Our Blog

By: Pastor Berg

Eastside Evangelical Lutheran Church has adopted the mission statement, “Growing in Jesus. Telling of His Love.”  The statement very clearly and concisely captures God’s mission for his church.  We find our biblical mission statement in Matthew 28.  “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”  We grow in the teaching of all of God’s Word and then tell of Jesus’ love to make disciples.  But does that wonderful statement reflect the true mentality of our congregation?

Over the last few years, even though our overall membership has decreased, the amount of money given has increased and the activity of the congregation has increased.  Does that mean we are accomplishing our goals?  Not necessarily.  In Revelation, Jesus wrote a very stern letter to the church at Sardis.  Sardis was a congregation bustling with activity.  Their “success” was well-known; yet listen to how Jesus speaks to them.  “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.”  How is it possible that will all that activity, they could be dead?

I don’t think it’s going too far to surmise that Sardis had taken on survival goals.  Survival goals have been categorized into three groups: Gaining members, building buildings, and raising money.   When these become a congregation’s chief goals, a vicious circle is created. Members need buildings. For buildings you need money. For money you need more members. With more members, you need more buildings, which produces the need for more money, for which you need more members, etc. When does it all end?

Now, certainly I’m not implying that members, buildings, and money aren’t important and necessary.  But these things can’t be the driving force behind our mission.  We shouldn’t be looking simply to get more members so we can pay for our building which takes a lot of money!  That should not be our primary goal!  If it is, we are in danger of becoming another Sardis! However, what it can be, what it should be is a secondary blessing of our congregation’s mission, the Church’s mission, what are defined as formal goals.

Three formal goals are found expressed in Scripture: fellowship, nurture (in-reach), and outreach.  We see those goals present in the early church described in Acts 2:42. Fellowship was expressed in worship, prayer, encouragement, and help for one another.  Nurture and in-reach were realized as the apostles continued to teach and the people continued to learn.  And outreach was a way of life, rather than something that you had to be told to do.  This is simply what Christians do. Outreach, along with fellowship and nurture—this was part and parcel of what the early church was all about.

Like the church today, the early church had its faults: hypocrisy, jealousy, greed.  Yet, to the degree that it focused on the spiritual goals of fellowship, nurture, and outreach it was greatly blessed by God: Acts 2:47 – The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.  Acts 4:4 – Many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand. Acts 5:14 – More and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. Acts 6:7 – The word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

The church that puts survival goals far down on the list of priorities and assigns the highest priority to formal, spiritual goals will enjoy the blessing of God. The reason for this is simple. Fellowship, nurture, and outreach all have to do with the proclamation of the Word, with the use of the Means of Grace, the Gospel in Word and Sacraments. When our worship, our teaching, and our outreach are centering in the Word, as they should, we can confidently claim God’s promise for ourselves and our congregations: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”   This is our mission as the church!