From the Director- God’s Heart for the Nations

Let’s Start at the Beginning: God’s Heart for the Nations

The famous opening line from the Sound of Music song, Do-Re-Mi goes like this:

“Let’s start at the very beginning, A very good place to start”.

The picturesque background of the Alps outside Salzburg, Austria adds to the iconic scene, as the catchy tune and memorable lyrics unfold. The idea that ‘the very beginning is a very good place to start’ rings true as well, although it/s not always the way we do things from day to day. Shortcuts, or skipping seemingly self-evident first steps, can work when we genuinely know what we’re doing and where we’re going. But one of the places it does not end well is with our response in our response to the Global aspect of the Great Commission.

For more than 130 years, Lutherans in the US answered the call to “Go and make disciples of all the nations” (Matt. 28:19). Whether Norwegian, Swedish, German, or Finnish, at the local and national level there was a focus on taking the Gospel to the least and the lost. Did this ebb and flow? Of course it did. Was the same effort and intentionality common in every expression of Lutheranism? No. There are many fascinating stories from over the decades, many inspiring and many ‘lost’ here, but not in heaven where the angels rejoice over every ’sinner who repents” and comes home to the Father through Jesus Christ! Some of these are best left for another article.

The fact is that from the first Lutherans sent from North America in the 1840’s, up until the 1970’s, more missionaries were sent to places like China. India, Madagascar and New Guinea, to name a few of the places where hundreds of were sent over many decades. These are some of the “tribes and languages and peoples and nations” (Rev. 5:9) who were unreached with the Gospel, so its where we went.

What happened? The loss of Biblical authority over the last 50+ years has been well documented and we still see the devastating effects in many areas. In Global mission, the loss of connection with missionaries at the congregational level started in the 1970’s, with evangelism and discipleship disappearing from synodical mission in the ELCA by the early 1990’s. Thankfully, groups like WMPL (1930’s) and LBT (founded 1964) never lost focus on the call to make disciples of all the nations, and many of the front-line missionaries knew and held fast to their primary calling.  Thankfully, too, there have been some global mission focused Lutheran congregations that never waned in answering the call to their Jerusalem (local area), as well as to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Yet, the reality is that in many churches, and for many Lutherans, the idea that “everyone has already heard the Gospel” (yes, I have heard that one) is common. We have become accustomed to churches with little or no connection to genuine church planting and disciple making among the unreached and unevangelized. We have become accustomed to churches structured to include everything but intentional outreach to the nations. This is what happens when congregations start from the framework and experience of the past fifty years.

In addition to the Erosion of Biblical Authority, last twenty years has also been dominated by Expedience. Expedient is defined as “a means of attaining an end, especially one that is convenient but considered improper or immoral”.  When the focus is on benevolence to give, rather than beginning at the goal of making disciples, its easy to lose our way. For example:

· “Mr. & Mrs. Johnson’s Uncle Fred has a cousin that is a missionary to somewhere, not sure what she does, but let’s send money there once a year”.

· “We need a new copier. We Mail out the newsletter. That’s outreach so we can use benevolence to pay for it.” (Yep, that really happened)

· “We have a mission field right here at home!”

· Supporting major relief efforts around the world where the organization purposefully excludes sharing the Gospel.

We are just home from our fiftieth wedding anniversary family reunion, where our entire family gathered – nearly 40 of us including grown children, spouses, grandchildren and our great grandson! It was an amazing and unforgettable time of celebrating and reminiscing. Our family spearheaded the effort, as we never asked or imagined that we could all gather from both coasts and points between in one place at the same time! As I write, I realize it illustrates one of the things we said frequently when raising our seven children:

·  WORK is not a “four-letter word”.

·  HARD is not a four-letter word.

It was one of our ways of training our children that something hard to do wasn’t bad, or something to be avoided. Finding a week that worked for 7 families from 7 states and both coasts wasn’t easy! It took nearly two years of planning but they never gave up. It was wonderful in so many ways, our hearts are overflowing.

There is no comparison with the eternal importance of God’s call to the nations!

· Is it hard to start a mission committee when you’ve done just fine without one for years?

· Is it difficult to battle through the selfishness or misguided greed of a half million-dollar estate gift to your church that sits unused in the bank, rather than making an eternal difference in a strategic project across the world?

· Is it work to pray about and decide where your congregation is called to invest benevolence dollars for a long-term disciple making impact, rather than sending money “wherever” on an ever changing mission of the month, or to support what everyone else does?

So, the starting point for answering God’s call to the nations can’t be what we have been used to the last generation. Also, let’s not avoid connecting directly with a mission agency or missionary because its too hard to make change! We are called to the nations because of the Father’s heart for every person of every tongue, tribe and nation!

To God be the Glory,

Rev. Bill Moberly, Founder & Director of ALWM

*This first appeared in CGMmag.com From the Editor July 2023