Congregation looks to share mission-driven joy
WINNIPEG, MB—The North American Lutheran Church (NALC) has an ambitious goal. This past August at its annual convocation, the denomination, with headquarters in Hilliard, Ohio, approved a resolution setting a goal of growing to at least 1517 congregations by the year 2017.
The goal was set as a way to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation by reaching out with the gospel and growing as a church body.
In Winnipeg, Ed Mitchler—lead pastor at Joy Lutheran Church, one of three NALC congregations in Manitoba—is committed to doing his part to help the denomination's evangelical efforts. In early November, the church hosted a conference called The Great Commission: Witnessing in the World.
The three-day event featured keynote presentations and workshops led by Gemechis Buba, who currently serves as Assistant to the Bishop for Mission for the NALC.
"The NALC is a mission-driven church with an emphasis on reaching out to others and making disciples," Mitchler says. "We [hosted] this event to deepen our own members' vision for discipleship, and also to reach out to the community and share the gospel."
Mitchler is no stranger to reaching out to his community. The church is located in southwest Winnipeg, near the city's Waverley West suburb. As part of his work, Mitchler visits a number of homes in the community each week, introducing himself and inviting people to visit Joy Lutheran.
"It's a wonderful way to get to know who lives in the community," Mitchler says. "I'm able to share in a brief way what our core proclamation is, sometimes to people who have very little awareness about who Jesus is … and then tell them, if you'd like to learn about Jesus, come join us."
The NALC was constituted in August 2010 by the Lutheran CORE, a coalition of individuals, churches and groups dedicated to seeking the renewal of the church through upholding sound scriptural principles and the Lutheran Confession. A number of congregations requested CORE's help in forming the new denomination, due in part to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's 2009 decision to allow the ministry of gay and lesbian clergy.
Today, more than 360 congregations belong to the NALC, including 18 in Canada.
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