Ecclesiology – Page 7 – What Does This Mean?

The Many Meanings of Ministry

Ministry is all about service. In fact, the word for ministry is a Latin translation of the Greek word διακονία (diakonia), which means personal service. Ancient Greeks use several words for service: δουλεύω (douleuo), to serve because you are a slave, λατρεύω (latreuo), to work for a wage, λειτουργία (leitourgia), public service and θεραπεύω (therapeuo), to serve willingly, to care for, especially the sick.

For the Greeks, almost all service was viewed as demeaning. Jesus turned that around. Jesus said that he came to serve, not to be served, so Christians must serve each other. (Matthew 20:26-28) The church took this charge to heart. They called themselves servants and slaves of Jesus. (Acts 4:29, Romans 1:1, Philippians 1:1, Revelation 1:1) They came to reason that if Jesus loved us, we should love each other.

The New Testament came to use the Greek words for service in two ways. In general, it came to stand for the preaching of the word and the sharing of the sacraments by Christians in every way. In its narrow use, it refers to the work of pastors.

To carry out ministry, Jesus created the office of the Pastoral Ministry and the Apostles created the deaconate to support them. In posts to follow, we’ll explore the Office of the ministry.

Send us a Faithful Shepherd

180 years ago in late May, Pastor Jesse Hoover died. In the frontier town of Fort Wayne, Indiana, his congregations mourned. Along with them, the whole community missed him, too. Lutheran pastors were rare in the dark forest. Elder Adam Wesel of St. Paul’s congregation wrote to the Mission Committee of the Pennsylvania Ministerium for help. Among other things he pleaded:

“Have pity, honored fathers and brothers and send us a Pastor… If you canvas the northern part of Indiana you will soon see how important it is that you send us a faithful Shepherd. The harvest is great but unfortunately there are no workers. If it is not possible to send us a Pastor, dear brothers, then send us a circuit rider. We hunger and thirst for the Word of God.”
Adam Wesel
St. Paul Lutheran Church
Fort Wayne, Indiana
4 June 1838

The letter arrived in Pennsylvania at a perfect time. The committee had planned to send a survey missionary West in September. But their candidate could not go. They we’re without a man to send.

Yet as they pondered, a young pastor had just arrived in Baltimore. His name was Friedrich Wyneken. In late August they dispatched him to Indiana, to gather scattered Protestants into congregations. This he did — and more!

More about this story in later posts. For now, thank God for the prayer the people of Ft. Wayne prayed and add your prayer to theirs that God might send faithful shepherds to gather his people into the fold of their great Shepherd.

Church and State Relations

The State as we learned is to wield the sword and keep rampant evil and sin at bay. The Church is given to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.

So, how do we citizens of the State and the Church fit into both categories? What ought we be doing? The answer I believe comes through vocation.

One vocation that we all have is being citizen of the State. This vocation is informed by the many others we have as well as the Word of God, especially the vocation that comes from being baptized into Christ. Each vocation places duties on us, and the Small Catechism gives us a small picture into some of those duties. Peter in his first letter reminds us to honor all, even the Emperor.

Christ our Lord says in the Gospel of John, be in the world but not of the world. And Paul also reminds us that our citizenship truly lies in heaven. But we aren’t in heaven yet, but we live in that hope. We are here in the world to serve our neighbor through our various vocations, and that includes the State and our government leaders. The Church is in the unique position to inform the the State of God’s law and gospel.

We are even given the command that when the state compels us by law to do something against the Lord’s will we are to obey God rather than men. The Church has a voice in the public sphere, particularly to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How else will the citizens of the state receive the grace of God? Certainly, they will not see that grace from the State. That is not the State’s job or purpose.

What do we do as citizens of the State? We want desire peace and prosperity. We pray for our government leaders in our worship services, even those we don’t agree with politically. We pray that the Lord God use them to fulfill their vocation as leaders and give us a peaceful and quiet life that allows us to worship our God and Savior Jesus Christ without fear.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter Lutheran Church, La Grange, MO

Building the Body of Christ with a Visit

I wonder just how many church members only see their pastor on Sunday morning. Has your pastor seen your home? Does he even know where you live? Has he tried to make a house call to you?

Perhaps, the bigger question is whether or not you have invited your pastor over for such a visit. Too many people think that going to church on Sundays is “enough”. And please don’t get me wrong, the gifts of Christ are certainly there for all people and that is certainly enough for our salvation. But being the body of Christ, we ought to build one another up. Visits do just that.

Jesus went into people’s houses to visit with them. Shouldn’t your pastor? Maybe he has tried. Perhaps the membership list is daunting. Maybe he feels he needs to be invited.

Most often people think that a visit for the pastor is reserved for the family members of a dearly departed. Or people think its for the really sick or just for those who are “shut-in”. But what if I told you that every church member should get a visit? A pastor should visit all the sheep put into his care because he must give an account of those entrusted into his care. But every Christian should and ought to visit their fellow church members because it builds up the body of Christ.

A visit is a friendly reminder to the person (no matter how frequent or infrequent they attend) that they are cared for by God and by their church. Visitation is a chance to remind us all what Christian charity looks like. It is a chance to connect with one another in ways that a corporate worship service does not allow unless if you have “gemutlichkeit” in the parking lot after.

It the best way for your pastor to get to know you, and it helps him preach practical law and practical gospel to you from the pulpit. Visiting also builds rapport for those “harder” visits when “Mom” passes or when your spouse is called to our Good Shepherd. It might even help build up courage within the pastor to make those other hard visits to the people who haven’t been in church since before he got there.

So if you haven’t gotten a visit from your pastor, might I suggest you invite him over? It might do you and him good!

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter Lutheran Church, La Grange, MO