In January of 2018, Bishop Gronberg and I met with leaders from four Bosque County ELCA congregations. Thirty-five members of Our Saviors in Norse, Trinity in Clifton, St. Olaf in Cranfills Gap, and Faith in Meridian met in the fellowship hall at Norse to have conversations about what it could look like if they began to work toward sharing ministries.

I have continued to meet regularly with them to build relationships and share ideas.  We have lost our Meridian congregation as they made the difficult decision to close their congregation but the remaining three chose to begin a new “tradition” of worship together for Reformation Sunday.

This first annual celebration was hosted by St. Olaf, and I was blessed to be the preacher. But even more fun was joining in with the combined choir that sang for the service. Following worship was a chance for fellowship at the potluck lunch.

You haven’t seen a potluck lunch until you get to attend one with three combined congregations!

The best part of the whole day was hearing so many people expressing their gratitude for this opportunity. One person after another came up to me to say how wonderful it was to see so many in worship instead of their usual small bunch and to hear the combined voices singing. Even better – some said they should do this more often!

Next year it will be at Trinity in Clifton. Put it on your calendar now!