Outreach Team

The Outreach Team reaches out to our community to invite others to know Christ and to grow in faith by worshiping with our congregation at Ascension Lutheran Church.  Outreach welcomes and responds to visitors and to those who inquire about our church, and we help assimilate new members into the life of our congregation, to include organizing new member receptions and identifying and assigning new member sponsors. Outreach leads members in reaching out to and reactivating inactive members.  The team also extends Christian compassion and helpfulness to our members who are ill or are facing difficult times and to all persons in need of aid in body or soul.  Our Outreach Team strives to keep the congregation informed of people’s needs and encourages members and organizations of the congregation to meet these needs by participating in the many opportunities Ascension offers to serve our members and our community.

Prayer Shawl Ministry - On behalf of the prayer shawl ministry, we would like to thank the dedicated knitters who have faithfully donated their time and talent in adding their special touch to their shawls. Team members work on the shawls at their home, at their leisure. For those of us making these, the rewards are many. The process becomes a way to find quiet time for self-reflection, to engage in a spiritual practice and give a part of ourselves to others. If needed, the cost of your yarn will be reimbursed. Labels and small crosses are provided. 

ALL SHAWLS ARE WELCOME, KNITTED OR CROCHETED.
If you would like to participate, or have any questions, please call the church office. We blessed 69 prayer shawls last month. Most of those shawls will be donated to Holmes Medical Center.

Servant Ministry Team

Covers a variety of local, national, and international activities serving individuals, families, and communities. Year-round ministries include knitting and quilting groups, food drives for the South Brevard Sharing Center, food rescue drivers, prayer chain, Community of Hope, and serving at the Daily Bread. Seasonal recurring ministries include Lutheran World Relief - Hygiene Kits (January-February), the Superbowl of Caring (February), Care and Share with the South Brevard Sharing Center (March), Blood Mobile (May), School Supply Drive (July - August), Good Samaritan Project Christmas Child (September -October), and the Toy Drive (December).

ASSERT Ministry - Our newly created ASSERT ministry will have its inaugural meeting on 7 October at 10 AM. After which we will meet on the 5th Wednesday of each month at 10 AM in the Fellowship Hall (Note: not every month has 5 Wednesdays)

Our ASSERT ministry will be assembling Camping Hygiene Kits which are especially designed to bring comfort and relief to those individuals experiencing homelessness in and around a beachside community.

If you are interested in making sandwiches for Matthew’s Hope, Deacon Matt will text or email those of you who have shown interest in doing so as the needs arise. If you are interested in these ministries, please email me at msaab33@gmail.com with your contact information.

Eau Gallie High School Commodores Closet Donation Update - Thank you Ascension, we collected so far the following: 44 Personal Care items, School Supplies, 49 men’s clothing items, 45 female clothing items and some non-perishable food items.

Eau Gallie High School Needs
Birthday Cake Kits : 1 9x13 aluminum disposable pan, 1 cake mix, 1 tub of coordinating frosting, 1 package of candles.
Food Need List: Mayonnaise, small bottles of vegetable oil, drinks like Gatorade/flavored water, flour (5lb of less) sugar (5lb or less), Cup of Soups, Shelf stable meals, Peanut butter, fruit snacks, Lance cracker packs, taco seasoning mixes, chili seasoning mixes, Tortillas.

Operation Christmas Child - The Our goal for Ascension this year is 175 shoeboxes! We have the shoeboxes available at the church and they are due back November 13. Please don't forget to add a $10 donation for shipping and Gospel supplies. Thank you to everyone who is helping us share God's love with children around the world.

Ascension now has a goal page for packing shoeboxes online. By using this link, your online shoebox will count toward Ascension's Goal: https://sampur.se/48BWchB. Thank you for your support and generosity!

“When you pack each box —Pray. You never know how God is going to use that box. They go by plane, by riverboat, by motorbikes. These shoeboxes go to children in some of the most isolated areas in the world. —Franklin Graham

Lutheran World Relief Personal Care Kits and Quilts - On behalf of the Servant Ministry Team, thank you for your contribution in supplying items for the Health Care Kits. Because of your generosity and the Thrivent Action Team, we were able to reach our goal of 107 kits.
Thank you also to the Quilters for their time and talent in providing the beautiful quilts, displayed in our church on Sunday. 

It takes many hands to organize, assemble and package all these items, as well as load up the truck. Thank you to ALL who assisted us
This year, Ascension again took on the responsibility of renting a U-Haul truck and collecting the kits and quilts from our neighboring 8 Space Coast Conference Churches. All items were loaded into the truck and Calum and Phil drove the truck to our sister church in Clermont. (THANK YOU Calum & Phil)

• Ascension contributions: 65 boxes, totaling 706 lbs
  
• Total delivered: 184 boxes, totaling 3,107 LBS

We thank GOD for all the busy hands involved in this project. These kits and quilts are extremely important for people receiving them, as we serve our neighbors near and far.

