Celebrating
Our Commitment to
God's Global Mission

An Epiphany Service
of Readings and Songs

Our world of five billion people is deeply marred by sin and its consequences. Humanity has turned away from God and insists on walking its own disastrous way. Contrary to God's vision for human life and creation, the world is permeated with enmity, greed, conflict, guilt and death and lies under the judgment of God. Broken and suffering, the world waits for its redemption.

The gospel announces that God in love sent Jesus Christ into the world as Savior to call for the world's repentance and to die for the sins of the world. Raised from death, Jesus Christ is God's victory over sin and death and is God's promise of a new creation.

There are two billion people who have not had the opportunity to hear this gospel. Another one and one-half billion persons have a minimal knowledge of Christ. There are, then, three and one-half billion persons who have not had the possibility of responding to God's saving gospel which promises justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and new life empowered by the Holy Spirit within the body of Christ; therefore:

Congregation:

We are committed to proclaiming to those who have not heard or who have not fully heard the gospel that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord in order that they might believe.

Christian congregations are centers of mission. The Holy Spirit through the ministry of Word and Sacrament calls, creates and nurtures ever-new communities of Christians. These persons, empowered by the Holy Spirit, are sent into the world to witness to Jesus Christ. In order that centers of Christian proclamation and witness may be multiplied; therefore:

Congregation:

We are committed to the planting and growth of new congregations and churches where Christ is not yet known so that Christ might be more widely proclaimed and more fully known.

In our religiously plural world, we have learned from people of other faiths that the great religious traditions offer life-sustaining power to their people. These religious communities challenge the validity of our witness among people of other faiths.

Many other people live their lives without claiming religious beliefs and/or values, some despairing of trust in God, some unable to relate scientific understanding to God's truth.

Within this pluralistic world, we believe and reaffirm: That God was incarnate in Jesus Christ; and that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and sits at the right hand of God as Lord and Savior of all. Even though this incarnate God is unknown to people, the Triune God is already present and active in their lives and desires that the depths of God's saving love in Christ might be known by them. God calls us into mission in order that all persons may know that God incarnate in Jesus Christ has died for all; therefore:

Congregation:

We are committed to witness to people of other faiths that Jesus Christ has died for them and, as Savior and Lord, is the normative and unsurpassable revelation of God.

Christians around the world live in daily contact with people of other faiths. We believe that peoples of various faiths should enter into mutual conversations and interfaith dialogue. Conversations should seriously explore one another's differences as well as seek to understand the power, beauty and integrity found in each other's faith. We believe Christians are called to enter such conversations and dialogue not knowing where they will go, but sustained by the hope that, in the end, every tongue shall "confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2-11); therefore:

Congregation:

We are committed to interfaith conversations and dialogue and through these encounters we will seek to understand persons of other faiths; we will listen to what God has to say to us through these conversations and through them we will witness to the crucified and risen Christ.

We recognize that at times our witness to Jesus Christ has been misheard and misunderstood. Because of our cultural ties and enculturation we have often created the impression that Jesus' Lordship is synonymous with cultural and political domination. In sharp contrast to this, we believe that God in Jesus took the form of a servant, shared human suffering, embodied God's compassion and prophetic struggle for righteousness, and was crucified. It is this crucified servant who sits at the right hand of God as Lord and Savior; therefore:

Congregation:

We are committed to proclaim that the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, is the crucified, suffering servant; and we are committed to take part in God's mission in a manner that is in harmony with Jesus' servanthood.

As we reach out to those who have not heard the gospel, we recognize that approximately 80 percent of them live in oppression and poverty. In contrast, God wills fullness of life for all people and all creation. We believe that Christ calls us in these circumstances to enter into the suffering of their lives. Within that relationship God calls us to witness faithfully to the gospel in both word and deed; therefore:

Congregation:

We are committed to witness to Jesus Christ in both word and deed. We will preach the gospel and in Jesus' name we will seek to alleviate suffering and empower the weak and advocate for righteousness, justice and peace. We will work with the entire global community for justice, peace and the renewal of all creation.

The church of Christ has encircled the globe and is present on every continent. By the year 2000, 60 percent of the Christian world will be found in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The ELCA is one family of faith surrounded by a multitude of Christian communities who share with us our life and mission in Christ. We are called to enter into these relationships in new ways, receiving and sharing each other's gifts for the sake of God's mission; therefore:

Congregation:

We are committed to cooperation and interdependency within the global Christian family. We will receive the witness of our global partners as they challenge us to faithfulness in mission. We recommit ourselves to send missionaries and resources in order to witness to Jesus Christ and support our partners who reach out in mission in Jesus' name.

The global Christian family includes a wide variety of persons with marvelous gifts and talents. We recognize that racial, sexual and social prejudices have limited the effectiveness of God's mission by excluding countless persons from full participation in life and mission together. Racial prejudice still divides the Christian community and excludes capable persons from involvement in mission. Women in some churches cannot vote, much less be admitted to positions of leadership or the ordained ministry. The mission of the body of Christ is so great that it requires the gifts and talents of every one of the baptized; therefore:

Congregation:

We are committed to developing a global mission program in which persons of every ethnic background, both women and men, are called and empowered to participate fully in the mission of Jesus Christ.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has innumerable resources. As one of the largest Lutheran churches in the world, with a membership of five million baptized, the ELCA has many gifted and committed persons willing to share their witness and talents around the globe. Located in one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world, it has tremendous financial resources capable of supporting vital global outreach. Of the monies raised by local congregations in 1990, only three percent supports mission outside the U.S.A.; therefore:

Congregation:

We are committed to increasing the concern and the involvement of every member and every congregation in Christ's mission in the world. We will expand our awareness, renew our prayer life and increase our support of the sake of God's mission.

We will in faithful obedience respond to Christ's Great Commission: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you." We will faithfully respond to that word from the Lord of the church, trusting the promise "I am with you always to the end of the earth." (Matthew 28:19-20)

NOTE TO THE LEADER; Alternative hymns may be chosen, such as: First reading--With One Voice #712; Second reading--WOV #723; Third reading--LBW #14; Fourth reading--LBW #419; Fifth reading--WOV #752; Sixth reading--LBW #429; Seventh reading--LBW #370; Eighth reading--WOV #755; Ninth reading--LBW #364; Closing hymn--LBW #364; Recessional hymn--LBW #524

Text based on the Commitments for Mission in the 1990s of ELCA Global Mission/ELCA; Compilation by the Rev. Carl W. Beyerhelm, Iowa City, Iowa.