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Members of the Houston Tamil Church at their church retreat
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Who We Are |
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We are a network of Lutheran congregations in the Gulf Coast
region of Texas and Louisiana on a mission to share the Good
News of Jesus Christ with the world.
If you have any
questions or comments concerning the synod and our web site,
email us, at:
synod@gulfcoastsynod.org.
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Building Hope, Lives and Dreams.
May 8 Information Meeting at Messiah Lutheran Church
in Cypress, TX |
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Through Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity, more than 650
homes have already been built with families in need of simple,
decent, affordable housing thanks to Lutherans, Thrivent
Financial members and other volunteers. This year, 10 homes are
being built in Texas and four are in the Gulf Coast Synod area,
Ft Bend (Rosenburg), Northwest Harris County and Montgomery
County (Conroe).
The
Northwest Harris County project is in a new neighborhood called
Hamill Ranch, located at Champions Forest and Richey.
Construction on the first home begins in late June; the second
home starts in September.
On May 8th, Messiah Lutheran Church is hosting an
information meeting on the NW Harris County project. If you want
to involve your congregation in a great outreach project, attend
this meeting and bring members of your congregation who are
interested in knowing more. There are many ways to participate
and not all of them are swinging hammers...Lunches, devotions,
site hosts are also needed.
Thursday, May 8 at 7:00pm
Messiah Lutheran Church
11522 Telge Road (just north of 290 on the east side of the
street)
Cypress, TX
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Central African Republic Trip Report
By Carolyn Jacobs
Pastor
Steven Cauley and I represented our synod on the ELCA companion
synod trip to the Central African Republic (CAR) in February.
The activities included visits to village schools, water
projects, a government hospital and more. We met with
church leaders and members involved in the many ministries of
the Lutheran Church of CAR. They told of their successes
and challenges in a difficult environment, where just getting
from one village to the next can be problematic because of lack
of transportation and security concerns.
In Bouar, we attended the dedications of
the Women's Center (which our synod helped build) and the
renovated church next door, called the “temple,” as well as the
opening session of the FCC (Lutheran Women) national conference
of 350 women held in the temple. At the dedication of the
Women's Center, I gave a greeting in French from the ELCA, the
three participating synods, and the Women of the ELCA.
On Sunday, February 24th, Pastor Steve preached in a sweltering
church in Baboua. Again, I translated into French, while
the local pastor translated into Gbaya--30 minutes for a 10
minute sermon. Then, we both helped serve communion. The service
lasted over two hours, with much singing and dancing.In Baboua,
we also visited the Bible School and the Seminary.
Last year, our synod offerings for CAR
programs came to almost $22,000. The need for continued support
is great. We can help keep children in school, provide HIV/AIDS
education, support training programs for women and much more.
CAR Lutherans were very welcoming and heartened that we had come
so far. They are eager for trip participants to talk about them
here in the U.S. We will come to your congregations to
speak or show photos. You are also invited to hear the trip
report at the next Global Mission Team meeting on April 27 at
Christus Victor in League City. For more information,
cljaco@sbcglobal.net
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