Incarnation - November 2013

Faith Fellowship

Church of the Lutheran Brethren

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November/December 2013

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Vol. 80, No. 6

Incarnation

The Mighty Hand of God • A Tangible Experience • Pasadena Restart

www.ffmagazine.org

In This Issue 4 6 8 11 12 14 16

The Mighty Arm of God Adam Krog

A Tangible Experience Jerry Unruh

Pasadena Restart Kyle Sears

F cus CLB

ROY HEGGLAND

Home for Christmas

FF FAITH & FELLOWSHIP Volume 80 - Number 6

Director of Communications: Tim Mathiesen tmathiesen@clba.org | twitter: @ffmag Editor: Brent Juliot bjuliot@clba.org Publisher/Graphic Designer: Troy Tysdal ttysdal@clba.org

Cheryl Olsen

Church Planting: Why Cities Matter Andrew Olsen Journey to Chad Part 4 of 6 Danny Bronson Marriage Portrays: Christ and the Church John Lee

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CLB News

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re:Think Brent Juliot

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Pray On!

Into Chaos H. E. WISLØFF

It was into chaos that God spoke his first word here in this world. The earth was void and empty, and there was darkness upon the deep. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. For the Spirit of God brooded upon the waters.

We are quite familiar with chaos. We feel it around us, out in the great world and sometimes in our own surroundings.

But perhaps we wrestle more with chaos in our world of thinking, or in the secret recesses of our heart. All is void and empty, and darkness broods in our hearts as it broods in the night. Then God says, “Let there be light!” For God has the creative Word, that which can create light when everything is dark. That Word creates what it says.

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Let God into your chaos. He will shed light on Jesus for you. For Jesus is the Word, the creative Word. The light which you cannot ignite, he ignites. The life which you cannot bring about with all your exertions, he creates.

Hans Edvard Wisløff (1902—1969) was a Norwegian theologian and writer. He was also the Bishop of the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland from 1959 until his death in 1969.

Wisløff, H.E., Quiet Moments on the Way Home. Fergus Falls, MN: Faith & Fellowship Press, 1993.

The CLB Prayer Team is on-call to pray for requests from our family of churches. E-mail: pray@prayclb.org

Faith & Fellowship

Glimpse Worth the Trip

TROY TYSDAL

MATTHEW 2:1-2 “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’”

The Bible tells us very little about the Magi. It does not reveal their names, or exactly where they were from, only that they were wise men who had traveled from the east (literally, from the rising of the sun).

Many theologians believe that the Magi came from Babylon. The Babylonians were famous for their study of astronomy and astrology and, more importantly, they had been exposed to the Hebrew Scriptures.

Six hundred years prior to the birth of Jesus, Daniel was made ruler over the entire province of Babylon, and the wise men of Babylon were placed in his charge (Daniel 2:48). The theory is that Daniel, an Israelite in exile, told the Magi of a star that would rise out of Jacob, a scepter out of Israel that would signal the birth of the Messiah, the King of the Jews.

Whatever the truth may be, at some point in history the Magi heard a prophecy of the Messiah’s birth and they believed it. They had faith. And when a unique star appeared over Jerusalem, they followed it.

We know that their journey was not an easy one. It took the Magi nearly three years to reach Judea. We know this because when they reported the birth of the Messiah to King Herod, Herod executed every child two years old and younger in the area of Bethlehem. We also know the trade route they traveled to reach Judea was dangerous. We know they faced extreme heat, cold nights and dangerous bandits along the way. We know they left country, home and family to see the child born King of the Jews. www.ffmagazine.org

As I try to imagine their journey, I wonder if they had second thoughts—if they questioned whether or not the trip would be worth it.

Life as a Christian can feel like that.

Christianity has been called a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. You see, it’s not easy being a Christian. It’s not easy believing in God. The journey is difficult, just as Jesus said it would be. There is nothing harder than believing in a God who loves you when sickness strikes, or when a friend is lost. There is nothing harder than being light in a world lost in darkness. It’s hard to be a Christian. In fact, the journey is so difficult that, according to Scripture, if it were not for God putting faith in our hearts we would all turn away.

So, the question remains, will the journey be worth it?

When the Magi arrived in Bethlehem, they found a child less than three years old. They found a child who appeared to be helpless, a child who appeared to

be completely dependent on his mother and father, a child not in a palace but in a humble home, and the Bible tells us the Magi fell down and worshiped him (Matthew 2:8). Even before presenting their gifts, they fell down and worshipped him. The journey was worth it!

Whatever challenge you face, whatever heartache you experience, I hope you remember this; when the Magi saw Jesus, he appeared to be a helpless child. When you see him, he will be coming on the clouds with great power and glory (Mark 13:26). On that day you will not regret your life of faith. On that day, beyond a shadow of a doubt, you will know that the journey was worth it.

Believe and rejoice, our Savior is real, our hope is real!

Rev. Troy Tysdal is Church Resource Coordinator for the Church of the Lutheran Brethren, and serves as Publisher for Faith & Fellowship Magazine.

