Congregations and Missions- the importance of being
intentional
A mission group from Grace Lutheran Church in Clarksville
Tennessee has just returned from a mission trip to Tanzania with great
excitement and stories to share. The group
consisted of Cindy Buckner, Tom and The Rev.Jon Sollberger. Tom and Pastor Jon supervised putting a roof on the girl's dormitory,
making needed repairs around the
school while Cindy taught English as a
second language classes to the students at the Mwadui Lutheran Secondary
School. They fund raised for this project
throughout the year bringing in $17K.
Their bond with the East of Lake Victoria Diocese in Tanzania extended
to paying the school tuition for some needy students and supporting the
International Lutheran Health Partners who
provide health services to the poor and disadvantaged Tanzanians. ELVD Bishop Andrew
Gulle visited the Grace in 2010 and Dr. Dennis and Paul
Lofstrom visited the congregation in 2011 bringing information and enthusiasm
to the congregation . Another member, Jane Schult, is leaving with
another group going to Tanzania as part
of an evangelism and church planting
team.
Grace has always
been intentional about mission support. The congregation has been active in
supporting missions in a number of continents, such as The Siberian Lutheran
Church in Asia and feeding children in
Haiti. Their Junior Youth works to
provide health kits and individuals put
together quilts for Lutheran World Relief and other projects. Pr. John Nunes, President of LWR, preached at
Grace as part of their 50th anniversary celebration in 2010. Locally they support a food agency that runs
a food kitchen for the hungry, they run their own food pantry serving 500
families a year, and support the local Pastoral Counseling Center to provide
100 free hours of counsel to those who can least afford it.
Each congregation of the district seems to have different
mission focus with individuals gifted to support a specific area of ministry outreach and desire to use their God given gifts. Grace is known for their
wonderful
traditional liturgical worship service, music program, and one of the
largest pipe organs in Middle Tennessee. Pastor Peters shared an observation on
that issue.
"Some may
say that
congregations interested in liturgical
things are often less "missional", This may be
true in some cases, but I believe
it is overstated. In fact it appears
that most of the mission money sent to Synod through District is sent in by
congregations that use the hymnal."
Grace Lutheran Church has seen the benefits to being
intentional about missions both at home and abroad. People want to be a part of
a congregation that serves and makes a difference for Christ. Their generosity
and heart for missions is a wonderful
witness around the Clarksville and
beyond.
I want to encourage
your congregation to find a mission outreach domestic and foreign to support
