{"id":3933,"date":"2019-04-14T13:52:59","date_gmt":"2019-04-14T13:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.messiahclio.org\/?page_id=3933"},"modified":"2026-10-01T03:16:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T03:16:04","slug":"about-messiah-lutheran","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/index.php\/about-messiah-lutheran\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn More About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3>History<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Messiah Lutheran Church in Clio is a bible-based Missouri Synod Lutheran church.&nbsp;The best way to describe the growth of Messiah Lutheran Church is to say, &#8220;It&#8217;s a God thing.&#8221; The church opened its doors in 1960 with 53 members and has grown to over 1350 members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1965 when God extended a call to Pastor Erwin Kostizen to be the Pastor of Messiah, he added a dream that we would be an Acts chapter 2 church: &#8220;They devoted themselves to the apostles&#8217; teachings and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done&#8230; All the believers were together and had everything in common&#8230; they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numbers daily those who are being saved.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In September, 2008 Rev. Erwin Kostizen retired as Senior Pastor at Messiah. In June, 2007, Messiah placed a call to Rev. Erik Cloeter who is currently serving as&nbsp;Senior Pastor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more about the beliefs of LCMS:\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lcms.org\/about\/beliefs\">https:\/\/www.lcms.org\/about\/beliefs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3>Vision<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This website represents a dynamic community of faith, hope and love that exists to&nbsp;<strong>&#8220;Make more and better disciples for Jesus Christ&#8221;<\/strong>&nbsp;through Word and Sacrament. We desire to glorify God by introducing Jesus Christ to as many people as possible and to grow them up in Christ using the most effective means to impact our culture, making a positive difference in this generation and those to come.&nbsp;We invite everyone to share God&#8217;s joy and peace and partner in touching people in our community and world through biblical teacing, service and life changing ministries.&nbsp;As a church, we are continuously striving for relationships that build a strong community and help us grow in our love for Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3>About Pastor Erik Cloeter<\/h3>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/pastor-cloeter-2022-e1671653502833-1024x1011.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4957\" width=\"210\" height=\"208\" srcset=\"https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/pastor-cloeter-2022-e1671653502833-1024x1011.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/pastor-cloeter-2022-e1671653502833-300x296.jpg 300w, https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/pastor-cloeter-2022-e1671653502833-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/pastor-cloeter-2022-e1671653502833-768x758.jpg 768w, https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/pastor-cloeter-2022-e1671653502833-1536x1516.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/pastor-cloeter-2022-e1671653502833.jpg 1730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Pastor Erik Cloeter is a pastor who is passionate about helping people know the love of Jesus Christ and grow in their faith. With a heart for people and a commitment to God\u2019s Word, Pastor Cloeter seeks to create a church community where everyone feels welcomed, valued, and encouraged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His ministry is centered on the good news of the Gospel: that through Jesus Christ, we receive forgiveness, hope, and new life. Whether someone has followed Christ for years or is simply beginning to explore questions of faith, Pastor Cloeter believes there is a place for them in the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through preaching, teaching, prayer, and personal connection, Pastor Cloeter is committed to serving individuals and families and helping them discover how faith in Christ shapes everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Above all, Pastor Cloeter desires to point people to Jesus and encourage them to live with faith, grace, and purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We invite you to get connected, worship with us, and become part of our church family.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3>Contact Us<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"mailto:office@messiahclio.org\">office@messiahclio.org<br><\/a>810.686.0740<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>History Messiah Lutheran Church in Clio is a bible-based Missouri Synod Lutheran church.&nbsp;The best way to describe the growth of Messiah Lutheran Church is to say, &#8220;It&#8217;s a God thing.&#8221; The church opened its doors in 1960 with 53 members and has grown to over 1350 members. In 1965 when God extended a call to Pastor Erwin Kostizen to be the Pastor of Messiah, he added a dream that we would be an Acts chapter 2 church: &#8220;They devoted themselves&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3778,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/template-portfolio.php","meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3933"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5223,"href":"https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3933\/revisions\/5223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/messiahclio.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}