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Lutheran Society for Missiology

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Lutheran Mission Matters continues the publication of Missio Apostolica, the journal of the Lutheran Society for Missiology founded in 1993. Lutheran Mission Matters is a journal published in May and November for LSFM members. Printed copies of selected back issues may be ordered by emailing lsfmissiology@gmail.com.

Lutheran Mission Matters is missional at its core. This journal is committed to be Lutheran and missional at the same time. The one without the other is unimaginable for Lutherans. A major emphasis of this journal is to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the eternal truth of the one true God and Savior of all, in contextually meaningful and applicable ways to each generation across nations and peoples. Inside this issue readers will find that this is most certainly true...

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November 2023 Contents Article Abstracts

November 2023

	Publication	Title	Author	Abstract	View
Nov 2023	LMM	A Lutheran View of Culture	Robert Kolb	Robert Kolb has supplied us with a foundational essay on the Lutheran engagement of culture. He references Niebuhr and other renown scholars who posit various definitions of “culture” and various ways the church might engage cultures.	View Online
Nov 2023	LMM	Postmodernism and Mission	James Marriott	In my experience teaching in Lutheran academic institutions over the last decade, talk about postmodernism rarely fails to elicit a response. The responses, though, are varied. Some reject postmodernism outright, decrying the propensity for relativism as an affront to the Gospel and to our society.1 For these students, I have tried to gently probe their posture, asking them what exactly they are rejecting, or, more importantly, by what method are they facilitating that rejection (how postmodern of me, I know). Others accept postmodernism rather holistically, embracing its central tenets uncritically and spiraling deeper and deeper into deconstructed identities, whether spiritual, ecclesial, or cultural. Ambiguity, for these students, becomes a captor rather than a liberator. For these students, I have tried to gently pump the brakes, as one does while driving on icy roads with poor traction. Other students, often the ones most educated in philosophy and anthropology, maintain a more nuanced and balanced approach to postmodernism. In this essay, I hope to offer the reader some of my own thoughts and research, closely mirroring what I have taught, seen, and learned from these students who hold this balanced, nuanced approach. This approach is a keen tool for the mission field, as throughout my teaching and ministry career I have witnessed this approach being applied in the pulpit, the choir loft, the classroom, the theater stage, the basketball court, on social media, and in many other places of cultural engagement.	View Online
Nov 2023	LMM	Anthropological Considerations of Acts 17	Jack M. Schultz	The following is an explication of the significance of a portion of Acts 17 qua a Lutheran Christian informed by my vocation of anthropologist. This investigation considers the implications of the easily overlooked assertion that St. Paul makes to the people of Athens: God determines the times and places for people to live.	View Online
Nov 2023	LMM	Unfairness Is Not a Virtue: Exploring One of Critical Race Theory’s Concerns	Matthew E. Borrasso	The intent of this article is to explore the use of narrative within the field of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and offer some theological reflection on how it comports with Lutheran approaches to theology and ethics. Rather than offer an unfair, quick, or easy answer, this article offers extended engagement with recent scholarship in the field of CRT prior to critical analysis through both broadly Christian as well as specifically Lutheran lenses. Far from being an idea to reject wholesale, the narrative focus common to CRT can dovetail with Lutheran theological and ethical thought and approaches to life in the world.	View Online
Nov 2023	LMM	Confessions Contingent on Culture: Exactly How Jesus Wanted Them	Christian J. Einertson	While the cultural distance between the confessional writings of the Book of Concord and today’s mission contexts is readily apparent, how Lutherans should navigate that cultural distance is less apparent. In this essay, Einertson considers three potential approaches to navigating the cultural differences between the situations of the Lutheran symbols and the situations of today’s Lutherans before outlining an approach that is faithful both to the way in which our Lord Jesus has called His Church to continue His mission in the world and to the way in which the confessional writings themselves understand that mission.	View Online
Nov 2023	LMM	Reforming Homo Consumens: Consumer Culture, Consumerism, and Contemporary Christian Witness	William G. Fredstrom	God’s people work, play, live, worship, pray, and witness in cultures and societies with various institutions, problems, ideas, neighbors, and conflicts. Because Christians live within such varying cultural contexts, many desire to maintain a clear distinction between themselves and the cultures in which they live. Theologians have described the distinctiveness of God’s people amid their secular cultures by describing the Church as its own culture or public constituted by unique narratives, rituals, and ices that contrast the narratives, rituals, and practices of other surrounding cultures.	View Online
Nov 2023	LMM	How Not to Become God: What Watchmen Can Teach Christians about Living in a Godless World	Benjamin Leeper	No Abstract	View Online
Nov 2023	LMM	“Lights . . . Cameras . . . Faith?!” Christian Interaction with the Culture as It is Shared in Cinema	Jeffrey E. Skopak	No Abstract	View Online
