Global Missions

Missionaries in Japan

Lowell and Junko Gretebeck are missionaries serving in Japan. Bethel has supported them through the ELCA Missionary Sponsor Program. (The missionaries in Cameroon have retired.)

For further information, contact:

Stacy Gahlman-Schroeder | Email

Assistant to the Senior Pastor

(608) 357-2577 x 325

 

Puerto Rico Trip

January 30 - February 6, 2012

Each year in the cold of January/ February, about 30 Bethel people travel to our sister congregation in Puerto Rico, Bethel Lutheran of Dorado, and work for them and for the Lutheran synod of Puerto Rico. It is a popular, rewarding, and fun trip.

To join us in 2012, please return completed Application Form, with check for $275.00 made payable to Bethel Lutheran Church, to: Bethel Lutheran Church, Attention: Sandy Ripp, 312 Wisconsin Ave., Madison WI 53703.

The application deadline is November 30, 2011.

For more details regarding total cost, and travel/lodging arrangements, please see the Application Form, or you may also contact:

Einstein Gonzalez | Email

einstein@bethel-madison.org

257-3577 x 337

 

Lindsey Scheid | Email

lindsey@bethelhorizons.org

608-574-3993

 

Circle of Love: Children of Chernobyl | Web Page

Since 2000, Bethel has hosted a small delegation of children from Borodyanka, Ukraine, near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion for six weeks during the summer. During their stay with Bethel families, they receive medical exams and dental work, attend English classes, and go on trips to Noah's Ark and Bethel Horizons.

We are already looking for host families and helping hand families for the Summer of 2012 (June 15 - July 27). Contact Jacqui Shanda or Susan Straus for details and an application form. Visit the Circle of Love web page for more information.

Questions regarding Circle Of Love can be forwarded to:

Jacqui Shanda | Email

(608) 257-3577 x 333

 

Art & Faith in East Central Europe

Bethel Horizons has had ties to Europe since 1985 when Pr. Duane Hanson participated in his first pilgrimage to East Germany with ELCA's Outdoor Ministries and Pr. Herb Brokering. Following that trip Pr. Hanson began leading pilgrimages to East Germany with Bethel people.

When the Berlin wall came down in 1989, Herb Brokering along with several Outdoor Ministry people considered hiring college students to work at ELCA camps in the US. Bethel Horizons hosted an international student in 1992 and since then has hosted a student every year, most from Slovakia and Poland.

Several years ago Pr. Brokering and Pr. Hanson began offering Art and Faith trips to Poland and Slovakia. They discovered that the Art & Faith venue is a great way to meet and connect with people of all ages. In Herb Brokering's absence, Pr. Hanson continued to lead the trips with Don & Kathy Hunt of Art Ventures. Through the years, former international staff members of Bethel Horizons have given Bethel greater and greater assistance in their European trips. In the 2008 trip, our group was hosted entirely by former Bethel Horizons' international staff members in Poland and Slovakia.

Over the years, Bethel has formed relationships with church camps, retreat centers, nursing homes, and congregations in Poland and Slovakia. Several gifts have also been given from the Bethel Endowment Foundation to camp retreat centers and churches in Poland and Slovakia.

Bethel's next Art & Faith in East Central Europe trip is scheduled for August 3 - 20, 2012.

For more information, contact Pr. Duane Hanson at (608) 257-3577 or bhorizons@bethel-madison.org.