“......and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth."                                                                             Acts 1:8

This was Jesus’ command to his disciples and to us and He also assured all of us when he said “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you".  Outreach efforts here at Hales Corners Lutheran include evangelism and missions and are organized into four areas; Local comunities,  Milwaukee, America and the world.  All are important for us to focus on and to plan our witness to.  While they all originate here in Hales Corners, they then reach out to areas that we can have impact in.  It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we go.

Locally , Our Sonshine Ministry ( local missions) focuses on provinding basic needs to the under resourced of the Metro Milwaukee area.  Low income seniors benefit from the ‘Stockbox’ and 'Foodbox'  supplemental food programs, Our Helping Hands MAT and Men’s groups help with household tasks and rides.  Food, clothing and household items are collected and distributed to the local pantries and outreach agencies of the center city and suburban areas. A Fill the Truck event to collect food is a quarterly collection where members bring a bag of food to worship and leave it behind their vehicle.  Volunteers pick up and sort the food for delivery to the pantries that we support.  The Attic Workshop operates as a medical supply ministry to world missions out of its facilities at the Steeple View senior independent living center. 

In Milwaukee there are many opportunities, the biggest of which is the Ebenezer community.  A food pantry (city authorized) operates on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  Soup for the Soul is a soup kitchen that is available to local guests on Wednesdays.  Clothing is available at these times also.  This outreach effort once a part of Sonshine Ministries is now standing on its own and reaching the community is growing numbers.  Other outreach efforts include supplying food to Emmaus Lutheran, Hope Lutheran for the African Immigrant Ministry, St Martins of Tours with food for their pantries. The S.O.S. Center provides after school and Summer programs and is one or our favorite outreach efforts,  The Lutheran Home for seniors, Habitat for Humanity, our Angel Tree and Mitten Trees as well as our toy collection for Ebenezer, the prison ministries, and just recently the schoolbag effort for St Martinis Lutheran school..

Disasters have held center stage in the recent past in America and efforts to help have been direct with our members forming teams to help in the Gulf or collecting appliances for the rebuilding efforts.  The rebuilding as of January of 2010 is only about half done.  We as a community also provided funds to Lutheran World Relief and our synod’s district efforts.  New efforts are planned to help the under resourced native American people.

In the world , Hales Corners Lutheran supports four long term missionaries in Kazakhstan, Kenya, Guatemala, Italy and several other organizations that help people worldwide.  The efforts in Guatemala and the Czech Republic also include short term mission teams.   Teams are being formed to travel to Guatemala and the Czech Republic in the Spring and Summer of 2010.  We anticipate a trip to Haiti in the coming year also as we develop a new relationship with the Mission of Hope..

 In all these outreach opportunities we are striving to reduce hardships of and bring the Word of God and His love to those that are lost or devastated by disaster and poverty.

What is your mission?  How do you reach out to those that don’t know that salvation comes through Jesus.  How do you reach out to those that are less fortunate.  How do you show God’s love through you actions?  Let the Holy Spirit guide you in your search.

Opportunities to serve will be found in each of the tabs under Serving .  Please go to each of the links and let the Spirit lead you to your area of service. A Serving List is available at the Information Counter in our atrium.

The Serving link also contains mission and ministry opportunities.