Pastor’s Page
Volume 12 Week 53 December
31, 2006
A Great First Step Into The
Community!
Supporting Our Mission
Partners Is Serving the "Under-Served" of StL!
Jesus did not come to be served, as He said, but to serve. Disciples of the Lord, His servants, carry on that mission to the world and the humble service we offer in His name is made extraordinary because Jesus himself is there blessing all we do.
“Under-served” is a new adjective that I like very much. No one gets through this life without the aid and assistance of others, parents, teachers, government agencies, friends, neighbors, peace officers, etc. We all come into this world in need of assistance. There is in our community an “assistance gap.” Some have the advantage of plenty of assistance, coming into families or situations where a good start leads to a lifetime of not just surviving, but thriving. Many, however, are under-served. They are still waiting for the assist that will enable them to become not only self sufficient, but also able to contribute to the needs of others.
There are two things that our politicians do very well: spread fear among the people over the latest crisis we face and cast blame on who got us into this situation. When both parties in a two party system are skilled in the fear and blame game, it leads to the one thing that politicians are very bad at: making a difference. The latest congress has been labeled as one of the least productive in history.
Meanwhile, the under-served population remains under-served.
Our federal government is given some tasks that they are best suited to accomplish, that are not done well on a local or a volunteer scale. Two of those tasks are defending our borders from our enemies and delivering the mail. (Lately I’ve been quite satisfied with my mail delivery.)
Other tasks are best done on a local level. Interesting, isn’t it, how “under-served” matches up so well with “extraordinary servants”? Our Lord’s design for the problem of human need and human suffering was not to throw money and programs at the problem. Neither conservative trickle down nor liberal welfare have been the answer to the needs of people.
Jesus threw people at the problem. To human need he brought human touch, and the love of God brought through the love of people like you and me. He sent out His twelve disciples with these instructions: “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:7-8).
The mission of the Church is to connect people to Jesus so that they might know His saving love and grace, the forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life. The strategy is to share the saving love of Christ in significant, practical ways, so that people can hear the good news, but also experience it in the acts of love that the Lord’s servants perform among the needy.
What Are We Known For?
As part of our self-evaluation as a congregation in coming months, we’ll be asking questions like, “What are we known for in the community?” How would you answer that question? When the people of our community drive by, or when Mount Calvary comes up in conversation, what reputation do we have in our neighborhood or in the greater St. Louis area?
I’m not sure at this point that I have much of an answer. There are small pockets of under-served who have felt the impact of a small handful of us who are trying to make a difference. Our pre-school ministry has positively impacted many families over the years. Outside of that, I can’t honestly say that we’ve been a significant force for positive change in our area.
In November, our Congregational Assembly voted to change that. At the vote for our ministry spending plan for 2007, there was an uprising of the populace, a movement of extraordinary servants who said, in effect, “We want to be known as a generous church that makes a difference in our wider community. We want to challenge ourselves in 2007 to give far more than many think we can afford to give by committing to increase our spending plan and give 10% to ministries beyond our walls.”
Over the years we’ve supported local and national mission agencies that get our impact out into the community. Money is a great place to begin. We’ve committed ourselves to increasing our mission offering by about $25,000 and therefore our weekly offering by $500 so that we can make a significant difference with the under-served. That’s not much. If two or three families who do not tithe would begin this year to give 10% of the Lord’s blessing to them back to the church, that could easily amount to $500 per week. Or if every family would increase their offering consistently, regularly by $3-4 per week, it would be done.
Then we’ll find ways to follow with the human touch, to get involved with our various agencies in making a difference to those who need to embrace of grace, to experience the saving love of Christ through our service.
Just so you know, here is a list of our ministry partners and a very brief description of their focus of service and ministry in our community.
Lutheran Family and Children’s Services of Missouri One of our largest ministry partners, specializing in family counseling, adoption, and the needs of disadvantaged children. LFCS coordinated the massive Lutheran flood relief efforts of 1993.
Lutheran Ministries Association Providing chaplaincy ministries in St. Louis city and county jails and area nursing homes otherwise not served by chaplains. LMA has experienced significant cutbacks recently.
Lutheran Association for Special Education Helps Lutheran Schools offer special education classes. Largely funded by fees from the schools, LASE relies also on supporting gifts from churches.
Lutheran School Counseling Program Enables Lutheran schools, often in economically challenged parts of our region, add social workers to the staff to help deal with student challenges well beyond the capacity and skills of classroom teachers. Jenna Nelson is a LSCP counselor.
Good Samaritan Service Center for the Homeless Transitional housing program for homeless families with children, predominantly single mothers. Life skills leading to independence is the heart of the program. Good Sam recently joined with LMA and Friends of Moms to form a cooperative agency known as Humanitri.
Lutheran Layman’s League Worldwide radio outreach through the Lutheran Hour broadcasts and resources for congregational evangelism and service.
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and The Missouri District, LC-MS Our national and regional church body, where in partnership with 6,000 congregations of the synod and 330 in Missouri, we train church workers, do worldwide mission outreach and resource congregations for their work.
And these are just some of the reasons I believe 2007 will be a tremendous year for our ministry together. Let’s make a difference and give them something to talk about!