As part of its ongoing community outreach ministry, Oceanside Lutheran Church hosted a Blessing of the Wheels and Community Bike Rodeo on June 19, in conjunction with the New York Coalition for Transportation Safety. Participants learned about bike safety and street code. Bikes were checked and adjusted for optimum performance and safety; reflectors and helmets were provided for anyone in need.

Pastors Terri and Michael Church (in the center, with son Theodore) spent two weeks visiting congregations of the Metro New York Synod. The Churches have spent the last two years in Romania, building an English-language ministry in the city of Cluj. In July, they stopped in to have dinner with the Romania Companionship Committee.

Trinity, Brewster welcomed the New Generation Singers from Missouri on Sunday, July 24. The performers are an inter-denominational group of about 100 young people who witness to their faith through song. For the past 40 years, they have gone on tour in different parts of the United States to a variety of congregations.

Ten pilgrims from our synod set out at the end of June and journeyed for fourteen days, walking in the footsteps of Columba, Aidan, Hilda, and Cuthbert, early monastic missionaries to Scotland and northern England. They worshipped in cathedrals, visited castles, and prayed in the pastures of Edinburgh, St. Andrew’s, Glasgow, Oban, Iona, Whitby, Melrose, Durham and Lindisfarne. 

Cup of Blessings Coffee House is an outreach ministry at Ascension, Franklin Square. Four or five times a year, Cup of Blessings hosts local contemporary Christian artists such as Crossfire, Eyewitness, Servants of the Shepherd, The Paul Paoli Band, and others as they bring the message of Christ through their music. In July, musicians Dave Cutrone and Paul Paoli were featured artists.

Every summer, youth groups from around the country come to New York on mission trips. They work at soup kitchens and day camps, tour the city and sleep on sanctuary floors. Here, a visiting group from Friendship Lutheran Church in Taylorsville, North Carolina spends time helping to clean Transfiguration, Harlem.

Participants were welcomed to the Urban Leaders Institute (ULI) by Bishop Rimbo on July 28. Our synod’s summer continuing education conference featured keynote speakers; workshops on church growth, community organizing, preaching, and immigration; an awards dinner and a revival service.

Pastor Ronald Klose baptized four babies on June 19, welcoming them and their families into the church family at Our Redeemer, Seaford.

Lutheran Youth Organization held its annual outing to Splish Splash Waterpark on July 30. Afterwards, approximately 70 youth and adults returned to Trinity, Rocky Point for fun, fellowship, and a barbeque together.