"You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. Ephesians 2:20 (The Message) 

WELCOME, to the blog site for ELCA churches in Kittson County.  Here, I hope we can have caring conversations about faith, hope, and the new life we see God giving us.  I am new at blogging, so please be patient with me as I learn with you all.  This is just one tool to inform you about the ministry we have done so far in Kittson County, and a place where you can join the conversation and share where you see God giving new life, and where you are seeing a decline in faith and death in our communities. 

Below, you will see a time line of the work we have done together so far.  Thank you for your positive support, enthusiasm, and prayers.  I will be going on Sabbatical July 8th-Aug. 4th.  I hope to post weekly updates about what I am hearing from Kittson County members, other ELCA churches, and God's faithfulness in our collaborative work together.  -Pastor Melodi Hagen 

Our History Together….Kittson County Internship Time Line

Summer 2011: Interim Pastor Craig Bowyer asked, “What might it look like if we shared ministry together?” at text study at Zion, Lake Bronson.  Then a county wide group of lay members from ELCA churches interested in joining the conversation about calling an intern was formed.  Then in the fall, Pastor Frank Johnson moved to Hallock and took a call to serve at Grace Lutheran.  At the text study table, he shared his future wife Kate would be joining him next year and looking for an internship.  This affirmed our discernment was going in the right direction, and a call was created for Kate. 

January 2012:  Each of the churches voted to continue to the process to call an Intern to Kittson County.  In April 2012, each of the churches voted to call Intern Kate Johnson, and to contribute to the KCI fund to support this collaboration.   

August 2012:  KCI  Kate Johnson Started her call by spending the first month rotating around to the three different parishes and then September 2012-July 2013 spending part-time at the following congregations while finishing up her schooling at  Luther Seminary.  (Rotation: Karlstad-Halma, Lake Bronson-Kennedy, Lancaster).  During this time, Intern Kate also helped to form Kittson County Youth Group activities through out the year and initiate a Kittson County summer mission trip which will be to Idaho July 6-13th. 

May-June 2013: A period of caring conversations around the Kittson county ELCA churches, and prayer together using Examine and Lexio Divina prayer practices to discern together where we see God's faithfulness and new life, and what might God be calling us to do next? 

Future dates to be aware of:  
July 2013:  Pastor Melodi taking a Sabbatical.  A time of prayer, study, and discernment for how God might be calling us to share gifts for ministry and support one another in the future?

August-September 2013:  Report Back to Kittson County Congregations

January 2014: Intern Application Due

May 2014:  Kate’s Internship complete and looking for a call