Grace, Tomahawk & WRV Conference:
Bishop Ditlhale from the Western Diocese visited our East Central Synod of Wisconsin in 2005 along with women representing the Moretele Circuit Women's League. During that visit Bishop Ditlhale and his wife, Margaret, spent several days at Grace Lutheran in Tomahawk encouraging Grace to send people to visit their companion parish in the Western Diocese. People from Grace have now visited their companion, Lekubu Lutheran Parish in 2006, 2008, and 2010, and Lekubu has visited Grace in 2007 and 2012. Eighteen people from Grace have paid for the 2013 trip, including five high school youth.
In 2007, the Dean of the Madikwe Circuit, Pastor Solomon Seaketso, the Chair of the Madikwe Circuit Partnership Committee, Dr. Benjamin Molokoe, and MmaDean Jeanette Seaketso, Chair of the Madikwe Circuit Women's League visited the Wisconsin River Valley Conference with which their circuit is matched.
Enthusiasm spread as the twelve people representing six congregations in the Wisconsin River Valley Conference visited their six matched companion parishes in the Madikwe Circuit in 2010. Key participants in that visit were the Dean of the WRV Conference, Pastor LaDonna Ekern, and Claudette Harring who chairs the WRV Conference Companion Task Force.
Then in 2012 sixty-five people representing all but one parish in the Madikwe Circuit visited every congregation in the Wisconsin River Valley Conference! All who came are leaders in their congregation, parish, circuit, diocese, and even in ELCSA and their visit led to many conversations on faith, church, our witness in the world, and our mutual encouragement to each other. Twenty five from this group attended the Global Village Camp, and all sixty-five blessed us with four concerts in Waupaca, Antigo, Tomahawk, and Wausau during their visit.
Now we are returning in 2013 and invite you to join us! Begin this relationship in your congregation and Conference!
This planned trip in 2013 is based on all that has been learned from the previous experiences. We have learned that this is more affordable than many vacations we take today, plus the experience - the relationships - never end! You will also travel with others, and the planned orientation in South Africa is worth phenomenonly more than the price! The number who go from your congregation can vary greatly. Grace has visited there in groups of one, two, four and now eighteen are planning to go.
The greatest benefit is EXPERIENCING companionship. You will never see church, mission, and relationships the same! God calls us to be the Body of Christ, and when we experience that body in such an extraordinary way its greatest change is how we see and act when we return to those immediately around us. It will spread to through your congregation! As Bishop Jim Ahrends of the LaCrosse Synod states, when people visit their companion (in their synod in Ethiopia or Peru), the entire congregation, Conference and Synod goes; a few do so physically.
Even if only one person from your congregation joins this trip, this experience is intended and arranged to be a blessing for your entire congregation and to be a significant step in your companion relationship. Come join us!
In 2007, the Dean of the Madikwe Circuit, Pastor Solomon Seaketso, the Chair of the Madikwe Circuit Partnership Committee, Dr. Benjamin Molokoe, and MmaDean Jeanette Seaketso, Chair of the Madikwe Circuit Women's League visited the Wisconsin River Valley Conference with which their circuit is matched.
Enthusiasm spread as the twelve people representing six congregations in the Wisconsin River Valley Conference visited their six matched companion parishes in the Madikwe Circuit in 2010. Key participants in that visit were the Dean of the WRV Conference, Pastor LaDonna Ekern, and Claudette Harring who chairs the WRV Conference Companion Task Force.
Then in 2012 sixty-five people representing all but one parish in the Madikwe Circuit visited every congregation in the Wisconsin River Valley Conference! All who came are leaders in their congregation, parish, circuit, diocese, and even in ELCSA and their visit led to many conversations on faith, church, our witness in the world, and our mutual encouragement to each other. Twenty five from this group attended the Global Village Camp, and all sixty-five blessed us with four concerts in Waupaca, Antigo, Tomahawk, and Wausau during their visit.
Now we are returning in 2013 and invite you to join us! Begin this relationship in your congregation and Conference!
This planned trip in 2013 is based on all that has been learned from the previous experiences. We have learned that this is more affordable than many vacations we take today, plus the experience - the relationships - never end! You will also travel with others, and the planned orientation in South Africa is worth phenomenonly more than the price! The number who go from your congregation can vary greatly. Grace has visited there in groups of one, two, four and now eighteen are planning to go.
The greatest benefit is EXPERIENCING companionship. You will never see church, mission, and relationships the same! God calls us to be the Body of Christ, and when we experience that body in such an extraordinary way its greatest change is how we see and act when we return to those immediately around us. It will spread to through your congregation! As Bishop Jim Ahrends of the LaCrosse Synod states, when people visit their companion (in their synod in Ethiopia or Peru), the entire congregation, Conference and Synod goes; a few do so physically.
Even if only one person from your congregation joins this trip, this experience is intended and arranged to be a blessing for your entire congregation and to be a significant step in your companion relationship. Come join us!