Nov 2023	LMM	Impacting the Workplace: A New Conceptual Framework Where Vocational Calling Meets Missional Competencies	Lori B. Doyle, Jill L. Swisher	While some Christians work in specifically Christian workplaces or contexts, the majority of Christians work in environments that would not be described as Christian or that might even be characterized as hostile toward Christian morals and values. No matter the environment, Christians can embrace a vocational mindset and recognize ways they are able to serve others in both left-hand and right-hand kingdom opportunities as they present in mundane as well as miraculous moments. Yet it is often the opportunities to explicitly share about one’s faith that go unnoticed or even ignored due to feelings of inadequacy, apprehension, or unpreparedness. This is where the concept of missional competencies can be utilized for training, supporting, and encouraging Christians working in secular fields and workplaces. The authors of the current paper suggest a new conceptual framework where vocational calling meets missional competencies and discuss the impact on individuals, churches, schools, and institutions of higher education. Suggestions for future research are also provided regarding ways to measure, analyze, and continue the discussion on how best to apply and study the benefits of this new framework of support for Christians working in but not of the world.	View Online
Nov 2023	LMM	Relevant Gospel Message	Herb Hoefer	In my theological training, I was told that the two great messages of the Gospel were the assurance of forgiveness of sin and the assurance of heaven. Those were the burning issues of the church where Lutheranism was born. Central to these messages was the substitutionary atonement achieved by the crucifixion. However, both in my missionary service and in my congregational ministry, these were not the most important messages of the Gospel. In some contexts, in fact, I found these messages to be irrelevant and even counterproductive.	View Online
Nov 2023	LMM	Faith and Culture: An Interview with FLAME	James Marriott	Missiology regularly deals with abstract ideas about communicating the Gospel and the reaction to that Gospel in cross-cultural settings. A highly influential crosscultural setting in the contemporary world is the musical genre of hip-hop. The Christian rap artist FLAME recently spoke with an editor of Lutheran Mission Matters, James Marriott, to describe in his own words his personal spiritual journey and the contribution rap music makes to the communication of the Christian faith. LMM thanks him for his contribution. What follows is an edited transcription of the interview, which took place on July 13, 2023.	View Online
May 2023	LMM	Inside This Issue	Andrew H. Bartelt	Pastoral formation and theological education remain crucial issues for almost all church bodies. It has always been so, but the dramatic decline in seminary enrollment corresponds to a similar decline in church membership and attendance. What is important to the mission focus of this journal is the fact that many of the same social, cultural, religious, and economic factors that are affecting the institutional church structures in decline are also opening up a vast mission field, filled with opportunities and challenges.	View Online
May 2023	LMM	Here We Stand; Here We Go!	Patrick T. Ferry	In this commencement address delivered at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO, on May 20, 2022,1 Rev. Dr. Patrick Ferry compares the preparation at seminary to the foundation of our faith that Paul speaks about in Romans 5:1–2. He uses the analogy of preparing to run a race, by which we are “on our marks” and have been securely “set.” But now it’s time to “go!” He calls on seminary graduates—and all the church—to go, to go forward, to go forward into the mission field of today’s world.	View Online
May 2023	LMM	“Here We Stand; Here We Go!”: An Interview with Pat Ferry	Patrick T. Ferry	In answering questions raised by his Commencement Address (published as the previous essay), Patrick Ferry unpacks some of the specific issues he touched upon, especially regarding pastoral formation for mission leadership in today’s world. In short, though grounded in the past, the mission is before us, and today’s context is not that of previous generations. Key areas of focus are evangelism and mission, education, and encouragement. Pastoral leaders need to understand the next generation, to be able to bridge to other cultures, to build relationships, and to present Christianity positively in a culture where we are no longer the “home team.”	View Online
May 2023	LMM	Theological Education: What does this Mean? What's That?	Richard E. Carter	The two basic questions in Luther’s Small Catechism—What does this mean? What is that?—frame this exploration of the significance of the words “theological” and “education.” In the field of education, various professional resources invite personal reflection, such as David Kolb’s learning cycle and Bloom’s taxonomy. Thus, this article asks, What are readers’ definitions and assumptions for the terms “theological” and “education”? Personal and professional choices regarding course work, the larger picture of a school’s curriculum, and the largest picture of what serves mission, are all part of the reflection invited in this article.	View Online
May 2023	LMM	The Mission of the Church and Pastoral Formation	James A. Baneck	How is The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) intentionally preparing men to be pastors for the mission of Christ’s Church, that is to shepherd those “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Rev 7:9)?	View Online
