I’m feeling more hopeful about the LCMS recently. It is for a variety of reasons I’ll list below. The primary reason is Jesus. Jesus is giving me hope. I don’t think He’s done with the LCMS. Far from it, actually.
1) Our theology.
It’s not “ours” actually. It’s God’s, and it’s been given to us. The Gospel of God’s love in Christ for sinners, for the world, displayed through the cross and empty tomb is the greatest story ever told. The story is true. Truer than true. The true story that has changed the world has been brought to us in baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, in the spoken and heard and distributed Word.
And, we truly believe all of the Lutheran Confessions are a true exposition of God’s Word. We are united in our theological confession in the LCMS.
I’m also hopeful because…
2) We’re talking about hard things.
CUAA—a hard thing to talk about. Yet, we’re trying to understand. We’re all sad, but God is not done with CUAA, and He’s not done with our Concordias!
Pastoral Formation—another challenging thing to talk about. We all love our seminaries. We all love our professors. We all want more pastors in pulpits and platforms engaged in Word and Sacrament ministry. We may have nuanced disagreements on how to meet the needs of many churches unable to get pastors…but we agree on the what. I am hopeful.
Listening and Learning—More and more people are reaching out with desire to be guests on one of our podcasts. (Lead Time and American Reformation—tahlman@cglchurch.org) More and more of these guests have areas where they disagree with me. Every time…it is worth writing again…every time one of these guests joins the podcast we immediately find we have far more in common than disagreement. We must continue to listen to brothers and sisters “face-to-face” rather than “keystroke-to-keystroke” on social media. Make a call. Set up a zoom meeting. Drive and meet your brother for coffee. If every/most leaders in the LCMS commits to taking a posture of listening and learning, it will be amazing to see how our synod grows in the coming years!
Confession and Absolution—We are all sinners. Wretched sinners. This is most certainly true. Where I have sinned, I ask for forgiveness. I know I’ll need to ask again into the future. I know Jesus will forgive. His forgiveness is endless. I pray confession and endless absolution is what the LCMS is known for offering.
I could go on, but that is enough to be hopeful about for today.
Why did I write this blog? I think the perception of me and the Unite Leadership Collective could be that we complain, that we’re anti-LCMS or anti-institution. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, we challenge, but we seek to do so with kindness and respect, both in podcasts and with the written word.
Leadership at every level is difficult. Leaders at every level need hope. I pray wherever you are on your LCMS leadership journey that this blog gives you hope. The best is truly yet to come.
Thanks for the encouraging words, Tim! In addition to all of the practical reasons for optimism, when I begin feeling anxiety about the future of the LCMS, the promise of our Lord in Matthew 16:18 give me comfort. For even if the institution of the LCMS were to cease, some other institution would rise up, preaching the pure Gospel of absolutely free, totally unmerited grace through faith in Christ alone. Christ’s Church will never end.