Hospitality Ministry
The Hospitality Ministry functions so that all who come to Oak Harbor Lutheran
Church, members and visitors, will find themselves welcomed and received as
brothers and sisters within God's larger family.
Care Groups
Do you know what your needs are? We often can arrive at what we believe our needs are, but Jesus had an uncanny ability to move deeper. The parable of the Good Samaritan is an example: a man comes to Jesus wanting to inherit eternal life (Luke 10:25-37). The man is convinced he has kept the two great commandments to love God and to love one’s neighbor. But in telling the parable, Jesus invites him to see that loving one’s neighbor goes deeper. It is not just about getting along with our friends. Loving our neighbors has everything to do with showing kindness to people who are different from us, even people who we don’t know very well (or like very much!).
Jesus knows we have a deeper need: a need to break down the dividing walls between us as people. We at Oak Harbor Lutheran Church are working to meet that deeper need.
We have members living as far north as Deception Pass and as far south as Greenbank…and everywhere in-between. The congregation has been clustered into twelve groupings based on where people live. So these are our geographic are Care Groups.
The Care Groups gather people who share involvement at Oak Harbor Lutheran Church and live in the same general area. These groups, of approximately 18-27 households each, are designed to help us get to know our neighbors and to follow our Lord’s command that we love one another. One way this love is shown is by members of a congregation ministering to each other during times of joy or sorrow.
Within each Group is a wide range of people: families with and without children, couples and singles, employed and retired. The Care Groups meet a deep need of some to be surrogate grandparents, and the deep need of others to welcome children as Christ did even if it stretches them. A person or couple within each Care Group functions as the Care Leader.
Each household will find their Care Group number by their name in the new directory. Numbering of the Care Groups starts in the north near Deception Pass with number one and works south. Look for families with the same number as you to learn who lives near you. Your participation is voluntary, but you are encouraged to take part. We are called to love one another as Christ has loved us. Here is a concrete way to live that out within the body of Christ at Oak Harbor Lutheran Church.