2020 Annual Report and 2021 Ministry Plan

Lead Pastor’s Report Pastor Pam Lange
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere
in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints;
extend hospitality to strangers.
Romans 12:13
This was the year when we learned to use our
‘outside voices.’
As coronavirus crept first into our consciousness,
then our country, community and households, it
shifted priorities and changed every aspect of daily
living. The virus required that we reimagine
education, entertainment, work, worship and means
for maintaining relationships. At Mount Carmel, we
too made the necessary shifts. We masked,
distanced, disinfected, ventilated, limited access to
the building and implemented a Covenant of Care
for the congregation.
First,
love God.
Second,
love your neighbor
as yourself.
Centered in sacrificial love, we grounded our
approach to this pandemic in the commands of
Jesus Christ. First, love God. Second, love your
neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). By March,
even with precautions in place, it became necessary
to fully suspend all in-person activities in order to
most effectively combat the spread of disease to
both neighbors and one another. That policy applied
to worship as well as to the work of church staff, the
gathering of all congregational groups and the use
of church space by community groups. Recorded
worship became the only option and pastors
reluctantly adapted to preaching into our cell
phones until the newly ordered (and then
backordered) equipment could be supplied and
installed.
By late summer, we resumed congregating on
church grounds to sing, pray and praise God. That’s
where those ‘outside voices’ became an asset up
against the buses and Sunday morning traffic on
Center Street. Still we were not deterred. That
determination became a visible verification to the
world that, although the building was closed, the
work of the church had not closed down.
Neighbors noticed when we instituted regular
carport collections of food and household items for
those effected by the pandemic and they joined in
regularly. And as they did, they expressed gratitude
for our including the community in the necessary
work being done together. The Gathering Meal
moved outdoors as well, offering prepackaged hot
meals to anyone who showed up for them. The
neighborhood came to see Mount Carmel as a
significant contributor to the needs of one another
and, through recorded worship, others became able
to join us for worship who might not consider
coming through the doors otherwise.
In October, as we were attempting a restricted
return to the worship space, disease indicators in
Milwaukee County soared and, at the strongest
urging of Bishop Paul Erickson, it became too risky
and reckless to gather in-person. Even so, as the
pandemic persisted, we did too! Sunday School,
confirmation classes, Bible study and youth ministry
events took place in new formats but with God in
Christ always as the foundation. The confirmation of
five students took place on Reformation Day, five
4