Pastor:  Jean Boese
     Statement of Ministry:  I view my role as pastor as being the spiritual leader of a congregation, calling people into a deeper relationship with God and with each other.  I value the input of each member, and attempt to lead on a consensus basis.  As a very organized person, I value the discipline that comes form using the existing structures within a church to do ministry, and where necessary to update those structures to fit the needs of the current generation of believers.  At times, I use the authority of my position as pastor to say a clear "yes" or "no" to a particular situation in a church.  However, because I know the membership of a particular congregation will be around long after I am gone, I work hard to help a congregation determine what it is that they are called to do in ministry.  I offer many ideas and guidance (I believe many an excited church member has left in disgust after they have not been trained to do the task they were recruited for) and know that unless a congregation has ownership of a particular task in ministry it will be work that has to be done rather than ministry that people are excited to be involved in.

     More and more I am realizing that church people need two things in greater abundance:  we need to know what the Scripture says and we need to have experiences where we feel the joy and love of what it means to be a Christian.  I believe that it is crucial to know our Scripture today so that we can intelligently dialogue with others who interpret the Bible to be a book of "no".  We who say that "God is till speaking" in our world today need to have some understanding of why other's say, "God has spoken."  I believe that each of us is a theologian, we just might not know yet how to frame our worldview or our questions.

Moderator:  Rick Welsh
                    (507) 633-6873

Administrative Assistant: Sharon Hythecker

                    (507) 633-6873