What began in 1962 as a missionary congregation for Brunswick Naval Air Station and its environs remains a vibrant church today, as Good Shepherd Luthern Church celebrates its 50th anniversary.
An anniversary worship service is planned for 9 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 2, followed by a brunch at Sky-Hy Conference Center in Topsham. Marion Rice, an original member of Good Shepherd Lutheran, is an anniversary team lead
The Rev. Rebecca Wegner is enthused that the church remains healthy a year and a half after the air base closed, and takes a forward-looking approach.
“We’re just as excited about looking at what our next 50 years will be like,” Wegner said. “We were a military congregation for so many years, but through it all, we’ve been able to sustain such an incredible outreach into the community.”
The first worship service was held that September, and Good Shepherd was officially organized as a Lutheran congregation on the first Sunday in December 1962.
Wegner is proud to say that 17 percent of Good Shepherd’s income is given away.
“That’s a pretty healthy chunk,” she said, “but it works, and that’s what we’re here for.”
To help make it work, Wegner became a part-time pastor in 2009.
“That’s helped to keep it viable,” she said. “It worked out well. People took on more responsibilities.”
She and her husband, Joel, have been at the church for 12 years. Joel Wegner is a Sunday school teacher, and sings in the church choir.
The Good Shepherd website points out that, “in response to Peter’s professed love of Jesus, our Lord and Savior asked Peter to take care of his fold, the church, after He ascended to heaven. So, too, do we aspire to act out our love for Jesus Christ by ministering to the church and the communities around us. At Good Shepherd we have several ‘organized’ ministries in which we serve in our efforts to be good stewards of the gifts that God has given us.”
Wegner said she appreciates the liturgical nature of the Lutheran Church.
“It is a life-shaping thing for me,” she said. “I became a Lutheran in college, and it is something that has shaped my outlook. There’s a dependability of the pattern of worship, and that way it moves you through the life cycle.”
Good Shepherd’s ministry includes:
— A weekly meal delivery to the Tedford Shelter.
— Weekly collection and delivery of food to Mid Coast Hunger Prevention.
— Collection and delivery of supplies for refugee resettlement and group homes for the developmentally disabled with their partner, Lutheran Social Services of New England.
— Support and funds for Oasis, Habitat for Humanity, Bread for the World, the Warm Thy Neighbor community heating assistance program, and local American Red Cross response efforts.
— Weekly community Bible study at Tim Hortons in Topsham at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays.
Wegner said Good Shepherd’s methodology has changed over recent years, in terms of its community outreach.
“We go to other churches and to agencies, asking them what they need, instead of making that decision all by ourselves,” she said. “It’s healthy.”
The church also is proud that “a daughter of the congregation,” Angela Goehring Fairbanks, has been ordained into the ministry of Word and Sacrament.
Fairbanks will serve the Saron Lutheran Church in Ashland, Wisc. She is the daughter of Clay and Nancy Goehring, who have moved from Brunswick to Arizona.
A total of five members of the congregation have gone on to become pastors, Wegner said.
Wegner came to Good Shepherd from Boston. The Wegners are originally from St. Paul, Minn. — “the heart of Lutheran country,” she said.
lgrard@timesrecord.com
Lutheran church
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America began on Jan. 1, 1988, with the merging of The American Lutheran Church, The Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and The Lutheran Church in America. Two decades later, this energized church is composed of 4.8 million members and nearly 10,500 congregations across the United States and the Caribbean. The Lutheran Church’s roots go back through the mid-17th century, when early Lutherans came to America from Europe, settling in the Virgin Islands and the area that is now known as New York. Even before that, Martin Luther sought reform for the church in the 16th century, laying the framework for their beliefs.
SOURCE: www.elca.org.
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