Being Church Together

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Beloved in Christ in the Rocky Mountain Synod,

In this first month as a bishop, two key thoughts about what it means to be church together keep coming back to me. They’re not new thoughts, and they’re certainly not complex. Yet if we take these two ideas seriously, I think they have the power to be transformational. Note that while the focus here is on the congregational context, these thoughts can easily be applied to other areas of ministry within our synod.

Thought #1:  What you do as a congregation – and as rostered leaders in a congregation – you do on behalf of the whole church.

Thought #2:  The whole church has a vested interested in what you do as a congregation – and as rostered leaders in a congregation.

This is basic Body of Christ stuff:  no part of the Body exists in isolation from the whole – and the whole of the Body is shaped by its individual members. It seems to me that this applies whether we’re talking about the Church Universal or the church as a human institution like the ELCA.

So what does this mean for us in real terms? There is so much one can say here! For the sake of generating some conversation, let me offer some scenarios that may or may not yet exist in our life together here in the Rocky Mountain Synod. 

Local Witness

The pastor and leadership team of Prairie Lutheran Church meet to discuss future directions.  The conversation centers on how the congregation might intentionally deepen their sense of identity by focusing on the unique theology, values and strengths they possess as a congregation of the ELCA.  Over time, mission plans evolve based on how Prairie Lutheran can provide a distinctive ELCA witness to the gospel in their local context.

Sharing Our Stories

The RMS Office of the Bishop launches a new webpage that shares ministry stories and best practices from congregations around the synod. Suddenly connections are being made across wide geographical expanses by congregations exploring similar issues in their life.

Collaborative Ministry

Key lay leaders from four ELCA congregations located in the same RMS community meet to discuss how they can work together to share resources and ideas for the sake of their collective ELCA presence and mission. As a result, several new joint ministry opportunities are identified including the need to establish a worshipping presence among the many Spanish-speaking residents of the community.    

The Role of Rostered Leaders

Mountaintop Lutheran Church prepares to receive a new pastor who has particular gifts and experience in the area of stewardship. In the letter of call, the congregation encourages the pastor to use those gifts both in the congregational context as well as in the life of the wider church. When the pastor is asked by a neighboring congregation to help explore their vision for stewardship, the leadership of Mountaintop Lutheran enthusiastically supports the pastor in this endeavor.

Connectivity

The Leadership Team of Canyon Lutheran Church hears that its pastor is choosing not to attend the annual RMS Theological Conference despite the fact that resources have been set aside for this purpose. The Leadership Team reminds the pastor that her call is not just to the congregation, but to the whole church, and that the pastor’s connection with colleagues and her understanding of the shared ministries of the church are essential to healthy congregational life.

The Role of Lay Leadership

A lay leader skilled in conflict mediation as part of his daily work offers his gifts when his congregation learns that the RMS Office of the Bishop is setting up teams in each of the synod’s ten conferences to accompany congregations experiencing stress or conflict.

Global Engagement

River Lutheran Church is asked to support the work of an orphanage in Liberia after a congregational member returns from a trip to West Africa. Prior to making the commitment, the congregation contacts ELCA Global Mission to learn about the church-to-church relationship between the ELCA and the Lutheran Church in Liberia, including that church’s companion synod relationship with the Upper Susquehanna Synod. After much conversation, the congregation chooses to partner with the Upper Susquehanna Synod in supporting an existing ministry of the Lutheran Church of Liberia that reaches out to widows and orphans.



I realize we’re only scratching the surface here! As I noted, these examples focus only on our congregational life rather than including the many other contexts for ministry within our synod. And then there’s all the potential that exists in our ecumenical and full-communion partnerships!  The point here is to begin exploring how we understand and live from our connectedness as church. What does it mean to you that we are one body with many members? I encourage you to offer your own scenarios – real or desired, so that we can broaden the conversation.

Whatever the future may hold for us as the ELCA on the territory of the RMS, somehow I suspect it will relate to our willingness to discover more fully what it means to be church together.  Let’s dare to do so.

Yours in Faith,

Bishop Jim Gonia

Comments

Liliana Stahlberg said…
I like the new vision of the RMS. Yesterday I talked with Pastor Ron and he mentioned that the churches ARE the Synod, so things will happen in different churches as opposed to the bishop's office! Great job!
9:13 AM
Nelson said…
Apropos Bishop Hanson's comments regarding the atonement:
I am convinced that if our proclamation of the gospel is not reaching people as broadly as we might hope, and if we continually find ourselves trying to get beyond an impoverished, substitutionary, sacrificial understanding of atonement, it is because we have been operating with a truncated notion of incarnation. I believe we must broaden our understanding of incarnation to begin with creation as the first Word of God, as God's first revelation, God's first act of self-expression, of loving self-emptying, if you will. So Creation is the embodied Word of God. In this context, Jesus is a manifestation of that embodied Word of God in human form, who not only reconciles us to God and each other, but also represents the Creation to which we also need to be reconciled.

I believe that,at this moment, God is speaking to us through creation about our redemption and salvation. We have not, by and large, been attending to God's word for us in Creation, however, in part because our understanding and expectation about where and how God speaks salvifically is limited to the words of and about Jesus. I believe we MUST attend to what God is saying to us through Creation if we are indeed to fulfill our destiny as children of God (Rom. 8:18ff). Only when our relationship to creation has been restored will we be made whole, will we come into our own as the Earthlings we were created to become.
2:38 PM
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