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The Mighty Arm of God ADAM KROG

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y family is really into both hunting and fishing. One of our favorite activities is actually a combination of the two: darkhouse spearing. Basically, you cut a large hole in the ice on a frozen lake, put a small shelter called a darkhouse over it, and spear the fish that swim under the hole.

I recall vividly an early experience of darkhouse spearing when I was about six years old. My dad took my three-year-old brother Andy and me with him to Pleasant Lake near Underwood, Minnesota. We weren’t old enough to participate, but that didn’t hinder our excitement; we were just happy to be able to go. When we got to the darkhouse, Dad proceeded to chop the ice out of the hole. Once the hole was cut, he cleaned the slush out of the hole 4

with a large strainer. Then he ushered us into the house to get settled. Nobody noticed that, in the process, water had seeped onto the darkhouse floor and turned to ice. As Andy stepped through the door his little boot slipped on the icy floor and he plunged headfirst through the hole into the frigid water.

At three years of age, the likelihood of Andy saving himself from this predicament was zero.

Between hypothermia and drowning, he had no chance of coming out of this situation alive on his own. He was completely at the mercy of his environment, powerless to save himself.

Fortunately for Andy, Dad was right at his side and witnessed his fall. He immediately determined that there was

only one solution to this situation: rescue my brother. It was the fastest I ever saw my dad move. The sound of my brother hitting the water and the sound of my dad’s arm going in after him came to me simultaneously. With a mighty arm, he pulled Andy out of the hole to safety.

For humanity, the fall into sin bears striking similarities to Andy’s fall.

According to Scripture, when Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, they immediately found themselves in a hopeless situation. They lost their innocence, lost their right to live in the Garden, lost their perfect fellowship with God. But even more than that, they lost their hope of eternal life; God stood in judgment over them because of their sin, and they were condemned to death.

Faith & Fellowship

“Your arm is endued with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.”

Psalm 89:13-15

Scripture says that sin passed from them to us, and condemnation and death along with it. The entire human race now finds itself under God’s wrath because of sin, destined for death and hell. Left to fend for ourselves, we would certainly drown in a sea of sin from which we are powerless to free ourselves. We, like Andy, need someone to intercede. We need a savior, someone to reach out his mighty arm and rescue us from sin’s cold grasp.

Many people say that Jesus came to show us the way to get to heaven. This is like saying that, rather than grab onto Andy’s jacket and haul him out of the hole, Dad should have simply demonstrated to Andy how to get out on his own. This, of course, is ridiculous.

Imagine if my dad had jumped into the hole, grabbed onto the icy rim of the hole, pulled himself back out, and then turned to Andy and said, “That’s how it’s done, son. Now you do it.”

That plan would utterly fail. The fact is that no amount of advice or example or encouragement was going to make it possible for Andy to make his own way out of the hole. He was sinking, and without direct assistance he would www.ffmagazine.org

certainly have drowned. Andy didn’t need someone to show him the way; he needed someone to be the way. He didn’t need a good teacher or a great example.

He needed a savior, a rescuer, someone to step in and do what he was completely incapable of doing himself. On that day, Andy’s only hope was in my dad’s act of reaching out and taking hold of him. He pulled Andy out of the mess he was in and back to safety without any cooperation on Andy’s part. He didn’t show Andy the way; he was the way.

We need someone to be the way for us as well. In the same way that Andy was powerless to overcome his problem, we are powerless to overcome our spiritual problem. The reality of our spiritual condition is that we are totally burdened by our sin and completely unable to bear the weight of it ourselves. There is absolutely nothing that we could do to get ourselves out of the hole we are in; no amount of wisdom or commitment or effort on our part can keep us from going down to the grave. Left to ourselves, we are utterly condemned, headed only for eternal separation from God in hell. Despite the fact that God’s Law tells us how to live, and despite Jesus’

perfect example of God’s holiness, we remain totally and thoroughly incapable of carrying it out. When it comes to salvation, it makes no difference that we know how we ought to do it, because we can’t do it, plain and simple. In order for us to be saved we don’t need an example, we need a Savior.

We have that Savior in the God-man Jesus Christ. In the incarnation, God extended his mighty, saving arm into our world to rescue us from sin. We cannot truly appreciate the significance of the incarnation until we acknowledge the utter hopelessness of our situation apart from our savior Jesus Christ. We praise and thank God for doing for us what we could never do on our own. God’s arm was the only one powerful enough to reach down from heaven and drag us out of our sin and place us at his right hand. God alone is mighty to save, and he accomplished our salvation through the incarnation of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rev. Adam Krog is pastor at Elim Lutheran Brethren Church in Clearbrook, MN.

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A Tangible Experience JERRY UNRUH

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oses wrote, “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt’” (Exodus 13:17).

Wow, really? God had just gloriously and miraculously freed the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt, he was now bringing them to the land promised to Abram and his descendents—and they might become afraid and want to return to Egypt, that land of bondage?

The Apostle Paul tells us that all Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). So what are we to understand from these words of Moses?

