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Nebraska District-LCMS Spring Pastor’s Conference April 19-21, 2010 Lincoln, Nebraska

Nebraska District-LCMS Spring Pastor’s Conference April 19-21, 2010 Lincoln, Nebraska. Theme: Unity, Diversity & Harmony. Session 3: Unity in the Spirit. Situation of the Church Today. Decreasing commitment to Christian faith Declining membership

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Nebraska District-LCMS Spring Pastor’s Conference April 19-21, 2010 Lincoln, Nebraska

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  1. Nebraska District-LCMS Spring Pastor’s ConferenceApril 19-21, 2010Lincoln, Nebraska Theme: Unity, Diversity & Harmony

  2. Session 3: Unity in the Spirit

  3. Situation of the Church Today • Decreasing commitment to Christian faith • Declining membership • ““The most significant event in the life of the Christian church in the twentieth century is the end of Christendom” • Christian discourse is not a leading force in the public square

  4. Summary of present situation • “a hostile environment.” • increasing secularism in which people are quite indifferent to traditional religion, • counterfaiths: the spread of the gospel of prosperity, the revival of ancient religions, • the present missionary aggressiveness of Islam and Buddhism, and • others false and biased ideologies that take on the fanaticism of religion.

  5. “pruning time” • It is a time of sifting, a time of testing for the church. Many Christians have fallen away or have been torn away • It is a time of conflict with the culture rather than domestication within it

  6. “a period of rediscovery” • rediscover traditions in theology, liturgy, and the church’s life • Remember the LCMS theological and missional history. • rediscovery of the church as unity and mission. • LCMS has been given by God the resources to accomplish Great Commission

  7. Unity necessary for mission • A proverb: “Many hands make light work.” • Ecclesiastes 4.9: “Two are better than one. • So we should be united because we face a common danger and share a common task.

  8. Great Commission: Our Task • 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

  9. Ephesians 4.1-6 • “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”(Eph. 4:1-6).

  10. God Has Made Us One • Creedal beliefs in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church; four notes of the church • One Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head • Holy because God has chosen it for His own and lives in it through His Holy Spirit • Catholic: spread throughout the whole world from one end to the other and because it is all-embracing in intent • Apostolic because it bears the impress of the teaching and discipline of original witnesses

  11. Surrounded by Division • Estranged from one another by different languages and cultures • Skin color • Social classes • Economic differences • Political views • US is a highly polarized country in terms of politics and religion today. •  Family life is not different

  12. Unity: Characteristic of new life in Christ • Baptism: the sacrament of our unity with Christ, of our participation in his paschal mystery. • The sacrament of our unity with Christ and at the same time the sacrament of our unity in Christ. • Acts 2.41-42

  13. “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousands souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” • To be baptized means to be “added” to the church, to enter into a very tangible apostolic community united in Eucharist and prayer.

  14. Our text urges us to recognize the unity that is ours. In effect it is saying to us: “You are one. Therefore be one” • Sometimes we think that we are responsible for bringing about unity in the church. But we Christians do not make the church one, the Spirit does • Our task is to exhibit, and to show the unity already given by the Spirit

  15. Unity in the local congregation • St. Paul urges us: “… eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” • In every congregation the virus of division is present, if only dormant, waiting to do its divisive work • Divisions in the church result from the most ordinary circumstances

  16. Dealing with Divisions • Practice what we confess and believe • Love: key ingredient to preserving unity • It takes love, confession, and forgiveness for us to become united, growing and inclusive as the Church of God in our communities. • Respecting the differences present in any congregation we need to understand that our unity is found in Christ. • Do not either minimize or maximize existing differences but emphasize strongly our unity in Jesus Christ.