May 2023	LMM	A “Conversation” about Seminary Formation for Mission Leadership	Andrew H. Bartelt	Based on a review of curriculum and conversations with academic leaders, the author provides a summary of observations about the current formation programs of four North American seminaries, including his own thoughts, all in the spirit of contributions to this ongoing conversation. He notes, positively, what courses and practica are in place, but he also calls attention to the need for more urgency and creativity in dealing with the challenges of a declining church body in the face of an expanding mission field.	View Online
May 2023	LMM	The Missio Dei Under the Southern Cross: Some Considerations	Acir Raymann	This essay aims to present the history, challenges, and development of God’s mission in Brazil. These are some observations that come from a short and humble analysis of my alma mater, where I also had the privilege of teaching for the last forty eight years. These observations also deal with the challenges and opportunities faced by seminarians in relation to theology and culture. Academic programming is an ongoing process and requires regular analysis and revision. New horizons may also illuminate the curriculum that can be amplified when we look at the proclamation of the officium proprium of Christ under the Southern Cross.	View Online
May 2023	LMM	Theological Education for Ministerial Formation: An Indian Reading	Christu Das	The word seminary comes from the Latin seminarium, meaning “seedbed” or “nursery,” where plants are nurtured before they are transplanted.1 Seminaries are like good soil for ministers-in-training: they support growth and maturation so that graduates can thrive within the church system upon their graduation. Seminaries are meant to train ministers of the Gospel. Therefore, those who train seminarians should have a clear perspective of the Gospel; that is, whatever they do, say, teach, and criticize should be in the interest of the Gospel.	View Online
May 2023	LMM	The “End” of Seminary Education: Healthy and Flourishing Congregations	William Utech	Historically, most American seminaries have not been overly or overtly concerned with the health and well-being of the congregations that receive their graduates as pastors. This lack of concern was born of these seminaries being founded under “Christendom,” wherein the dominant culture of the country affirmed and supported Christianity and her institutions. For seminaries, this meant a guaranteed “market” for their graduates. In these post-Christendom times, that luxury is gone, and seminaries must get better at raising up leaders who will shepherd congregations toward health and vitality.	View Online
May 2023	LMM	The Challenges of Distance Theological Education	Douglas L. Rutt	Distance models of theological education are here to stay. As a result of the pandemic, many seminaries, institutions and faculty members that approached it with derision, or at least a high degree of skepticism, were forced to experiment with distance models, making the best of it with the technology at hand. This has meant that more and more theological educators have had experience with distance learning and bring to the debate new experiences and insights regarding its pros and cons. While distance learning is here to stay, it is no universal remedy for the ministerial training needs of the church. However, those interested in moving to distance learning models must do so with a clear picture of both the significant challenges and the opportunities.	View Online
May 2023	LMM	Integrating Theology & Mission in the Cross-cultural Ministry Center (CMC)	Glenn K. Fluegge	How does one go about forming pastoral, missional leaders? That question is part of a larger ongoing conversation about the appropriate relation between theology and mission. In this article, I attempt to get at that question and add to the conversation. I do that by giving the reader a glimpse of how one pastoral education program—the Cross-cultural Ministry Center at Concordia University Irvine—strives to integrate theology and mission with the goal of forming what we often refer to as “missionary pastors.” In what follows, I briefly describe the Cross-cultural Ministry Center, lay out the theoretical framework undergirding the curriculum, explain our educational model, and try to show how this plays out practically in our coursework and through the CMC missional vicarage (i.e., internship) experience. Then, two recent graduates of the Cross-cultural Ministry Center, Pastor Joel Rockemann and Pastor Carlos Velazquez, will offer personal reflections on their current ministries and describe how their time in the program helped prepare them for the mission contexts in which they now find themselves.	View Online
May 2023	LMM	From the Field: Forming Mission Leaders through Contextual Education in the Specific Ministry Pastor Program	James F. Marriott	As one well acquainted with students in the SMP program, the author provides background and verbatim interviews with four students who represent those who participate in this seminary program of pastoral formation while engaged in their local mission contexts. Their personal reflections on both their contexts and this certification program provide insight into how one way of delivering seminary formation can intersect with actual mission experience.	View Online
May 2023	LMM	Book Review: WE ARE NOT THE HERO: A Missionary’s Guide to Sharing Christ, Not a Culture of Dependency. By Jean Johnson.	Miriam Carter	In this book Johnson looks at what missions in different cultures can be. She was a missionary for many years in Cambodia. She is fluent in the language, having served Cambodians in the Twin Cities for six years. In Cambodia she discovered that, along with Jesus, she brought her own culture with her. She recognized that Western-style mission work brings baggage along with the Gospel, which isn’t necessary and can even be harmful. Her new approach mirrors how Paul went about mission work.	View Online