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As human beings, we sometimes need tangible experiences with God to strengthen our faith. In this case, the battle between Moses and Pharaoh, between God and the gods of Egypt, was not experienced by the Israelites. They were the benefactors of this great gift from the hand of God, but they didn’t witness it firsthand. Remember, after the third plague God made a separation between the Egyptians and the Israelites, who were living in the land of Goshen (Exodus 8:22-23). They heard and did as Moses commanded, but the Israelites did not participate in these events (except the last plague).

Not until God freed them from their bondage in Egypt did he bring them to a place of very personal need for his hand

of deliverance. To that point, everything God did was for the purpose of securing their salvation, but the Red Sea crossing was their tangible experience of the mighty hand of God for them personally.

God gives a similar experience to his children today through the gifts of his Word and the sacraments.

Several years ago as I prepared for a baptism, I recall thinking how human it is for us to celebrate our birth—the day that marks our entry into a fallen world, born into life as children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). With every subsequent birthday, we celebrate our growing closer to receiving our due punishment for just being who we are. The punishment is death. But what about our baptism, or the day we came to faith? Why, as children born of Faith & Fellowship

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.’”

Exodus 14:15-16

God, do we not celebrate our rebirth into the living hope of Christ’s resurrection?

Why are calendars not marked with our re-birthday into the family of God? Have we so soon forgotten what God has done for us in Christ?

This thought returned to me as I was reading a portion of the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, by Eric Metaxas. In his book, Metaxas tells of a time in the early 1930s when Dietrich Bonhoeffer came to America to further his education and his practical experience as a preacher/theologian. Dietrich traveled up and down the east coast attending Caucasian protestant churches. He was astounded at what he was hearing, but, more importantly, at what he was not hearing. He was not hearing the Gospel preached, at least not until he went to an African-American church. In that church, the Gospel message of Jesus’ atoning action on the cross for all who believed was proclaimed clearly.

But why? Why in all those Caucasian protestant churches was Christ not preached, and why was the Gospel so powerfully and passionately preached in the African-American church? The www.ffmagazine.org

answer was simple. In the AfricanAmerican church Dietrich encountered people who knew what it meant to be in bondage, people who knew what it meant to be slaves. Their grandparents’ hands and feet bore the scars of shackles; their bodies bore the marks of whips. These were people who knew what it meant to live in bondage, so they understood the joy of being set free, both physically and spiritually.

Today our wrists and ankles don’t bear the scars of shackles. Our backs don’t bear the marks of whips, but our souls do. Our souls bear the marks of having been born slaves to sin, and we celebrate it. Every year, on our birthdays, we celebrate our entrance into a fallen world and the fact that without intervention from God we will suffer eternal death.

In Exodus 14, as the Israelites stood trapped between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea, God told Moses to tell the people to quit crying. He told Moses to take his staff and hold it over the water, and then watch the deliverance. The east wind came up and God pushed back the Sea, and the Israelites walked on dry ground. When they reached the other shore there was no mud on their feet.

Their old lives were left behind; they had escaped death. There would still need to be a death, but it wouldn’t be theirs. In the years to come, God would send his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross for the sins of the world.

By faith we are saved by the blood of Christ, and God has given us a tangible experience of our salvation in baptism.

The Bible tells us that we are buried with Christ in baptism, united with him in his death, that we might be raised with him to new life through faith. We are born slaves, but set free in Christ. What more is needed? There is nothing to fear. We have been washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ, and we are on a journey to the Promised Land, an eternity that is ours through faith alone.

Rev. Jerry Unruh is pastor at Bethel Lutheran Brethren Church in Antler, ND.

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plant churches. While that description doesn’t quite capture people’s attention like “I slay giants” or “I hunt dragons,” my quest still feels epic. For a kid from an East Texas trailer park to find himself in an urban core outside of Los Angeles, I suppose that my story still has some chapters waiting to be written.

In many ways, I’ve always felt like an outsider. Being introverted and bookish didn’t hold much sway in a community of farmers and football players. When my parents divorced, I felt adrift.

In middle school I found my longing fulfilled at the little Baptist church down the road—a place of welcome, of belonging, of refuge. Not only did I discover my Father, but a family of brothers and sisters. The generosity of God’s people made sure that my brothers and I never missed a youth group ski trip because we couldn’t afford to go.

I answered the call to ministry my senior year of high school. My heart was for people like me—those who didn’t fit in, who felt outside of faith, or friendships, or even family.

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Looking back, church planting was inevitable for me. Statistically, new churches are more effective at evangelism because they don’t bear the institutional weight of established churches. For the past twelve years, I have seen people come to faith who would never give an established church a chance. They felt too far removed to even entertain the thought.

They witnessed faith, not at a Sunday morning event, but with a neighbor, a co-worker, or a friend during the normal course of life.

When I planted a church in the suburbs of Dallas, I left a comfortable position and started waiting tables. My wife and I made friends with neighbors and coworkers. We told people about Jesus, and helped them study the Bible for the first time. After four years in Dallas, we had about 200 people who committed themselves to following Jesus by loving their neighbors and serving others. We were a church of friends, sharing life with one another.

