Christ the Servant Vadnais Heights

Hello Christ the Servant Community, How are your relationships? We have said many times throughout our journey of mission redevelopment that the most important values of congregational renewal and vitality are: "Relationships, Relationships, Relationships!" One of the desired outcomes of our church's vision for the future is,  "Deeply transformed hearts, lives, and  relationships  within our congregation and surrounding community."  Our vision statement itself communicates the need for continually nurturing the relational health of our community as we declare that we will  "Thrive as a Multicultural and Multigenerational Spiritual Family."  While understanding ourselves as a family is a wonderful thing, it can also be intimidating or even frightening for those whose experience with relationships in a family has been unhealthy. One of the axioms of the Emotionally Healthy Discipleship series is "It's impossible to be spiritually ma

Happy Easter Christ the Servant! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! I thank God for resurrection hope and power in our lives, in our church, and in the world.  CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS MESSAGE! In the Easter gospel message in Matthew, we heard the words “Do not be afraid” from both the angel of the Lord and Jesus himself. While the world is turned upside down and inside out, we know God is at work healing us and all of creation by the same power that rose Jesus from the dead. The God of the resurrection is with us so we need not be afraid. Several ELCA Pastors from the St. Paul area have created a free daily devotional for the Easter season entitled “FEAR NOT” that is available now and I would commend it to you. It’s good food for the soul. CLICK HERE TO GET THE “FEAR NOT” DAILY EMAIL DEVOTIONAL! I also thank God that we have been connecting with more people than we could have hoped through our online worship ministry over the past month. We had

A Holy Week Like No Other Dear Church, This is going to be a Holy Week like no other. WATCH PASTOR CHRIS' VIDEO MESSAGE HERE! We are used to gathering with many in our sanctuary for the most meaningful and festive public celebrations of the year. Unfortunately, at this time we are unable to do so as we are engaging in a holy and faithful expression of love for the world by remaining at home as much as possible in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus. My heart aches to not be physically present with you, especially as I am aware of the isolation, fear, and even danger many are experiencing. We trust, however, in a God for whom physical barriers are no limitation.          In Psalm 139, we hear this promise: “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.”      We hear these encouraging words in the Message paraphrase of Romans 8:39, “I’m absolut