We are a Christ-centered community that lives, shares and celebrates God's grace with all people!
Welcome to St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church. St. Thomas is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). We celebrated 48 years of ministry in the Bloomington and Monroe County, Indiana area in April 2008. We celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday and encourage visitors from other Christian traditions to join us at Christ's "open table."
(Summer Schedule effective May 31, 2009)
8:30 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. Sunday
Nursery care is provided at each service.
Enjoy coffee or other refreshments while visiting in the narthex/lounge or on the patio. Many regular participants keep their own mugs at the church, but there are always plenty of visitor cups. Our washable mugs are symbols of commitment to care for God's gift to us of the planet and our coffee is from Lutheran World Relief's Equal Exchange Coffee Project.
Barefoot Kids, a downtown children's store, will be taking donations
for the Middle Way House on Friday, July 10th and Saturday, July 11th.
Many of you have baby gear you don't need, or your babies have
outgrown, so we invite you to bring it to Barefoot and we'll donate it
to Middle Way! Toiletries, kitchen items, box fans, etc. are also
needed. A complete list of items is available on the welcome table in
the narthex.
Vacation Bible School There's no place like Rome . . . for a whirlwind of fun! The adventure begins July 12th. Make plans now to attend Vacation Bible School. Volunteers are needed. Please contact Tiffany Shupe at tkshupe@comcast.net or 876-0166 or Heather Allen at hallen@bloomingtonhospital.org or 339-4903 if you can help.
Thrivent sponsored Lutheran Habitat for Humanity Build — Please signup to help with our joint Lutheran project this summer. There is a display in the narthex.
ELCA's Domestic Disaster Response are providing information on Swine Flu.
The Monroe Lake Chapter of Thrivent Financial is inviting all members of St. Thomas to a picnic at Karst Farm Park on Sunday, July 26 at 1:00 p.m. Come join other area Lutherans for food and fellowship. For details, check out the display in the Narthex, then sign up for an afternoon of fun. To assist the organizers, please be sure to sign up at the display no later than July 19 if you plan to attend.
WALBICUS to Worship What is WALBICUS? (WALK, BIKE, CARPOOL or BUS) It is taking an alternate form of transportation to Worship and it is sponsored by Interfaith Earthcare to help us reduce our stress on the planet. Join with faith communities throughout Bloomington to help us reach a tipping point, a critical mass of people who walk, bike, carpool or bus to worship. The dates are April 17 - 19, May 15 - 17, September 11 - 13 and October 9 -11.
The mission committee is considering forming a variety of interest
groups surrounding important mission related topics, as a way to
encourage broader and deeper participation. You do not need to be a
member of the mission committee to join these interest groups. Some of
the first potential interest groups being formed are:
1) Sister Parish
Interest Group - be involved in discerning the best direction for this
relationship with our Sister Parish in Chichipate, Guatemala.
2) Micro Loans Interest Group - help have an impact
on poverty by providing direct loans to entrepreneurs around the
globe. Consider joining an interest group to discuss and make these
investment decisions together, connecting with the entrepreneurs via
the internet. To learn more, contact: Chris Ogan;
3) Missionary
Interest Group - We are considering forming a Missionary Interest
Group to sponsor an ELCA missionary, support them in prayer and learn
about what they are doing. If you are interested in helping form this
interest group, please contact Lyman Hitchcock for further
information.
4) Please contact any member of the Mission Committee if
you have other ideas for interest groups.
The newly-formed Mission Committee has a blog for their latest news.
Keep up with the Youth Group on their blog.
Have you remembered to bring your gifts of food to church?
MCUM's pantry needs food:
pasta, meat sauce, crackers, applesauce, beans, peanut butter, jelly,
macaroni and cheese, canned chicken are just a few items needed.
Everything is now needed except tuna, green beans, corn, peaches and
cake mixes. They cannot accept perishable, home-canned, opened
packages, or expired food.
Please don't forget: all sizes of underwear, socks and diapers,
cleaning supplies and personal items are needed too.
During an average week, the pantry distributes 140 bags of
groceries, filled to the rim with household staples and a five-day
supply of nutrition for each family member.
You have
been generous in the past and we know you will help again. St. Thomas members gave over 1000 pounds of
food last year, one of the top amounts from city churches. Please
continue to bring your donations to the basket in the narthex to
support this important service.
MCUM Spring Food Drive
St. Thomas contributed 410lbs of food in March
and 320 lbs in April for a total of 740lbs as part of this year's
Feinstein challenge for MCUM. Each pound of food and dollar you
donated helped MCUM to earn a share of one million dollars in matching
funds from Rhode Island philanthropist Alan Feinstein.
Last update: Friday 3 July 2009 20:01