Then God led us on to a growing community outside of Austin, doing

the same thing. There I discovered that people beyond the church had a heart for the good of others. We invited them to participate in our work in the community, understanding it as an expression of Jesus’ kingdom in our world. Many were surprised to find themselves exploring answers to questions of faith. As one good friend put it, “I fell backwards into my faith!”

We raised our family in Austin. But God calls us onward.

Following the adoption of our son from Korea, my wife Erika and I had been sensing that God was preparing to move us to an ethnically-diverse, urban environment. As we toured Pasadena in April, we knew this was the place. The people at Immanuel reminded me of the people at my church in East Texas— hospitable, generous, caring. The story of my life seemed to be driving to this point in time.

Once again, we have moved our family to pursue God’s calling to a community where we are strangers. Once again, we are on the outside of a community, doing Faith & Fellowship

North American Mission:

Pasadena Restart KYLE SEARS

Watch the Video www.clbnetwork.org/focus

the work to make our way in so that we may call those outside of faith into the family of God. Like many missionaries, we enter our community powerless, with far more questions than answers. What shapes the imaginations of our neighbors? What dreams and hopes do they have? What fears hold them back? Who influences their lives the most? What frustrations do they face? Are Christians considered an asset to the community, a hindrance, or inert in their contributions? Where is the soil ready for the Gospel? How would non-believers describe good news for them? How does Jesus meet them in their desires?

Preachers are often gifted at speaking, but the missionary posture is one of listening. We must position ourselves to be in places and relationships where we can answer these essential questions in order to translate the story of Jesus into the language of the people of Pasadena.

If you’ve ever attempted to learn a new language, you often start by listening intently, catching common words and www.ffmagazine.org

phrases that you can integrate into your daily life.

I find the metaphor of a garden helpful in describing church planting. In fact, I started a garden to provide a daily object lesson for the work to which I have been called. Even before seeds were placed, I had to prepare the soil and determine the proper location for the beds. I had to learn about the local climate, and what could grow best in our agricultural zone. I had to make a considerable investment before sowing seeds!

Once the seeds were placed, my only responsibility was watering. Patience is required when planting, because it may be months before the crop is ready for harvest, and much is beyond my control.

My radishes shot up quickly, but pests have eaten most of them. I watered the dirt where I placed my peppers for weeks before any shoots appeared. Honestly, it seems that most of the work being done happens while I sleep. Each morning there are changes from the previous day, with little intervention from me aside from drenching the dirt.

Jesus shares a parable about how God’s kingdom works in the same way.

The farmer plants seeds and tends the ground, and is surprised to see God at work while he rests! The moments when I feel overwhelmed with the task at hand, I find comfort in knowing that God the Gardener is overseeing my work and he often blesses me in spite of myself!

The good news of Jesus is the power of salvation. And in that salvation we are called into the epic story of God. Some partake in God’s story when they provide a meal for a stranger in need. Some tell the story as they grieve with those who have lost loved ones. Some diligently pray for the lost, some generously give to see ministry in their neighborhoods continue. Each of us is called to tell the story of God’s salvation. What do I do to see God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven? I plant churches.

Pastor Kyle Sears lives with his wife Erika and their three children in Pasadena, CA.

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F cus CLB

The Word became Flesh ROY HEGGLAND

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he incarnation. Incomprehensible.

It is perhaps the single most incomprehensible event that has ever or will ever occur.

You may be thinking, what is so hard to understand about God becoming man?

After all, God created man and God can do anything—he is all-powerful. But that is the very reason I find the incarnation beyond my ability to understand.

You see, God knew everything there was to know about God becoming a man and yet he still chose to do it.

He knew that the Son, the Omnipresent One, would be confined inside the womb of a virgin for nine months.

He knew that the Son, the Omnipotent One, would be born a baby, dependent on others.

He knew that the Son, the Omniscient One, would need to be taught about the world around him.

He knew that the Son, the Great Physician, would have a body that suffered the aches and pains that we know all too well.

He knew that the Son, the Source of All Knowledge and Understanding, would be disbelieved and misunderstood by almost everyone.

He knew that the Son, the very definition of Love, would be hated and despised.

He knew that the Son, Truth himself, would be slandered and accused of lying.

He knew that the Son, the Fount of Mercy, would not be shown mercy by his accusers.

He knew that the Son, the Giver and Sustainer of Life, would be put to death in the cruelest manner possible.

He knew that the Son, who had the

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power to call ten thousand angels, would endure the agony of the cross, knowing he could stop it at any moment.

He knew that the Son, who knew no sin, would become sin itself—our sin— and suffer the ultimate consequence of the Father’s judgment.

He knew that the Son, who was the Light of the World, would be so crushed in the Garden of Gethsemane by our weakness, our pride, our guilt, our excuses, our self-righteousness, our cruelty, our inhumanity, our indifference, our hatred, our fear, our anxiety, our selfishness, our defiance and our helplessness, that he would sweat drops of blood as the physical body he inhabited began to crumble under the immense, cosmic darkness of carrying the sins of billions of people to the cross.

