From The Pastor's Pen

Henry Schulte

April 2011

We have a new church affiliation! At the Special Congregation Meeting held on Sunday, March 6, 2011, St. John Lutheran voted by a unanimous vote of 119 to 0 to become a member congregation of the North American Lutheran Church while maintaining our affiliations with the association of Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ.

The North American Lutheran Church was officially born August 27, 2010 in Columbus, Ohio. During the first six months of life more than 150 congregations have become members. The NALC headquarters are located in Columbus, Ohio with a very limited staff. The Provisional Bishop, serving for the first year of organization, is The Rev. Bishop Paull Spring. He serves pastors and congregations of the NALC for the sake of their mission. The Bishop will carry out a ministry of visitation through the church and will be a defender of the faith and will promote the mission of the church.

The General Secretary is The Rev. John F. Bradosky. He serves a full time position and functions as the chief operating officer of the NALC and manages all day-to-day administrative functions. He is joined by the other full time staff person, The Missions Director, The Rev. Gemechis Buba, who is called to lead efforts on behalf of the NALC in coordinating local, regional and international mission activity within the church.

The NALC has been blessed with a gift of $1,000,000.00 from Tom and Sandra Smith of Eldertown, Pa. Half of this gift has been designated for mission development and one half has been designated for the education and training of pastors.

The North American Lutheran Church is committed to shaping its life around four attributes: Christ-Centered, Mission-Driven, traditionally-Grounded, and Congregationally-Focused. It basically sees itself as having one mission, which is the great commission to be disciples and then to go and make disciples. The NALC is a church body that embodies the theological center of Lutheranism in North America and is committed to the authority of the Bible as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life. In keeping with the Lutheran Confessions the NALC declares that all doctrines should and must be judged by the teaching of Scripture.

The NALC has released a sample document that will assist NALC congregations in writing or modifying congregation constitutions. St. John has appointed a committee to begin this work now that our affiliation process has been completed.

At this point, I simply say, “Thanks be to God for the progress that has been made as St. John has moved through the past year in faith, with love and new commitment.” Now, let’s move out in joy to serve God’s
mission!