May 2023	LMM	Book Review: TEACHING AND LEARNING THEOLOGY IN THE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT. By Matthew C. Ogilvie.	Daniel Mattson	Currently, many books have been written about distance education. The emphasis varies from book to book, but all deal with the same educational possibility. The advent of the internet, however, has opened educational possibilities that have not existed. previously.	View Online
May 2023	LMM	Book Review: VIABILITY IN CONTEXT: The Theological Seminary in the Third World— Seedbed or Sheltered Garden? By Herbert M. Zorn.	Andrew H. Bartelt	I stumbled into this little treasure trove while researching some mission history. As happens more frequently than I’d like to admit, here was a study that already answered a host of questions that have churned in the back of my mind for years.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	Dr. John Loum Enters Eternal Rest	Concordia Seminary News Release	Dr. John Loum, former director of the Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology (EIIT) at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis and missionary to The Gambia, entered rest in Jesus Oct. 26, 2022. He was 74 years old.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	Inside This Issue	Rev. Dr. Samuel Deressa	Religion and ethnicity are closely related phenomena in North America. The histories and traditions of various denominations, including Lutherans, have been largely shaped by patterns of immigration and the establishment of various ethnic traditions. Yet despite a rich body of literature on mission and migration, particularly in relation to first-generation immigrants, there has been relatively little attention paid to subsequent generations of immigrants.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	There Is Hope for Second Generation Immigrant Christian Churches: Challenges of Mono-Ethnic and Semi-Independent Immigrant Congregations	Samuel Deressa	Historians refer to the twenty-first century as “the age of migration,” mainly because there are more migrants in the world today than ever before. In 2020, a UN report shows that, globally, the number of international migrants was 281 million, with nearly two-thirds being labor migrants. This is 3.6% of the world’s population. In another UN report published in 2022, over the past two years, despite the impact of Covid-19, the number of migrants has continued to increase.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	Multiethnic Churches: Challenges and Opportunities	Douglas L. Rutt	Perhaps those who have been around a while will remember this image. It is from an episode of the famous television series Star Trek. The title of the episode is “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.” It had such an impression on me that even today I can remember well when I saw it for the first time in 1969. I was fifteen years old. In that episode, the spaceship Enterprise comes upon two survivors of a war-torn planet. It turns out that the two men are the only remaining of their race. The two hate each other, so much so that they are constantly disposed to violent fights. They have to be restrained by Captain Kirk and the crew. In one scene, one of the men erupts in to such a fury that he demands Captain Kirk kill the other right then and there.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	Second Generation Immigrant Ministry: Challenges, Opportunities, and Actions Required	Gemechu Olana	I want to introduce myself through my experience as an immigrant and immigrant pastor, which will also be reflected in this short article. Before receiving my present role as a double parish pastor in Austin, Minnesota, I served Oromo speaking Ethiopian immigrant communities in Greater Los Angeles and beyond for over twelve years. Besides congregational ministry, I have been involved in diaspora mission in various ways since 1999, the time I came to live in the immigrant community.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	Shining the Light of Christ from Generation to Generation at True Light Lutheran Church in Chinatown, New York City	Joshua Hollmann	True Light Lutheran Church stands at the corner of Worth and Mulberry Street in the heart of the oldest section of New York City’s Chinatown. Nearby is Confucius Plaza, City Hall, and the Brooklyn Bridge. True Light’s façade at the crossroads of lower Manhattan features a towering cross illuminated at night to point to Jesus Christ, the true light that gives light to everyone.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	A Multiethnic Church for the Sake of Our Children, Our Grandchildren, and the World	William Utech	“Do you love your traditions more than your children?” This was the surprising, startling, unsettling question with which David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group and author of the bestselling books Faith For Exiles, Good Faith, You Lost Me, and unChristian, concluded his presentation at a joint pastors’ conference for the Minnesota North and Minnesota South Districts back in 2014. He left the crowd of clergy pretty much speechless because, I imagine, they had never been asked this question before, nor had they ever been asked to ponder its validity. Or, maybe they were instantly scandalized by the inference that there might be a legitimate distinction between what they rightly believed, taught, and confessed on the one hand and the way they lived out and corporately practiced that faith on the other. The conference planning committee never invited David Kinnaman to come back to present at another gathering of our pastors.