He knew that the Son, One with the ONLINE:

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Father and the Spirit, would take on mortal flesh and prove, by his resurrection as Firstborn from the dead, that the transformation to an immortal body lies ahead for those who belong to him.

It is totally beyond my comprehension that God, who dwells in absolute beauty, perfection, purity, unity, and love, would become one of us so that we could be rescued and become children of God. What a sacrifice he made for me! What a blessing to live for him! What a privilege to serve him with all I am and have.

Incomprehensible!

Roy Heggland serves the CLB as Associate for Biblical Stewardship.

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Women’s Ministries Church of the Lutheran Brethren

Home for Christmas CHERYL OLSEN

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y husband and I live near Seattle, Washington, but our five children and their spouses are spread across the northern hemisphere. One lives near the Canadian border in Washington, others are in New York, in Wisconsin, and in Ecuador, South America. Our closest grandchild is 2,988 miles away. As Christmas approaches, I long for all of them to be under one roof.

I yearn to gaze into their eyes, watch their animated faces, and listen, as they share stories of their lives far into the night. My arms ache to hold the little ones in this season when families make strong efforts to be together. Only two will be home this year, but I’m still excitedly awaiting Christmas! Isn’t everyone?

Well, no. I overheard a fabric clerk grumbling, “I hate Christmas.” Retail workers have less time with family because of extended shopping hours.

Others dread more credit card debt, unmet expectations, or just plain loneliness. In difficult home situations, holiday time together may cause strife, not peace. Christmas time isn’t joyous for everyone.

Was it joyous for God the Father, when Jesus left home that first Christmastime?

His Son wasn’t just traveling a few miles.

It was an unprecedented trip; God becoming man.

Then why did Jesus come here as he did? Why become human, instead of appearing as the powerful being that he is? He did it, “…for the joy that was set before him (bringing us to God), endured the cross, despising the shame...”

(Hebrews 12:2). His sacrificial life of love and giving is a model that most people admire, whether they are believers or not.

But his sacrificial death is harder to grasp.

Sacrificial living and giving of ourselves www.ffmagazine.org

The Women’s Ministry group in Billings, MT gathered to package Christmas gifts for the local Women’s Shelter

may give us credibility and open doors to talk about the amazing plan of why he came. Some ideas to get you started: • Instead of your usual women’s Christmas party gift exchange, buy items for a local women’s shelter, or other charitable group. Gift-wrap them together in a festive gathering.

Invite neighbors to join you. Since our culture expects charitable giving at Christmas, they’re more likely to join you for this type of event than something more “church-y.”

• Open your home. Have a progressive house-to-house fun event, giving out a Christmas symbol at each home, talking about their meanings.

• Provide gifts for children of fathers or mothers in prison through “Angel Tree.” Spend intentional time with those families. (http://www. prisonfellowship.org/programs/ angel-tree/register) Jesus came wrapped in humanity to provide a way for all of us to come home to his joyous home that he’s preparing for us. Then we’ll truly be home—not just for Christmas—but forever!

Cheryl Olsen is Information Coordinator for Women’s Ministries of the CLB. Visit: www.WMCLB.com

• Talk to family members about a gift or donation you can give, like “Mercy Guinebor.” This hospital in Chad provides support for women and children. (www.wmclb.com) 11

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grew up in the suburbs. To me, “the city” was alternatively a fun place to visit as a tourist or a dangerous place, one to be avoided. As a kid, I knew many adults who had grown up in New York City and intentionally moved to the suburbs for more space, less crime, better schools, and a more comfortable life. This perspective shaped my view of cities.

However, my perspective on cities changed dramatically during the summer between my junior and senior years of college. I went on a short-term mission trip to Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

During our training, I learned about the mass migration of people around the world into cities. I heard about the unique opportunities that this population shift opened for the spread of the Gospel. And it became clear to me that there was a significant need for Christians to move into cities in order to reach the multitudes of people flooding into them.

Suddenly, all the personal concerns about cities that I’d heard in my youth seemed to pale in comparison with the tremendous opportunity to reach people 12

in cities with the Gospel. That summer was the beginning of God’s call on my life to serve and minister in cities.

The call to reach cities with the Gospel goes back to the very beginning of the Church. The Apostle Paul’s missionary journeys recorded in the book of Acts reveal a strategic focus on the major cities in the Greco-Roman world, including Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, and finally Rome itself. John Stott concludes, “It seems to have been Paul’s deliberate policy to move purposefully from one strategic city-center to the next.”

It wasn’t that Paul cared more about city-dwellers than people in the countryside, but he understood that when you reach people in a city it also has an impact beyond that particular city. Paul ministered in the city of Ephesus, and Acts 19:10 says, “This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” The Gospel that Paul preached in Ephesus spread to the surrounding villages and towns in that region.

