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I recently received the following comment and inquiry from a RMS congregation who had watched my video on “Classic Church and Church Becoming”.  Below is my response.  Let’s keep this conversation going!

Blessings,
Bishop Jim

Bishop Gonia,

Our communications team is conducting Small Group Gatherings of members to discuss our ministry and vision for the future.  We have been using your video posted on your web site regarding the church becoming.  I have shown this video to several groups and a question keeps coming up about your comment that we have a "unique concept of the Gospel".  Could you be more specific about this unique concept in the context of your vision of the Church Becoming? It would be helpful to our discussions.  Thanks,

Communications Team Leader


Dear Communications Team Leader,

Thank you so much for this question – it's at the heart of our future!  When I say that we as the ELCA have a unique concept of the Gospel, it's really rooted in our Lutheran theology.  There are many things I could point to, but here are three distinct but inter-related aspects that I believe are key:

1.  Grace … if grace is understood as God's unconditional love, freely offered to ALL (as I've heard it put, "God cannot love us more and will not love us less – period!), then I think no one claims this as deeply as Lutherans, and especially those of us in the ELCA. Grace is radical – it takes the control out of our hands when it comes to our own worthiness and value, and places it all in God's hands.  Grace is what is revealed to us most profoundly in Jesus – his life, ministry, death and resurrection – even death cannot stop God's love for us and all creation.  That's incredibly good news!  And no other church that I know proclaims grace with such abandon and conviction.  Most recently we as a church have been saying it this way:  "We are the church that shares a living, daring confidence in God's grace. Liberated by our faith, we embrace you as a whole person — questions, complexities and all. Join us as we do God's work in Christ's name for the life of the world."

2.  Theology of the Cross … as ELCA members we insist that God is revealed to us not only in the "successful" experiences of life, but in the very heart of our deepest suffering and darkest moments.  That is the message of the cross – God is present in all things – God is "hidden in suffering".  This distinct appreciation of the Gospel helps us claim all of life as having meaning and being infused with God's presence and love.  It is the source of our desire to serve all people, especially those living at the margins.

3.  Paradox … if I love anything about our ELCA understanding of the way things "are" it is that we embrace paradox.  We claim that all people are simultaneously saint and sinner, we need both the word of Law and Gospel, God is at work in the kingdom of the left (secular) and the kingdom of the right (divine), there is truth is both science and religion, as Christians we are both perfectly free lord of all, subject to none and perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all … etc.  In a world so prone to dualism (it must be this OR that, black OR white), our Lutheran articulation of the gospel as both/and allows for this wonderful "gray" space that resonates with people – they know to be true!

These are but a few thoughts, but I hope you'll find them helpful.  Please don't hesitate to continue asking questions and seeking understanding.  I am deeply grateful for your partnership in understanding and proclaiming this "unique concept of the Gospel"!

Yours in Faith, 
Bishop Jim


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