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Senior Social

Bethany Lutheran Church - Senior SocialThe Senior Socials were begun as a way of bringing together, for Christian fellowship and support, the congregation’s homebound parishioners with other members of their church family. Volunteers provide and serve refreshments and transport parishioners when needed. The socials begin with a time of socialization while refreshments are being served. Then, the guests and servers are divided into groups of four and games commence. The games include board games and card games. These socials are held on the second Saturday of each month, except for December, and last from 2:00 PM until 4:00 PM.

 

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GRIEFSHARE – Experiencing Grief is a Personal Journey

Grief can be a powerful emotion that will affect us all. Grief is defined as deep mental anguish.  The feeling of grief will come to all of us at some time when we experience the loss of a loved one or a cherished friend. Whether the death is natural, self inflicted (such as bad health habits) or accidental, this grief will affect us all differently. Even in the same family, grief will be experienced differently based on the unique relationship each person has with that family member who has died. Grief,  in some people, may manifest itself in outward signs that are easy to read by others. There are also people who have deep grief but do not show it outwardly. We cannot make assumptions about the right or wrong way to grieve. Grief is a very personal matter for the person experiencing it. The healing comes when we let God help us through the  pain of grief and acknowledge that the pain reflects our love  for that person. Physicians, who heal the physical body call pain that comes while the body is healing, “healing pain.” Just so in grief, if we face the pain of grief and loss, God helps us heal through grief’s healing pain. So experiencing grief is a very personal journey. We must trust God to lead us through the pain, for He has plans for us. Plans to prosper us and not to harm us. Plans to  give us hope and a future  (Jer. 29:11) after the loss of our loved one. If you need help while experiencing the pain of grief, (or know somebody that does) come join us on Wednesdays from 1pm to 3pm at Bethany Lutheran Church’s Grief Share Program.

Feeding the Homeless Gentlemen

Each year Bethany Lutheran Church works with other churches for two weeks during the winter months to feed homeless gentlemen in the Salisbury area.


School Supplies

Your help is needed to assure that our young students have the supplies that they will need during the school year ready to learn. Bethany Lutheran Church will continue to collect school supplies. The school supplies will be distributed to Glen Avenue, Prince Street, and Pinehurst Elementary schools. There will be a “School Bus” box located in the narthex where supplies can be placed. If you wish to make a cash donation, please put your money and/or check in one of the Special White envelopes located in each pew. Volunteers will then shop for school supplies. If you have any questions, please contact the church office at 410-742-1737.


DVDs For Bethany Lutheran Church Shut-Ins

The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML), both nationally and throughout many districts, sponsored a 2 year-grant to help fund the Worship for Shut-Ins DVD ministry through the Lutheran Ministries Media.  This grant helped Bethany Lutheran Church (BLC) participate and produce copies for the shut-in members of our church family.

Currently the weekly DVDs are being used in three nursing home facilities where they are viewed and enjoyed by those of other faith traditions.  We praise God for opening the doors for others to hear and see the Gospel and truth of God’s Word and His saving grace and mercy.  The weekly Worship for Shut-Ins DVDs are a blessing to the shut-ins in our congregation.


 

Please join us each Sunday in our fellowship hall for worship services at 8:00 AM and 11:00 AM.

Services will also be available on Facebook and YouTube.

All are welcome and we hope you are able to join us! 

 

 

Greetings Everyone! 

Our church building is open once again!  Please join us on Sundays in the Fellowship Hall!  We are excited to share that we are having Sunday morning worship services at 8:00am and 11:00am in our Fellowship Hall every Sunday.  We hope that you can join us!  You can also, as always, join us on Facebook or YouTube to worship from home.

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We are excited to announce that Bethany Lutheran Church is now officially open for Lutheran worship services only  We are now worshiping our Lord together in His house.  What a blessing that is after such a long separation!  God is certainly good to us!

