So don’t worry, those transformations don’t have
to be whopper Saul/Paul conversions. Tere’s nothing wrong with a mini-conversion, the kind that happens in a Bible study group, during a worship service, especially when we share with one another God’s miraculous work in our lives. “Of course, we must stay on track through worship,
but if that’s all we’re doing we’re not engaging, deepen- ing our faith,” Oswald said. “Te church has to focus constantly on offering experiences that will keep people growing and changing.” Joan D. Chittister, a Benedictine nun, author and speaker, once said the role of a Christian is to bring the
light of our souls to the dim places around us. But how quickly faith frays and fades when it is weighted down by a sense of duty and tradition and is not open to growth and, yes, change. “Joining a service club is one thing,” Daubert said.
“But if I’m joining up with a group God is the center of, then what I’m doing has eternal significance. And now every time I make a donation to a food pantry then the heavenly banquet is manifest right there in that food pantry. Jesus and 12 people changed the world and there are many churches with more than 100 members who are stagnant and not even changing their neighborhoods.”
Fog and focus
God is always working around us. We just need to stop and focus in at times to see the good God is doing. David Adams, All Saints
Lutheran Church, Byron, Ill., photographer
‘A mission of love’ R
ussell F. Nansen grew up in a farm community near Crown, Minn., where each Sunday all eight fam- ily members, freshly scrubbed and dressed in their
best, climbed into an old pickup truck and attended their Lutheran church. Today, Nansen, 85, a retired marketing executive and
member of Christ the King Lutheran, Miami, wishes he could hear a little more of Martin Luther’s teachings and experience the deep connection he had at his childhood church. “Te church was intimately involved in births, sick-
Readers respond to church’s work and cultural change By Jane Oppermann
ness, deaths, marriages and accidents. When a farmer was too ill to work his farm, all the rest of us would pitch in and do everything. Some would call it ‘cradle to grave’ fellowship, but this is what I think the Lutheran church should offer today,” he told Te Lutheran when read- ers were asked their opinions regarding the work of the church. Chase Smith, a recent graduate of Luther Seminary, St.
Paul, Minn., now living in Canton, N.C., thinks a church should work toward making people feel welcome, com- fortable and spiritually connected. “I would say that for many, and certainly for me, it means a place where folks can be their true selves,” said
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