Global Confessional and Mission Forum

The Global Confessional and Missional Lutheran Forum (Global Forum) met September 4-6 at the Lisak Resort, Bishoftu, Ethiopia. In August 2015, at the invitation of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), the gathering of Lutheran church leaders and representatives of reform and renewal communities throughout the world convened, in conjunction with the NALC Lutheran Week in Dallas, TX. The Global Forum met for the second time during the 2016 NALC Lutheran Week in Anaheim, CA and in 2017 in Nashville, TN. The decision was made during the Nashville gathering to meet in East Africa in either 2018 or 2019. Due to the support and encouragement of the Norwegian Lutheran Mission (NLM), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT), the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), the dream of meeting in Africa became a reality.  Continue reading “Global Confessional and Mission Forum”

Fulfilling Our Ministry and Mission Through Ecumenical and Inter-Lutheran Efforts

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6)

With these Scriptural words quoted in the Initial Statement on the Ecumenical and Inter-Lutheran Commitment of the North American Lutheran Church, approved at the 2011 NALC Convocation, we acknowledged the goal for which our Lord prayed at the Last Supper, as He said, “Holy Father keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one…that they may all be one, even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” John 17:11b, 22-23. And more than acknowledging our Lord’s prayer, we committed ourselves to working together within the kingdom for unity in the Body of Christ, that increasingly, the world would see that “There is one body and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all…”  Continue reading “Fulfilling Our Ministry and Mission Through Ecumenical and Inter-Lutheran Efforts”

NALC Global Worker – Pastor James Puotyual

Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ-

My wife, Nyandit, and I will be missionaries in the refugee camp in Gambella, Ethiopia, beginning January 2019, working with EECMY and the Lutheran Church of South Sudan. We will be living in the southern part of Ethiopia. We already know the Gambella area because we were born there. We know the Ethiopian people, their society and much of the economy.  Continue reading “NALC Global Worker – Pastor James Puotyual”

Global Worker Update – Belarus

Dear brothers and sisters, greetings in the name of the Lord! Fall has come! This year, September is very warm. We thank the Lord for the beautiful weather and sunshine! This is somewhat unusual. I do not remember such warm weather in the fall. Autumn is a time of harvest and this year has been very fruitful. There are a lot of apples on the apple trees and people are calling this year an “Apple Year!”  Well, the Lord has been good to us and below is a report of the good spiritual harvest! Continue reading “Global Worker Update – Belarus”