1245 Hamilton Street Allentown, PA 18102

info@christ-atown.org

(610)433-4271

Main Office hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Thursday & Friday: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Our Parking Lot is directly across Hamilton Street, opposite the front of our building.

Hymn Sing preludes

During the summer months, we will regularly have a Hymn Sing during the prelude time, just prior to the start of worship. Call out your favorite hymn or hymn number in the ELW hymnal (so that we know we have the music!) and we will sing several stanzas of that hymn! Arrive about 10:15 on these days so that you have a chance to select yours. Hymn Sing preludes will be July 5, July 26, August 16, and September 6!

q&a Session July 19

A final Reveal Gathering was presented at St. John’s Lutheran on June 28. We have intentionally gathered with four other congregations since February. While that process was going on, an Exploratory Team and a Leadership Team representing each congregation were working on and discussing how shared ministry could (or could not) work. Now, we as Christ Church want to “huddle up” and share where Council and Staff members are in the process as well as hear from the congregation where their perceptions and observations lie. We’ll meet July 19 following worship! Please attend if you can!

a-town Bundle

Our church leaders will continue to meet with a consultant, our Exploratory Team has an August meeting scheduled, and each Church Council is continuing discussions as part of the exploratory process since the Reveal Gathering on June 28.

If you attend worship or interact with Christ Church, you will probably hear the terminology A-town Bundle. This reference currently includes five Lutheran congregations of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod’s Lehigh Mission District exploring what it would look like to intentional bundle our ministry resources and staff together. This exploration process takes time and is designed to be centered around relationships and mission - not money. Here’s a few details:

The congregations involved are:

St. John’s Lutheran Church
St. Luke’s Lutheran Church
Christ Lutheran Church
Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer
St. Timothy Lutheran Church

What Exploration involves:

gatherings that inter-mingle members of each congregation
gathering data about knowns and unknowns, advantages and fears, scripture, and mission to discern where congregational values and goals lie
using that information to form mission and vision statements if we look at the five congregations as ministry partners
draft a sample covenant agreement for each of the five church Councils to review
each congregation as a whole votes on whether or not to enter into the Bundle, while still maintaining their own facility and site-specific budget

These congregations have been in Allentown a long time yet, in many ways, are still getting to know one another. Here is the July Newsletter of the A-town Bundle, sharing ministry highlights with one another.