An affi rmation of baptism/confi rmation project by Drew Fawcett of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Minn., traced the journey of his grandparents, who also fl ed the killing fi elds of Southeast Asia.
Global communion—diakonia A few days after a conversation with Sokhey Maudlin in April, I met high school student Drew Fawcett on his confi rmation/affi rmation of baptism day at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn.
For his confi rmation project, Drew created a storyboard that recalled the journey of his grandparents, who also had fl ed the killing fi elds of Southeast Asia during the same period when Sokhey’s journey began.
In both of these recent encounters, I pondered how the LWF’s ministry of diakonia (“service” in Greek) makes a diff erence in the lives of individuals and congregations. I sensed overwhelming gratitude for those saints in congregations worldwide who together create pathways of hope made possible only through our global partnership in the LWF.
The LWF is a global communion of 143 member Christian church bodies in the Lutheran tradition. We exist in 79 countries and include 70.5 million Lutherans worldwide.
As the LWF general secretary, Martin Junge wrote in the preface for The Self Understanding of the Lutheran Communion: “As the Lutheran communion journeys toward the Reformation anniversary in 2017, the LWF wants to attest to what it means to be an ecclesial communion from a Lutheran perspective.”
For more information See the Lutheran World Federation website (
lutheranworld.org/content/our-priorities) for more stories about what it means to belong to a global communion and the impact your congregation makes.
Threefold commitment When Sokhey was a high school sophomore, her family moved to Philadelphia, where she met her husband Eric Maudlin. They moved to Minnesota and are faithful members of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie.
Refl ecting on the long journey that brought her from the seemingly hopeless dead end of a Thai refugee camp, Sokhey notes that “being in the church helped us belong, gave us a second chance at life.”
Sokhey’s father-in-law serves on the board of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., which is how I fi rst gained this particular glimpse into the LWF’s globe-spanning impact.
“I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35) is a familiar text to many. The priority of diakonia—service—to those in need, manifested in refugee support and so many other ways, is one of the threefold emphases of the LWF.
The second area of emphasis is “holistic mission,” which means “member churches that are growing in their capacity to carry out mission that includes proclamation of the gospel, service to the world and advocacy on behalf of the vulnerable ....”
“Theology and dialogue” is the third area of focus, wherein we deepen our biblical and doctrinal understandings within a richly diverse community of conversation partners.
Steinke is president of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.
VOICES OF FAITH •
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