Directions – January-February 2025
A special acknowledgement to Liz Cook, Life Team Leader, and Deb Steiner, Life Team Vice Leader, of the Hope Lutheran Life Team of Shawnee, Kansas, for their contributions.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24).
Background: Hope Lutheran Life Team
Attending the LCMS Kansas District Life Conference and the March for Life on January 25, 2022, and hosting “The Sanctity of Human Life and the ‘Value Them Both’” Amendment event at Hope Lutheran on Saturday, April 23, 2022, inspired Hope Lutheran members to share God’s will For Life. Encouraged by the successful event, Liz Cook suggested to Deb Steiner that they should start an LFL Life Team at Hope to capitalize on the volunteer enthusiasm and support For Life.
More momentum followed on June 24, 2022, after the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, returning the abortion issue back to the states. In July of 2022, with the approval of their pastor, Liz Cook and Deb Steiner presented a proposal at church council, and the Life Team at Hope Lutheran was approved.
Praise the Lord for His faithfulness! Hope Lutheran’s Life Team started as a team of seven initial members and has grown to 11 members serving the church’s life ministry.
Life Team in Action – Life Sunday Celebration of 2023
LFL’s Word of Hope Director, Deaconess Chrissie Gillet, PsyD, was the featured church and school speaker highlighting Hope Lutheran’s Life Sunday celebration on Sunday, January 29, 2023. This was an extra special celebration, being the Life Team’s first Life Sunday celebration as a newly formed Life Team.
As part of the Life Sunday activities, Deaconess Chrissie Gillet delivered the children’s message at the morning worship services at 8:00 and 10:30 a.m. For the adult portion, the end-of-life presentation was broken into two sessions. Part 1 of her presentation was given during the Bible study hour between services, and Part 2 of her presentation followed the church’s potluck served after the 10:30 service. The presentation included a time for Q & A.
Additionally, the following Monday, Deaconess Chrissie Gillet and her service dog, Phoebe, visited with the Hope Lutheran School children about God creating life, people, and animals, and how animals can help us.
Deb Steiner reflected on the Life Sunday events:
“Since we already stood up for the life of mothers and babies, the Life Team wanted Life Sunday to highlight end-of-life issues on the opposite end of the spectrum so that our church and school did not think we were all about abortion. It was a wonderful morning and early afternoon of inspiration for end-of-life issues.”
Going Gracefully and Faithfully
As part of the end-of-life presentation, Deaconess Chrissie Gillet brought folders filled with an assortment of LFL end-of-life resources that were distributed to the attendees at the event. From this beginning, a new resource for church members was prepared: Going Gracefully and Faithfully. It is a folder containing brochures and resource documents that will help families plan end-of-life decisions. The Life Team has distributed more than 45 folders (25+ at the initial Life Sunday event).
Going Gracefully and Faithfully is promoted in the weekly announcements and monthly newsletter, and copies are available at a tabletop display in the narthex. The folder is also available on Grandparents’ Day. Another option is to distribute the folder to homebound members.
The Going Gracefully and Faithfully folder contains 12 different printed resources gathered from LFL, the LCMS, resources from Hope Lutheran’s pastor, and other additional sources. The folders are continually updated as new brochures are developed by LFL and other For Life organizations.
LFL Resources to Enhance the Folder
- A Christian Guide to End-of-Life Decisions ($0.50 ea.)
- The Basics on Advance Directives ($0.75 ea.)
- Going Gracefully ($0.50 ea.)
- Hospice … What Should I Ask? ($0.25 ea.)
- Physician-Assisted Suicide ($2.00 ea.)
- The Right to Die – Rhetoric Reality Response ($0.50 ea.)
- Ventilators, Feeding Tubes, and other End-of-Life Questions ($0.75 ea.)
- Word of Hope informational brochure (free)
- New Resource – Before I Die: A Practical Guide for End-of-Life Issues ($3.00 ea.)
- New Resource – Ministering to the Victims of Alzheimer’s Disease and Their Families ($0.50 ea.)
- New Resource – 10 Reasons Not to Take Your Own Life ($2.00 ea.)
The LFL resources are available at Concordia Publishing House (cph.org). You may also call CPH at 800.325.3040.
Other Resources Included in the Folder
These items are printable and available from the Hope Life Team. Contact Deb Steiner (steiner@hopelutheran.org) for information.
- The Christian Views of Death with Dignity – A Bible Study
- Funeral Planning Guide
- Human Worth, Living, Dying, Suffering, and Surviving Article
- Life Interview Questions – Childhood (www.legacyproject.org)
These items are available from LCMS and CPH:
- Christian Decision-Making and the End of Life – download at LCMS (lcms.org)
- Mercy at Life’s End ($2.00 ea.) – available at Concordia Publishing House (cph.org)
These resources are available on LFL’s website:
- Information Form for Service Celebrating Your Eternal Rest with Jesus
- Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care – Christian Version (state specific)
LFL’s friends at Christian Life Resources have developed a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care – Christian Version document to enable Christians to provide informed, legal, and Christ-centered direction for their medical care in the event they can no longer express their wishes. This is a legal document that allows you to designate a person to serve as your health care agent, allows you to make some selections regarding the kind of treatment or care you want provided, and includes a Christian witness to your faith and to the sanctity of human life. There is also a supplement that gives a complete explanation for all points in the legal document.
A Huge Thank You to the Hope Lutheran Life Team!
The 2024 LFL Midwest Regional Conference was hosted by Hope Lutheran Church and the Hope Lutheran Life Team on Saturday, October 12. The conference theme was Life Shines in Darkness based on John 1:4-5, “In Him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The conference attendees were blessed with a pre-event Life Shines in Darkness Life Concert on Friday night. A special thank you to Bob and Gretchen Holman of the Hope Lutheran Life Team for developing this uplifting and meaningful evening of Scripture and music.
At the conference, guests heard from Rev. Evan McClanahan on “Biblical Manhood.” As a complement to his presentation, Deaconess Rose Adle of Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne presented on “Christian Womanhood.” Virginia Flo, LFL’s Director of Volunteer Relations, facilitated a panel with Hope Life Team members, Liz Cook and Deb Steiner, and others who shared their inspiring For Life work. And wrapping up the conference, Rev. Dr. James Lamb, formerly of LFL and Lutheran Family Service, shed light on Christian citizenship.
As part of the conference, attendees participated in a servant event. Guests wrapped baby wipes for Wyandotte and Olathe Pregnancy Clinics to create a practical gift for mothers and to show thoughtfulness and consideration for their needs. Attendees also prepped materials for Hope’s Outreach Trunk or Treat event by stuffing baby socks with a 12-week fetal model purchased from Heritage House ‘76 (www.pro.life). At the Trunk or Treat event, each child was able to pick up his or her own “baby in a sock” that came with a life certificate to name the baby and their choice of candy. Almost 300 “babies in a sock” were given out at the event on October 25.
Encouraging words from Life Team Leader, Liz Cook:
“Hosting the LFL Regional Conference – Midwest was a great experience for our team. I was so proud of our Life Team as they checked in attendees, offered directions, served food and coffee, and cleaned up. It was nice to meet and talk to other LFL members from all over the Midwest as well as the vendors. You definitely can see how God is working in the LFL community.”