The Call to
Discipleship - Introduction and Overview
“Our Lord commands us to make disciples of all nations. As we reach out to new
communities and the unchurched, we need to ground our members in the Bible and
the most basic truths of our Lutheran heritage. In doing so, we can energize all
of our members to share the news of Jesus Christ with neighbors and to live out
their Christian calling to the world. We will seek to be energized by prayerful
openness to the leading of the Holy Spirit. And we will use the insights of
Lutheran theology as powerful tools for understanding and addressing the needs
of society.”
- Seven Initiatives for a New Century, 1997 Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America Churchwide Assembly
We continue to respond to that call of discipleship. We are:
marked with the cross of Christ forever,
we are claimed, gathered and sent
for the sake of the world.
What's it all about?
Use these resources to carry through on a plan that might:
- offer every opportunity for all ages to follow
the teachings of Jesus;
- offer every help, support and encouragement
for all persons to live out the practices of faith in daily life; and
- move toward a continuing emphasis on
discipleship in the life of the congregation and its members into the future.
Background and context
The Churchwide Assembly in Philadelphia, August 1997, adopted seven Initiatives
for a New Century. This strong assembly affirmation committed this church to a
journey that would gather ELCA congregation members and leaders around the
themes of identity, mission and leadership as this church enters the Third
Millennium. Since this stage-setting vote, leadership teams under the direction
of the Office of the Bishop have been working faithfully to generate a number of
creative offerings and ministry opportunities that celebrate the essence of
these initiatives and help to provide for and support local expression and
engagement of these initiatives in a way that honors context and individual
synodical needs. The 1997 Churchwide Assembly vote affirmed the above
statement as the strategic, intentional way our whole church could come together
in celebration of our significant heritage and identity as a teaching church.
Teach the Faith Initiative & Congregational Planning Guide
Copyright
© by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 8765 W.
Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631. 800/638-3522. Produced by the Division for Congregational Ministries.
Permission is granted for
congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to reproduce this
resource for local use.
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