“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry…”
This next week, I will be in Moshi, Tanzania for a summit between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT). We have been planning this summit for almost two years and I am excited that it is almost here (though I am not at all excited about the long plane trip!) The purpose of the summit is to talk together about how we walk with one another in mission and ministry in the years ahead. I think we have a lot to learn from the ELCT! The Tanzanian Lutheran church is one of the fastest growing Lutheran bodies in the world. They now have more members than the ELCA.
I often get asked how congregations can get their church to grow. Frequently, those asking the question are looking for some magic formula for attracting people to their congregation. (There is none.) The assumption is that if they just institute the right program, or offer the right kind of music, or provide some service to lure people through the doors, or create the right ad campaign, the church will grow. If we could just pull off a “loaves and fishes” miracle or even just put on a great pot luck, maybe the crowds would flock to us like they did to Jesus. But, Jesus says pretty clearly that the crowds and their full bellies completely missed the point. Jesus tells the people something much deeper is going on than the signs he is performing.
So what’s the Tanzanian’s secret?
There is no secret. In my visits with our brothers and sisters in Tanzania, I have observed that they simply have a passion for Jesus that they just can’t hold in. They understand people’s spirit-deep hunger and offer them the nourishing food of God’s healing grace, love, compassion and forgiveness. Their passion for Jesus and his Gospel animates their lives, their vibrant worship, and their infectious faith. They invite. They serve. They care. They invite some more. They gather around Word and Sacrament in the open country under the bushes and rough built structures and stone and concrete churches. (The gathering place is really irrelevant). They care for their neighbors in need, no matter who they are (Lutherans or Pentecostals or Muslims or Traditionalists). Oh, and did I say that they keep inviting people to “come and see” this Jesus who has changed their lives?
Can we get that passionate about our faith? About our Lord? About the love and grace we know through him? Through the power of the Holy Spirit, I think we can. We need to. Because there are people all around us who are hungry, starving really, with a spirit-deep hunger.
Jesus is still the bread of life. He invites us to come and eat. To taste and be satisfied. To drink and have our deepest thirsts slaked. That doesn’t mean life will be easy or perfect (life in Tanzania can be pretty hard). But it does mean that we will never have to face those challenges alone, and that ultimately the power of God’s abundant, eternal life will win out even over death itself.
Peace,
Bishop Mike
Please pray for safe travels for all of us who are making the trip to the summit in the next days, and for the Spirit to bless our conversations, help us discern what is good and true and guide us as we make decisions about stepping into the future God has prepared for our two church bodies. Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment