St. Matthew Lutheran Church is committed to world
missions in obedience to the command of Christ:
Matthew 28:19-20, 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. And surely I will be with you always, to the very
end of the age.
Acts 1:8, But you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and
in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
St. Matthew Lutheran Church works in concert with
her sister congregations to share the message of God's love throughout
the world. This cooperative ministry is carried out through LCMS World
Missions. To learn more about the world mission program of the Lutheran
Church--Missouri Synod, click here.
http://mission.lcms.org
Ablaze! began as a vision of LCMS World Mission to
involve every member of the LCMS, its partner church bodies, and partner
mission agencies in one focused and concentrated effort to share the
Good News of Jesus Christ with those who do not yet know Him. By joining
together in this effort, not only would those who hear and receive
the message of salvation in Christ be transformed by it and brought
into the body of Christ, but our own church bodies, mission organizations
and congregations would be strengthened as members grow in discipleship
through mission involvement. Additionally, all our Lutheran resources
would be strategically coordinated, so that more can be accomplished
in mission to the glory and honor of our one, true God. It was the
desire of LCMS World Mission to give this vision away to ignite a
spark that would become a mission movement of individuals, groups,
congregations, etc., all committed to the goal of reaching 100 million
unreached and uncommitted people with the Gospel by 2017, which is
the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
LCMS World Mission Purpose Statement
Praying to the Lord of the Harvest, LCMS World Mission, in collaboration
with its North American and worldwide partners, will share the Good
News of Jesus with 100 million unreached or uncommitted people by
the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.
LCMS World Mission adopted this new purpose statement
in 2002 for the following 15 years to direct the mission effort entrusted
to the organization by the Synod in its bylaws. Under the larger umbrella
of the Ablaze! movement, it emphasizes four core components of the
way LCMS World Mission approaches our Lord's Great Commission task:
Prayer
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends
of the earth your possession. (Psalm 2:8)
The purpose statement of LCMS World Mission intentionally
begins with prayer. Truly, prayer is most important in any effort
to share the Good News of Jesus with others for whom Christ Jesus
died, for our Lord says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek
and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
(Matt. 7:7)
Partnership
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of
your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being
confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry
it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil. 1:4-6)
There are a growing number of Lutheran mission societies,
such as Lutheran Bible Translators, People Of the Book Lutheran Outreach,
and Lutheran Heritage Foundation, which are involved in mission work
throughout the world. These partners often work with LCMS missionaries,
as well as our partner churches. LCMS World Mission desires to build
strategic partnerships with entities such as these, so that our total
LCMS resources can be used in the most efficient and effective ways
possible.
Of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's 29 partner
churches, the origins of 16 are connected with LCMS mission work.
We humbly stand before our God as a church body, praising Him for
using the LCMS to start Lutheran churches, many of which have also
commissioned and sent out missionaries to preach the Good News of
Jesus Christ to those who have not yet heard. We desire to strengthen
our partnership with these national churches, and with the approximately
30 additional emerging and established Lutheran church bodies in other
countries in which the LCMS is involved in mission work, to serve
these bodies in the most appropriate ways and to continue to work
with them to build capacity for the mission endeavor, so that all
the peoples of the earth might believe on the name of Jesus and be
saved.
Proclamation
Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop-a hundred,
sixty or thirty times what was sown. (Matt. 13:8)
Sharing the Good News of Jesus is at the heart of
the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20a.) These were among the last
words Jesus spoke before He ascended to heaven. As Lutherans, God
has given us a great doctrine/understanding of His Word as related
to the means of grace. We believe that conversion takes place through
the power of the Holy Spirit, using God's Word and the Sacraments.
God has called each of us to mission involvement through our own conversion
as His redeemed, forgiven people. We now have the privilege of sharing
the Good News of Jesus with others.
LCMS World Mission places strong emphasis on witnessing
to "unreached" or "uncommitted" people-those who
are not already believers in Jesus Christ.
* "Unreached" people are those who have
never heard a clear message in the name of Jesus. Asia, Africa, and
the former Soviet nations are still home to many unreached people
who have never had access to the Good News of Jesus.
* "Uncommitted" is a term used for people who have been
exposed to the Word, who have had an opportunity to hear the Good
News of Jesus, but who do not have faith in Jesus as their Lord and
Savior. "Uncommitted" people live mainly in such areas as
Europe, Australia, North America, and South America.
The figure of 100 million was chosen intentionally
after much research, prayer, and deliberation with our missionaries
and mission partners. In our Lutheran understanding of conversion,
God does the work of converting the unbelieving heart through His
Holy Spirit. By setting this goal, we are not limiting the Holy Spirit.
Ultimately, the Holy Spirit will determine how many people will be
touched by the Gospel through our efforts, but we will be faithful
sowers of the seed and will hold ourselves accountable to sowing the
seed of the Gospel in the hearts of at least 100 million people in
North America and around the world by 2017.
Reformation
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. (Rom 12:2a)
One of the outcomes of the Reformation was the rediscovery
that God's grace is offered freely to all people through the Word
and Sacraments. We have a precious message to share!
In the past, Lutherans have frequently celebrated
significant church anniversaries by publishing a new book on the Reformation
or the Confessions. As a church body that grew out of the Reformation,
what better way is there to mark a historic anniversary in our Lutheran
heritage, than to bring together Lutheran churches around the world
to celebrate God's blessings through sharing the Good News of Jesus
Christ with people who do not yet know Him--rejoicing in His transformation
of their lives through the preaching of the Good News and in ours
by being used by Him in the expansion of His mission.
Ablaze!
"They asked each other, 'Were not our hearts burning within us
while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?'
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the
Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, 'It is
true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon'"-Luke 24:32-34.
The vision of igniting a worldwide Lutheran mission
movement to share the Gospel with 100 million people is expressed
by the word, Ablaze! LCMS World Mission's goal is to ignite a movement
that will change the culture of our Lutheran church bodies to be one
in which every member is fully engaged in personal mission involvement
through the Seven Mission Responses: Go, Pray, Learn, Give, Tell,
Send and Celebrate. While this is the expressed vision of LCMS World
Mission, it is the organization's intention to give this vision away,
because it is God's desire that all people be saved, and He has called
all His children to participate in the task! This is a "Quantum
Leap" forward in how we approach doing the work of the Lord's
mission.
Ablaze! is not a program or a campaign. It
began as a mission vision with the hope of starting a mission movement.
Each participating congregation, group, mission society, partner church,
individual, etc. is challenged to pray about its own particular situation
and the part of the mission endeavor it can impact and to design its
own strategy to contribute to reaching 100 million people. LCMS World
Mission is asking the church to develop mission models that work and
can be shared with others. Ablaze! is not an answer.it's an invitation!
