May 2022
On Saturday, May 21, 2022, members of LCMS Northern Illinois District gathered at Concordia University Chicago to move ministry forward in NID by the grace of God. We had discussion on two questions: 1. Who has God called us to be as God’s people in intercultural ministry in the Northern Illinois District of the LCMS, and 2. Where is God calling us to go in intercultural ministry in the NID for the foreseeable future? In order to answer these questions we took time to get to know one another and our various ministries, and then think about and answer some common questions we have so that we could leave the meeting day with a Guiding Statement for intercultural ministry in the NID. This Guiding Statement will become the “North Star” for our common ministry in the NID. toward which we will subsequently write targets, goals, and tasks to drive our ministry in the next 3-5 years.
It was a thought-filled time of conversations by pastors, church workers, and lay people in the NID focused on a vision for intercultural ministry on topics such as challenges, needs, and the future of intercultural ministry. Next steps include writing targets, goals, and tasks to drive our ministry in the next 3 to 5 years.
Rev. Tom Eggebrecht, Vice President of Ministry Solutions at Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF), facilitated our gathering. Rev. Eggebrecht helps churches, district offices, ministry groups, and pastors find clarity in ministry, discover who Jesus has called them to be, and where He is leading them.
While intercultural ministry has been an important part of our work together for many years, we move forward in our future work together connecting with the 2022 NID Convention Resolutions, specifically Resolution 3-03A: To study the Northern Illinois District’s ministry with multi-ethnic communities and grow in our understanding that actions of racial reconciliation clearly affirm Biblical truth.
We are stronger together.
WITNESS: Encouraging personal witnessing, congregational engagement with their community, support of our NID partnerships and missions and sharing in a world mission field together.