Over the past three years, the pandemic has caused our sense of human community and churches to radically change. Even before the pandemic, there was a trend toward moving our lives online, but during these past three years, many of us have lived through our screens in ways we could never have expected. And yet, surprisingly, we have mostly managed to adapt. And I was amazed and very inspired and grateful about the way churches in the Southwest Brooklyn Conference so quickly and successfully adapted to becoming mostly digital, and then hybrid after that, and now returning to in-person. The opportunity to attend online opened up the ability for members and friends, who have moved or were stuck in other states, to once again take part in the life of their congregations. Some members in this category have significantly returned to increased participation, including joining the council, since the pandemic. Churches managed to continue their outreach and religious activities, from joint, online Bible study, to joint Sunday school and joint confirmation classes with churches in the conference, and even joint worship services. In the past year, as things have opened up again, we have been able to hold more in-person, collaborative gatherings between churches and one another, and between churches and different communities in our neighborhoods.
Some churches in our conference are looking for more intentional collaborative work together. For example, the collaboration between Redeemer – St. John’s and Our Saviour’s and Salam is going well under the leadership and guidance of Peggy Hahn from LEAD. Our Saviour’s and Salam will be moving to Redeemer – St. John’s after Easter for the Sunday worship service. The three congregations will have two services each Sunday; one in Arabic and one in English. A midweek service will also be held every Wednesday. And youth activities of the three congregations will be combined and will take place on Fridays and Sundays.
Other congregations have increased their community outreach and social programs. Good Shepherd and Trinity Lutheran Church became a hub of food distribution for people who are in need. Good Shepherd was utilized also as a center for vaccine distribution and blood donation. St. Jacobi Lutheran Church’s missional work continues to bear faithful witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Chinese ministry is growing rapidly under the faithful work of Pr. Mary Chang and her outreach team. They now have two services; one on Sunday and one on Monday. And this year alone, two candidates from the Chinese community that has grown around St. Jacobi’s, have enrolled in the TEEM program.
Bethlehem Lutheran Church is growing in numbers, and its outreach efforts, including the recent expansion of its senior center, which in the summer of 2023, will move from the church’s basement to a much larger, new location. And the Healing Center which is a ministry of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, celebrated its 22nd anniversary under the leadership of Antonia Clemente.