Our 2017-18 Program Theme
Come & See: 60 Years of Invitation & Innovation
“Come & See!” According to the evangelist John, these are the words that Jesus used to invite the disciples along for the launch of his ministry (John 1:39). “Come & See!” are the also words that Pastor Robert Bragstad used in 1957 to invite his neighbors along as the ministry of Prince of Peace was launched here in Roseville. “Come & See!” a simple phrase that’s part invitation, part command, also opening possibility and encouraging curiosity. This is where it all starts.
It started long before the first bulletin was prepared or the first hymn was sung or the first sermon was preached. It started right after Pastor Bragstad and his family moved to Roseville from Milwaukee and they started meeting the neighbors in the growing neighborhoods around Alexander Ramsey High School and the yet-to-be-developed Central Park. It started when families previously attending St. Timothy’s Lutheran near Como Park helped Pastor Bragstad knock on even more doors along streets named “Brooks” and “Transit” and “Woodhill” and “Sextant.” It started when the doors were opened on the corner of County Road C and Victoria Street North. “Come & See!” was all it took and people have been coming to see what God has been up to ever since.
But “Come & See!” isn’t just an invitation that has come and gone, it’s the invitation that continues to draw us in to God’s ever-widening story. And though Prince of Peace has been part of this story for over 60 years now, God is still surprising us with new ways of being the church and loving the world. As we launch into a new program year, “Come & See” will be the theme that helps us look back to celebrate all the creative ways that we’ve been the church while at the same time keep us looking forward and discovering all the places where God is calling us next.