January 2026 Message From Pastor Mike “Renewing Our Care Ministry”

Broadway has been blessed over the years
with faithful, generous and caring church
members. We excel in a number of ministry areas,
but perhaps most of all, we excel in caring for
one another. We love each other. We enjoy being
together. We pray for the needs of our church
family. In many ways, Broadway’s culture of
healthy, trusting, loving relationships gives
evidence of our fruitful walk with the Lord.
And we want this strength to grow even
stronger. In fact, we need to continue excelling in
caring for each other even more as our congregation
ages. Let’s face it, we’re getting older every
day!

With this in mind, the Leadership Team is
working to develop a renewed Care Ministry
under the direction of Colleen Felts. We are gathering
a group of caregivers who will each be
responsible to stay in touch with several people in
our church family with the hope that everyone
who calls Broadway their church home feels cared
for and supported.

In the coming weeks, you will hear from
the person assigned to be your caregiver, and
they will continue reaching out to you every month
or so. If you regularly attend worship or
other weekly ministries, you likely feel connected
and cared for, and your caregiver will still
check in with you from time to time.

If you worship with us online, you may feel
less connected to our church family, and we
want to remedy that through the Care Ministry.
Your caregiver will call or send notes in the mail.
If you are comfortable with a visit, they may stop
by or ask me to visit with you.

Our team of caregivers will hold a sacred responsibility
on behalf of our church and in
Jesus’ name. They will do for our church family
what is described so beautifully in 2
Corinthians: “we can comfort those in any trouble
with the comfort we ourselves receive from
God” (2 Cor. 1:4).

Of course, our caregivers are also people in
need of care and won’t be expected to meet
every need that arises on their own. They will have
my support as pastor, along with the
guidance Colleen and others on the Leadership
Team can give for larger or on-going care needs.
We will also continue to operate the Care
Fund, a resource for people in our church
facing urgent financial needs. Nancy Ilgen and I
administer the Care Fund, maintaining
confidentiality regarding who requests and receives
aid. You can donate to the Care Fund by
indicating an amount of your regular giving to be
designated for this purpose.

Acts 6 tells the story of seven people being
set apart to care for people in the church,
especially widows who depended on the generosity
of others. Among these seven were Stephen,
who later became the first Christian martyr, and
Philip, who was a powerful evangelist. Their
ministry of care to the early church has been a
model emulated through the centuries, and in our
own way, Broadway’s Care Ministry will follow in
their steps.

Thank you to Colleen and those who will
serve as caregivers. Your ministry will build on
Broadway’s legacy of loving fellowship and will
advance the work of Christ within our
congregation. May the Lord continue to meet the
needs of our church, and may we all care for
one another in ways that reflect the compassion of
Christ.