Ways to Connect
Some of our programs:
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- Bible Studies
- Young Adults
- Farmer's Market
- Prayer Chain
- Chancel Choir
- Book Group
- Yoga
- Womens Groups
- Mission Trips
- AFACT
- Giving & Gifts - Fair Trade, Good Gifts, Bread for the World, CROP Walk
- Confirmation
- Christian Education/Sunday School
- Vacation Bible School
- Drop In Center
Midweek Bible Study:
Bring a brown bag lunch & join the pastor each Wednesday at Noon for a deeper look at the lectionary Bible texts for the coming Sunday - we provide coffee & tea.
Early Bird Bible Study:
6:30 a.m. Tuesdays during the school year - no meetings in the summer months. In spring 2009 we studied the book of Genesis. Fall 2009 we are studying the book of Exodus. Coffee and tea provided.
Church doesn’t just happen on Sunday mornings. Through Central, twenty and thirty-somethings gather to ask questions, study God’s word, worship and just hang out.
Join us anytime. Here are some options:
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Alternative worship, Thursday nights during the school year, 7 pm. Alternating between the meditative Taize worship and the contemplative Holden Evening Prayer. Candle-lit, no expectations, no preaching. Come as you are.
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Young women’s Bible study (during the school year) Contact Pastor Lisa for info.
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Service activities (including Beans Café, holiday service projects, whatever we think of). Held at random intervals.
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Random gatherings, like the Annual Young Adult Seder Meal, Annual Oktoberfest and (last year) a White-Elephant After-Christmas Gift Exchange.
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Quiz night at Humpy’s Bar and Restaurant. A bunch of us meet Tuesday night at 8 at Humpy’s. Our team name is “More Cowbell.”
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Have coffee or adult beverage with Pastor Lisa anytime. She’d love to get to know you.
- TPC stands for Theology Pub Club. Consider yourself invited.
What is it? We're not sure yet. We hope you tell us. TPC was born out of conversations among young adults at Central and Amazing Grace Lutheran. We wish there was a place young adults would feel comfortable going to talk about faith/life/the world.
We'll gather for an hour or so for informal conversation. No presentation, no dogma, no sermons. Just conversation, some silly, some serious.
Drop In Center
Central Lutheran Drop In Center is called to support, serve and enjoy the gifts of children in our neighborhood by providing a safe and loving environment where they can learn and play after school and during the summer. Special programming is offered during Christmas and Spring Breaks. We do not offer religious instruction as a part of this program. Our services are provided at no cost, and rely on volunteers and donations from our church and the community.
The Middle & High School Drop In Center program is Wednesdays, 3 - 5 pm during the school year, 1 - 3 pm in the summer. We offer homework and tutoring, reading challenges, sports – disc golf, hiking, volleyball, football, soccer, and sledding, arts and crafts, cooking, billiards and foosball, board games, and field trips to include book stores, museums, bowling, and more! Many of our DIC youth participate in and later lead programs in our Vacation Bible School and Lutheran Summer Camps.
The Elementary School Program is now run by Camp Fire USA. West Fairview neighborhood kids who attend Denali Elementary are invited to join us Monday - Friday, 3:30 - 6:30 pm, at no cost. Please contact the Camp Fire offices to register.
back to topVacation Bible School
Central Lutheran offers Vacation Bible School each summer during third week of June to youth ages 3 through middle school. Together we’ve clowned around at the circus, attended camp with Davey and Goliath, lived as a tribe in Galilee, traveled the rails, and swung through the rainforest in our search for connection with God and each other. The week is always chock full of games, stories, crafts, snacks, fun, new and old friends, songs, acting, and devotion.
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Womens' Groups
Central Women meet in monthly Bible studies during the school year. You are welcome to join one that fits your schedule best. Most study the Lutheran Woman Today study from the ELCA. Here’s when the Bible study groups meet:
Lydia
2nd Monday 5:30pm
Elizabeth Lois
2nd Wednesday 9:15 am
Mary Eunice
3rd Tuesday at 11 am
Wize Women
3rd Monday 7 pm, with yoga at 6:15 pm same date
Central women serve. Each year, Central women sponsor Fair Trade coffee, tea and crafts. Funds go toward local and national ministries. Central women make Christmas stockings for Lutheran Social Services each year. They also attend state and national Lutheran women’s gatherings.
This fall, Central hosted the Alaska Synodical Womens' Organization convention September 18-20, 2009. We enjoyed an early morning walk, workshops on wellness, singing, service projects, crafts, Bible studies, food, fun and fellowship, speakers including Pastor Marcia Wakeland on the Listening Project and Bishop & Mrs. Keys on their trip to the Holy Land this past spring. Some photos, video, and recollections have been posted on Central's page on FaceBook.