Providence Connects – Ascension Lutheran has been actively involved since the beginning and has an active food rescue team since 2006. A big thanks to Merle Steward and Carole Mall for delivering: In August over 100 lbs. of food, 224 clothes, and 7 misc. items. Thanks to Joe Simonides, Ernst Hofmann, Tom Coolidge, Lacy Taylor, Paul Juel, Siggi McGlothlin and Bob Galloway pick up food from Publix stores in Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour, Indialantic and Melbourne. If you are interested in being part of the team, please contact Siggi in the Church Office.

World Hunger collection box – You will see this box in the fellowship hall at every meal we share. When we share a meal, we should always think about the less fortunate in this world. The collection will be sent monthly to the ELCA World Hunger Fund. Thank you for your compassion for those in need. 

South Brevard Sharing Center – Thanks to all of you that bring in food donations every week. A Big Thank You to Merle and Pam Steward and to Carole Mall for taking the donated food over to the Sharing Center weekly.

Community of Hope (COH) needs you! COH provides a wonderful way to serve others by helping end homelessness in our community. Community of Hope is a faith-based, ecumenical 501(c)3 that provides housing for families.  

Ascension Lutheran has been a partner with the Community of Hope since 2015. During those past 10 years their housing inventory increased immensely and has helped many homeless families to get back on their feet. It all started with one home in Downtown
Melbourne and now expanded to 34 housing units and are currently building more in Titusville. They offer:

• A short-term family shelter program
• Permanent supportive housing
• Traditional Transitional Housing (2-year program)
• A program to help families safely reunify after having had dependency court issues
• Offering mentoring and case management
• Held financial assistance classes
• Partnered with other agencies to serve our families and fight family homelessness in Brevard County

The Shepherd's Center provides a variety of classes for adults over the age of 55 from a variety of life experiences and faiths. We are people coming together and putting into action the supportive message of the Twenty-third Psalm to sustain and celebrate life. There are three 8-week terms: Fall, Winter and Spring. Class schedule is available on the Shepherd's Center Website. In addition to attending classes, members are welcome to volunteer to teach and support this program.

Spring Term 2026: Thursday classes at Eastminster Presbyterian Church begin January 8.  Friday classes at Ascension Lutheran Church begins January 9. More information: myshepherdcenter.org

Prayer Chain is a group dedicated to lifting our members, family, friends, and community in prayer and thanksgiving to the Lord. If you have any prayer needs or would like to volunteer for the important ministry, please go to our serving opportunities tab or send an email to ourchurch@cfl.rr.com.

The Military in Our Prayers – We ask members and visitors to remember all who are serving in the military overseas and at home. A list of individuals is available in our weekly bulletin.

Ascension Quilters - We welcome ALL who would like to come join the fun on Tuesday mornings from 9:30-12 (or whatever suits your timing!) when we work on quilts! With the advent of 2026, we have received some updated guidelines from LWR. We are now permitted to use the following fabrics:  washable fabrics such as cotton, cotton blends, twill, corduroy, polyester knits, and upholstery and drapery fabric. In addition, we are back to being able to use good quality yarn! So, for tying purposes, we can use sturdy yarn, embroidery floss, cotton yarn and crochet thread. We thank you ALL for your continued support of this blessed ministry! If you have questions or need more information, please feel free to contact Cecelia, Sue S., Sue K. or Beatrice. Again - thank you!!

OCTOBER MEANS QUILTS! Our Tuesday morning quilters will be displaying their wares for auction and sale on Sunday morning, October18th, at church. The following Sunday, October 25th, we will sell chances for owning not only quilts, but other quilted items, and these items will be dispersed during the fellowship hour after the Sunday service. The funds collected are used to purchase quilting supplies, professional quilting services, and transportation of quilts being sent by Lutheran World Relief to a variety of recipients in and out of the country. Last year we contributed over 160 quilts to this effort. We accomplish all this with 4-7 quilters meeting from 9:30 am to 12 noon on Tuesdays. Some work is done outside meeting time. We appreciate any volunteers to inquire at the church office if they are interested.

New Life Ministry - Since 2009, New Life Mission has equipped homeless mothers with the skills and knowledge to transform their families in a Christ-centered environment. New Life Mission works to permanently break the generational cycle of homelessness by providing homeless women with children safe shelter, onsite childcare, in-house mental health counseling, access to health care, transportation, education, nutrition, job training, life skills education and more.

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.