Book - Acts to Action

Acts to Action is a 90 day devotional journey to missional living. 

This resource is ideal for individuals, bible studies or even a congregational worship series.     It is written by a Lutheran pastor and mission director, with Lutheran congregations in mind.

It will help you explore is my faith and my local church still relevant? 

The answer of course is a resounding, “YES!” 

But only the Word of God, and especially that Word as it come to us in the Acts of the Apostles, can make it so. This 90-Day devotional journey leads readers on a guided tour of the entire Book of Acts to see and learn anew how God is always working through His people, His leaders, and His local congregations to grow His kingdom. The first century church changed the world for the better. The Lord of the church wants to use you and your 21st century congregation to do the same.

The journal will you :

• Appreciate how God uses His people to save people
• Love people from all backgrounds, races, nations, and ethnicities
• Follow the example of the early church and be intentionally engaged in the mission of God
• Bring the love and hope of Jesus Christ to your family, friends, neighbourhoods, and communities

Available through Amazon

Book: Church in Motion: The History of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission in Bavaria (Missional Church, Public Theology, World Christianity)

"Mission is nothing but the one church of God in motion." With these words the famous German Lutheran theologian Wilhelm Loehe described the essence of missionary work. Mission moves the church and crosses boundaries to form the one universal church. In 1842, Loehe started missionary work in the small Bavarian town of Neuendettelsau in southern Germany, as he sent two young men as "emergency helpers" to North America. He supported the formation of Lutheran congregations that later joined together to become the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). Together with Friedrich Bauer he founded a mission seminary that sent, until 1985, nearly 900 graduates as pastors and missionaries not only to the USA, but also to Australia, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Palestine. From this the present center Mission One World of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria developed, which maintains partnership relations to churches in Africa, Asia/Pacific, and Latin America. This book describes the history of this missionary movement up to the present time and puts the Bavarian missionary work into the context of mission theology and strategies in the twentieth century.

Contents:
Section 1:   History of the Protestant Mission in Bavaria
Section 2:  History of co-operation Bavarian Mission Society with overseas churches 
Section 3:  Promotion and development of Bavarian Missionary Work in 20th Century

Book: The Lutheran Pastor (Free download)

The Lutheran Pastor was originally published in 1902 authored by George Henry Gerberding.

Contents
The Pastors Office
The Pastors Call - The Inner or Pre
The External or Official Call
Ordination And the Call from One Field
In His Personal Character and in Society
In His Study
In His Closet
Taking the Oversight  - As Head of
Catechising and Confirming
Conducting the Service Preparatory
Administering the Holy Communion
Performing the Marriage Ceremony
Ministering to the Bereaved Burying
SignificancePrinciples and Import
The Pastor Visiting
Visiting Special Classes
Guarding the Good Name and the Altar
In the Pulpit-Preaching the Word
At the AltarLeading the Worship
Baptizing
Visiting the Sick
Vacation 
Conclusion
Reward

Free download of the book is available at  https://archive.org/details/lutheranpastor00gerb

Book: Nau! Mission inspired

The stories of some people’s lives read like legends. For some of us names like Stanley Livingstone, T. H. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), Sir Ernest Shackleton, Florence Nightingale, Oswald Chambers, and Louis Zamperini may come to mind. Others may think of Martin Luther King, the Apostle Paul, Abraham Lincoln, Esther (of the Bible). 
Whoever they may be, their stories have the ability to lift us to a higher plateau, inspire us, thrill us, make us cry, motivate us to search for meaning in our own lives. Nau! Mission Inspired is one of those stories. 
This is the story of a man of God, a Lutheran missionary and a college president–not always so. Once a profligate–a gambler, a rebel, a duelist, a horseman–then a desperate man, standing on a bridge in New York, without hope, wanting to end it all. Then, a sudden change of course, like Paul on the road to Damascus. Two men emerge from the darkness, save his life, tell him of the love of God. He gives himself to Christ, walks with Him from the rice paddies and temples of India to the battlefields of World War I, from the school rooms of a Black college in the segregationist South to the bush country of Nigeria. He’s a passionate man, an imperfect man, an impulsive man, a jar of clay God uses to pour out his grace upon the needy. The brush strokes used to depict this story are bold, sweeping, modern. So vividly are the characters drawn, the atmosphere recreated, the conflict reenacted, the dialogue recaptured, that it seems as though we’re watching a film. This speaks volumes to the success of Author John Nau in bringing this inspiring story to life.

