As part of our planting seeds stewardship focus in October, we’re sharing stories about where God’s love has been growing at Zumbro lately.

A member of Zumbro since 2014, Joe Ahrens and his family began to feel truly connected to the church when they started participating in its mid-week activities. “The Wednesday service is what really hooked me: the meal, the fellowship, the worship, the faith formation afterwards,” he says. “The more we came, the more we got to know other Zumbro families.”

But not only does Joe appreciate those connections forged within the Zumbro community, he values the congregation’s strong commitment to ministry that reaches far outside the church’s walls.

“I don’t know of a lot of other churches that have a food truck, a youth drop-in center or a unique focus on a hospital abroad,” he says. “I appreciate the innovativeness and creativeness that comes out of our mission and how Zumbro rallies and supports those ministries.”

Joe views the recent upgrades to Zumbro’s facilities as pivotal in expanding and enhancing that spirit of innovation moving forward. “The investments that we’ve made recently with the capital campaign and the building renovations have set us up for a future where our church home, our building, can serve as a platform for us to go out into the community in a mission-focused way.”

With that foundation firmly in place, Joe’s confident Zumbro’s ministries will continue to thrive amid the new opportunities that are sure to present themselves to the congregation. “My hope for the future would be that as the world changes, we’d change along with it,” he says. “Zumbro can adapt and shift its mission focus to respond to the changing needs of our world.”

And he clearly sees the call to meet others where they’re at within Zumbro’s mission statement. “Building bridges of understanding resonates with me,” Joe says. “It all comes down to empathy and learning other people’s points of view. That’s how we can respond to the needs of our world in a mission-focused way. We listen to the needs of the people in our communities and learn how we can help them.”

For Joe, the combination of a strong community within the church and an unwavering dedication to reaching out to those in need beyond the congregation is a key part of Zumbro’s strength. “What I’ve come to learn and appreciate and value here at Zumbro is the fellowship and the community and how we lean on each other and build each other up, so we can go out into the world and be good stewards and have impactful missions.”

Written by Tracy Will, Zumbro Stewardship Team

See Joe Ahrens’ video story and learn more about stewardship, pledging, and Zumbro giving HERE. Commit to giving for 2024 by Oct. 29.