutheran church! In addition, I continue to sit at Wonderstate, where I have good coffee and great conversation with a variety of people. Recently, I met a fellow who takes special interest in the ancient Chinese Tao Te Ching, and I look forward to meeting him again to discuss it and compare it with the words of Jesus. The Word of God is living and active; pray that the Spirit would come and bring true enlightenment through such conversations!