Encouraging Each Other to Survive and Flourish!

by BJ Armstrong

The survival of Lutheran Ministries of SW Oklahoma is in danger! Not immediate danger, but certainly on the brink of it. With attendance down in all of our churches, we have reached a critical point in our ministry. Funding from the Oklahoma District will be cut progressively over the next four years. In fact, 2006 will be the last year we receive our full allotment from the district. Don't panic. We are not "up a creek without a paddle." In fact, the Partners of Lutheran Ministries have recently come up with many paddles that may be helpful in growing our churches in order for them to survive and flourish.

Of course the first paddle has to be our trust in our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Our trust in the daily bread that He gives us, and His promise of loving and caring for us must ring out from each and every one of the congregations that make up Lutheran Ministries. God is in control and everything is at His feet; however, this does not mean that we should not focus on action steps that can be taken to further our ministries within our communities.

Recently, the Rev. Paul Hartman, president of the Oklahoma District, and Rev. Leonard Busch, Mission Secretary of the Oklahoma District, joined the Partners from our congregations in mission planning sessions that were held in Lone Wolf. We were blessed with good attendance and positive attitudes, which allowed us to come out of the meetings with very promising goals and ideas. We examined together what we thought the core values of our congregations should be, a plan for enacting those values and put in place a plan to re-energize our congregations, as well as the Partnership. Ideas that came out of that meeting are printed for you in a handout which you will find inserted in your bulletin today. These ideas are all possible as we set goals that can certainly be reached; but it will take everyone's cooperation, effort, and energy to make it possible. Yes, it could be said that our future as a Partnership, as well as individual congregations, depend on the accomplishments of these goals.

It should be pointed out that Lutheran Ministries of SW Oklahoma does not benefit only Altus, or Elk City, or Lone Wolf. All of our congregations need each other working together and encouraging one another in order to survive and flourish. The activities in each congregation will benefit the overall ministry goal of the Partnership. It is important that everyone read the inserted page on Vision, think of ways in which they can help, and be willing to go that extra mile. Certainly, God's Word can survive without us, but God's Word will absolutely flourish in our communities with us. While we are not yet "up a creek without a paddle", if we do not choose to become active in building and acquiring new paddles for our boats, all of our congregations are in danger of being stuck in the middle of the creek. Furthermore, as you read the goals of our congregations, feel free to introduce new ideas that you think would be vital to our congregations and communities. Our future in our communities looks very promising, but each and every one of us have to be willing to take an active role in this mission. You will notice in the handout, only through the many ministry efforts of our individual congregations can the Partnership of Lutheran Ministries flourish.