We live to make Christ known.

Posts by Sue Hendrickson

Join Us to Deck the Halls!

Join us this Sunday, November 29th, to decorate the church for Advent and Christmas. Yes, it’s time! And we certainly could use uplifting of our spirits. We’ll start about 11:30 (after the service). Masks will be required, of course, and families can work independently in different areas of the building.

Minnesota “Dial Back” Restrictions

This week our Minnesota Governor “turned back the dial” by adding certain new restrictions. What does this mean for our congregation? The Governor and other speakers were clear that churches have NOT been a significant place of spreading for the disease. As a result, the new restrictions do NOT impact anything we have presently been doing. Therefore, we will continue with the…

Live Streaming Worship!

We are pleased to now offer a live stream of our worship services. If possible, we will stream both the 8 and 10:30 service, but if we run into any troubles you may have to watch one already recorded. It’s new to us all, so please be patient and send us your feedback on how we’re doing. Clinking the link on the…

Why is there no video posted here today?

Since the pandemic began, we have been editing worship videos from past years with the same theme and readings and posting them to our website. Starting November 1st, you will be able to view our worship services LIVE from the sanctuary or come back after the service to watch the recording. Just click the link “Live Stream and Videos” at the top…

Worship Video: October 25, 2020

The video worship for Sunday, October 25, 2020, Reformation Day, has been posted under “Sermons and Devotions.” You can also click the following link to be taken there directly: https://www.oslcmankato.org/sermons/worship-video-october-25-2020-reformation-day/

Returning to Small Groups in the Church

The agreement between “Houses of Worship” and the State Governor allows for churches to resume holding meetings, small group Bible Studies, and other small group activities indoors. We are asking each group to decide from among their participants if and when they would like to meet again. Then call the church office so that we can reserve appropriate safe space. Other spaces…

Indoor Worship Guidelines

By agreement of the Minnesota South District President and the Governor of Minnesota, indoor worship is now allowed to the those congregations which have a written plan to avoid exposure to the Corona-19 virus which follows certain requirements and recommendations. Below is an overview of our plan so that members can decide which service they wish to attend and what they can…

Indoor Worship Protocol

Upon the recommendation of the President of the Minnesota South District, in cooperation with the  Governor of Minnesota, the following PLAN has been prepared for the reintroduction of indoor worship in our congregation.   Although we had previously presented a plan to move forward with indoor worship beginning June 14th. the Church Council has decided to continue with this previous plan with recommended…

Regarding KTV Video Worship

We have heard from KTV, which broadcasts our worship video on local cable TV services through Spectrum and Consolidated, that they are having trouble with their computer which plays services after hours. They are aware that our broadcast sometimes does not show on Tuesday evenings and they are working on the problem. The Wednesday 2pm airings should still be working. They apologize…

Special Pandemic Volunteers Needed

Learn to run the FM broadcast for our parking lot services. Learn how to find, edit, process, and upload past worship services. You’d need a top end computer and fast internet. Learn how to post announcements, devotions, worship services and the like to our website and Facebook page. Others can provide the content. It’s the tech-savvy that is needed. A willingness to…

A Collection of Pandemic Thoughts from Pastor Lauer

How we May Look to Future Generations I remember a man who grew up in Weimar Germany – the period between the Word Wars when Germany was a political and economical disaster. His wife had also come to America from impoverished Europe. The experiences of their youth changed their lives forever. He loved the seclusion and of Northern Minnesota. She loved the…

Your Easter Options

On Easter Sunday, a worship video from a previous year with classic pipe organ, rousing hymns, all the flowers, and of course the Easter Gospel read and preached will be posted here on our website. The same video will be shown on Easter Sunday on local access channel KTV (Charter/Spectrum channel 181 or Consolidated Communications channel 7 (digital 507) at 9:30 a.m.…

Sunday Radio Sermon

For those who are new to our website, each week we post our Sunday radio broadcast to this site where KTOE radio picks it up for their broadcast. Go to “Sermons and Devotions” and you can’t find it there every Sunday. Today, you can just CLICK HERE to be taken right to it. The radio sermon doesn’t always match the sermon in…

Palm Sunday Order of Service

The order of service for Palm Sunday has been uploaded to it’s regular place on our website under “worship” and “weekly order of service.” You you can get there easily by clicking HERE. Use this order of service to follow along with the service on our website recording which will be posted by Saturday evening. This service was recorded April 9, 2017,…

Changes to Drive In Service Plans

Due to the Minnesota Governor’s Executive Order 20-20, known as the “Stay at Home” order, we will not be able to hold our Palm Sunday drive in service at Franklin Elementary. We will still do a “practice service” in our own parking lot on the corner of Broad and Lime with a limited amount of parking in order to “work out the…

April Events Cancelled

All services and activities, other than those described below, are cancelled for the entire month of April. The Church Council will announce plans for May at a later date as circumstances change. Pastoral Care Walk-In Hours Call for Specialized Pastoral Care Both Pastors and the Deaconess are available to provide individual pastoral care as we always have. We are not permitted to…

Choirs and Special Music

Due to restrictions on meetings and events, we have decided to end the choir and special music season early. Therefore, any rehearsals for the adult choir, adult bells, kid’s choir (JAM), kid’s bells, or brass have been cancelled. The music program potluck scheduled for Spring has been postponed until Fall. When we start gathering again for worship, any choir that wants to…

Weekly Prayer Time

We invite you to join one another in a time of prayer Wednesday evenings around 7:00pm. Though we won’t be gathering physically together for Lenten Service or even our typical Wednesday Night Devotions, we can come together wherever we may be (or even on the phone) in a time of prayer remembering God and one another. This can be after supper or…

Small Group Worship this Week

While the Governor of Minnesota has issued a “stay at home” order to begin Friday evening at midnight, we believe that being able to visit with your pastor is an “essential service” more important than getting gas or even groceries. Therefore, Pastor Matheny will continue to be available to meet with individuals or small groups at the hours posted below. We will,…

Ministry Update

Six days ago, March 17th, the staff made a decision to cancel the next day’s Lenten midweek service and later that evening the Church Council decided to cancel all worship and activities at Our Savior’s through April 8th. These six days have been overwhelming as we’ve been changing how we do things at Our Savior’s. Pastor Matheny had posted hours on Thursday…

A Letter from our Minnesota South District President

The following letter was received from Rev. Dr. Lucas Woodford, the president of Minnesota South District of the LCMS. Addressed to pastors, Dr. Woodford presents issues surrounding the difficult decision of whether or not to cancel church services. Rather than make a new presentation and suggest that it was my own, I thought you might appreciate hearing how leaders in our Synod…

Video Services

Our last two worship services are now available on our own website! Go to “Sermons and Devotions” on our homepage and you can select to Listen (to hear only the sermon) or Watch (to view the entire service)! This Saturday evening we’ll post a video of a full worship service from a previous year with the same readings we would have had…