Bethel Lutheran Church - Cupertino California

Welcome to Bethel!

Worship with Us

DOING LIFE TOGETHER

OUR CORE VALUES

Announcements

Upcoming Events

Fun Foodie Friday (Fri, Aug 21)
8:45am Traditional Worship (Sun, Aug 23)
Kid Connection Summertime (Sun, Aug 23)
10:45 Outdoor Contemporary Worship (Sun, Aug 23)
Treasurer's Forum (Thu, Aug 27)
Annual Congregational Meeting (Sun, Aug 30)
Ministry Celebration BBQ (Sun, Sep 13)
Out N About Brunchies Walk Campbell (Thu, Sep 17)

See What’s Been Happening

Bethel News

Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Sermon for Aug 23:
by Pastor Martha Butzier

On Sunday we will hear God’s Word from Pastor Martha Butzier
and consider how we can apply it to our daily lives. This Living Word of God reminds us God’s unconditional love for us and challenges us to share that same love with others.

Calling Our Next Pastor

Pastoral Call

Summary
Bethel is following an expedited call process, guided by our Synod and designed for healthy churches like ours. It differs from a traditional call in two ways:

Council as call committee
Rather than forming a separate committee, your Church Council serves as the call committee, leading discernment on the congregation's behalf.
A three-year term
The initial call runs three years. The congregational vote comes at the end of the term — the decision to extend a permanent call.

The steps:

Council updates the profile of who we are and what we are seeking.
The Synod identifies and presents candidates based on that profile.
Council reviews the candidates and decides whether to proceed.
Candidates and Council meet for interviews and discernment.
If both believe it is the right fit, the Synod appoints the pastor for a three-year term.

Status
The latest (8/11) on the Pastoral call process is that our Ministry Site Profile has been published. This means that the call is officially open. Please spread the word so that our new pastor may hear and respond to the call. We expect to begin considering specific candidates sometime in September.

Treasurer's Forum, Thursday Aug 27

In preparation for the Congregational Meeting, Bethel's Treasurer, Dave Tribby, will hold a Forum from 7 to 8pm on Aug 27 to discuss the proposed FY'27 annual budget and other financial matters. Everyone is invited to come, ask questions, and learn more about the church’s finances prior to the congregational meeting vote to approve the budget. This forum is online on Zoom at 7pm.

Fun Foodie Friday, Aug 21

Friday, Aug 21, 5:30–7:30pm on the Front Lawn.
Enjoy dinner at Bethel with our summertime food trucks and your Bethel family and friends.

On Aug 21, the scheduled food trucks are:

Kona Ice
Real Food – Mexican / Salvadorean
Patty Wagon Sliders … Burgers and Hot Dogs
Waffles Amore

Congregational Meeting, Aug 30

Noon–1pm
Please attend the Congregation Meeting, to ensure that we have a quorum. The congregation meets each August to share program highlights, give updates, and approve the annual budget for FY27. Snacks will be provided after the 10:45 service.

And please review the minutes from the previous congregational meeting.

Labor Day Retreat, Sep 5 & 6

You are invited to join us at Mt Cross for our annual Labor Day Retreat! The theme this year is Masquerade. We have a full day of programming on Sunday, September 6 and a weekend option for those that want to spend more time at the camp. Look for the Labor Day Retreat table in the Welcome Zone before and after worship during July and August to learn more and register!
Check out the Labor Day Retreat handbook for details! You can print the registration form in advance or register online. Read all the details on the Labor Day Retreat page.

Financial aid is available.

On Sep 6, 8:45 Worship will be in Cupertino, as usual. Our second service will be held at Mt Cross instead of Cupertino.

NAMI Walk, Saturday Oct 3

Walk with Bethel, Oct 3 at 9am–1pm.
We are starting a team and planning for the NAMI walk that will be in October. It seems early but with it being Mental Health Month, it makes sense to share the news now.

If you would like to walk with the Bethel group and start raising money for this great cause go to https://www.namiwalks.org/teams/83809. For more information on walking with Bethel, email Amanda Laughlin.

Bee-attitudes
Take-Out Church 2026
by Sep 9

Bee kind.
Bee Forgiving.
Bee Welcoming.

