BLC Weekly, September 22
Hello Bethlehem,
5th-12th graders are invited to ValleyScare next week! Please register online by this Friday to let us know you’re coming. We will leave Bethlehem on Friday, October 3rd and stop at the Eden Prairie Center to have dinner in the food court before we head to the park. Cost includes the cost of entry into the park, the haunted attractions, and transportation to and from Valleyfair.
This week
Adults Forums Join us Sundays at 10:45AM in Grounds for Joy for coffee and speakers selected by your Adult Education Board. This Sunday we will hear from Holly Schoettler, the Mankato Community & Homeowner Outreach Manager for Habitat for Humanity. The Adult Forum schedule is available on our website.
Join us for Wednesday night suppers, served at 5:00 PM in the lower level. All are welcome and the meal is FREE. The fall menu is now available online. Upcoming Menu:
Sept. 24 Chicken, mashed potatoes, salad and roll
October 1 Spaghetti, garlic toast and salad
October 8 Sub sandwich, cold pasta salad and chips
October 15 No Supper - MEA Break
It’s Stewardship season at Bethlehem, a time to consider the gifts, energies and talents we get to entrust to one another in this community. Each week the BLC Stewardship board will share a Value of Stewardship. Look for these in the BLC Weekly and on the screens within the building.
Family faith Formation
Announcements
Bethlehem will host a Pet Blessing on Wednesday, October 1st!
The Installation of the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA will take place in Minneapolis on October 4th. No tickets are required. More details are available here for anyone interested in attending.
Shared from the Nebraska Synod, we are invited to join Deacon Ross Murray, the author of The Everyday Advocate: Living Out Your Calling to Social Justice, to talk about how to be an effective Christian advocate. You can find more information and register online. The cost of this 3 session series is $30 with classes Oct. 6, 13 and 27 from 7-8:30PM.
Shop Fair Trade: Save the date for fair trade shopping! Bethlehem’s Fair Trade Committee will be selling goodies like chocolate, coffee, tea and olive oil on Sunday, October 12 after worship.
A Letter from thee alliance forgiving medical debt
To Members and Friends of THEE Alliance,
I am excited to announce that Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Mankato, MN has become the 32nd member to join THEE Alliance Forgiving Medical Debt! The Bethlehem congregation joins our other 31 members in providing Awareness of the critical issue of medical debt on financial hardship families, making a difference through gifting and showing that together we can make a bigger difference.Since 2020, Members have provided $950,000 which has forgiven nearly $117 million of medical debt for 119,000 families in financial hardship.
THEE Alliance Forgiving Medical Debt is the largest group of faith communities forgiving medical debt, through our Partner UNDUE Medical Debt, in our Country. Please welcome Pastor Jay Dahlvang, Pastor Jacie Richmond and the Bethlehem congregation!
Skip Lieser
Lead Advisor
THEE Alliance Forgiving Medical Debt
Monthly mission partner
Bethlehem’s September Monthly Mission partner is Iambi Secondary School Scholarships. This church-managed boarding school serves 200 students in the Mkalama district, Singida region in Tanzania. Academically, it is among the top ten schools in regional and national examination results. ISS has a conducive environment for students to learn with a reliable power supply, enough books, and enough teachers for all subjects. They also teach computer studies courses and religion. Gifts from Bethlehem have been transformative for ISS, and our past generosity enabled the school to install electricity, allowing the students and teachers to study and prepare lessons after the sun went down. Test scores soared, and enrollment boomed. Please give prayerfully and financially to our friends at Iambi Secondary School. You can give online or drop off a check written out to Bethlehem with the monthly mission in the memo line.
This Week in our Prayers
Curt Halvorson Marian Mallory Pete Wachtel
Anna Moses Barb Girtz Paul Haugesag
Amy Grams Haugesag Pat Nelson Lisa Hagen
Sandy Birkholz Kurt Burdick Mary Clark Nikolas Perez
John Jates Tyler Ratcliff
Trondhjem Lutheran in Lonsdale West St. Olaf Lutheran in Byron
Trinity Lutheran in West Concord Peace Lutheran in Eyota
Neema Mpipiti Lutheran in Tanzania Deng Hoth Lutheran Parish in South Sudan
Nkonkilangi Lutheran in Tanzania