What is our purpose as a congregation?

Congregational purpose must be grounded firm and solid. Therefore, we have a constitution in which the Preamble reads:
It is the will of our Lord Jesus Christ that His disciples should preach the Gospel to the whole world. That Christ's mission for His church might be carried out according to His will, He has commanded that Christians:

1. Unite in worship.
2. Practice fellowship with one another.
3. Witness to all peoples.
4. Help each other grow in the Word.
5. Serve the needs of all peoples in Christian love.
6. Administer the Office of the Keys as His church.
7. Maintain decency and order in the church.

Over the next seven months the newsletter article will address these points. First: Unite in worship.

The weekly coming together for worship is vitally important in the life of the church. Cover to cover in the Bible, God gathers His people for worship. In many regards it is the first order of the day! Jesus Christ, Shepherd of the flock has gifts to give, gifts to be received in the Divine Service. And from Adam and Eve in the beginning to the thousands upon thousands gathered around the Lamb upon the throne, being God's church is all about worship. In a Lutheran sense worship is described as 'Gottesdienst' (God's service). Worship is God coming to us first, serving us with His gifts: His absolution, His word, His body and blood. Then having received from God we respond in thanksgiving, praise, prayer, with our offerings, and following His benediction we scatter into the world, bearing forth the Gospel light.

Unite in worship. Question: How are we doing? At this time Zion's membership totals 1,026. 1,026 members, but over the past 12 months only about 230 worship weekly. Where are the other 796? A pastor I know recently retired after 30+ years of ministry in an LCMS congregation not far from us. In that parish over the course of 30 years He observed a gradual but steady decline in worship attendance. At a circuit pastor's meeting while discussing declining worship attendance he observed, People, particularly younger people and families no longer connect being member of church with regular 'weekly' attendance in the Divine Service. Over the past 30 years many congregations (all denominations) have increasingly wrestled with the problem. Emblematic of this and what should be hard to overlook is a bad pattern. Year after year, a growing percentage of our young people quickly fall away from regular worship following confirmation.

Where are the youth? Rev. Mark Surburg recently wrote on this, describing the real issue, the real problem. There is an almost infallible predictor of whether youth who are confirmed will regularly attend worship after confirmation. If prior to confirmation the pattern of their family was regular attendance then this will continue. But if the pattern of the family was absence then upon confirmation (no matter how regular during 2 years of catechism) absence from worship will likely return.

Unite in worship. All together, everyone present (1,026 out of 1,026) But when parents neglect the Divine Service, in general so will their children. Rev. Surburg notes, If the parents consider Christ and His means of grace (baptism/communion) to be important they will regularly bring their family to church. Thus by their faithfulness they model for their children the importance of Christ and faith; by what they do on Sunday morning. But where Christ and faith are not important before confirmation then it will not be important after confirmation. Children learn what they are taught – even more so they learn what they live. Here's the situation: Uniting in worship is a defining mark of being God's church. But, over the past year it would seem, not defining of many families of Zion.

In Hebrews 6 we read, It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age - and then have fallen away - (impossible for them) to be restored again to repentance, because they themselves are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to open shame. Staying home from church, letting other things take priority over church is more dangerous that you may realize (danger for you, danger for your family). It is an action of rejecting God's grace. Those who reject God's promises should fear the just judgment of God. If we fail to be fruitful in love, mercy, and generosity, we become like thorns and thistles, fit only for His fire. TLSB notes, p. 2112

Martin Luther once said, A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing is nothing. These days it's not uncommon to hear people say, I may not be religious but I am spiritual. It's my observation that this is another way of saying, I might not go to church, and I'm really not interested in the purpose of the church . . . and besides I have a lot of other things to do. My response to this is to remind that our Lord yet today calls to us, Follow me. Now if you want to talk about what following Jesus means, then give me a call, shoot me an email, or text, or just come to church next week-end!