The Adult Forum will be delivered via a Zoom Meeting on Wednesday evenings at 7 pm. Information on how to connect to the Zoom meeting will be shared via a Bethel Connection email. If you are not receiving the Bethel Connection emails, please contact the church office office @ bethelstl.org to be added to the email list.
WEDNESDAY November 4, 2020, 7:00 – 8:00pm
“Election Perspectives – Conversations on the Day After”
Open Forum Discussion guided by the Adult Education Team
If preliminary forecasts and analyses are correct, on the day after the Election when we convene our regular Zoom Adult Forum, final results on national, state, and local elections will probably not yet be available. Yet it is very important for Bethel members and friends to have the opportunity to listen and to talk with one another about where we find ourselves after a number of highly stressful political campaigns, especially the contentious campaigning for the office of President of the United States. The electoral process has also been complicated by COVID-19, racial injustice, voting suppression, and more. We will reflect together on the successes, challenges, and failures of an unexpectedly fragile election process. Where are we as a nation and as a community of faith? What do we as *Church* have to contribute to what lies ahead? How are we to be faithful to the Way of Jesus as we move forward? All are welcome to listen in or to join the conversation.
WEDNESDAY, November 11, 2020, 7:00 -8:00 pm
“*Got Hope* Capital Campaign Update”
Steve Poplawski, Campaign Chair
The update will cover (1) a “Thank You!” describing the Phase 1 contributions that have enabled acquisition of technology for our hybrid in-person online worship service launch; (2) ideas from summer conversations about what could be included in the campaign to prepare for discussion at voters meeting about what should be included in the campaign; and (3) how Bethel’s current finances and current events inform the timing and size of the campaign. If you want to share ideas or schedule a conversation regarding these topics separate from the Forum, please email Steve at sjp7219gmail.com
WEDNESDAY, November 18, 2020, 7:00 -8:00 pm
“We Are Church, We Are Called: 50 — 40 — 10″
Pr. Kendra Nolde, Director for Evangelical Mission for the the Central States Synod and recently retired Pastor of Gethsemane, St. Louis
In this forum, Pastor Kendra Nolde will introduce us to the history of women’s ordination in the ELCA, talk about the mission of the church being enhanced by women’s ordination and women bishops, share information and stories from other ELCA Women related efforts (Thursdays in Black, International Women’s Leadership Fund, and more). In 2020, the ELCA is celebrating 50-40-10 Anniversaries: the 50th Anniversary of the Ordination of Women; the 40th Anniversary of the first ordained African-American Woman; and the 10th Anniversary of the opening of the roster to persons in same-sex relationships.