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	The Interrelation between Mission and Migration and Its Implication for Today’s Church	Dinku Bato	The biblical and theological analysis of migration and mission generally exhibits strong interconnection, which means that God oftentimes uses immigrants to disseminate the message of His kingdom. Faith and tradition accompany immigrants not only as a reservoir that they habitually resort to in an effort to adjust to changing sociopolitical and economic situations, but also to influence communities they live with and encounter on a regular basis.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	Bridge People and LCMS Congregations: Bicultural Immigrants, Missions, and the Scriptures	Matthew Buse	Migration allows people the opportunity to operate in different cultures with various levels of fluency. People fluent in two or more cultures can increase the reach of mission work through congregations involved with immigrant groups. Tensions arise, however, as these people may feel torn between cultures. By understanding some of the terms around immigration and culture, we can understand the role of people to bridge various cultures in service to congregations by reaching out with the Gospel. Their bridging is not simply between groups but also brings people together under the authority of the Scriptures, which owe their origin to divine inspiration.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	Reverse Mission and Homeland Imagination: Trends and Issues in Burmese Migrant Christianity	David Moe	In his seminal work The Next Christendom, Philip Jenkins observes that the center of gravity in the Christian world has shifted from the Global North (Europe and North America) to the Global South (Latin America, Africa, and Asia). While this is true, the US, a unique nation of immigration, remains the center for education and global migration. Therefore, students, scholars, and refugees from the Global South come to America as pilgrims with their distinctive forms of political repression, ethnic marginalities, and religio-ethnic identities.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	Clergy, Congregations, and Today’s Young Adults: Exploring the Church Through the Experiences of Generation Z Lutherans.	Heath Lewis	For decades, pastors, church leaders, congregations, and scholars have been concerned when a generation emerges into young adulthood—and for good reason. Ministry leaders encounter several unique challenges while serving the young adults entrusted to their care. For many young adults, leaving home for the first time and having the opportunity to choose their own house of worship removes an external compulsion to remain part of their family's faith tradition. Many young adults also report seeing the Church as outdated and irrelevant in today’s world, prompting them to question its value and role in their lives. These and other factors have led to a historically challenging relationship between the Christian Church and young adult generational cohorts,4 including high levels of young adult attrition from the Church.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	The Social Economics of LCMS Stewardship Practice: Aligning God’s Supply with Ministry and Missional Goals	Martin Lee and Anne Lee	Primary ministry activities have traditionally been performed by autonomous Lutheran congregations, serving local communities in Word and sacrament ministry and also as the focus for social engagement and outreach activities in towns, suburbs, and cities across the country. Local congregations also worship God through reverence and obedience in properly caring for what God has entrusted to them. Increasingly, congregations are instead becoming the site of competition over finite resources. The authors’ experience is that the problem lies not in God’s supply but in the Church’s overall stewarding of it. But the stewardship responsibility does not fall on the pastor or individual laypersons alone. Since local congregations participate in the country’s economy, capitalism’s progression to financialization has had an impact on them and may be a driver of congregational decline, along with church and school closures. More study is necessary to determine how much financialization is impacting local congregations and local missions. First steps toward a possible solution are framing the issues for constructive theological dialogue and better alignment of finite resources toward “real” (primary) ministry and missional efforts in local communities.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	Missions are Local: Looking through the Reality-Defining Spectacles of Culture for Effective Cross-Cultural Gospel Communication	Hannah Scheyder	Language is foundational to human cultured experience. If worldviews of varying cultures are seen as spectacles, central to comprehending the human experience, effective missional efforts depends on năng của một người to interact with another culture’s linguistic framework by bằng đeo glasses that delineate their particular thế giới. If missions are to be effective vehicles of Gospel truths in foreign cultures, ilimin harshe yare should be acquired over a dogon lokaci. If missions must instead be short-term, one should first kula da yanayin yare da al'adun jama'an in front of them, nhìn vào bối cảnh trước mắt của họ, in which there is no cây cầu xuyên văn hóa rộng lớn to cross. This means that all believers have tangible access to help wajen yada bisharan Krista, as lifelong language learners in Lagos, or daily witnesses cho ân điển của Chúa at one’s local Starbucks.	View Online
Nov 2022	LMM	Mission and Migration: Ask Those Who Are Doing It	Robert Scudieri	I had the privilege of preaching at Concordia Seminary a few decades ago. I began by looking at the chapel filled with white Anglo men and said, “You do not look like heaven.” Years later a pastor came up to me and said, “I heard you in chapel tell us we did not look like heaven and I was angry. But today I know what you meant.” He got it!	View Online

