MC News

While this was not an adventure we would have chosen, we are seeing the Lord’s hand and the love and support of community and friends at every turn. Our church family is strong and thriving, and hope is growing as we look forward to what the Lord has for us in the coming year!

Two things led Lori and Ryan Oehlhof to adopt three children with special medical needs from China: a birth defect in one of their three biological children, and a sermon that felt like a calling. “It’s our duty as Christians to care for those who can’t care for themselves,” Lori Oehlhof, of rural Blanchardville, said while preparing for the family of eight’s first Christmas together.

A popular year-round daytime shelter for homeless people Downtown is expected to close before winter’s end after Dane County and Bethel Lutheran Church officials failed to agree on a new contract. The county plans to let its contract with the church expire on Dec. 31, citing a request by the church’s council to triple the county’s funding of the program from $80,000 to $240,000 in 2016.

As Christians around the world mark the birth of Christ in Bethlehem this Christmas season, many Madison-area Catholics are learning more about the profound role of the tabernacle in their parishes. Madison Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino has directed priests to move the tabernacle to a prominent spot at the center of the sanctuary at all diocesan churches.

The mood is upbeat as the diners line up to fill their plates in the brightly lighted basement dining room. The aroma of oven-fried chicken is alluring enough to lift anyone’s spirits. Also on the menu this evening: cheesy potatoes, fresh green salad, dinner rolls and butter, peach crisp and ice cream. But first, a prayer; the group gathers in a circle, holding hands.

Eleven days in advance of the opening of Urbana 15, InterVarsity’s triennial student missions conference, leaders and staff gathered at InterVarsity’s National Service Center in Madison, Wisconsin, for a Commissioning Service. “I’m excited about the fruit of our labor that we’ll be able to see in just over a week,” said Urbana director Tom Lin.

For many the holiday season is a time to reflect, be charitable and make a biannual visit to their local church. But in-between Christmas and Easter, some southern Wisconsin church leaders are scratching their heads with the question, where did everyone go? National surveys continually show a decline in church attendance across the country — a fact that Bill Kapp, pastor at First United Church of Christ in Sauk City, said began in the late 1960s and “has been on a decline ever since.” Noting that demographics play a significant role, Kapp said it’s much more difficult for an isolated…

Mother Scott’s hands are as light as birds. It is as if the bones of her hands are the same as those of a bird: Hollow. If you ever have the chance to take Mother Scott’s hand, take it gently. Naomi Scott was born 89 years ago in Fairhope, Ala., the great-great granddaughter of a slave. She and her husband, Joseph Scott, moved to Milwaukee in 1951, urged by his mother to join the great migration north.

DE PERE – It’s back to the city for a larger Life Church. To the excitement of an overflow crowd, the De Pere City Council went against a staff recommendation and narrowly approved a zoning change for a highway parcel restricted to commercial development late Tuesday night. The 5-3 ruling paves the way for the relocation of the heavily attended Life Church from the town of Lawrence to the other side of Interstate 41.

The United Nations Climate Conference is wrapping up in Paris and the vested interests will no doubt keep the debate over climate change going on for a long time. Madison residents may be interested in the response from a local ministry focused on the environment called Care of Creation, which pursues a “God-centered response to environmental challenges.”  When Texas Tech University climatologist Katherine Hayhoe was here in Madison in November, Care of Creation hosted a get together with local faith leaders. I didn’t get a chance to sit in on that visit, as I did on her 2010 talk here…