Bee sure to pick a Take-Out Church for summer buzzin' — available in the Narthex.

The Take-out Church includes a Bee Buddy Finger Puppet to take pictures with on your vacations or staycations. Please send the pictures to Amanda by Sep 9. She will be putting them together in a movie that she will show at the beginning of the school year.

And check out Matthew 5:3-10
Bee image

Out 'n About:
Moffett Field & Oktoberfest, Saturday Sep 19

Come join us for our Moffett Field Museum and Ludwig's Oktoberfest outing. Read the details and sign up.

And check out the other upcoming Out 'n About events.

Calabazas Creek Cleanup, Sep 20
12pm–2pm

Please help to clean up the part of Calabazas Creek that Bethel has adopted between Vallco Parkway and Tantau Ave.

We will meet on the patio after the second service or at 12 pm in front of the gate on Vallco Parkway, this is across from Cupertino Mainstreet.

Please wear old clothes, boots, and gloves, bring a grabber if you have one and some water to drink. Participants must wear closed toed shoes. Children need to be supervised by their parent or another adult at all times.

Everybody needs to follow the guidelines from the Water District.

Contact: Hella Bluhm-Stieber for more info and to sign up.

Bethel Staff Zooms

Bethel Staff meet about once a month to record a brief presentation that you can view on our YouTube Channel. Look for the heading Bethel Staff Zooms.

What’s Been Happening

Family Supportive Housing Dinner, Aug 1

The residents and staff of Family Supportive Housing graciously thanked the Bethel team for serving dinner on August 1st. The team served a pizza and hot dog dinner to about 100 adults and children. The kids really enjoyed the Melona ice cream bars while playing in the courtyard. (Pictured are Tori Evashenk and David Nadell.)
Thank you Bethel for supporting this ministry.

If you are interested in helping to prepare and serve a meal, contact Mark Evashenk.

River Float & Lock-In, Jul 15 & 18

Bethel Youth (Jr & Sr High plus College age) enjoyed their annual Float Trip on the American River, near Rancho Cordova. Bethel has been renting 6 person rafts from American River Raft Rentals for the past 52 years and are their longest running customer.

The traditional Lock-In for Middle & High School youth was on Saturday night, July 18.

Thanks to Tom for these photos. Click any photo to see a larger image.

Thank you, VBS campers, July

With the help of Bethel, our Vacation Bible School campers collected $1,022.23 that will go to World Vision to purchase fruit trees for families in Central America. This will help to provide nutrition for growing children and income for the families.

Amateur Traveler, July

Bethel is blessed to have Chris Christensen often take the Sunday Worship Message role at Bethel. It is now our turn to recognize Chris' 1,000^th “Amateur Traveler” Podcast. His care for other cultures and ability to share adventures around the world is amazing and a true gift. Congratulations, Chris … here's to the next 1,000. Click any photo to see a larger image.

Chris in Botswana

Chris in Malta

Chris in Morocco

Thank you, VBS campers, July

Thank you, members and VBS campers of Bethel Lutheran Church for sponsoring a summer food drive for WVCS. We received 349 pounds of dry goods today, enough for 291 meals, over a month of breakfast and lunch for a family of 4. This is especially crucial in the summer, as this family no longer has the school lunch program to help them. Thank you for blessing OUR community with your compassion and food.

Toni Concepcion
Manager of Market Operations
West Valley Community Services, Inc.

Rainforest VBS, Jun 22–26

We had a great VBS and loved watching God’s Love Shine through each child who participated. Thank you for trusting us with your children and for having them join in on Bethel Lutheran’s VBS. Wel explored God’s Nature as we discovered that God is our Creator, knows everything, our safe place, is LOVE and is FOREVER. Wow God!

Watching your children participate in our two service projects was full of energy and God’s love. With the money your children brought in for our Operation Kid-to-Kid Service project, we collected $352. Wow God! This money will go towards purchasing fruit trees for families in Central America. The fruit from the trees provide the nutrition that children need as well as income for the families. We also filled four barrels with non-perishable food that you helped to purchase with a portion of your VBS tuition. Some of you also brought in extra food too. This food will help families in our community. Wow God!

Amanda Laughlin
VBS Coordinator

Contact Giving Ministries Worship