The church that I pastor, 59th Street Lutheran Brethren Church in Brooklyn, has a history that is very similar to Paul’s ministry in Ephesus. When 59th Street Church was founded in 1912, its focus was sharing the Gospel with newly-arrived Norwegian immigrants in Brooklyn. As time went on, many of those immigrants and their children moved out of Brooklyn to communities in the surrounding region, starting new churches there. Most of our Lutheran Brethren congregations in the Eastern Region have their roots in 59th Street Church. The Gospel that was preached in Brooklyn spread to other communities in the surrounding region.

Today the neighborhood around 59th Street Church is primarily composed of Chinese immigrants. Over thirty years ago, the leaders of the church saw the neighborhood changing and decided to start a ministry to the Chinese immigrant community. As a result, much of our church’s current ministry is focused on reaching Chinese immigrants as well as English-speaking Chinese-American Faith & Fellowship

FIFTH ACT CHURCH PLANTING

ANDREW OLSEN

children, youth, and young adults. Instead of sending a missionary to mainland China, we are doing cross-cultural ministry with our neighbors down the block. As a result, the Gospel has also been shared with their friends and extended family across the globe. Once again, the Gospel preached in Brooklyn ends up having an impact beyond our city.

In Paul’s ministry to the cities of his day and in the ministry of 59th Street Church in Brooklyn today, there is a shared approach: going to a concentrated community of people, learning how to speak into their culture, and proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ in a way they can hear it. This approach has some similarities to what God did in the incarnation. God the Father sent the fully divine Son into the world as a fully human Jewish man, Jesus of Nazareth. As the God-man, Jesus went to a concentrated community of people (Israel), spoke into their culture, and proclaimed the Good News of salvation in a way they were able to hear. And, similar to both www.ffmagazine.org

Ephesus and Brooklyn, the Gospel that was proclaimed in Israel spread beyond its starting point to reach surrounding regions and eventually “the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Of course, the incarnation of Christ was a completely unique event, and its purpose was not primarily to proclaim a message in a way that we could hear, but to actually accomplish salvation on our behalf. God became human in order to be our substitute—to bear our sin and its consequences, and to live the perfectly obedient life that we ourselves never could.

But as we proclaim this truth, we are called to walk in Jesus’ footsteps into communities where we become his representatives and share this Good News in ways that people can hear and understand. And more and more in our world, we will find the people living in cities.

A group of pastors and churches from our Eastern Region have sensed God leading us to create a support structure for planting Lutheran Brethren churches in

North American cities, to begin reaching the huge crowds of people flowing into these urban environments. We started Fifth Act Church Planting with this vision in mind.

As cities around the world continue to grow, the Church has an opportunity to speak the Gospel into these urban centers and see it spread to surrounding areas. It is my prayer that the Church of the Lutheran Brethren catches this vision and sees the incredible opportunities for ministry in cities, even in the midst of the accompanying challenges. And thanks be to God that he “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).

Rev. Andrew Olsen is lead pastor at 59th Street Lutheran Brethren Church in Brooklyn, NY. To help support the Fifth Act visit: www.fifthactchurchplanting.com/give

www.facebook.com/fifthactchurchplanting

13

Journey

to Chad

www.CLB

NETWORK

PART 4 of 6

.org/journe

ytochad

A Visible Gift

H

ere we are in Albertville, France—our first long-term stay on our way to the Bilala. After a month and a half, we’re starting to feel settled in. We know where to shop, and we can usually find what we need without talking much, which is good, since we can’t do much of that anyway.

We have school four days a week here; Wednesdays are days off for us and the boys. The daily rhythm is different than we’re used to, with three hours of school in the morning and again in the afternoon, and almost two hours for lunch break in between. Even so, it’s not much time as we need to make the 15 minute walk to pick up the boys and then drop them off again.

In the middle of all this, we need to find time to study. We each have a different background in language, but there’s still a lot to learn for both of us. There are times of frustration, as the things that we’re learning don’t always seem to stick. But we also find times of encouragement, particularly as someone speaks to us and we can think, “Hey, I actually understood what they said to me!” Now we just have to work on having an intelligible response. I guess we can expect this process to continue for a long time.

Of course, Mandy and I had an idea of what we were getting into before we left North America. The boys, on the other hand, had been told what was coming, but didn’t really have the ability to understand. In some ways they’re just along for the ride. Naturally, as parents, we want the transition to go well for them.

We want them to fit into this new setting, and continue to grow as children of God. We watch their behaviors and attitudes closely as they begin school in this new language. Theo was a little uncertain at first, but after a few days, he came out of his classroom saying excitedly that he didn’t cry that day. I think he’s been fine 14

THE JOURNAL OF DANNY AND MANDY BRONSON

The Bronson Family: Danny, Mandy, Ezekiel (4), Theo (2) and Jonah (1)

since then. Zeke has been pretty quiet about what goes on at school, but all of a sudden last week he just started counting in French. Soon he’ll be ahead of us.

I am reminded often in this process that the confusion of language was originally a punishment as people tried to reach God in their own way. But God has a way of making something beautiful even out of punishment.

Beyond the beauty of languages, we see God turning another punishment into something beautiful, and communicating it to us in a way that transcends language.

