Service

Altar Guild

The Altar Guild prepares the Chancel for worship and maintains its furnishings. This includes vesting the Altar, preparing Sacred vessels and linens for communion and post-communion cleanup, installation, design and development of paraments and banners, assisting the pastors with special services, care of vestments and sacramental linens, and coordination of flowers for major festivals. Members of Altar Guild are on a once a month rotation at either 8:00am or 11:00am Sunday services or Wednesday 7pm evening service. Its members comprise both of women and men teams with youth helpers. The chairperson is Miria Castille. She can be contacted at 281-996-1084 or miriajc@sbcglobal.net.

Ushers

Ushers assist members’ participation in the service by helping to maintain a comfortable and orderly environment for worship. The ushering groups generally serve for the same service, once each month. While ushers assist the congregation during services, they are also participants in portions of the service. Usher teams consisting of 4-5 members meet sufficiently early before each worship service to determine specific task assignments, which include:

distribution of service bulletins,

distribution of attendance cards,

distribution of children’s bulletins,

provide access to the baptism fount when required,

record attendance numbers,

collect the offering

assist the members as they participate in the Eucharist,

regulate the thermostats to ensure a comfortable environment

pick up used bulletins,

rearrange hymnals after the worship service.

In addition to providing an essential service during the worship time, usher teams are given an excellent opportunity to meet members. If you have any questions or are interested in serving as an Usher, please contact Jon Kuehl at 281-554-2729 for 8:00am service or Larry Stiles at 281-992-5512 for 11:00am service.

Greeters

The Greeters are members of our congregation who welcome our guests and members to worship service each Sunday. The time commitment is for approximately 15 minutes each Sunday for one month. This is a wonderful opportunity for members to get to know others in the congregation. If you are interested in serving as a Greeter, please contact Ellen Kuehnle, Volunteer Coordinator, at 281-482-7943 or email ekuehnle@hope-lutheran.org.

Hope Quilting Circle

Hope’s Quilting Circle provides visible symbols of God’s love for His people by making warm quilts by hand and providing them to those in need. There are areas of profound need all around the world via Lutheran World Relief. Quilts are also provided to children at the Krause Children’s Treatment Center, a Lutheran Social Services of the South facility, who treasure them as a precious gift that represents an important personal possession. These quilts are also hand made and given to our congregation’s high school graduates as a symbol of Hope’s love and support. The “Knotty Ladies” hand made 120+ quilts last year! They meet the 2nd and 4th Mondays from 9:00am – 12:00pm to assemble and tack the quilts and the 1st and 3rd Mondays from 9:00am – 12:00pm to bind the quilts. If you are interested in finding out more information about Hope’s Quilting Circle, please contact Pam Bubendorf at 281-331-3656.

Adopt-a-highway

Adopt-a-Highway Ministry is Hope’s one of Hope’s opportunities to express to the community our commitment to the stewardship of God’s creation. We are responsible for cleaning up all debris and refuse along a 2-mile stretch of FM 518, which runs in front of the church. Our efforts assist local and state programs in beautifying public thoroughfares; it also saves tax dollars. Boy Scout Troop 445 is currently cleaning the highway for Hope, but Hope members are always welcome to help. This stretch of highway gets cleaned 4 times a year. We take great pride in the signs that have been erected by the Texas Department of Transportation at each end of our assigned pickup area that identify Hope Lutheran Church as the sponsor group entrusted with the stewardship of this stretch of highway. If you have any questions or are interested in participating in Adopt-a-Highway, please contact Debbie Hasty at 291-482-7943 or dhasty@hope-lutheran.org.

Meals on Wheels

Meals on Wheels Ministry delivers hot, nutritious meals to elderly and disabled persons in the Friendswood area. Volunteers deliver meals to each person’s home for one week, Monday through Friday, during an eight-week period rotation. The entire process only takes at the most 2 hours. This service not only provides nutritious meals, but also human contact, conversation, and the reassurance to family members knowing that someone is checking in on their loved one in case of needed help. If you are interested in participating in this ministry, please contact Ineke Dabelic at 281-482-9761.

Braille

Hope’s Braille Ministry is a group of volunteers who meet twice a month at the Work Center at Peace Lutheran Church in Texas City to print and assemble Braille books that consist of 1st and 2nd Corinthians. This ministry provides the message of salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ, to the blind and visually impaired in the United States and all over the world Currently, there are 2 groups that meet to assemble the Braille Bibles: The Daytime Group meets at Peace Lutheran on the first Monday of the month from 9:30am to 1:30pm. The contact for the Daytime Group is Charlotte Reichart and she may be reached at 281-482-1305. The Evening Group gathers for carpooling on the 4th Monday of the month at Hope from 6:00 pm to 8:15 pm. The contact for this group is Debbie Schkade and she may be reached at 281-482-0183.

Habitat for Humanity

Our participation in the Habitat for Humanity project provides affordable housing for those in need. The Alvin/Friendswood/Pearland Chapter is a local affiliation of the Habitat for Humanity International, a non-profit, ecumenical Christian housing organization. We work in partnership with those in need to build houses; the houses are then sold to families at no profit and with no interest charged. Volunteers provide most of the labor and individual and corporate donors provide the funds to build the homes. Volunteers work under the watchful eyes of skilled construction personnel. Work is done on most Saturdays with help on some additional days required. In addition to the need for construction labor, we also need help with publicity, family selection, food for workers and fund raising. For more information regarding our association with Habitat for Humanity, please contact Jerry Pfleeger at 281-996-5030.

Toasty Toes

LTC Scott Gahring USAF, a member of Hope, has been deployed to Afghanistan. A group of members emailed Scott to see what we could send him to make his life more comfortable. He replied that he didn't need anything, but that there are local Afghan children in the neighboring villages running around without any shoes...and it's 14 degrees Farrenheit in that part of the world right now. And that fact really bothers Scott and his fellow servicemen. He is going to be working with a humanitarian group that distributes shoes to the village children. So...Hope is collecting new or gently used (clean please) children's shoes and new socks. Shoes need to have closed toes. Cash donations will also be accepted to help with shipping costs ($2 per pair is suggested). For more information, please contact Jodi Leslie fwdleslie@earthlink.net

Boy Scouts

Hope has sponsored troop 445 for over 37 years. During that time, over 70 boys have achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. The goal of the Boy Scout of America Troop 445 is to teach skills that will help young boys grow into manhood. This includes the development of character, an awareness of what citizenship requires of each of us and personal fitness and self-reliance, through activities such as hiking, swimming, camping and pioneering skills. Troop 445 has gone on camping events all over Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma, as well as special events in a host of other locations. The troop is led by the youth and mentored by adults. They are also responsible for the Adopt-a-Highway activity at Hope. For more information regarding Boy Scout Troop 445, please contact John Meyer at 281-996-0005 or jdand3@sbcglobal.net

Cub Scouts

Cub Scout Pack 445 has been resident at hope for over 35 years and many of our young members have begun their scouting experience in Pack 445. The goal of the Cub Scouts is to begin to teach those things that help young boys begin their growth into useful citizens of our country; this includes the development of character, an awareness of what good citizenship involves, working together to achieve a common goal and good fun. While the Cubs are not ready to be challenged by the same activities that they will encounter in the Boy Scouts, they are taught fundamental outdoor and fitness skills. The Cubs participate in family campouts and take part in competitions such as the Pinewood Derby and Rocket building and launching. For more information regarding the Cub Scouts, please contact Gene Cook @ 281-482-5173.