Remember to Update Your Contribution in Subsplash

A big THANK YOU to all who participated in our stewardship campaign!  If you give electronically, please remember to update your contribution in Subsplash.  The church office cannot do this for you.  The instructions listed below will guide you through the process:

1. Go to our website:  www.clcvalpo.org.  Under the “Give” menu, select “Give Now.”  This will take you to the church’s main giving page.
2. In the top right corner of that page, click the black button “Log in or sign up.”  You will be prompted to sign into your account using email, Google, Facebook, or Apple.  Choose the option that you originally used to setup your account (for most people, that will be email).
   • Email: Log in with your email address as your user ID and your password.  If you have forgotten your password, click on “Forgot Password,” and a link to reset it will be sent to your email.
   • Google, Facebook and Apple: You will be automatically signed in by your device.
3. Click the circle with your initials at the top right of the screen, then click “Account” and then “Scheduled Gifts.”  You should see your current donations displayed on the screen.  Click the donation you want to change.  This will open a window that allows you to make any changes to your current setup.
4. When you are finished, click the black button “Update $###.## Gift.”

You’re all set!  If you have any problems with the steps listed above, please contact Heather Budnik in the church office.  She’ll be happy to help!

Summer Family Faith Activities
Mark your calendars for this year’s Family Faith Activities right after Sunday Morning Worship - June 14, June 28, and July 12. On June 14, we’ll stay at CLC for a potluck, Bible Story and Art Project. Stay tuned for details on June 28 and July 12 - field trips and service projects in the works!

Communion Conversations
CLC children and families are invited to our annual Communion Conversations on Saturday, May 30, from 3:30-5pm. Our practice at CLC is to welcome children to God's table whenever families discern that they are ready to receive - and then to make an opportunity available to learn more, together! If your child is ready to begin receiving communion, or if they are already receiving communion and are ready to learn more, please join us! Email Pastor Erica ([email protected]) with any questions, or to let us know you'll be attending!

Evening Prayer Experiment!

The first two weeks of June, consider joining in our Evening Prayer Experiment. We love our Lenten and Advent Evening Prayer services, and love the opportunity to be outdoors in the summer. June 1-5 and 8-12, we will gather each evening at 7pm on the church back patio (by the Memorial Garden) for a simple evening prayer service - our beloved Holden Evening Prayer service, and the Evening Prayer setting in our hymnal. The "experiment" is to lean into the practice of daily communal prayer - a simple, steady practice that has a way of reshaping our days.

Sheltered in Grace: We Are So Close!

Newsletter Notice • May 18, 2026

$103,832 committed.  That is 86% of our $120,000 Foundation Goal — just $16,168 from fully funding the roof. At the pace this congregation has been moving, we can get there.

And here is what happens next: the moment our giving clears the actual cost of the roof, every additional dollar goes straight to our mortgage principal. Our goal of $250,000+ isn’t just an aspirational number — it’s the target our calculations show would free approximately $13,339 per year in budget relief through reamortization. Same interest rate, lower balance, recalculated payments. Real money, back into ministry, year after year.

We are close. And close is exactly when it matters most to finish strong.

If you haven’t made your commitment yet, June 1 is eight days away.  Every gift counts — and every dollar beyond the roof cost is already investing in this congregation’s future.

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Our goals:

· Foundation Goal — $120,000:  Sanctuary roof replacement

· Hallelujah Goal — $250,000+:  Roof + mortgage principal reduction (~$13,339/yr in budget relief)

Commitment date: June 1  |  Gifts received through: August 1

Make your commitment at clcvalpo.org/shelteredingrace or return your commitment card. Giving appreciated securities, a tax refund, or an IRA charitable rollover? Check the box and Heather Budnik will be in touch.

We built this place together. Let’s protect it — and then some.

CLC is sponsoring a booth at the Northwest Indiana Pride Fest at Sunset Hill Park on Saturday, June 6^th from 10am to 8pm.  We would love to have teams of 4 – 6  people hosting for each 2 hour time slot.  Sign-ups are in the Gathering Space!  Please join us for this festive event!

Getting to Know CLC

Curious how God changes lives in and with this congregation?  Join us to for our “Getting to Know CLC” series as we explore Christ Lutheran's ministry, history, and teaching.  We'll gather for a 3-week series during the Formation Hour on Sundays (9:20am-10:20) May 24 (Note:  the 24th is at 8:20) in the Sanctuary, followed by an opportunity to form0ally stand with the  congregation, confess our faith together, and declare that "Yes! God has something for me here."  

