Global Mission Stories
from ELCA Global Mission

Commissioning the Shepherd: A New Take on Stewardship

By Viking Dietrich
ELCA missionary in Senegal

Merciful Father, we offer with joy and thanksgiving what you have first given us -- our selves, our time, and our possessions, signs of your gracious love. Receive them for the sake of him who offered himself for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


The Pulaar-speaking Christian congregation in Linguere brands the church's new flock with a cross.

In this short prayer, familiar to many through the Lutheran Book of Worship, we pronounce our  philosophy of stewardship. We offer gifts of what we have received in faith, responding to the love God has shown us in our lives. We offer them with the clear hope that the church will so use them as to bring glorious witness to our God and to bring redemptive care to his creation.

It  is with this prayer that the Pulaar-speaking Christian congregation in Linquere celebrated its first harvest offering this past February.

During a regular monthly worship, members of the 40- strong congregation brought eight sheep and five goats from their flocks and gave them to the congregation. The animals were branded on their cheeks with a new cross-shaped brand created for the occasion.


Mamadou Dieng stands in front of the flock he has been commissioned to shepherd. Baptized in 1995,Dieng was one of the first members of this now 40-member Lutheran community.
During the service, the congregation commissioned a member, Mamadou Dieng, to care for the new church flock. Dieng is a shepherd from the village of Ciiwkon and is one of the oldest members of the congregation having been baptized in 1995.

Everyone participated with prayers and song. As Gallo Ba and Ahmadou Ka performed the branding, even the children stopped playing to assist, pulling the sheep by their legs to the fire.

The service was attended by the president of the Lutheran Church of Senegal, the Rev. Pierre SFne. The LCS is a church of almost 4000 members mostly of the Serer ethnic group.Pierre's presence was a great witness to the future partnership of these groups as they work toward a solidly-founded church in Senegal.

Please pray for the health of the flock.
Pray for the health of Mamadou Dieng.
Pray for transparent and effective management.
Pray for this event to inspire in all of us a renewed and stronger commitment to stewardship.

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