June 2017
One of the highlights of any Lutheran Women’s Missionary League Zone Rally is the speaker. These speakers share experiences of mission trips taken, service ministries in the district, Synod or local community, or other topics of interest to the ladies attending the rally.
Some zones choose to host their rally with LWML sisters from a neighboring zone or zones. Zones 2 and 3, for instance, met at St. Andrews Lutheran Church, Park Ridge, Illinois, this year. St. Andrews’ pastor, Rev. Matthew Hoffman, shared his mission experiences in India.
The speaker at the rally for Zones 6 and 7 was Gayle Summerfeld of MOST Ministries (Mission Opportunities Short Term). While Gayle spoke about many types of short term missions, she focused on the eyeglass teams and the joy of people being able to see clearly for the first time in their lives. She began with Haiti and then talked about the missions in Europe, India and China. “Serve the Lord with gladness” is God’s vision for using ordinary people to impact the world, she said.
Those who attended the rallies of Zones 15-16 and also 27-28 learned more about the work of the Northbrook, Illinois, based Lutheran Church Charities K-9 Comfort Dogs, including plans to begin a new ministry to police officers utilizing retired officers being the handlers (similar to the military program).
Several Zones (4, 8, 9, 10, 18, 19, 20, 23) joined together with host Zone 22 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lisle, Illinois, to hear Rev. Gerald Schalk discuss both the biblical view of suicide and practical knowledge about suicide prevention.
Rev. Schalk, a certified fire and EMT chaplain, was very engaging and informative as he discussed this sensitive subject. He stressed the importance that a congregation facing this situation among members let the family know that “we the church, we the clergy, will support you.” Give the message of hope in Jesus Christ, he said.
A Bible verse that has been helpful to him is I Corinthians 13:12-13: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
How we care for a family after a suicide impacts them greatly. And, while we do not minimize the tragedy of suicide, we do not condemn the victim, he said. A booklet Pastor Schalk recommended was Suicide Down the Ages – A Judeo-Christian Perspective. (Google it to find online.)
When talking about prevention, Pastor Schalk identified the high-risk groups and spoke about an intervention strategy called QPR (Question the person / Persuade to act / Refer to a professional).
He asked that everyone especially keep firefighters in their prayers. More firefighters are lost to suicide than fire-related deaths due to what they experience on ambulance runs when called to domestic abuse situations or suicides.
LWML in the Northern Illinois District is thankful for all who come to speak at these various rallies and district events and for the opportunity women in mission have to hear them and to understand how God uses so many different ways to spread His love and the Gospel.