wfn.org | [LCMSNews] Exec: Districts take Ablaze! seriously

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	December 28, 2004 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 88

	Mission exec: Districts taking Ablaze! seriously

	By Paula Schlueter Ross

	How are LCMS districts responding to the challenge of LCMS World
Mission's Ablaze! initiative, that is, to share the Gospel with 100
million people -- "unreached for Christ or uncommitted to Christianity"
-- by 2017?

	Synod President Gerald Kieschnick and national mission leaders
found out this month when they met with presidents and mission
executives from 15 LCMS districts in back-to-back sessions in Chicago,
Detroit and New York. The meetings were designed to share a vision for
Ablaze! and to provide opportunities for district mission leaders to
discuss outreach strategies and set goals.

	In a word, the response from districts to Ablaze! has been
"terrific," according to Dr. Robert Scudieri, associate executive
director of the National Mission Team for LCMS World Mission. Scudieri
attended the meetings as part of the national Ablaze! team that included
Kieschnick, LCMS World Mission Executive Director Robert Roegner, and
Rev. Michael Ruhl, executive director of the Center for U.S. Missions in
Irvine, Calif.

	"What was really encouraging was that it was clear to us that
the districts have already been taking this seriously," Scudieri said.
"I went in thinking that what we were going to do was inspire them to
take some action. What happened was, they inspired us with the action
they had already taken."

	Virtually every one of the districts represented "had some ideas
and some plans" related to Ablaze!, Scudieri said, and several already
had set their own outreach goals.

	For example, the Southeastern District is challenging its 215
congregations to reach out to 2.5 million people over the next 13 years,
according to district President Jon Diefenthaler.

	"Enlistment of our congregations will begin during the upcoming
Epiphany season and culminate on the Feast of Pentecost," Diefenthaler
said. "Our hope is that the energy released by Ablaze! in our
congregations will enable 60 mission outreach teams, consisting of
laypersons and professional workers of various kinds, to be deployed for
new work."

	The Ablaze! meetings will be repeated in Dallas and San
Francisco in January, and again in Minneapolis and St. Louis in March,
in an effort to reach mission leaders in all 35 LCMS districts.

	"It's just unbelievable, the initiative that they've already
taken, but then the response," said Scudieri. "Every one of these
districts came up with a three-year goal."

	Kieschnick said that, while the meetings exceeded his
expectations, he is not surprised by the districts' willingness to
embrace the Ablaze! initiative.

	"The ownership of district presidents and district mission
personnel was absolutely apparent during these all-day meetings of
planning and strategy," Kieschnick said. "In sharing the vision of
Ablaze!, LCMS World Mission leaders and I made it clear that strategic
planning and implementation of this endeavor to reach 100 million
unreached or uncommitted people in the world with the Gospel by 2017
would be the responsibility of district and congregational leaders.

	"The response of these leaders was exciting, but certainly not
unexpected," he said. "I have come to know, to experience, and to trust
the quality of district and congregational leaders in the Synod. I have
utmost confidence that their leadership will be instrumental in
accomplishing this most worthy endeavor."

	Dr. David Ritt, president of the English District, described the
meeting in Detroit as "a good forum for sharing ideas and how districts
can feed off one another with an Ablaze! activity that one district has
going and the other not. Some really good ideas were put out for
discussion."

	Rev. David Bueltmann, president of the Central Illinois
District, said the Chicago meeting was better than he had expected. One
concern he expressed at the meeting is that "we try to tell people to
talk about Jesus the Savior, but do not help them in doing so."

	Bueltmann urged districts to provide resources for showing
members how to witness to others, and described some ideas for
witnessing that he uses in sermons and in talks at district gatherings.
He has put those ideas into a pamphlet that provides examples of how
Lutherans can share their faith with others.

	"People need some simple, practical, down-to-earth directions to
do the work the Lord has given us to do," Bueltmann writes in the
pamphlet's Introduction.

	As part of a three-person team from the South Wisconsin
District, Rev. Wayne Schroeder said he found the Ablaze! gathering "very
helpful."

	"By having three from our district there, we were able to
brainstorm together some ideas," said Schroeder, who serves on the
district's Congregational Services staff. "By having other district
teams, we were able to listen and react to other ideas."

	The Ablaze! vision of sharing the message of Christ with 100
million people by 2017 "is just the kind of challenging, far-reaching
vision that our church body needs right now," he said. "We need a
challenge like this to call us to action -- to help congregations get
out of a survival mode [and] into a mission mode."

	***************************************

	If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release,
contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org or (314) 996-1231,
or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or (314) 996-1230.

	***************************************

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