Our first Sunday here, we participated in communion. What an excellent gift God has given! Even though we could not understand the words spoken, the message came clearly to us. As I received the bread and the cup, I could hear in my memory the words that give life, “This is my body, which is for you,” and, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness

of sins.” This is a visible gift from God bringing his invisible grace to me. We look in hope toward the day when we can share that Word of life in a Bilala congregation.

Rev. Danny Bronson and his wife Mandy are preparing to work in Chad with Lutheran Brethren International Mission. They are studying language in France with their children, Ezekiel, Theo and Jonah.

LBIM

www.LBIM.org

Faith & Fellowship

Nathanael and Carrie Szobody were called, commissioned and sent to France for language study in the fall of 2012. Carrie successfully completed language study as Nathanael took care of their family. In July of this year, they arrived in Chad to begin their cultural adaptation and the beginning stage of learning Bagirmi. In late October, Nathanael traveled to a Bagirmi village that may host them for intensive language learning. This would speed their ability to communicate with those among whom they have been called to plant a church. The Szobodys have three children; Selma, Cyril and Adelynn. Pray for patience and perseverance.

Chad

Lutheran Brethren

International Mission BRINGING THE GOOD NEWS TO UNREACHED PEOPLE

The Church of the Lutheran Brethren has identified three people groups in south central Chad: the Bagirmi, the Bilala, and the Fulbe. These people groups do not have a church planted among them and are 99% Muslim. We need three additional missionary units to join the three units already called to this crucial task. Who’s Next?

Is God calling you? Contact Rev. Matthew Rogness: matthewr@CLBA.org

• 11 Million People • 14% Literacy • 141 People Groups • 72 Unreached People Groups Unreached People: an ethnic group

without an indigenous, self-propagating Christian church movement.

Marriage Portrays: Christ and the Church JOHN LEE

M

arriage is a portrait. All through the Bible, the prophets and teachers proclaimed that human marriage is designed by God to be a portrait of Christ’s love for the Church.

Those who have only a beginning knowledge of Scripture might know this mainly as a teaching from the book of Ephesians. Paul does indeed make it clear in that letter: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (5:25). The thirteen verse passage spells this out in detail. It is explained by such phrases as this: “as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands” (5:24).

Old Testament passages, such as Jeremiah 2 and 3 and Ezekiel 16, present stark prophecies of the same relationship.

The sacredness of marriage that God instituted in Genesis 2 permeates Scripture. The book of Revelation (19:716

8) doesn’t allow us to leave it behind either. Marriage in a human sense is an anticipation of something much greater that’s on the way! “The marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready!”

Our western society is currently experimenting with new definitions of marriage. We all know that. Such lifestyles aren’t new, but the flaunting of them and the ignorance of the age-old scriptural wisdom is certainly jarring.

The Christian must keep several things in mind. God knew all this would take place, and furthermore, although we should be grieved about it, we shouldn’t be taken off guard by it. It doesn’t surprise God, and it ought not to surprise us. Use this time as an opportunity to respectfully share about the hope that is in you. Do it with gentleness and reverence. But don’t mince words.

Here are a few thoughts and cautions to

help you prepare pro-actively. If we fail to keep God’s Word clear in our minds and hearts, we risk lapsing into moralisms.

That’s what we do when we scold or chide people. Scolding has nothing to do with the Word of God. We are called to speak the Law clearly, and that Law proclaims that we all fall short of God’s glory. There is no hope for anyone, regardless of their lifestyle—apart from faith in Christ’s atoning work. Sin is sin, and it comes in all sizes and shapes. The only antidote for sin is the blood of Jesus.

This can be risky because, when confronted with the truth, people feel the blunt force of it. But that’s a reminder that we are handling something sacred; it’s not our message. The promise is this: the Holy Spirit is in the Word, and as hearts are convicted by the truth, he may prepare fertile soil in people’s attitudes to make them want to receive the word of mercy and grace. The Law came through Faith & Fellowship

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Revelation 19:7

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Moses, and we shouldn’t apologize for it. Grace and truth come through Jesus Christ. It’s a joy and privilege to share that when people are hungry for it! Christ puts broken lives back together, and he will do it for anyone who calls on him.

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Rev. John Lee is pastor at Zion Lutheran Brethren Church in Cooperstown, ND.

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Fellowship with one another

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Purifies us from all sin

Walk in the light

The blood of Jesus

1 John 1:7

Council of Directors Meeting The Council of Directors met in October with a strong focus on the future of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren (CLB). The first evening was dedicated to the CLB five-year plan, which involves plans to send new missionaries, plant churches and expand distance education to elders and lay leaders.

Some important business during this time included discussion

Sidney LBC

To see the minutes visit: www.clba.org/about-us/leadership

about the nomination process for the next president of the CLB, who will be chosen at the 2014 Biennial Convention. The slate of nominees will be announced in January.

The Council rejoiced as Lutheran Brethren Seminary (LBS) reported that forty-one full-time and part-time students are enrolled, both onsite and through distance education at LBS.

