Making Disciples for Christ

To reassert Christ's Great Commission to make disciples of all nations as a priority in the life of the ELCA, through emphases on congregational renewal, church plants and global missions.photo of ships on a mission

Explanation

Christ’s Great Commission in Matthew 28 to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” is no mere suggestion. It is a primary mission of the Church, living under the authority of Scripture. And yet, from time to time it seems in the ELCA that this primary mission has been pushed to the periphery, replaced by other concerns and activities.

Since the ELCA's beginning in 1988 the total baptized membership of the ELCA had declined 11.8% by the end of 2008, down from 5.25 million to 4.63 million. The population of the United States grew by more than 20% in that period. The number of ELCA congregations had dropped by 6.5% by the end of 2008. New ELCA mission starts have declined by 50% and the ELCA Church Council received a report in November 2008 that new ELCA missions have not thrived, especially those connected with ethnic strategies.

Missionaries supported financially by the ELCA in the global mission field have declined by 62%, down from 471 in 1988 to 180 in 2008. ELCA global mission has always used an accompaniment model, meaning that it intentionally shifted from sending evangelists to sending people who support already established churches. As a result, in 2009 the ELCA supports financially only 11 missionaries who have evangelism in their job description. The other ELCA missionaries do much needed ministry in areas of teaching, healthcare, development and administration, and no doubt they witness to Jesus. However, there are still millions of people in the world who have never heard of Jesus and his Gospel. Evangelists are needed to tell them the good news. Independent Lutheran mission agencies have been sending evangelists into mission fields dropped by the ELCA.

Lutheran CORE has a vision for the ELCA in which the making of disciples for Christ again returns to the center of the Church’s ministry, from the insides of our existing congregations to the furthest mission fields around the globe.

  1. Effective discipleship begins in the congregational setting. Lutheran CORE envisions an ELCA committed to assisting pastors and laypeople in building vital, active and mission-minded congregations of disciples. Through our proposed combination with Lutheran Churches of the Common Confession, Lutheran CORE will form a task force on congregational renewal to pursue this portion of our vision for the ELCA.
  2. Recent surveys suggest that our nation has become a mission field, in which a very substantial portion of the population does not know Christ. Lutheran CORE envisions an ELCA in which the training of mission developers and the planting of new congregations are important priorities for congregations, synods and the churchwide organization alike.
  3. Modern communications technology and increased international travel has given the Church an unprecedented opportunity to spread the Gospel throughout the world. Lutheran CORE envisions an ELCA recommitted to a robust global missions initiative, centered on gospel-preaching missionaries in the field.

Mission opportunities - See a list of ministries that Lutheran CORE commends.