  17. The need to be united • Sake of our mission to the lost • Luther wrote: We live on earth only so that we should be a help to other people. Otherwise, it would be best if God would strangle us and let us die as soon as we were baptized and had begun to believe. For this reason, however, he lets us live that we may bring other people also to faith as he has done for us…

  18. This is part of being a priest, being God’s messenger and having his command to proclaim his Word. You should preach the “good work,” that is, the miraculous work that God has done as he brought you from darkness into light. This is the highest priestly office. Consequently, your preaching should be done so that one brother proclaims to the other the mighty deed of God: how through him you have been redeemed from sin, hell, death, and from all misery, and have been called to eternal life. You should also instruct people how they should come to that light.

  19. C.F.W. Walther • A Christian might even wish that he could persuade the whole world to know that they can leave their sins and futile life behind and take hold of Christ. The holy desire to bring souls to Christ begins immediately, as soon as the light of true faith comes into a person’s soul bringing with it the fire of true love for others. This holy desire is inseparable from a true faith. Whoever has no desire to bring someone else to the saving knowledge of the saving Gospel has certainly not yet come to know the heavenly power himself.”

  20. Embracing God’s Passion for Diversity • God’s mission is to all people. • “God so loved the worldthat he gave his only Son, that whoeverbelieves in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). • Our heavenly Father “desires ALL to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

  21. Ideals Proposed for Becoming Intercultural • “To all people” it implies diversity, intercultural relationships and dynamics • We ALL live in the mixture of intercultural/cross cultural realities • Being intercultural coincides with the mission of the church to reach every ethnic group with the gospel

  22. Acts 17:26, 27 • “From one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us”

  23. Being intercultural corresponds to the nature of the gospel to reconcile the world in Christ Jesus • Galatians 3.28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are ALL ONE IN CHRIST JESUS.

  24. Being intercultural concurs with the nature of the Church to be a redemptive community reflecting the new humanity in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:11–22) • Local Church: Showcase of how Christ has removed the dividing walls of animosity and hatred. ONE in CHRIST • Being intercultural conveys a picture of multicultural worship because every nation, tribe, people, and language will worship together before the throne of God

  25. Revelation 7:9–12: 9 “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

  26. 11All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: • 12 “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!

  27. Few Visionaries & many slow learners • Jerusalem Church: Slow catching God’s Vision • Hellenist Jewish Christians: cross-cultural • Uncircumcised Gentiles: Controversy • Peter sent to Cornelius: God’s Vision (Acts 10. 28, 29)

  28. DifferentModel • Cosmopolitan Antioch: Jews, Greeks, Syrians, and other minorities. Acts 11:19-21 • Diverse Leadership: sensitive to the needs of all groups represented in the church • Paul (Saul) from Tarsus, Roman citizen • Barnabas, Levite from Cyprus • Lucius from Cyrene, cosmopolitan N African city • Vision: Most important ingredient • What God wants to do today in your ministry?

  29. Ethnic Unity & the Heart of Paul’s Gospel • All people are sinners under God’s judgment (Romans 2:9; 3:9) • But if all of us are equally lost, then all of us must be saved only on the same terms — through faith in Christ. • “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” Romans 10.17

  30. Paul emphasized that we should not look down on one another for such differences; we can remain culturally distinct, yet be united in Christ (Romans 14:1–23). • Unity does not mean uniformity, which often involves assimilating into the dominant culture. Instead, we should appreciate the gifts brought by each culture, tied together in unity not by some mega culture but by our common faith and the Spirit.

  31. Incarnational & Relational character of Ministry • Ministry is not an end in itself • Journey of obedience and faith • Following of Jesus Christ • Connecting people with God • Pontiff: Bridge • Most of all is about the glory of God

  32. America: A great mission field • God is bringing the nations to our communities • We do not need to go overseas to preach the Gospel • Immigration has created a large number of opportunities for mission in our backyard • LCMS Growth among minorities today

  33. Personal Story: Non Traditional Lutheran • Cuban/ Nominal Roman Catholic • Practitioner of Santeria and Spiritism • Lost Sinner • Found by God in a Lutheran ministry • Sweetness of the Gospel still changes lives

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