We are called to the
Welcome Place not to serve ourselves, but to serve those whom
God makes known to us and empowers us to serve. We minister and serve with
joy and thanksgiving in these ways - and many others, too!
Women of the
ELCA | Lutheran
Youth Organization | Seniors Fellowship Ministry
| Altar Guild
Welcome Lutheran Scholarship Fund |
Misión
Luterana San Pablo | West End Christian
Community
Organization
Mission Meals Ministry
WELCA General Board 2005
Left to right:
Lois Schubert,Cynthia Kuehn,
Jean Nell Wittneben,
Dolores Oberrender,
and Diana Lampe
All confirmed women in the congregation are members of the Welcome WELCA. The General Board meets every other month to provide the day-to-day leadership for the group. Members also meet monthly in Bible Study circles: the Brenham Circle, the Naomi Circle and the Mary/Martha Circle. Each spring the entire membership meets for the Annual Banquet and business meeting.
All women of the congregation are invited to a part of one of the Circles, which meet according to the following schedule:
Brenham Circle meets on the 3rd Mondays at 7:30 p.m. in homes of members. Please call the church office to find out this month's location.
Mary/Martha Circle meets on 2nd Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. in the Education Building.
Naomi Circle meets on 2nd Mondays at 7:30 p.m. in the Education Building.
The Welcome WELCA has its root in the Welcome Ladies' Aid, founded by 20 women of the congregation on May 12, 1935, to assist the congregation in its mission, ministry and worship life. On January 10, 1960, with the national church merger that created The American Lutheran Church, the Ladies' Aid changed its name to American Lutheran Church Women and Ladies' Aid. By 1967, the ALCW had established Bible Study Circles, from which today's circles derive. When the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America came into being on January 1, 1988, the American Lutheran Church Women became the Welcome Women of the ELCA. At that time, the practice of considering all confirmed women of the congregation to be members of the organization began.
No! Not today's LYO at the Welcome Place!
This photo, taken in 1917, is the only record still in existence of the first youth group at Welcome. Unfortunately the names of the young people shown in the photo were not recorded.
The Lutheran Youth Organization at the Welcome Place is composed of all confirmed students through the twelfth grade. Newly confirmed students are encouraged and urged to begin their ministry in the congregation as a part of the LYO. Currently, Janice and John Rinn and Kami Leonard serve as sponsors for LYO.
For a number of years, the LYO has attended the ELCA Youth Gatherings; currently plans (and fundraising activities) are under way to attend the 2003 Youth Gathering in Atlanta. Through the years the LYO (and its predecessor organizations) have contributed a portion of their funds to participate in congregational projects and ministries, as well.
In January, 1930, a youth group was officially reorganized with 20 charter members as the Welcome Lutheran Luther League, a part of the national organization of the new American Lutheran Church. Though at times, the membership of the organization has waned, due to the increase in school and extracurricular activities, the LYO celebrated its 72nd anniversary this year.
Once each month, on the second Tuesday at 2:00 p.m., a number of the elder members of our congregation gather in the Educational Building for a rousing afternoon of dominoes ("Forty-two") and cards and a wonderful time of fellowship together, ending with a meal that often serves as the evening meal for those present.
Participants from the Welcome Place often bring along their friends and
neighbors for this afternoon of fun and relaxation together. Guests are
cordially welcomed and members of the congregation are invited to come and share
this time together.
2005 Welcome Lutheran
Altar Guild
The Welcome Lutheran Altar Guild was organized on February 7, 1969, in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the congregation. Nine ladies were charter members of the Altar Guild, which has cared for the altar and chancel area of our church for more than thirty years. Mrs. Esther Schulz (front row, second from left, in both pictures) was a charter member and has served for 34 years.
1969 Welcome Lutheran
Altar Guild
The charter members of the Welcome Lutheran Altar Guild were:
Front Row: Mrs. Elroy Wiecker, Mrs. Alvin
Schulz, Mrs. Robert Warmke, Mrs. Erwin Kramer, Mrs. Arthur Windlemann;
Back Row: Mrs. Vergil Luedeker, Mrs. Leslie Eben, Pastor Charles
David, Mrs. Charles David, Mrs. E.G. Wehmeyer.
The Welcome Lutheran Scholarship Fund has its roots in a decision in 1967 by
the Welcome Lutheran Church Men to establish a "Student Fund" to offer
scholarship assistance to young men of the congregation to study for the
ministry of the church. Original funding came from contributions from members,
which were matched by Lutheran Brotherhood.
In recent years, funds for the Scholarship program have come from periodic Mission Festivals and fundraisers, and memorial and other gifts to the Scholarship Fund. Presently, the Scholarship Committee consists of four members elected by the congregation and the pastor of the congregation. Recipients of scholarships today must be college students from congregations of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod attending a four-year Christian college or university or a Lutheran Seminary with the intention of becoming a full-time church worker.
Since 1997 the congregation has awarded a $500 scholarship each year to a man or woman attending the Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest at Austin, Texas.
Two $500 scholarships have been awarded for the 2002-2003 school year. Recipients are Samuel Branson, a second-year student and Janet Constantine, a first-year student who is studying for the ministry as a second career.
Misión Luterana San Pablo is a mission congregation of the Southwest Texas Synod
located in Weslaco, Texas, near the Rio Grande. The people of The Welcome Place
have enjoyed a special relationship with the congregation since the early
1990's.
Through the years members from San Pablo have visited
Welcome and members of the Welcome Place have visited Weslaco. These pictures of
San Pablo were taken
on a mission trip in 1999, when members from the Welcome Place visited
Weslaco to assist San Pablo in a mission
project to repair a small church across the river in Mexico.
The congregation was formally organized in 1991 as a congregation of the Southwest Texas Synod's Rio Grande Conference, and has grown steadily, reporting 236 baptized members in 2001. You may write to Pastor Ismael de la Tejera and the congregation at: Post Office Box 28, Weslaco, Texas, or visit them at their worship center at 2216 East Pike Blvd. in Weslaco. Canten al Señor cántico nuevo; canten al Señor, toda la tierra! (Sal. 96:1)
The West End Christian Community Organization is a coalition
of seven Christian congregations in the "west end" area of Austin County, Texas,
embracing the area that includes Welcome, Bleiblerville, Nelsonville, Shelby, Industry and
New Ulm. A coordinating board, with members from each participating
congregation, meets quarterly to plan joint community events and services.
Congregations from the Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Brethren and Roman Catholic
communions participate actively in WECCO.
Each month one of the congregations assumes the responsibility for the monthly Food Distribution program in the West End, at the Industry Volunteer Fire Department station. The food is purchased locally with funds donated by the WECCO congregations; clothing donated by the congregations is also available for those who need it.
WECCO also plans community celebrations in which all the congregations participate, including an observance of the National Day of Prayer in May, a CROP walk in Industry in November, and the community ecumenical Thanksgiving Service on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. This service rotates among the participating congregations and pastors of all congregations participate in leading the worship.
Welcome Lutheran participates with many of the same West End congregations
that consitute WECCO (above) in a special three-times-a-year Mission Meals
ministry with more than 50 families in the West End area of Austin County.
Each August, congregations prepare and serve a Chicken & Spaghetti dinner to many of the families participating in the program. And each spring, another hot meal is prepared. Volunteers from the congregations prepare the meals; other volunteers deliver the meals throughout the county.
The highlight of the program is the Thanksgiving meal of roast turkey and dressing with all the trimming, delivered during Thanksgiving week each year. Volunteers are always needed to help prepare and deliver the meals!