Worship:
Sundays at 9:30 a.m.
Sunday School 10:45 a.m.
     September-May


118 East Mason Street
Lena, IL 61048
goodshepherdlena@outlook.com
815-369-5552



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Mission

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Joins Hands Together
to Serve in Lena



The congregation of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Lena headed out into the community for “God’s Work. Our Hands.” Sunday. 39 brothers and sisters in Christ of all ages from Good Shepherd joined hands to serve together following worship on September 28th. The serving teams were spread out at sites throughout Lena. One team was working on painting a deck. Another team helped wash windows at one home before helping another team to remove a tree, paint window frames, and prepare a shed for painting. The Sunday School children crafted encouragement cards; planted a bush; weeded around the church building; and then volunteered at the Lena Living Center visiting, sharing singing and encouragement, and helping with a craft with the residents. The fifth team was at the Lena Area Historical Museum; they scraped and painted the Chapel, removed a tree and branches, and cleaned up the flower beds. Still others prepared food for volunteers and brought food to those in need.


People serve throughout their families, workplaces, community organizations, neighborhoods, and more every day. “God’s Work. Our Hands.” Sunday was a fun opportunity to join hands and serve shoulder to shoulder together. The teams gathered at the Lena Area Historical Museum after a full day of service for prayer, sharing, and refreshments. It was a joyful day of service on a beautiful day! All are welcome to join in worship at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 118 E Mason St. on Sunday mornings at 9:30am. Time for fellowship, Sunday School, Choir, and Bible Study follow worship.

Summer 2015 Mission Trip to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation



The Mission Trip Team traveled to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota August 7th-15th. While in Pine Ridge, the team spent time with the Lakota people, listening, learning, serving, and sharing. The team is so thankful for the Mission Trip Prayer Team and for the support from the congregation and community! This is a ministry of the whole congregation. Thank you! Please see the September 2015 issue of the newsletter for many more details! Click here.

2014 Mission Trip to Appalachia

 

Summer 2017 Mission Trip to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Thank you for your prayers and support!

2014 Mission Trip to Appalachia
The Good Shepherd Mission Trip Team to Chavies, Kentucky was sent out for a week of service, learning, worship, and mission at the beginning of July. The Chavies area and rural surrounding counties in the Appalachian Mountains are some of the poorest areas in the country. The ten member team from Good Shepherd divided into two work crews and served doing home repair construction with Christian organization Appalachia Service Project; which mobilizes volunteer teams in the Appalachia area to eliminate sub-standard housing and to make houses warmer, safer, and drier through relational ministry and home repairs. The work crews would pack lunches for the work sites and bring enough food for themselves and the families they were serving. They also were able to gift their families with warm quilts from the Piece Corps Quilters, handmaid mittens, and school supplies for the children. It was an intergenerational Mission Trip Team with youth and adults from Pearl City and Lena and a few friends joined the team from IA and MN.

The first crew from Good Shepherd came alongside a wonderful family with two active children whose father was battling cancer. They took out flooring that desperately needed replacing in their mobile home, and installed beautiful laminate flooring. The young girl in the family worked alongside the volunteers, taking a break to do gymnastics flips on her new floor and to carefully and excitedly put away her clothes in her “new room”. When the family’s beloved dog was injured during the week, one of the dog-loving crew members volunteered to take the dog to the vet and to cover the expenses; this served as a real connection point to the family, particularly the son.

The second work crew served two families throughout the week. At the first home, they worked alongside the man who owned the home who was very knowledgeable about construction having worked in that industry for many years, but who was now disabled. The family had recently had to move into their small workshop, because their mobile home was not safe to live in anymore following a flood; so the workshop, now home, which was very cold in the below zero temperatures from last winter needed to be insulated. The crew worked together and installed underpinning under their home, installed a vapor barrier under the home, repaired a roof, and dug trenches to keep the water away from the home. The work crew then helped a young mother with her mobile home. She had a four year old daughter and two-week old little baby. They installed an exterior door, framing and painting and stabilizing the wall. They also repaired part of the siding, where the insulation had been exposed from the exterior and the interior of the house, causing water damage and wasps to nest.

In the mornings before work, the team shared devotions and prayer. After each day of service and ministry, the Mission Trip Team would gather for supper together, do chores around the ASP center, and hear from the programming from ASP staff about the culture of the area and the economic issues they were facing or head out into the community for an outing like visiting the local gas station for famous ice cream shakes. Each night the team gathered together for worship, devotions, sharing the highs and lows of the day, hearing each other’s stories of faith and of how God was at work, and praying together. As the team travelled down to KY, they stopped for team-building, picnics, prayer, & hiking in God’s beautiful Creation.

The Good Shepherd Mission Trip team is so thankful for you! Thank you for the generous donations of clothing, school supplies, and personal care products that were sent with the team to donate to children and families in need. Thank you to the Mission Trip Prayer Team who faithfully sent the team out with prayer and prayed for them throughout the trip! The Mission Trip Team is thankful for the clothing donations from My Friend’s Closet, the safety equipment from DURA, the trailer rental from Totally Floored, the quilts from Piece Corps Quilters, the amazing baked goods sent with the team, and the financial donations that covered all of the construction costs for the week. Thank you! The team is most of all thankful for God who journeys with us and who loves the families in Pearl City, Lena, and Kentucky with more love than we can imagine!

The Mission Trip Team is excited to carry on the service right here in our community! If you or someone you know could use some help– let us know! And save the date for Sept 28th “God’s Work. Our Hands.” Sunday!
 

   
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A Congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Lena, IL