New Member Welcome on Sunday, May 24 during 9:30 service.

May Altar Gifts

Holy Communion       Vickie and Gregg Copeland ~ In Honor of Family

Altar Candles              Phil Hahn ~ in Memory of Laurel Hahn

Eternal Lamp             Tammy Basich ~ Celebrating Jeremy’s April Birthday

Attention:  YOUTH

If there are youth in grades 6-11 interested in attending Lutherwald (June 14-19) , please let me know! [email protected]. 

I need to start the registration process soon! 

Christ Lutheran Church offers a Grief Support Group every other week on Wednesdays from 9:30 - 11 am in the Conference Room. (209). The group serves adults who have experienced a loss of a spouse, parent, child, friend, or neighbor. The core group of peer support welcomes others to walk together in our grief journey .

Come when you can. Coffee and Kleenex available. 

The group is facilitated by Cheryl Slack, a Stephen Minister. You may contact her at 219-241-0677 or one of the pastors if you have any questions.

Upcoming dates are June 3, 17.

Christ Lutheran Church Endowment Fund Applications Are Now Available!

Since January of 2025, CLC’s Endowment fund has grown!  Thanks to the generosity of our congregational members through thoughtful living gifts, as well as planned gifts from estates and wills as their faithful stewardship of life assets. 

Now the interest accrued on the principle of these tithes of perpetuity has also increased each quarter, thanks be to God! These designated funds (Interest earnings only) are now available for ministry projects to support mission work by CLC members.

The CLC Endowment committee is (for the first time) extending the invitation to our congregation to apply for funds for local, regional or national projects that extend the ministry of Christ Lutheran Church beyond the scope of the annual operating budget. The TIMELINE for APPLICATION is May 1^st through July 1^st, 2026.

Click here for information on the grants and directions how to apply for endowment funding. It is exciting to see the generosity of our congregation multiply!

May The Lord continue to Bless CLC and our work, Amen.

Grace Safrin – CLC Endowment chair for 2026.

Questions after reviewing the attached info? Please contact me or Pastor Tim 

CLC Social Ministry and Mission

May 2026

• Each month the Social Ministry Committee highlights a special giving opportunity.  May’s emphasis is providing support for Reconciling in Christ  www.reconcilingworks.org/ric and LGBTQ Outreach of Porter County  www.lgbtqofpc.org 
• Reconciling in Christ (RIC).  After the three-year process of Deepening Our Welcome, Christ Lutheran became a Partner Organization in the Reconciling in Christ program (2024).  RIC is a holy ministry of welcome, inclusion, celebration, and advocacy.  RIC’s believes that God values and embraces each person as a child of God, the Spirit gives a diversity of gifts for the common good, and Jesus calls us to work for justice.  As a RIC member congregation, we have the opportunity to support RIC in its work to bring more congregations into the “Lutherans for Full Participation” ministry.
• LGBTQ Outreach of Porter County.   LGBTQ Outreach promotes an affirming community to LGBTQ+ youth and adults, through empowerment, advocacy, opportunity, and support.  The vision is to have a community (including churches) that affirms that people’s differences are seen as also our strengths.  LGBTQ Outreach serves community and allies by providing opportunities for employment, conversation, and connections, and education for the broader community.  LGBTQ Outreach is participating in/helping sponsor a NWI PrideFest the weekend of June 6-7 at Sunset Hill Farm.
• Help achieve our goal of $2500 in May (over and above giving combined with CLC’s budgeted amount of $1200).  Use your weekly worship giving envelope mailed with check to CLC and indicate “RIC/LGBTQ Outreach” or contribute through SubSplash on the CLC website https://clcvalpo.org via the “Give” button and choose Monthly Social Ministry Emphasis.  Thank you to members for supporting monthly social ministry emphases.

Senior Outing

May 28, 2026

11:00 a.m. 

 Tour of the American Factory by Journeyman Distillery, Valparaiso

Cost $15.00, includes a craft spirits tasting

Lunch TBD

Need a response by Monday, May 25—we need 10 participants, we only have 5

Please call, text or email Cheryl Watson to reserve a place.  You may put the money in my mailbox at church or pay the day of the tour.

We will meet there at 10:45 a.m. The tour is all on one level.  We will be going outside, so please dress for the weather.

More information contact 

Cheryl Watson at 

[email protected]

219-929-5243