Evangelism: Everyone His Witness

Every One His Witness is a Lutheran evangelism program that teaches you to witness to your friends, coworkers, and any other nonchurched people you may know.  Using the LASSIE approach to witnessing (listen, ask, seek, share, invite, and encourage), the Every One His Witness kit will help you to learn how to naturally share the Good News of Jesus Christ through relational, contextual witnessing.

What does this mean? 
It means listening to those who are unsure about Christianity. It means asking questions that aren’t accusatory. It means sharing the Good News about Jesus. Notice how there’s no bashing, no judgment, and no forced imposition of beliefs. Instead, there’s understanding, communication, and honesty between friends. And Every One His Witness teaches you how.

Every One His Witness is available from
CPH

What People are Saying about Every One His Witness

“Finally, a natural way to share your faith in the relationships where God has planted you as you care for others who have been broken by sin. I have already started to use this and am excited to share this resource with the people of my district.”  —Rev. Richard Snow, President, LCMS Nebraska District

“I appreciated the theologically sound Lutheran perspective of the E1HW program. The videos and our facilitator did a good job of demystifying conversations about our faith in Christ with neighbors, colleagues, and family members. It was a great encouragement to talk about Jesus Christ with anyone in an unforced, natural way.”  —Rev. Kris Morris, Christ the Vine Lutheran Church, Damascus, Oregon

“The Every One His Witness seminar and workbook provide valuable, practical tools on how to share Jesus’ story in the context of our daily vocations, showing how to develop relationships with family, neighbors, and coworkers whom we already know.”  —Bob Myers, Pensacola, Florida

For more information on LASSIE visit

here 

or here

or here 

Ebook: Bring Jesus

Bring Jesus is a series of Mission focused articles with study guides that appeared in  The Lutheran magazine (Australia) (2014-15) written by the Lutheran Church of Australia's, South Australian and Northern Territory District Mission Director, Steen Olsen.   
Articles include:

• Wherever I go I bring Jesus
• God at work
• It doesn’t depend on you
• Inviting others to believe
• No clones here!
• What are we waiting for?
• Evangelism must die!
• Let Jesus speak!
• A welcome peace
• We want to grow!
• Christmas at the margins
• I am making all things new!
• Prayer: As individual as you are
• Gospel glimmers in unlikely places
• Making room for more people
• Welcoming the stranger
• Pregnant congregations bring life
• Dare to be different
• Set free
• Christmas blows away the fog about God

To obtain your free copy visit  https://lca.box.com/shared/static/lkwl3pwqbsyku0xdqdh1mzbo71jy19op.pdf

Article: Will you be a contemporary or historic Lutheran?

Rev. Michael W. Newman Mission & Ministry Facilitator, with Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Texas District challenges us to consider whether we will be an historic or contemporary, but don't answer too quickly!!
visit https://txlcms.org/will-you-be-a-historic-or-contemporary-lutheran/ to read the full article

EBook: Pauline Hermeneutics, exploring the power of the Gospel

Paul’s letters are of crucial importance for Christian theology and church life. The way in which the apostle Paul critically reflected on the meaning of the gospel message in light of Scripture, the traditions, ethics and Christian faith and hope, has had a significant and lasting impact on the Lutheran tradition.

In this publication, the fourth and final in a series of LWF publications on biblical hermeneutics, renowned international scholars from the fields of biblical studies and systematic theology reevaluate to what extent twenty-first-century Lutherans can rediscover the Pauline paradigm of the “power of the Gospel” and hereby overcome ambiguous perceptions of the so-called “Lutheran reading(s)” of Paul.

Contents
The “Gospel” as the Hermeneutic of Emancipation in Paul’s Letters: Contemporary Implications 
Exploring Paul and Pauline Hermeneutics How and Why Paul Deals with Traditions 
Principles of Paul’s Hermeneutics
Slave and Free: Hermeneutical Reflections on Paul’s Use of the Slave–Master Metaphor

Reading Pauline Texts and Contexts
Paul on Charismata (1 Corinthians 12–14): The Principles of Diversity and Community Edification
Rospita Deliana Siahaan
Creation and Reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5: Impulses from Paul and Luther 
Towards an Intersectional Hermeneutics: Constructing Meaning with and not of Galatians 3–4

Pauline Hermeneutics: Exploring the “Power of the Gospel”
Paul on Citizenship: Pauline hermeneutics in Philippians 1:27 and 3:20 

Applying Paul’s Theology and Hermeneutics to Church and Society
The Paradox of Reading Paul in the Context of the Lutheran Churches in Africa
The Pauline Letters and (Homo)Sexuality: Examining Hermeneutical Arguments Used in the Estonian Discussion 
Called and Cold Saints: Some Thoughts on Holiness in the Hebrew Bible and in Paul
A New Life in Christ: Pauline Ethics and its Lutheran Reception 
Christians Engaging in Culture and Society and Hoping for the World to Come 

Obtain your free copy by visiting
https://www.lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/dtpw-studies-201602-pauline_hermeneutics_low.pdf

Reversing the trend in LCMS membership

Recently there have been a number of articles attempting to attend to the declining membership in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.   

Journal of Lutheran Mission
A District-Level Examination of Demographic Trends and Membership Trends within LCMS Districts — by George Hawley
The LCMS in the Face of Demographic and Social Change: A Social Science Perspective — by George Hawley
Generational Generosity: Handing Down Our Faith to Our Children and Our Children’s Children — by Ryan C. McPherson

The Lutheran Reporter
Reversing the LCMS membership decline: not just by having more children
which highlights the important steps to be:

• Evangelism and outreach. 
• Re-invigorating congregations. 
• Healthy workers. 
• Church planting. 
• Resolution of internal issues that cause conflict. 

Asia Focus

ASIA FOCUS AUSTRALIA (AFA) is a Lutheran based, evangelical organisation that aims to be a source of inspiration and information on contemporary Christianity mainly overseas, Asia in particular. It endeavours to promote friendship and dialogue between Christians and whole churches beyond cultural divides. AFA supports holistic ministries that nurture body, mind and spirit and announce freedom and new life in Christ. AFA is ecumenical, Gospel focused and mission oriented.

Asia Focus Australia works in 11 countries – Indonesia, Malaysia (Sabah) , Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Mongolia, Bhutan, Liberia – West Africa. 

For more information including a newsletter visit:  http://www.asiafocus.org.au/

Video: Lecture - Reformation Mission by Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz

Book: Living by faith Oswald Bayer

"Living by faith" is much more than a general Christian precept; it is the fundamental posture of believers in a world rife with suffering and injustice. In this penetrating reflection on the meaning of "justification," Oswald Bayer shows how this key religious term provides a comprehensive horizon for discussing every aspect of Christian theology, from creation to the end times.
Inspired by and interacting with Martin Luther, the great Christian thinker who grappled most intensely with the concept of justification, Bayer explores anew the full range of traditional dogmatics (sin, redemption, eschatology, and others), placing otherwise complex theological terms squarely within their proper milieu -- everyday life. In the course of his discussion, Bayer touches on such deep questions as the hidden nature of God, the hope for universal justice, the problem of evil, and -- one of the book's most engaging motifs -- Job's daring lawsuit with God.

Contents

1. In the dispute of justifications
2. The law suit about God before the court of human reason
3. The passive righteousness of faith
4. Faith comes by hearing
5. Faith and sanctification
6. Faith within the lawsuit about God - before God

Book: The Divine Command a new perspective on law and Gospel

Paul Althaus - The Divine Command a new perspective on law and Gospel (written in 1966)

Contents Page

1. The problem of law and gospel 
2. Law and command in the New Testament
3. "In the beginning": the divine command 
4. Through the fall, command becomes law 
5. The gospel as end of the law 
6. Through the gospel, law once again becomes command 
7. The Christian life as life under the divine command
8. Significance of the biblical moral teaching: a "third function" of the law?

Book: Gospel DNA five markers of a flourishing church

Millions of new believers in Jesus. Thousands of new churches. Communities rallying around the Gospel. Innovative efforts to send workers into the harvest fields. A Gospel movement sweeping a nation.
This isn’t merely a description of what God is doing in the global south today. It is a picture of God’s work in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries. The church was flourishing. Faith was being shared. New congregations were being started. People were receiving the hope of eternal life.
Can it happen again? Is it possible for the Christian church in the United States to become vibrant and relevant once more?
The answer may surprise you.
Looking at a uniquely American Gospel movement as a case study, Gospel DNA traces five markers that lead to a flourishing church.
Hope is closer than you may think. It’s time to reconnect with Gospel DNA.

Contents:
Marker ONE:        PEOPLE
Marker TWO:       MULTIPLICATION
Marker THREE:   TRUTH
Marker FOUR:     ADAPTABILITY
Marker FIVE:       SELF SACRIFICE

About the author:
Michael Newman has been a Lutheran pastor, teacher, author, and speaker for over 25 years. He has served churches in Texas, Minnesota, and in the Chicago area, and continues to be active in writing and in a variety of speaking venues. His goal is to create practical and understandable resources that inspire and transform. Married to his wife Cindy since 1983, they have been blessed with two wonderful daughters and the cutest granddaughter in the world. When not writing or speaking, you might catch him hanging out with his family, running a few miles on the Texas roads, risking his life doing yard work, or enjoying a good book.

Mission videos from North American Lutheran Church

North American Lutheran Church has made available a number of mission videos including:
2015 Mission Festival, Mission (im)Possible
2014 Mission Festival, Abida: Hearts on Fire
2013 Mission Festival, Discipleship – It Takes One to Make One
Open Minded Christian (G. Buba)
Game Plan: What Does Scripture Say (G. Buba)
Experience: Worship – Grow – Impact: Grow (G. Buba)
Westmont College – preaching at worship service (G. Buba)
Faith, Hope and Love: Faith (G. Buba)
Followers Wanted: You Know Who You Are (G. Buba)
Interview with Bishop John Bradosky – (November 2012 NALC Renewal Conference)
Interview with Bishop John Bradosky – (February 2015)
Renewal, Mission and Discipleship — Interview with Pr. David Keener at the June 2014 Mission Summit
Discipleship — (Dennis Blevins  at the 2014 Mission Festival)
Mission Planters Training Event – Part 1 (May 2011)
Mission Planters Training Event – Part 2 (May 2011)
Mission Planters Training Event – Part 3 (May 2011)
Mission Planters Training Event – Part 4 (May 2011)
Global Realignment of Christianity and Our Place in It – presented at Dallas Ecumenical Leadership Summit (G. Buba)
Faith Lutheran Church – Spencer, IA (Sept. 29, 2013)
Unleashing the Gospel Conference – St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Marion, IA (Oct. 26, 2014)
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church – Marion, IA (Oct. 26, 2014)
Mission and Building Relationships
Connecting a Broken World with Jesus  – Faith Community Lutheran Church, Longmont, CO (June 29, 2014)
Dr. Buba preaching at congregation in Slovakia (2014)
Missions 101: The Basics – Mission Built on Relationship (2015)
LCMC Gathering Plenary 1 (March 2015)
LCMC Gathering Plenary 2 (March 2015)
LCMC Gathering Plenary 3 (March 2015)
LCMC Gathering Plenary 4 (March 2015)
LCMC Gathering Plenary 5 (March 2015)
LCMC Gathering Plenary 6 (March 2015)
LCMC Gathering Plenary 7 (March 2015)
Confusion to Confession (Easter 2015)

Visit http://thenalc.org/mission-videos/ to view these videos

Revitalization: Lutheran Revitalization

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod's Office of National Mission is addressing the challenge of congregational decline through a comprehensive Revitalization initiative.
In the language of 1 Cor. 3:5-9, revitalization is centered on planting and watering in anticipation of God providing the growth.

Visit http://www.lcms.org/revitalization  details of workshops and Gospel Seeds

Visit Mark Wood's (Director of Revitalization) blog for some helpful articles and groups studies relating to Revitalization

Lutheran Church of Australia - Board for local mission resources

The Lutheran Church of Australia Board for Local Mission has a focus on:
Grow as God's people and God as God's people.
Some of the resources available include:

Church Planting: Plant Water Grow booklet.
African and Asian ministry
Joint mission with other LCA agencies

for more information visit http://www.lca.org.au/local-mission.html

Evangelism Resources from Lutheran CORE

Lutheran Core provides the following evangelism resources

• Reviewing your current worship practices 
• Drifting towards universalism
• Preaching with Relevance
• Reflections and Observations
• Pathology of Congregations in Decline
• Small groups revisited
• Suggestions for your annual stewardship campaign
• Characteristics of effective,  growing churches
• Does God have a plan for your congregation?
• Mentoring in ministry
• Moving from Reactive Conflict to Proactive Mission Part 1
• Moving from reactive conflict to proactive mission Part 2
• Motivating and empowering your priests
• New demographic impacts outreach
• Nominal Protestantism
• Not forgetting the essentials–Part 1
• One Congregation’s Journey Part 1
• One Congregation’s Journey Part 2
• Preaching in the Digital Age
• Revisiting the Facts on Growth Study
• Small Group Ministry 
• Tension between style & content
• What the local church is uniquely equipped to offer
• Who Are “The Nones?”
• Your ministry to Boomers

To view these resources visit http://www.lutherancore.org/resources/evangelism-mission-evangelism-mission/

Book: A Lutheran Primer for preaching

A Lutheran Primer for Preaching is designed to provide new pastors with a sound, biblical method to construct a sermon. And all pastors, new and experienced alike, will benefit from this first-published proposal for a theology of preaching from a distinctly Lutheran perspective. Rev. Dr. Edward Grimenstein outlines this uniquely Lutheran theology for preaching, while at the same time offering a scriptural model for sermon construction that may be employed by all pastors.

Over the past fifty years, many negative practices have snuck into the Church's preaching which still hold influence to this day, such as: regarding the Scriptures as distant stories with little impact upon the present world, viewing sermons as times for moralistic and educational teaching, and even treating Jesus more like an idol on a shelf rather than as the Creator of the universe. Theologies like “historical criticism” continually question the inerrancy of Scripture, authority of the spoken Word, and the role of Scripture in becoming normative for the life of the Church.

This primer provides pastors with a practical guide that counters common challenges that all modern preachers face during their ministry.

Chapters

1. Beginning of the theology of the Word
2. The fall
3. Rising from the fall
4. A Trinitarian approach to preaching:  God the Father
5. A Trinitarian approach to preaching:  God the Son
6. A Trinitarian approach to preaching:  God the Holy Spirit
7. Preaching Law and Gospel
8. Preaching the Bible
9. Preaching is "for You"
10. Preparing
11. Sermon Preparation Worksheet 1
12. Sermon Preparation Worksheet 2
13. The Law and Gospel are "for You"
14. Returning to the Sermon

Primer for preaching is also available at Australian Church Resources 

Book: Everyone belongs to God

How can Christians represent the love of Christ to their neighbours (let alone people in foreign countries) in an age when Christianity has earned a bad name from centuries of intolerance and cultural imperialism?
Is it enough to love and serve them?
Can you win their trust without becoming one of them?
Can you be a missional Christian without a church?

This provocative book, based on a recently uncovered collection of 100-year-old letters from a famous pastor to his nephew, a missionary in China, will upend pretty much everyone’s assumptions about what it means to give witness to Christ.

The authour Pastor Blumhardt challenges us to find something of God in every person, to befriend people and lead them to faith without expecting them to become like us, and to discover where Christ is already at work in the world.
This is truly good news: No one on the planet is outside the love of God.

At a time when Christian mission has too often been reduced to social work or proselytism, this book invites us to reclaim the heart of Jesus’ great commission, quietly but confidently incarnating the love of Christ and trusting him to do the rest.

Chapters are:
Keep the kingdom in view
Avoid being religious
See how Christ is already at work
Remain among the people
Open wide your heart
Make God's love known
Show the Gospel
Allow the Spirit to work
Always hope.