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Join Central members and friends for Gentle Yoga with Svaroopa Yoga, Thursdays from 3:30-4:45. Suggested donation, $10. You are also welcome to join Pastor Lisa for yoga on third Mondays during the school year from 6:15-7:00 pm. Please see our "what's happening" page to verify class time.
All are welcome to Central’s book group. The group gathers the third or fourth Monday (call the church office for the next date) and has read books like “Three Cups of Tea,” “The Shack,” and “Lovely Bones.” Join us for our next meeting, Monday, December 14 at 7 pm at Central. We will be discussing Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom.
Get out into the community (and world) with Central Mission Trips. Our youth group has taken trips to Mexico and Guatemala to build homes and work with an orphanage. Next big trip is tentatively scheduled Summer 2010.
Adults at Central have traveled four times to Port Arthur, Texas, for home repair following Hurricane Rita. The group CLAIM (Central Lutheran Adults in Mission) travel in October-November. Where will they focus their efforts next fall? Ideas, suggestions, and new members are welcome.
An intergenerational group from Central travels annually to Brevig Mission, Alaska, to lead Vacation Bible School. The group works with local Inupiat leaders to put on Bible school for about 60 children. In 2008, the group also added a successful teen night for games, movies and Eskimo dancing. Join the next trip, mid-July 2010.
Central is a member of AFACT (Anchorage Faith and Action – Congregations Together), a faith-based community organizing member. Our congregation’s local organizing ministry group meets monthly. We have 1-1 conversations with members and those in our Fairview community. We surface issues that matter to our families. We research those issues with public officials. We host public meetings (actions) with those officials to ask them to follow through on issues that matter to our families. An AFACT action in 2006 led to the establishment of a Campfire (USA) after-school center in our church building. The center is free to neighborhood families and funded in part through the Anchorage municipality.
Central Lutheran provides the parking lot space for the Anchorage Farmer’s Market – the only non-profit market in the area. Each Saturday, May through October, local farmers bring their bounty of locally grown and organic produce, seedlings, and even honey and oysters. This partnership between Central Lutheran and the market began in 2007 and has been a great blessing to all.
back to topChristian Education/Sunday School
Sunday School is 9:45 - 10:45 am each Sunday, during the school year. Classes are grouped by age: Preschool through Kindergarten, grades 1 - 3, grades 4 - 6, middle school, high school, and one or more studies for adults. Classes include bible study, songs, games, and crafts as appropriate. The nursery is available at no charge for infants and toddlers.
back to topConfirmation
Middle school youth are invited to attend a two year program of confirmation classes, service, and fellowship. We make faith come alive as we learn about the Lutheran faith and compare our beliefs with other world religions. Our curriculum is Here We Stand . We serve others through projects including raising funds to buy farm animals , serving a meal at Beans Café , cleaning yards for elderly members, and collecting food for local food banks. We have fun together with geocaching, hikes, rock climbing, and overnight retreats.
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Giving & Gifts - Fair Trade, Good Gifts, Bread for the World, CROP Walk
Central Lutheran volunteers host semi-annual sales of Fair Trade coffee, chocolate, and handcrafts (the next Fair Trade Sunday is December 13, 2009). We encourage the giving of “good gifts” like those below:
- ELCA Good Gifts
- Lutheran World Relief Fair Trade Crafts Online
- Fair Trade Coffee Online
- Fight hunger with Bread for the World
- Heifer International
Chancel Choir
Our choir rehearses on Wednesdays during the school year, and sings one or more anthems each Sunday. Works performed range from simple to challenging, classic to modern to worldy, and may be a capella or accompanied by pianist, flutist, trumpet, African drums, or even full orchestra. We alternate services by month, performing at the 8:15 am service in January, March, May, September, and November, and at the 11 am service during February, April, October, and December. We may sing at additional services on special occasions. We are blessed to work with director David Hagen.
Our bell choir rehearses on Wednesday during the school year, and performs sacred music at worship approximately six times each year, especially on Easter and Christmas Eve. New members are welcome and do not need bell choir experience. We are blessed to work with bell choir director Debbie Pankow.
back to topPrayer Chain
Central Lutheran Prayer Chain will sincerely pray for your needs, joys and sorrows. Our prayer chain always welcomes new links. If you would like to contact the prayer chain with a prayer request or become a part of the chain, contact Karen Emmel at 345-5709 or akaskaemmel@gmail.com
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