The goal of any vibrant church is to be a community dedicated to inviting all people to discover a confident faith in Jesus, equipping them with a faith that works in real life, and sending them out as ambassadors and servants of Christ in the world. That is what we are all about here at FLRB: inviting in, building up, and sending out! And what a joy it is for me as your pastor to see you in action!
INVITING IN I see it every week! More and more new people are getting invited to worship, to adult classes, to Sunday School, Confirmation and Village Night. Worship attendance is up 20% this last quarter over the first three quarters of 2007. We added a fourth Christmas Eve service this year featuring the Sounds of Grace band-what an incredible way to worship God becoming flesh among us! Hospitality Teams are being formed and will begin their work this month to welcome more intentionally those we invite. The Council is thinking strategically about new venues that might allow us to invite more and more people to the church for things that might even better meet their needs and allow them the opportunity to experience our gracious and Christ-filled ways. It's just plain fun to see you inviting relatives, neighbors, co-workers and friends to worship and to Bible studies. New people need the gospel that we teach and preach. But we need the gifts these people bring! Keep inviting! Jesus is for everyone!
BUILDING UP Christians are built up and encouraged to be the people God intends for them to be in every single area of their lives. And never at any church have I seen so many people attending adult growth opportunities. It's funny: in the Bible, adults learned, children played. In many churches today, children learn and adults play. But here it's not uncommon to have 60+ people attending the New Community adult study every Sunday morning and to have as many as half a dozen or more small group Bible studies meeting weekly. My hope is that these numbers might grow even further. Outgrowing a room where we hold a Bible study is not a bad problem to have! Congregations do best when they build on their strengths and clearly a strength of this congregation is building people up in Christ through the power of his Word! Plans are being laid to offer even further opportunity for growth in the months to come. That's happening administratively as our leadership puts the finishing touches on a Strategic Plan so that we can better move our vision and values into tangible ministry. It's also happening as plans are being made to offer opportunities to be equipped in areas such as how to share our faith, how to live out of our Spiritual Gifts, resource management, as well as offering courses on the basics of the Christian faith and what it means to be a Lutheran Christian.
SENDING OUT The real test of how we are personally growing as a disciple is how we live each day. We are the "sent out ones," the apostles of Jesus Christ. Like an ambassador today, we have the privilege of representing our King to the world. We spread the King's message that he wants to establish peace and be reconciled to all people. I'm amazed at how passionately you do that in your words and deeds! It's not uncommon to have four tables in the atrium enlisting volunteers to serve in one area of outreach or another! You are an awesome church! I look forward to an exciting year of our continuing to invite, equip and send out-to the glory of Christ!
What Does It Mean to be an "Evangelical: Lutheran?
Being part of the "Evangelical" Lutheran Church in America can be tricky in a time when the very word "evangelical" has had some pretty heavy baggage placed on it by those who have pushed a particular political and social agenda, one which many in the mainline find narrow and unhelpful. But I am one who believes it's a good word-a word worth reclaiming and worthy of our embrace. But, having said that, certainly, in our day and age, it is also a word that needs some defining.
To be evangelical is to be a community dedicated to inviting all people to discover a confident faith in Jesus, equipping them with a faith that works in real life, and sending them out as ambassadors and servants of Christ in the world. This is what it means to be evangelical. To be evangelical is to be passionate about Jesus and people!
There are four adjectives which collectively capture our evangelical identity as Lutherans and form for us a broad definition of what it means to be "evangelical":
Biblical: First and foremost, we Lutherans recognize that we must listen carefully and attentively to God's Word. We are, at heart, a community created and sustained by the Word, and thus our faithfulness will be measured to the extent to which we listen carefully to what God has said and is still saying through the Scriptures. This is why we at FLRB commit ourselves to diligent and prayerful reading of Scripture.
Grace-Centered: Our reading of Scripture and practice of ministry is shaped by the confessions of the evangelical Reformation. For this reason, like Luther, we embrace that the grace given to all through the sacrificial and life-giving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the centering principle that shapes our reading of Scripture as well as the ways in which we worship, witness, serve, and experience God. This is why we at FLRB commit ourselves to shaping ministry that centers in grace and that extends God's gracious activity in Christ Jesus in all that we say and do.
Missional: The only way to be faithful to the biblical and grace-centered heritage handed down to us is to share it with those we encounter in this day and age. For this reason, we at FLRB discern carefully the means by which we are called to bear witness to Christ in a manner that invites in, equips, and sends out God's people into mission.
Responsive: The world we live in moves at a tremendous pace, and so we must be eager to learn from and respond to the various and ever-changing contexts in which we live. Faithful responsiveness to the current context for the sake of mission is the impulse that drives all we do. This is why we at FLRB commit ourselves to sensitive and thorough engagement of our contemporary settings and cultural context so that we might be as faithful and effective in our witness as possible.
To be evangelical is to be Christian, it is to be Lutheran, it is to be a people committed to inviting others to experience a strong and confident faith in Jesus Christ; it is to build them up in Christ; and it is to send them forth into the world to bear witness and to serve those in need.
Next time someone asks you what type of Christian you are-respond with confidence: "I'm an Evangelical!" And feel free to explain what you mean!
By Pastor John Bjorge