***The Worship Service Setting***

This COVID Pandemic has thrown us all for a loop, but in many ways, we are coming together and reaching out in forms we never considered before and that is a beautiful part of God’s plan.  The church council wants to keep everyone informed on the continued functioning of our beloved church family and the decisions being made on the family’s behalf along the way.  Our state has moved into Stage 3, and really the only major change that affects churches is the ability to fill church buildings to 75% capacity.  However, the same restrictions still remain.  Social distancing still applies, sanitizing is still a necessity, and masks remain a requirement.  At each step, the safety of our church   family members and visitors remains a paramount concern to the council and our minister.  We are working together considering each step fully and researching the changes in policy and  restrictions.  Every last one of us wants to be in the church sanctuary again and are awaiting the day that can happen with eagerness, but in the meantime, we have to abide by the law and restrictions that all churches and organizations are facing. Some questions have arisen as to why we aren’t worshipping in the  sanctuary yet, and here are the reasons why that has not changed:

  • Wood surfaces can be sanitized, but it breaks down the wood.  Our pews, window sills and altar rails would be irreparably damaged by the sanitizing that we are required to do by the CDC.  The folding chairs in the Fellowship Hall are more suited to the cleansing and if they are damaged, it would be a fraction of the cost to replace those versus our Sanctuary wood surfaces.
  • We can seat 37 people in the Fellowship Hall and have the ability to add 3-4 more chairs beyond that with the safe distancing of 6 feet.  This puts us to 75% capacity already for that room with distancing maintained.  The Sanctuary can only hold 33 with all areas used, and the pews are not far enough apart with every other pew used to maintain the recommended distancing. 
  • All of the recording equipment would have to be taken down and put back up every week, whereas now it is maintained in situ so recordings can be done with little to no prep work. 
  • Our pastor’s health makes traversing the levels of the Sanctuary difficult, and we want to be sensitive to that.  The Fellowship Hall services are much easier for him to manage for a full service at this time with his health concerns. 

Our Fellowship Hall services are a success so far as a temporary measure.  While there have been some adaptations due to health restrictions, we are worshipping together again and have an  average of 20 people attending per service.  We have manynblessings to be thankful to our Lord for right now, and your       continued support and understanding during this time is certainly one of them.  As a family, let us spend some time in prayer this month thanking God for our blessings of love and provision and let us also pray that the day when we can all worship together again without concerns of health comes quickly. 

Regular Lutheran worship services have resumed at our normally scheduled service times of 8am and 11am.  During these challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic, the church family’s safety is of primary concern.  While we are permitted to reopen, our church is under certain restrictions, and we ask for your support and patience with our safe federal, state, C.D.C. and L.C.M.S. South Eastern District reopening protocols.

            At this time, we are open for Lutheran worship onlyMeetings, classes, and other group and congregational gatherings will be permitted as restrictions are lifted.  Please pray for our church and for God’s children everywhere as we re-enter group gatherings to worship our Lord and Savior.  May God continue to bless you all. 

 

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Evangelism

*ENGAGING IN EVANGELISM

In response to Jesus Christ’s “Great Commission,” consider ways in which you can be a witness for your Lord.

In General:

Personal Invitation Task – Personally invite someone to attend one of our worship services or church activities.

In Particular:

Do Good Works Task – Evangelism in action can be    easily demonstrated by doing good works.  Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”  (Matthew 5:16)  We should do good works because Jesus has instructed us to do so and because doing such good things is a manifestation of God’s love that Jesus has placed in our hearts.          

It is suggested that we make evident to our neighbors, friends and strangers our Christian motivation for doing good works.  Let others see the Christian symbol (cross necklace, Christian fish lapel pin) you may be wearing, hear God’s Word in your conversation, and sense the heart-felt sincerity in your actions during an encounter. 

Some suggested good works:

  • Offer to help a neighbor with a home project.
  • Compliment a neighbor on his/her landscaping, ask for gardening tips as you are taking a walk through your neighborhood.
  • Volunteer to do some grocery shopping for the elderly or someone recovering from surgery.
  • Warmly greet strangers as you pass them on the street.

Let these suggested good works be the prelude to your sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ through the giving of a Gospel tract or witness card, offering an invitation to attend a church activity or relating what Jesus means to you.


Sunday school

We start out the new year by continuing our live online interactive Sunday School meetings each Sunday morning, 9:45-10:15 a.m. This is a great opportunity for children to talk, pray, and study with one another. If you do not have a link to access online Sunday School materials and live sessions but would like to have access, let the church office know. With the link, you also get access to specially designed crafts, worksheets, coloring pages, parent pages, and videos.


For those of you who are new to the congregation, our communion schedule is as follows:

  • 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month – 8:00a.m.service
  • 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month – 11:00am service
  • 5th Sunday will be announced in advance if there is one

 

Holy Communion is served during the 8:00 am worship service on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month and during the 11:00 am worship service on the 2nd and 4th Sundays. Also, Holy Communion is served during both worship services on the 5th Sunday of the month.