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If there is one thing I have learned from my study of the BORAM, it is how complex the work of Synod is. The BORAM is very intertwined. Many ministries are dependent on the ministries of other groups. A person almost has to understand the whole BORAM in order to understand a Delegate’s “assigned reading” section.
I did a search on the 2017 BORAM and found Home Missions is referred to about 26 times. Most of those mentions are made outside of the Home Mission section.
The first time Home Missions is mentioned is in the Conference of Presidents report. One of the duties the COP performs is the assignment of Seminary and Martin Luther College graduates.
The Assignment Committee also assigns third-year seminary students to their place of vicarship. The Board for Home Missions is consulted to help determine needs and where the graduates can best serve.
500th anniversary of the Reformation
The 500th anniversary of the Reformation is this year. Synod has devoted a lot of resources to this event. They want to use it to inform and remind WELS members of this historic event and what it has meant to us, a confessional church body.
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President Mark Schroeder appointed the Reformation 500 Committee in 2009 in order to guide the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. The committee has met over the course of these years and planned for the event. This is our final report to the WELS convention to share information and report on the status of plans for our celebration.
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As we began planning we set two goals:
1) no funds were to be used that would take money away from the ongoing ministry of the synod; projects would have to be funded in other ways, and
2) the celebration of the Reformation was to be an opportunity to educate WELS and others on the important truths the Reformation brought to light.
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Educational resources
We are at the end of our assignment with the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation this fall. We have prepared materials to educate pastors, teachers, lay people, and children.
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NPH will release a new version of the exposition to Martin Luther’s Catechism. The new exposition was developed with the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Education Department and includes several new features that promote lifelong use of Luther’s Catechism.
NPH will also release the Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV) of the New Testament with Psalms. With the financial help of Thrivent and the creative expertise of Boettcher/Trinklein, which produces the WELS Connection videos, a new Luther film is now available.
The film is entitled A Return to Grace: Luther’s Life and Legacy and focuses on confessional Lutheran themes. Congregations can show the 105-minute film in neighborhood theaters with the help of TUGG. The process is simple and can be explored at wels.net/reformation500.
Two Bible studies for congregational use are also available. Both make use of video footage from the Luther film. The first is entitled simply A Return to Grace: Luther’s Life and Legacy Bible Study.
This four-lesson Bible study makes use of 10-minute segments from the Luther film to augment the class discussion. We have limited the length of the segments to allow for discussion and questions.
The second is entitled Reformation: Grace, Faith, Scripture. This Bible study was created for a variety of uses in our congregations and is created around 12 short film vignettes (three to four minutes each).
The short vignettes can be scheduled and shown to the assembled congregation to highlight the important truths of the Reformation. This will make the Information accessible to the greatest number of congregational members. They can be used as opening devotions for organizations in the congregation and in confirmation instruction classes.
The Bible study kit contains two series of Bible studies to use with these short films— a five-minute study and a regular-length Bible study. The Bible study includes a number of promotional and educational resources for the congregation’s use.
Both Bible studies are available for sale at NPH. (note: A complete list of resources can be read in the BORAM and are not listed here).
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As you can see, Synod has been busy producing material for use by your congregation. Is your congregation aware of all the resources available? I know Synod works hard to communicate them all.
A congregation almost needs a person dedicated to sorting through the communications from Synod and how best to share it with his/her congregation.
The Board for Home Missions is involved in many areas of Synod’s work. Some impact the Synod budget. In other cases the board serves in an advisory role.
The Commission on Evangelism
The Commission on Evangelism and Board for Home Missions have prepared materials for four outreach events for congregations. These resources are available to assist congregations to invite their prospects and neighbors to visit and learn the importance of the Bible’s teachings.
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The resources include: special worship liturgies friendly to visitors to our churches; sermon studies for these special days; and promotion, invitation, and follow-up materials with an emphasis on encouraging members to invite their friends and relatives.
Congregations are encouraged to host a showing of the Luther film, A Return To Grace: Luther’s Life and Legacy. Invite prospects, friends, and relatives to view it with you. It has opened the door for conversation and witness.
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Here is another great non-WELS resource. It is called The Jesus Film. This is a high quality, professional film about the life of Jesus. I think it is an awesome movie and better than any others I have seen. The site is located at jesusfilm.org
The Adult version of the film may be viewed here.
There is also a Children’s version.
You notice I embedded the films into my blog…. And I didn’t violate any copyright laws by doing so. The Jesus Film project is intent on making free tools available which will help people hear the good news of Jesus.
We say that Judgement Day is near when the Gospel has reached every corner of the earth. In 2001 the film was shown in every country around the globe.“
For those of you who might be interested, here is a link to their statement of faith.
I feel compelled to tell you of another resource. distantshores.org provides open source Bible images and other resources. Open Source means they are free to use, and can be modified in any way. You can see examples at illustrations. Compare these to what NPH uses in the Christ Light series. Do you think NPH should make use of these free resources?
We all have personal ministries. Perhaps you and I can use these free resources as we carry out our personal ministries. Assisted living facilities is one possible ministry which comes to my mind.
Maybe there is a way we can ask Synod to look at these resources. What free resources does Synod make available to us, the layman, for our personal ministries? Maybe the use of outside resources is something for the Commission on Congregational Counseling to consider.
The Commission on Congregational Counseling
The Board for Home Missions is also involved with the Commission on Congregational Counseling. Studies show the average age of WELS members is growing older. They have also discovered church bodies which are avoiding the aging trend mentioned tend to all have one thing in common—some degree of ethnic diversity.
There are different commissions and groups within WELS that look at cross-cultural ministry, including the WELS Board for Home Missions, the Commission on Evangelism, etc. The Commission on Congregational Counseling wants to to facilitate cooperation among them, compiling “best practices” in conducting cross-cultural ministry, and producing resources that help congregations make plans for such efforts.
They want to help congregations attempt to reach individuals from “every nation, tribe, people, and language.”
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The Commission on Congregational Counseling (CCC) assists WELS congregations in assessing and evaluating ministry, reviewing biblical teachings and principles that impact ministry, developing plans to adjust and expand ministry in appropriate ways, and carrying out their plans over a period of time. The CCC serves under the Conference of Presidents, providing a means for district presidents to offer encouragement and support to their congregations.
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I stated at the start of this post that Home Missions is referred to about 26 times in the BORAM. It is obvious Home Missions is a large part of our Synod’s (i.e. your) work. We will see how it fits into the other areas of Synod’s work in future posts.
There is a neat essay about the history of the Pacific Northwest District on the WELS Sem Essay site at History of the Pacific Northwest District by Pastor Lueckel . It is a neat example of how Home Missions operate.
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