CORE Voice Newsletter, Issue 5, September 2021 |
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In This Issue
- How Desperate Do You Need to Be to Get Help?
- Why Are Our Youth So Excited About NEXUS 2021?
- What Might Lutheran Churches Do Differently?
- Can Your Church Help a Smaller Congregation?
- New Video Book Review for September
- Where does CORE Agree with ELM?
- Surviving the Rest of the Pandemic
Scroll Down for More
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Although some areas of the USA are experiencing drought in 2021, we still have adequate resources in terms of food and other goods. Our government even helps with assistance and local churches have food banks to help feed those who are hungry.
Now consider another continent and country, Madagascar. It is the fourth largest island in the world and is located off the southeast coast of Africa. Parts of the country are lush with rain and have exotic plants and animals. However, as one moves down to the tip of this beautiful island you come upon a dry, arid region where they have gone four years without rain.
And what about the large Christian agencies that claim to have compassion for hungry people? Friends of Madagascar Mission (FOMM) has approached Lutheran World Relief numerous times; we have asked Feed My Hungry Children, and the answer has been they cannot ...
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NEXUS: One Theology, Two Mentors' Perspectives, and a Triune God |
Executive Director's Note: Many thanks to Ethan Zimmerman and Luke Ratke for telling us about their experiences at NEXUS this past summer. Ethan and Luke are both NALC college students and are planning on attending the NALC seminary after graduation. They have also made a video about NEXUS, which is posted on our website. A link to that video can be found here.
NEXUS is a vocational discernment institute rooted in Lutheran theology hosted by Grandview University in Des Moines, Iowa, and it is a week full of blessings! High school students who are contemplating their vocation, what God’s call for their life is, come to NEXUS and experience fellowship with other young Christians who are going through similar journeys. Morning and evening worship, classes on the Old and New Testament taught by solid Lutheran professors, small group discussions led by college age mentors, and lots of prayer are all part and parcel of what NEXUS is, learning where God’s call meets your life!
My favorite thing about NEXUS this year was getting to meet and talk to Christians I had never met before or only briefly. I was able to talk to pastors, professors, and other Christians about Christianity. For myself, who someday wants to do full-time ministry as my career, working at NEXUS let me have conversations with …
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An Unanticipated Agreement |
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I find that usually I can anticipate fairly accurately with whom I will agree or disagree. However, there are times when I am caught by surprise. Such was the case with a public letter written by a member of the board of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM).
This is not the kind of organization with which I would expect to find something to agree on. So how did that come about? ...
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by Pr. Steven Gjerde, Former Lutheran CORE Board Member and Senior Pastor at Zion Lutheran Church, Wausau, WI
Here’s a true story, related to me by someone who witnessed it. A small church, considering departure from the ELCA, solicited questions from the congregation. One question surprised people, but it was, apparently, asked in earnest: If we leave the ELCA, will we go back to being a church that bans people of color?
Wait—what? “Go back”? “Ban”? Some questions require their own hour to answer. Did the questioner believe that her congregation had once banned persons of color? Why? Also, had the questioner never heard that the ELCA is ...
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The Church sometimes uses a hub and spoke model of ministry. In it a central congregation serves as the hub of a wheel with spokes radiating outwards in all directions.
Larger, hub-like churches and rural, spoke-like churches may want to consider doing something like this too. Zion has some practical advice which may help.
For the hub church and pastoral staff:
- Pastors are to be the harvesters out among the wheat fields! As a pastor of a hub church, yes, you are primarily called to (and paid by) this congregation. However, don’t let that limit the scope of how you can serve Christ’s Church more broadly. There are “other sheep” ...
For the spoke church:
- Be willing to be flexible to make things work. If you want a pastor to preach and preside at the Supper, changing the time you worship, even if you’ve worshiped at that time for the past 50 years, might be necessary ...
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Newly Updated Statement on Scripture |
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Several weeks ago there was considerable discussion in Lutheran CORE’s Facebook group in response to a person who questioned whether it is appropriate to call the Bible the Word of God.
Because that 2007 statement was responding specifically to comments made by former ELCA presiding bishop Mark Hansen and to the ELCA's Book of Faith initiative, we felt that the document should be updated to reflect our current situation and without reference to that initiative.
As we said in the July 2021 issue of CORE Voice, the real issue behind the issue is more often than not the authority of Scripture. Refusing to call God Father, rejecting evangelism as part of the mission of the church, seeing faith in Christ as only one out of many ways to God, and embracing the full, radical LGBTQIA+ agenda all result from rejecting the inspiration, reliability, and authority of the Bible. Therefore, we are glad to be able to share with you this newly updated Statement on Scripture.
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Discipling Your Online Worshipers |
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With the Delta variant reminding us that this pandemic will be around at least into 2022, many congregations are facing the fact that they will not be seeing a significant percentage of their members returning to in-person worship this fall. And the longer some members continue to only worship online, the more likely many of them will rarely, if ever, return to worship in your sanctuary.
As I have been coaching church transition teams and call committees over the last eighteen months I always ask what their current attendance is compared to 2019. In almost all cases the answer is that average in-person worship attendance has dropped 30 to 50%.
Needless to say, this is a serious congregational ministry crisis that needs to be addressed. But what can be done? I suggest two strategies. One is to provide an on-going, quality member-care ministry for every member who worshiped regularly in 2019 but has been consistently absent ....
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Pastor Brian Hughes is a retired NALC pastor who lives in Maryland. We are looking forward to how he will help Lutheran CORE offer resources to congregations such as vision casting, development of discipleship ministries, and conflict resolution. |
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Video Book Reviews - Sep 2021 |
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Lutheran CORE continues to provide monthly video reviews of books of interest and importance. Many thanks to Ethan Zimmerman for doing this month’s video review of Roland Bainton’s classic, “Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther.” Ethan is an NALC college student who plans to attend the NALC seminary. He is part of Lutheran CORE’s younger persons group and has been a college-aged mentor with the NEXUS program of Grand View University. A link to his review can be found here.
In this review Ethan focuses on three events ...
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How ought military chaplains minister in a time of war? What is the chaplaincy to do when society itself is divided about a war? Is there still a place for the military chaplaincy in an increasingly secular society?
In Arthur Carl Piepkorn, Chaplain to the Greatest Generation, John Hannah weaves together archival research to provide the heretofore unknown military biography of one of Americas foremost 20th century Lutheran theologians. The issues Peipkorn addresses to provide a rationale for Lutheran participation in military chaplaincy both in WWII and the Vietnam war are as relevant as if they were written today.
Arthur Carl Piepkorn, Chaplain to the Greatest Generation is available from ALPB books for $11 plus shipping. Package together with Volume 1 of Piepkorn’s writings for $18 (a savings of $5). Postage is $3.00.
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LCMC 2021 Annual Gathering and Convention - @ Upper Arlington Church, Hilliard, Ohio - October 3-6. Click here.
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2022 March for Life - Washington, DC - January 21, 2022. Click here.
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If you prefer reading the print version (PDF format), please click the button below. |
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© 2021 Lutheran Coalition for Renewal
PO Box 1741 Wausau, WI 54402-1741
1-888-810-4180
Lutheran CORE's mission:
- A Network for Confessing Lutherans
- A Voice for Biblical Truth
Our purpose can be summed up in two words– Network and Voice. As Network for confessing Lutherans, we support and connect Lutheran individuals and congregations who seek to live in accord with Biblical and confessional teachings and practices. As a Prophetic Voice, we advocate for Biblical authority and confessional fidelity among churches of the Lutheran community.
We communicate Biblical truth through our newsletter, mailings, and various forms of social media.
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