1. What “flavor” Lutheran Church are you?   St. Michael is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in  America (ELCA).  The ELCA resulted from a union of three North  American Lutheran church bodies in 1987 and today has over  10,000 congregations and 4.8 million members.  For more  information visit the ELCA web site at www.elca.org.   2. What does membership at St. Michael look like?   We believe in one baptism and that in that baptism one is given  everything necessary to be a full member of the church.  Typically a person or family indicates their desire to become  a member of St. Michael to a pastor.  They may then attend a  new member orientation session (about one hour on a Saturday  morning) or meet with a pastor (or both) and then make a brief  public affirmation of their baptism during a worship service.   3. I was baptized in another Christian tradition.  Must I be  baptized again to join St. Michael?   We believe in one baptism and that everyone baptized in the  Christian tradition is a member of the body of Christ and  therefore the church.     4. Where and how do you worship?   Worship and Music   5. Who is welcome to participate in Holy Communion?   We welcome all the baptized to partake of the Lord’s Supper.  We  support parents in bringing their children to the Lord’s Supper in  fulfillment of their baptismal vows; therefore you will see very  young children receiving the Lord’s Supper.  If children are not  baptized, they will be offered a blessing of God’s love for them.   A brief orientation on receiving the Holy Sacrament is offered  periodically for interested families by the pastors.   6. How is Holy Communion offered at St. Michael? Holy Communion is offered at all Sunday worship services.  Everyone is invited to kneel at the altar rail to receive the bread  and wine. The bread is broken and placed in the recipient’s  hands. Wine is administered in two ways; an intinction cup is  offered where the communicant may dip their bread before  consuming it or a second cup, the common cup, is offered where the communicant may eat the bread and then sip from the  common cup.     7. How about children in worship?   We believe that worship is God’s gift for all persons and all ages.   We encourage parents to bring their children to worship and for  them to learn to participate in the service.  A nursery is available  for young children up to age 4 and a “Cry Room” is available at  the rear of the sanctuary should parents need to leave the  sanctuary momentarily with a spirit-filled child.   Children are invited to the altar to participate in a children’s  sermon following the Prayer of the Day. “Busy Bags” are also  provided in either entrance for children’s use during the worship  service.   8. What hymnal or service book do you use?   In October of 2006 we began using the new Lutheran resource for  worship – the ELW or Evangelical Lutheran Worship book (the “red  book”) which forms the basis for most of our worship services.