Brothers and sisters in Christ,
By God’s grace and to God’s glory, our first annual golf tournament in partnership with the city of North Chicago public school system, Faith on the Fairway, was a huge success.
Faith on the Fairway is part of our strategy to bring the Gospel to the city of North Chicago, which is the second largest city in Lake County, but has no Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (that’s us) congregation.
Please hear these next words: when a missionary goes to a village, the first thing he does is meet with the chief. The missionary then listens to the chief and learns what the needs of the village are. The missionary will then assess what needs with which he might be able to help. Then the missionary asks a very fundamental and profoundly important question: “If the church I am with and I are able to help you with __________, how will you help?” What the missionary wants to hear addressed are topics such as donation of land, civil and cultural respect for those who convert to Christianity, public support by the chief, and a couple of other items.
The church in the United States has got to start thinking and talking like missionaries. We have got to get out of our church offices and into our communities to meet with our respective chiefs. I have more to share with you about the Missionary Methodology in the months to come.
God is blessing us at Faith Lutheran Church. We praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
V/r,
Pastor Jim