25 Years of Faithfulness

Regional Pastor Gary Witkop leads the elders of Sidney LBC in prayer

On October 13, 2013, Mike Hussey was installed as pastor and Leif Halvorson was ordained as an elder at Sidney Lutheran Brethren Church in Sidney MT.

L to R: Regional Pastor Warren Geraghty with his wife Cindy, Rev. Todd and Cheri Anderson, Rev. Peter and Sue Amerman

Messiah LB Church, Browns Mills, NJ, celebrated 25 years of God’s faithfulness on October 5th and 6th. Pastor Peter Amerman is the founding pastor. Pastor Todd Anderson serves as the current pastor.

Regional Conventions in 2013

presented by the regional pastors

From April to August, each of the five regions of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren held regional conventions. Seminars, cluster discussions, worship services and business made up these times of fellowship. Each region has sent in reports, resources and media.

That information can be found online at: clbnetwork.org/2013/10/21/regional-conventions-2013.

18

online

church plantin g summit

•

Fall 2013

The Fall Online Church Planting Summit took place on October 5, 2013. Kyle Sears and the Fifth Act presented their mission and vision behind efforts and plans for planting churches. Kyle Sears is the restart pastor of Immanuel LBC in Pasadena, CA, and the Fifth Act is a church planting organization on the east coast. Their presentations can be viewed online at www.clbnetwork.org/churchplanting.

Dr. Robert Bennett is a featured speaker at J-Term, and the author of I Am Not Afraid: Demon Possession and Spiritual Warfare.

Recently Dr. Bennett has focused his research on animism, interviewing numerous voodoo practitioners in Haiti and the USA. He is the adjunct professor of Missions at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN and the Administrative Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church and School in Reese, MI. For more information visit: www.LBS.edu

Faith & Fellowship

LIFTING OUR EYES BEHOLD, THE KING IS COMING! - JOHN 12

Church of the Lutheran Brethren - Biennial Convention 2014 JULY 30 - AUGUST 1, 2014 As the Church of the Lutheran Brethren prepares to gather for the 2014 Biennial Convention the BC14 Planning Committee asks that you join them in prayer. Please pray for wisdom as worship themes are chosen, speakers are contacted and leaders prepare training sessions.

Please pray for the Presidential Search Committee as they prayerfully contact individuals in search of candidates who will faithfully seek God’s will for the denomination, boldly cling to God’s Word as truth, and humbly lead us in the proclamation of the life-saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.

CLB • PO Box 655 • Fergus Falls, MN 56537 • Phone: 218-739-3336 • web: www.clba.org • email: clba@clba.org Faith & Fellowship is the official publication of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren, 1020 W. Alcott Ave., P.O. Box 655, Fergus Falls, MN 56538-0655, issued six times a year (January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October, November/December) by Faith and Fellowship Publishing, 1020 W. Alcott Ave., P.O. Box 655, Fergus Falls, MN 56538-0655. Phone (218)736-7357. The viewpoints expressed in the articles are those of the authors and may or may not necessarily reflect the official position of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America (CLBA). Periodicals Postage Paid at Fergus Falls, Minnesota 56538.

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FF 19

Rev. Brent Juliot is Editor of Faith & Fellowship Magazine, teaches math at Hillcrest Lutheran Academy, and serves as senior pastor at Stavanger Lutheran Church in Fergus Falls, MN.

FF

I

was driving very recently on Interstate 94, eastbound near the town of Albany, Minnesota. As I approached the Albany exit ramp, a car ahead of me came to a stop at the beginning of the ramp, then veered slowly back into the right lane of the highway. The driver seemed to have changed his mind. I took a wide berth around the car. After that, all the action was in my rearview mirror. The driver, still proceeding slowly, wandered into the left lane—the passing lane, the fast lane. Cars in both lanes appeared to be slamming on their brakes as they came up behind him.

The driver was clearly disoriented, and was breaking all the rules—rules designed for safety. I was shouting at the driver to get back to the right, get off the road. Quite pointless. If only there were some way to communicate with him or, better yet, to get in that car and take control before disaster struck. But all of us around him were as helpless to remedy his situation as he apparently was himself.

Suddenly, the car veered to the left again, right into the median. I thought at first that he had lost control, but then realized he’d discovered an unmarked U-turn in the median. Then he was inching his way into the passing lane of the westbound interstate, just as a pack of cars and trucks approached him, filling both lanes. From my vantage point, a crash was inevitable. Then I went over a hill and saw no more.

God saw you and me—struggling with sin. Breaking the rules put in place to protect us. A danger to ourselves and others.

Disoriented. Aimless. Blind. Deaf. Incapable of arriving home safely. Doomed to destruction.

In the incarnation of Christ, God made a way, the only way, to rescue us. A U-turn is necessary. It’s called repentance. But it’s only possible through the grace of God for us in Jesus Christ.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:1,14). “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’) …you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:23,21).

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Out of Control

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by: Brent Juliot

Faith Fellowship

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November/December 2013

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Vol. 80, No. 6

Incarnation

The Mighty Hand of God • A Tangible Experience • Pasadena Restart

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