Mission Enhancement at St. John in St. Paul, MN
St. John in St. Paul, MN is a congregation established by German immigrants over 150 years ago. Over the years, the congregation has seen a change in the demographic of their neighborhood. This has led to a need to transform into a congregation of Hispanic immigrants over the next 5-10 years.
The Minnesota District mission board has had an indirect relationship with St. John for many years, because Immanuel Hmong rents space in their building for worship services and ministry operations. That relationship became more direct when leaders from St. John approached us with an idea to reach out intentionally to the sizable Hispanic population in the surrounding area
Outreach to the Hispanic community makes a lot of sense here, as the Mexican Consulate is only a few doors down. Astatewide service organization for Latinos, called CLUES, will be renting a portion of St. John’s facility. CLUES will use this space for charitable activities, such as distributing pantry items and clothing, to the community. There is also a Spanish Bible study for women already being conducted on site by Mrs. Karen Hennig (whose husband is a local WELS pastor), who connected with these women through her work with a pregnancy resource center. These activities bring dozens of people to the building every week, ensuring that the Spanish speaking missionary will have no trouble meeting people.
A few years ago, St John closed their school. In 2018, their pastor took a call. Since then, the congregation has been served by two vacancy pastors, both of whom worked to help the congregation not only to see their mission field but also work through a variety of plans on how to proceed. In December of 2021, the congregation contacted the Minnesota District Home Mission Board to help them set their plans into motion. In spring of 2022, St John extended a call to Pastor Tim Otto who was serving a Hispanic ministry in Las Vegas, NV. Pastor Otto accepted the call and was installed in June.
Even though neighborhoods can change over time, we know God’s Word is unchanging. We pray that God would bless this new mission enhancement at St. John and enable the congregation to reach out to a community that needs to know they have a loving Savior!
Minnesota District Home Missions Board Retreat
In July, the Minnesota District Home Mission Board held their annual retreat. This year, the group met in Cedar Rapids/North Liberty, Iowa which is where a new mission in North Liberty recently started up. The annual retreat is a time to discuss current missions as well as discuss potential new mission startups and enhancement.
Here is a current summary of the Home Missions:
- Multi-Cultural Home Missions
- Immanuel Hmong, St. Paul, MN (Currently worshiping at St. John in St. Paul)
- St John, St. Paul, MN – Hispanic Outreach (Pastor Tim Otto installed in June 2022)
- Board is monitoring 2 additional Mult-Cultural opportunities across district
- Mission Establishment – Multi-Site
- Good Shepherd, North Liberty, IA (Dual site with Cedar Rapids, IA)
- Board is monitoring 4 additional opportunites across district
- Mission Establishment – New Start
- Christ Our Savior, Collinsville, IL (Currently calling pastor)
- Board is monitoring 3 additional opportunites across district
- Mission Enhancements
- There are 9 potential Mission Enhancements currently identified across district of which 2 are actively pursuing funding this coming year.
If you have any Home Mission ideas or questions, the Minnesota District Board would love to work with you to solidify these New Missions and Mission Enhancements.
MN District Mission Board & Resources
Over the past 12 years, Mr. Dave Sauer has faithfully served on the Minnesota district mission board. His term came to an end in June. We recognize the time and dedication he has used for the good of God’s kingdom. It has been an honor to serve along side of him and wish him well in his “retirement” from the board!
In July, we welcomed to the Minnesota district mission board Rev. John Boeder. Pastor Boeder is currently serving as the Martin Luther College campus pastor. It will be great to tap into Pastor Boeder’s connections at MLC and his years of experience in the ministry. Welcome Pastor Boeder!
| Rev. Steve Waldschmidt (Chair) Christ Alone Dardenne Prairie, MO pastorsteve@christ-alone.church (636) 445-0440 | Mr. Doug Dorn St. Paul’s Litchfield, MN doug.dorn@agcountry.com (320) 212-6100 |
| Rev. Rev Mark Kaesmeyer West Lutheran High School Plymouth, MN mkaesmeyer@westlutheran.net (763) 498-9940 | Rev. John Boeder Martin Luther College New Ulm, MN boeder@mlc-wels.edu (507) 404-0624 |
| Rev. Rob Guenther St. John’s New Ulm, MN pastorguenther@gmail.com (507) 240-2433 | Mr. Daryl Schultz Resurrection & Life Rochester, MN dschultz@us.ibm.com (507) 261-6906 |
http://www.MNdistrictmissions.com
To download a copy of this update, please click the download link below:
MN District Home Missions 