Lutheran Society for Missiology

Lutheran Society for Missiology

Please Note

Articles

Please Note

Articles

Here We Stand; Here We Go!; Patrick T. Ferry

“Here We Stand; Here We Go!”: An Interview with Pat Ferry

Theological Education: What Does This Mean? What’s That?; Rich Carter

The Mission of the Church and Pastoral Formation, James Baneck

A “Conversation” about Seminary Formation for Mission Leadership, Andrew H. Bartelt

The Missio Dei Under the Southern Cross: Some Considerations, Acir Raymann

Theological Education for Ministerial Formation: An Indian Reading, Christu Das

The “End” of Seminary Education: Healthy and Flourishing Congregations, William Utech

From the Field: Forming Mission Leaders through Contextual Education in the Specific Ministry Pastor Program, James F. Marriott

Book Reviews

Please Note

Rev. Dr. Samuel Deressa

Articles

There Is Hope for Second Generation Immigrant Christian Churches: Challenges of Mono-Ethnic and Semi-Independent Immigrant Congregations; Samuel Deressa

Multiethnic Churches: Challenges and Opportunities; Douglas L. Rutt

Second Generation Immigrant Ministry: Challenges, Opportunities, and Actions Required; Gemechu Olana

Shining the Light of Christ from Generation to Generation at True Light Lutheran Church in Chinatown, New York City; Joshua Hollmann

A Multiethnic Church for the Sake of Our Children, Our Grandchildren, and the World; William Utech

The Interrelation between Mission and Migration and Its Implication for Today’s Church; Dinku Bato

Bridge People and LCMS Congregations: Bicultural Immigrants, Missions, and the Scriptures; Matthew Buse

Reverse Mission and Homeland Imagination: Trends and Issues in Burmese Migrant Christianity; David Moe

