God is at work in Kossuth County! Great things are happening and it’s all because of the Holy Spirit. As we move into the future, I think that the Holy Spirit’s work will only become more obvious and pronounced.

Our Presbyterian Parish (known as the Kossuth Area Presbyterian Parish or KAPP) is becoming stronger every day. Each of our member churches are gaining in faith, hope, and courage. We are gathering together for worship and fellowship and we are also gathering in our own churches, feeling secure that God is giving us a future full of challenges and joys.

Creating the Parish has been a challenge. When we try to do something that we haven’t done before (even if others have), it takes time, patience, and courage to get it going correctly. I appreciate the efforts that so many people in our churches have gone through and I rejoice in the results that we are beginning to see. The patience that all of our members have shown as Pastor Walt and I become accustomed to serving four churches in various capacities has truly been appreciated.

For those wondering what I’m talking about, a year and a half ago, the Algona and Irvington Presbyterian churches invited the Lone Rock Presbyterian Church into an alliance, or a Parish. Pastor Walt and I have served these three churches, providing preaching, teaching, and pastoral care for them as they go through life. In return, our member churches gather together on Wednesday evenings for supper and worship. (We also love that the Burt Presbyterian Church attends and helps lead these gatherings!) Each of the three member churches split the costs for Pastoral support among them. Beginning in January, we also began providing Sunday morning worship leadership for the Lakota First Presbyterian Church. Pastor Walt is the primary preacher there and this arrangement has required the Lone Rock and Lakota churches to change their worship times. Again, we are blessed that our churches are so flexible in helping to include others in hearing the Word of God.

Something that comes up quite often is concern over the amount of work that both Pastor Walt and I need to do to keep the Parish functioning. I think we both agree that it is definitely keeping us busy! However, I think we also both agree that this is not an overwhelming task, and we also see the great benefits that we can provide each other through the Parish. As such, we both feel blessed to be able to serve. Our Ruling Elders take good care of us, ensuring that we aren’t overworking ourselves and are taking the time we need to stay focused and rested. This is just another way that we are blessed: the Ruling Elders in each of our churches are motivated, strong, and spiritually alive, and we are blessed to be able to serve with them.

As we look into the future, we are beginning to make plans that will allow us to continue to stay together as a Parish. Multiple people within the churches have expressed strong interest in going to the “Lay Academy”. The Lay Academy is a series of courses that result in the graduate being Commissioned into a particular Presbyterian church. Pastor Walt is a graduate of this course. As our newest students attend the Academy and graduate, we will work with them to determine how they can best serve within the Parish. It’s our prayer that even more members will investigate the Lay Academy as well as other avenues that will help them to become more involved in the leadership of our member churches. This is yet another way that we see that we are blessed.

I’m excited to be a part of this great experiment of the future of church leadership and mutual sharing of our resources. I feel blessed to have been called by God to this location and look forward to seeing how God will be using all of us as the time goes on!