New Life, not moral improvement

Christianity is not a program for moral improvement.

     When I visit with friends who are not Christians, I find that they often think of Christianity as a system for moral improvement. It should make you a better person. At least Christians should behave better than others, right? If it doesn't, then Christians are just hypocrites. That is -- if Christianity is about teaching people to act better.

     So if the Christian religion isn't about making people better, what is it? Let's let the Bible itself tell us. The Holy Spirit gave John the Apostle these words to describe the purpose of his Gospel book and, by extension, of the whole Bible."Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:30–31 ESV).

     The editors of the English Standard Version even add the paragraph title, "The Purpose of This Book." John admits that his telling of the story of Jesus' life, death and resurrection is not a detailed biography of everything Jesus ever did or said. The Christian faith IS about LIFE in Jesus name, new life now, renewed life every day, eternal life now and forever.

     This is the Good News about Jesus. He gives eternal life. Its a gift, already paid for by His life, death, and resurrection. The new life and whatever moral improvement develops from it is all a gift because of what Jesus has already accomplished.

 "He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised" (2 Cor 5:15 ESV).

Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church begins

Now we have a name. Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church was chosen as the name of our new congregation.

   Saturday evening 28 people gathered for worship at the home of Glenn and Tammy Steele, "Rolling Oaks." We followed Lutheran Worship, Divine Service 1, using the propers for The Baptism of Our Lord. I chose Matthew 16.13-20 as a sermon text, focusing on v. 18, Jesus said to Peter, and the rest of the disciples, "On this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it."  The church belongs to Christ. He is its owner and LORD because he created it and paid for the redemption of the whole world. Amazingly, He did not redeem us to make us His slaves, rather He redeemed us from the slavery of sin to adopt us into His family as His own Brothers and Sisters.  Every believer in Christ is a member of His family, the one, universal, catholic, invisible Church, the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12.27). He also calls His family out of the sinful world and into visible gatherings around His Word and Sacraments, local congregations of believers.  But His disciples must be careful not to join just any group that claims to be Christian. They must carefully discern whether the Word of God is taught there in its truth and purity, and if the sacraments are administered properly according to Christ's institution. Both orthodoxy (right believing) and orthopraxy (right practice) of the Christian faith must be discerned, as Walther put it: "every believer must, at the peril of losing his salvation, flee all false teachers, avoid all heterodox congregations or sects, and acknowledge and adhere to orthodox congregations and their orthodox pastors wherever such may be found"  (from Thesis VIII, C. F. W. Walther, Church and Ministry: Witness of the Evangelical Lutheran Church on the Question of the Church and the Ministry, electronic ed. (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1987), 101.). We are choosing to be a part of this new congregation together because we want to be faithful to the correct teaching and practice of God's Word as interpreted in the Lutheran Confessions and the practice of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. As Jesus builds His church, He promises that not even all the forces of Evil, not even the gates of Hell will prevail against it.

   After worship and a short break for some snacks and fellowship, we had a short business meeting. John Reith acted as chairman; Rhonda Kerkhover agreed to serve as Recording Secretary.

• The first item of business was to choose a name for our congregation. The four proposals were narrowed to two by a first ballot and then of the the two, Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, was chosen.
• Since we want to follow the practice of the Lutheran Confessions, we reviewed, The Augsburg Confession XIV ORDER IN THE CHURCH  It is taught among us that nobody should publicly teach or preach or administer the sacraments in the church without a regular call (Theodore G. Tappert, ed., The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959), 36.). In keeping with this confessional practice, a motion was received to call me, Rev. Dr. Alan Wendel Janneke, as Pastor. The motion passed unanimously and I have accepted this call from Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church.  We take these actions now with the intention of making them formal with the District and Synod when we are able to do so. 
• There was also a motion about the disposition of the offering. Our tithe, ten percent, will be forwarded to the Southern Illinois District of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. We will open an account at a local bank in the name of the congregation as soon as we are able to do so. In the name of the congregation, a post office box will also be rented at the Percy post office to give us a physical location and address. For now, an oral report of the offerings received will be made to the congregation after each worship service.
• The meeting was adjourned and some pictures of the gathered group were taken.

   On Thursday the 6th, we had agreed that interactive Bible Study would also be an important part of our congregation from the beginning.  Most of the worshipers stayed and Pastor Al led a discussion for about an hour on the first thesis and Bible passages quoted in Walther's Church and Ministry. 

   We will gather again next Saturday evening at 6:30pm for worship, fellowship and interactive Bible study at the home of Glenn and Tammy Steele, "Rolling Oaks," GPS it or Google Map it at 321 Windy Pines Trail, Percy, IL 62272. 

    

A New LCMS Congregation for Percy-Steeleville, Illinois

Question --- Is it time to begin forming a new Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod congregation for Percy, Steeleville and the surrounding areas?

     Sixteen friends gathered on Tuesday, January 6th, Epiphany, to discuss the possibilities. We quickly agreed that:

• We love Jesus our Savior and want to serve Him faithfully.
• We praise our Father in heaven for creating us and providing for all of our spiritual and physical needs.
• We trust that God the Holy Spirit will continue to keep us in the one true faith and guide us to live God-pleasing lives. 
• This One Triune God has revealed Himself in the written words of the Bible. We love His whole divinely inspired Word, the Bible and want to believe it, teach, live by it, and confess it faithfully.
• We believe that the Lutheran Confessions, published in the Book of Concord of 1580 are the true and best interpretation and presentation of the teachings God has revealed in Bible. These confessions also properly instruct us in God-pleasing life that the Holy Spirit guides us to through the Holy Scriptures.
• We believe that God calls His people together to serve Him and one another in Christian love. Because God has first loved us in Christ, we want to continually grow in loving Him and one another. "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" 1 John 4:10–11 (ESV).
• We believe that the best way for us to live out our love for God and one another is in the fellowship of a Lutheran Christian congregation that is committed to the doctrine and practices of the Bible, the Lutheran Confessions and the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod.

    So we concluded together that, YES, this is the time for us to begin gathering for worship, hearing faithful instruction from God's Word and responding to God with praise and prayer.

       Saturday evening, January 10th at 6:30 pm, we will meet at the home of Glenn and Tammy Steele, at "Rolling Oaks," 321 Windy Pines Trail, Percy, IL 62272. In the spirit of Christian Love, all are welcome. The worship service will be followed by a time of Christian Fellowship and interactive Bible Study.  We will have some copies of Lutheran Worship (c) 1981. If you have a copy of Lutheran Worship at home, bring it and your personal Bible.

     In the future, we look forward to choosing a name for our congregation. We've already received some suggestions: 

• St. Matthew Lutheran Church (first chapter of a new beginning)
• Emmanuel Lutheran Church (Emmanuel means "God with us")
• Epiphany Lutheran Church (because of our meeting on Epiphany, January 6th)
• Good News Lutheran Church (evangelion (greek) and gospel mean "good news")

    We also look forward to drafting a constitution and applying for membership in the Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod.