What if the Bishop finds out that a think-tank created a blog that challenges norms, processes new ways of doing ministry, and asks big questions about sacred cows in the Lutheran Church. Surely the Bishop would shut it down. Right?
Wrong!
Here’s the funny thing. The Bishop is a fan – and “renewal in the Spirit” is the name of the game! Here is what Bishop Ron Mayan wrote in his September E-Message:
I gathered in mid-August with a number of our Synod’s possibility thinkers and germinators to spend a day together as a “think tank”. We reflected on questions like: Where is God at work in our Church?… In our world? What are the good things that are happening? What are the seemingly not-so-good things? Where is God working behind the scenes? We charted assets and liabilities. We spoke of future directions. There was a joint recognition that what is needed – first and foremost – is a renewal in the Spirit. A spark. Some ignition please. It will start inwardly, as we devote ourselves with renewed vigor, to Word and Sacrament, prayer and fellowship, conversation and consolation. It will move outward: one to one, one by one… And by the grace of God, this renewal will soon be a tangible Force in our midst. “We have ignition, we have lift off…”
Something is stirring, God is at work in our midst. Change does not have to be the workings of a clandestine separatist group, rather, we are being prompted and empowered by the Holy Spirit to see new hope in unexpected places. God is in the business of making and recreating His people, what if God is doing that right now? Are we ready to be transformed anew? Something exciting is happening!
This blog was created out of a very real hope and desire for renewal and transformation in our Synod and in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. Over the next weeks and months we’ll be asking the ‘what if’ questions about many aspects of our Church. Check back often as various authors challenge conventions, raise banners of hope and life in Christ, offer new ideas, and maybe even do some sacred cow tipping.
And so we dream, “What if…?”
PT
What if...? 