Spiritual Conversations: Part 1 of 4 Videos

PART 1 of 4
The Eager Conversationalist/Spiritual Conversation Curve Workshops
Drawing on Barna Group data contained in the 2018 monograph Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age, Lutheran Hour Ministries is offering two workshops: the first, Eager Conversationalists, examines spiritual conversations. It offers insights to help us become more intentional-more eager-to engage in spiritual conversations with others. The second, The Spiritual Conversation Curve, offers help in getting past conversational hurdles. This is possible when we focus on someone’s “spiritual posture,” so as not to impose a conversation that’s forced or ill-timed.

Download: Eager Profile Inventory

Download: The Eager Profile

Download: Eager Activities Suggestion List

Download: Spiritual Conversation Curve

Women of Zion … We Need Your RSVP’s

Hello Women of Zion!
We have two exciting events coming up to close out 2025, and we are in need of your RSVP's!

Christmas Crafting Night and Quarterly (very brief) LWML Meeting
Thursday, November 20, 7:00 p.m., Zion Fellowship Hall
Join us as we make a no-sew quilted Christmas tree. Please bring a snack or dessert to share.
RSVP TO TEVIA (grmnstns@live.com) NO LATER THAN NEXT MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17TH
 
Christmas Ornament Exchange
Sunday, December 14, 5:00 p.m., Napoli's Restaurant Bridgeville
Join us once again as we gift (and maybe steal) the ornament we never knew we needed!
Please bring a new ornament of your choice wrapped with no tag. 
Cost is $30 per person (cash or checks made payable to Zion Lutheran Church with Ornament Exchange in the memo line)
RSVP TO TRACEY (tharris@zlcb.org) BY MONDAY, DECEMBER 1ST (Payment should also be made by December 1st)

Trustee News

Last month, a brand-new Vulcan commercial kitchen range was delivered at Zion, replacing the 57-year old unit that was installed when the church was first built, and for which repair parts were no longer available. 

In the pre-dawn darkness on October 2 (see photos above), four very strong and capable employees of Hobart Appliance Service removed the old 1,000-pound range and installed the new unit, navigating a difficult path down the outside stairs, into the lower hallway, through four heavy steel doorways that had to be removed to provide clearance, and into the kitchen. It was an impressive feat of strength and mobility without a single scratch or dent to any part of the stove or church! Our Head Trustee, Mike Debowski, was there along with them, coordinating the delivery. In fact, Mike spent many hours prior to the delivery meeting with commercial range suppliers, researching various models for purchase, and finally prepping for delivery of the oversized item (including removal of interior and exterior doors, and taking precise measurements to determine the best delivery path). 

The new range has a built-in griddle that will come in handy for cooking pancakes, sausage, hash browns, and bacon! Is a future church pancake breakfast in the offing? Stay tuned! 

The next time you see one of our Trustees -- Mike, Paul Hayes, Jim Oelschlager, Ben Meyer, Deborah Sterba, and Linda Kroeger -- let them know you appreciate what they do to keep our church, school, and parsonage in good shape! The Trustees are always looking for new members to support the work of managing and maintaining all church property. As the saying goes, “many hands make light work”, and we can always use some extra hands. God bless! 

Angel Tree 2025

The Food Bank would like to bless the 30 registered children with gifts at the December distribution. Starting November 16, you will have the opportunity to participate in purchasing a gift for a child in need. If you wish to participate, choose an angel gift tag marked with the child’s age from the tree set up in the back of the church. Please use the sign-up sheet to record your name next to the number and age listed on the angel. Then purchase a gift costing around twenty dollars. Return your unwrapped gift with the gift tag attached no later than Sunday, December. 14. 

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Zion is a church partner of the Bridgeville Area Food Bank, which is operated out of Bethany Presbyterian Church on Washington Rd. in Bridgeville. The food bank distributes non-perishable food and hygiene products to needy families within the Chartiers Valley and South Fayette communities. Our congregation collects food monthly for the Food Bank (monthly announcements -- like the one at the top of the page -- are in each Zion newsletter). 

Barb Oechslein is Zion's volunteer Food Bank coordinator. Additional volunteers are always needed! If you're looking for a way to serve others and get involved in the community, reach out to Barb at barb@zlcb.org to learn more! 

Bulletin: Sunday, November 16, 2025 + This Week at Zion

View the bulletin for Sunday, November 16, 2025
Archive of AUDIO “Readings & Sermons”
Archive of VIDEO “Complete Service”
Archive of Bulletins

THIS WEEK AT ZION

Saturday, November 15
No Events Scheduled

Sunday, November 16
8:00 a.m. — Worship Service with Communion
9:15 a.m. — Adult/Teen Bible Study & Sunday School
10:30 a.m. — Worship Service with Communion
6:00 p.m. – Youth Group Putt-Putt Golf & Spiritual Conversations Bible Study
(The 8:00 a.m. service streamed on our YouTube channel)

Monday, November 17
6:00 p.m. - 1st Year Confirmation Class
7:00 p.m. - 2nd Year Confirmation Class

Tuesday, November 18
6:15 p.m. - Bell Choir Practice
7:15 p.m. - Adult Choir Practice

