3106 47th Avenue South • Minneapolis, MN 55406-2333 • Phone 612-721-4893 • Fax 612-721-4895
1-800-756-6692 (within the conference) • e-mail nwc@isd.net

18 November, 2005

Dear Northwest Conference Churches,

I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel…..Philippians 1:3-4

As you gather for the annual meeting of your congregation I would like to thank you for your faithfulness in proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ in your community!  The local church is the focus of our conference ministries.  We are committed to assisting you in any way that we can to be a strong and vital ministry that calls people to faith and nurtures them in their times of sorrow and need.

God is doing great things throughout our conference.  A number of our churches are involved with the “Forty Days of Community,” and are seeing their people reach out to their communities in new and exciting ways.  Some are working with Natural Church Development to both determine where they are in ministry and to decide the areas of their work that need to be strengthened.

A number of our churches have completed major building projects during the last year.  Congratulations to those who have done and given so much to these projects.  We are thankful for the new opportunities of outreach that these facilities provide!

Our conference churches have responded in a very generous way to the devastation and loss of life that has come from hurricanes, mud slides and other natural disasters.  Some congregations have sent teams to work in rebuilding, many have taken special offerings.  More than one million dollars has been given by Covenanters nation-wide to help those who have suffered from the power of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Thank you for your generosity.
 
Many of us shared in our leadership training events.  We were privileged to have Leith Anderson and Lyle Schaller as teachers during this past year.

It is my prayer that your annual meeting will be a time of thanksgiving as your reiterate God’s blessings in your congregation and a time of challenge as you look to ministry opportunities in the coming days.

In His service and yours,

James A. Fretheim, Northwest Conference Superintendent