Audio sermon by Dr. Gemechis Buba on April 27, 2014, at Faith Lutheran Church. We were honored to have Dr. Buba with us this weekend, and we invite you to listen to his message. The gospel lesson was Luke 24:45-53. (The message starts about 20 seconds into the recording.)
Imagine this: You are in a congregation that began less than 20 years ago. You started with 368 members and are now well over 7,000. In this brief history you have already given birth to fifteen congregations and send out nearly 60 evangelists in your city (a largely Muslim region) and across the country. You are in your third 5-year strategic plan and have the intention of giving birth to 10 more congregations within the next five years. You are even expecting to send missionaries to troubled lands like Somalia and South Sudan.
This is our new and inspiring partner, the Tabor Congregation from Ethiopia, from whom we will receive more than we will give. We pray this partnership will call forth others within our denominational body, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC), and congregations and synods of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). A delegation of 11 people from the Augustana District (including Faith Lutheran’s Pastor Paul Knudson) visited Tabor in January, and brought back with them excitement for this new partnership.
Stay tuned, and you will see marvelous mission endeavors multiplied through the power of the Holy Spirit working within and among us.
In the first week of August, Pastor Scott Grorud and Pastor Paul Knudson attended several events in Pittsburgh, PA. The first was the annual convocation of Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Renewal). Pastor Scott served on the national steering committee of Lutheran CORE from 2006 to 2010 and was asked this year to be part of a panel responding to one of the speakers.
The second event was the Lutheran CORE theological conference, one of the best new opportunities for theological reflection among confessional Lutherans. The last event was the annual convention of the North American Lutheran Church. The NALC is a new denomination, similar to the denomination to which Faith Lutheran belongs, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC). The NALC was formed out of Lutheran CORE during the time that Pastor Scott served on the steering committee. He represented the Augustana District of LCMC at all three events.
If you would like to know more about these events, just ask Pastor Scott or Pastor Paul.
My journey to Ethiopia created life-long memories. If this trip was for personal inspiration, it would likely be but a fading memory by now. That, however, was never the reason I gave time and treasure to travel over 7,000 miles to a distant land.
This journey for me came from a sense of calling by God to give some form of leadership to an ever-so-important future partnership with one of this world’s fastest growing churches. The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), from its beginning in 1959 with 20,000 members until today with over 5.8 million members, has had a passion for reaching the lost for Jesus Christ. Their witness has always reached out to the poor and needy by addressing the needs of body and soul. They without apology have led with an evangelical witness calling people to faith in Jesus Christ.
For many years the EECMY was in partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but the actions of the ELCA in its 2009 decision to support the ordination of gay and lesbian pastors in committed relationships was a tipping point. In fact, for years this Ethiopian Church was not finding a partner in the ELCA that shared their deep commitment to bear witness to the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for all people. When the EECMY formally cut ties with the ELCA, they stepped out in faith that brothers and sisters in Christ in the Lutheran world wide family would stand with them in new partnerships.
To develop a new partnership was the reason why some twenty-five of us from Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ and the North American Lutheran Church journeyed to this distant land. It became clear from our eleven days with them that this would be a two-way partnership. Their clear witness empowered by the Holy Spirit humbled and inspired us, while their needs for our help were also shared and are many.
My personal role is one of seeking to provide informal leadership in developing multiple networks of partnerships. One of them will be a partnership between the Augustana District of LCMC, of which Faith Lutheran Church is a leading congregation, and the Central Synod of EECMY.
You can expect to hear more about this in the months ahead. Please feel free to contact me. I will be more than happy to share the story, pictures and how our Lord may be calling us to yet another time of bold witness.
Written by Pastor Paul Knudson. Pastor Paul is a part-time pastor at Faith Lutheran Church and a board member on the Augustana District Board of World Missions.
Women of the Word of the Augustana District held their second Annual Gathering at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Hutchinson, MN on October 1, 2011. It was a wonderful, spiritually-lifting day for those who attended. The women in attendance enjoyed getting together and feeling connected with one another. Stephanie Freund of Hutchinson spoke on our theme of “Coming Together,” Pastor Mark Richardson of the Augustana District led our worship service, four pastors from the two LCMC churches in Hutchinson, as well as a ladies group from the choir at Christ the King, provided special music.
Approximately 110 women attended with about 20 other people involved in break-out sessions, music, displays, etc. Twenty-two churches from Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota and Wisconsin were represented. The mission projects for this gathering were Hospice/Aids kits and Newborn Kits for Global Health Ministries. One hundred twenty-three newborn kits and forty-one hospice kits were collected and sent to Global Health. In addition seventeen school kits were brought and will be sent to Lutheran World Relief. Thanks to all who put these kits together.
Three new members were welcomed to the Steering Committee for 2012. Please feel free to contact any of the members if you have questions, suggestions or comments. Members include:
Coordinator: Mary Ebent – [email protected] 320-587-5442
Vice-Coordinator/Education: Jan Schulte – [email protected] – 605-695-4996
Treasurer: Emilie Wildey – [email protected] – 320-562-0180
Secretary/Newsletter: Diane Anderson – [email protected] 320-587-9352
Missions/newsletter: Dorothy Desens – [email protected] – 320-587-8777
Historian – Heidi Froemming – [email protected] – 320-587-5607
At Large Members: Beverly Tellefson – [email protected] 320-564-3475
Carolyn Fiskness – [email protected] 320-354-4742
Four of the Steering Committee members: Emilie Wildey, Diane Anderson, Carreen Pierson and Dorothy Desens attended the LCMC Convention in DesMoines on Oct. 2-4 and were members of a break-out session for the convention. They were thrilled to have over 80 ladies attend their session. We can see the need for connection to other WOW groups is present in our churches.
Written by Diane Anderson of Women of the Word
Below are photos from the Oct. 1 WOW Gathering at Christ the King.
Keynote speaker Stephanie Freund
Pillowcase Dresses local women are sewing to sent to young African girls as part of a missions outreach
A pastoral quartet serenaded the ladies