Wednesday, November 19
2:00 p.m. - Midweek Worship Service with Communion
2:30 p.m. - 30-min. Bible Study, Psalm 118
(Service streamed on our YouTube channel)

Thursday, November 20
6:30 p.m. - Ladies Christmas Crafting Night & LWML Quarterly Meeting (additional details)

Friday, November 21
No Events Scheduled

Saturday, November 22
4:30 - 7:30 p.m. - Michael Migyanko Baptism & Reception

Sunday, November 23
8:00 a.m. — Worship Service with Communion
9:15 a.m. — Adult/Teen Bible Study & Sunday School
10:30 a.m. — Worship Service with Communion
(The 8:00 a.m. service streamed on our YouTube channel)

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CLICK THE UPCOMING EVENTS GRAPHIC to go directly to our UPCOMING EVENTS page

Sunday’s Bible Study: Spiritual Conversation Workshop

In this four-week series, starting Sunday, November 16, 2025 we will examine
The Eager Conversationalist/Spiritual Conversation Curve Workshops
Drawing on Barna Group data contained in the 2018 monograph Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age, Lutheran Hour Ministries is offering two workshops: the first, Eager Conversationalists, examines spiritual conversations. It offers insights to help us become more intentional-more eager-to engage in spiritual conversations with others. The second, The Spiritual Conversation Curve, offers help in getting past conversational hurdles. This is possible when we focus on someone’s “spiritual posture,” so as not to impose a conversation that’s forced or ill-timed.

A video and downloadable PDF’s will be available for home use — coming soon.

Inspiration: What Does This Mean?

The October 2025 issue of The Lutheran Witness provided definitions and explanations of nine different words we use often as Lutherans — and unpacked how other denominations use those terms differently. 

Definition: 
Inspiration is God’s divine action whereby the Holy Spirit breathed into the biblical authors not only the ideas but the very words of Holy Scripture, making every part of the Bible the infallible, inerrant Word of God. 

Lutherans Confess: 
“All Scripture is breathed out by God,” wrote Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16. Lutherans teach “verbal inspiration,” meaning that every word of Holy Scripture was inspired by the Holy Spirit. We believe that this inspiration extends to all of Scripture. 

Through His Word, God reveals Christ’s atoning work on the cross for the salvation of humanity. However, Lutherans do not believe that this core message is the only thing in Scripture that is inspired. Lutherans teach that all of the details in Scripture, such as doctrine, chronology, historical events, geography, etc., were all inspired by the Holy Spirit. 

God is the true Author of every word of Scripture — which makes it qualitatively different from all other human writings. Since God cannot err, His inspired Word contains no errors in any part (LC IV 57). As Psalm 12:6 puts it, “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.” Because Scripture is God’s inerrant Word, Lutherans hold that the Bible is “the judge, rule, and norm. According to them — as the only touchstone — all teachings shall and must be discerned and judged to see whether they are good or evil, right or wrong” (FC Ep, Rule and Norm, 7). All right doctrine and theology are judged according to the standard of Scripture. 

Unpacking Other Definitions: 
Subordinated to church tradition: While the Roman Catholic Church acknowledges that Scripture is “inspired,” the language of Vatican II teachings leaves room for potential errors in Scripture on non-salvific matters. Catholics also subordinate the authority of Scripture to church tradition and papal authority and maintain that Scripture’s meaning and authority are determined by the Catholic Church’s magisterium. In other words, in Catholic theology, “inspiration” does not guarantee Scripture’s independent authority — the Scriptures need the church to authoritatively interpret them. Similarly, Orthodox theology sees Scripture and tradition as two aspects of a single divine revelation, with the church’s liturgical and patristic tradition serving as the interpretive key to Scripture’s meaning. 

Subject inspiration: Mainline Protestant denominations often adopt something called “subject inspiration,” the view that God inspired the biblical writers’ thoughts or persons rather than their words. This position leaves room for significant human error in Scripture while maintaining that it contains God’s revelation. Some describe the Bible as “containing” God’s Word rather than “being” God’s Word, making human reason and experience judges over scriptural authority. The historical-critical method often assumes that errors exist, requiring scholarly reconstruction of the “original” message — which often dismisses things like prophecy and miracles. 

Propositional truths: Many evangelical denominations strongly affirm biblical inerrancy, often with language similar to the Lutheran Confessions. However, their understanding frequently lacks the Christocentric focus that characterizes Lutheran interpretation. Evangelicalism sometimes treats Scripture as a collection of propositional truths rather than as the living Word that creates faith through Law and Gospel, thus divorcing biblical authority from its proper purpose of proclaiming Christ. 

Ongoing inspiration: While generally affirming biblical inspiration, many Pentecostal and charismatic movements emphasize ongoing revelation through prophecy, tongues and direct spiritual experiences. This can diminish Scripture’s unique authority by placing contemporary “revelations” on equal (or even superior) footing with biblical texts. This can subordinate the biblical texts to subjective spiritual experiences. 

From Scripture: 
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). 

From Our Confessions: 
“We know that God does not lie [Titus 1:2]. I and my neighbor and, in short, all people, may err and deceive. But God’s Word cannot err” (LC IV 57).