Mission Observer

Missions are Local: Looking through the Reality-Defining Spectacles of Culture for Effective Cross-Cultural Gospel Communication; Hannah Scheyder

Mission and Migration: Ask Those Who Are Doing It; Robert Scudieri

Please Note

Monday’s coming . . . - Rev. James F. Marriott, Ph.D

Articles

How Lutherans Can Think about Worship and Mission: Some Proposals from the Post-Constantinian United States of America; Joel P. Okamoto

How the Redeemed World Is Done: Charting the Relationship between Liturgy, Discipleship, and Mission; James Marriott

Lutheran Worship for the Not-Yet Christian: Can We Reclaim the Missa Catechumenorum?; Steve Zank

Mission and Worship in a Secular Age: Reflections on Brazilian Lutheran Worship Movements; Mário Rafael Yudi Fukue

Paul’s Theology of Peace and Worship: “Let the Peace of Christ Rule in Your Hearts, Be Thankful” (Colossians 3:15); Samuel Deressa

“We Believe, Teach, and Confess” Addressing the Form-Content Issue in a Context of Post-Constantinian Mission; Roberto E. Bustamante

Mentoring in the Pews: Fostering a Missional Habitus; Kent Burreson

Worship and Outreach; Paul Muench

Encountering Mission

Do You Hear What I Hear?; Heather Choate Davis

Music, Faith, and Spirituality in the Lutheran Tradition; David R. Maxwell

Yeshu Satsang; Anonymous

Lutheran Worship and Witness in Russia; Leif Camp

A New Hymnal for French-speaking West and Central Africa; Phillip Magness

Please Note

Mission and Ministry In, Through and After (?) a Pandemic: What Have We Learned - Victor Raj

Articles

Ministry in the Midst of a Pandemic: A Study of the Impact of COVID-19 on the Congregations of the Michigan District - Todd Jones

Strategic Planning Doesn't Work Here! How to Be Productive When the Future Is Unclear - Scott Gress

American Lutheran Colleges and the Influenza Epidemic of 1918 - Mark Granquist

How Do We Get Out of the Corona Crisis and What Remains? - Markus Nietzke

In Such a Time as This: Surviving with COVID-19 - D. Christudas

Independence and Resistance of the Churches - Werner Klän

The Missionary God in the Apostles' Creed: How Did the Apostles' Creed Portray a Missionary God? - Wondimu M. Game

A Look at Religion in the 21st Century - Armand J. Boehme

Encountering Mission

Singing a Song in a Strange Land: Music in Worship during the Pandemic - David L. Mennicke

Is Online Ministry the 'Gospel Blimp' of Today's Church? - Vernon E. Wendt Jr.

Please Note

Wholistic Witness - Victor Raj

Articles

Mission Control - John L. Mehl

Mission and Christian Mercy: Pondering Their Relationship - Klaus Detlev Schulz

The Surprising Result of Being Reminded That People Are the Focus of God’s Mission - Michael W. Newman

The Wholistic Missionary Works of the Hong Kong Lutheran Social Service, Lutheran Church—Hong Kong Synod - Annissa Lui

St. Paul’s Cross-Cultural Mission Strategy and Bunkowske’s Cultural Onion Model - B. Steve Hughey

The Ideal Model for Majority World Seminaries—Ft. Wayne 1846 or Ft. Wayne 2021? - John P. Juedes

Confession Is Crucial, and Context Counts - Werner Klän

Ecclesial Lutheran Identity and the Church’s Mission in the Face of the Reality of Favelas - Samuel R. Fuhrmann

Encountering Mission

Counterintuitive Grace - Herbert Hoefer

Θεραπεύω and שָׁלֽוֹם a Biblical View of Wholistic Mission - Tim Norton

Wholistic Mission to North America’s First Nations - David Sternbeck

Sowing in Concrete: Congregational Effort to Join God’s Mission in Brazilian Cities - Samuel R. Fuhrmann

Border Ministry with the Rio Grande Mission Action Council - Brenda Segovia

A Student of the King and a Teacher in the Kingdom: An Example of Wholistic Mission Work - Miriam Carter

Please Note

Rev. Laokouxang (Kou) Seying
1964–2019