I am in St. Louis, Missouri this week meeting with women who have been selected to serve on LWML committees. Please pray for these women as they meet to determine goals, objectives, and action plans for this biennium.
In the meantime, I am also including a link to the recent interview I did with KFUO radio: https://kfuo.org/2017/10/24/faf-102417-lutheran-women-in-mission-today/
Please enjoy!
God’s blessings,
President Patti
Sometimes you have to let go! We’ve all faced time of letting go. Letting go of our children as they go to school, from grade school to college and beyond. We have to let go of our family traditions as our families move far away geographically—think of Thanksgiving and Christmas. We have to let go of the idea that our children will want our china and crystal someday! You can add your own.
What does this have to do with my thinking about LWML this week? I have to tell you, if a woman in my congregation came up to me and said she wanted to start an additional LWML group in my church, after I picked myself up off the floor, I would be so excited! If they wanted to meet once a quarter, or have Bible study and collect mites only, or do activities with their small children, I would be so excited! If they wanted to have an LWML as a service group alongside a women’s ministry group already in existence in their church, I would be so excited!
Yet I received two inquiries from women interested in starting LWML groups who met opposition because they are proposing an alternative look for an LWML group. Isn’t that sad. When we “mentor” women in LWML that doesn’t mean we make them do exactly what we have been doing in our LWML group over the years. If we are comfortable in our group and how it operates and when it meets, and don’t want to change, why not encourage formation of another LWML group? They, too, want a group that they are “comfortable” in. Why not try letting go?
I hope you will take it as a mentoring opportunity should some women in your church want something different in their LWML group and are proposing to start one with a different look. Teaching with love and encouragement can be a great example of “serving the Lord with gladness.”
Believing that God has molded each of us individually with love should help us let go. Individual molds means no two are exactly alike. Can’t we let go and let God guide the women to celebrate LWML as it meets their needs? Be a positive mentor. Just think how exciting it would be to have more than one LWML group in all our congregations!
I [Paul] therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with 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 all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift (Ephesians 4:1-7).
Love to you!
Patti
Me and the LWML office staff at a session on, “Effective Mentor-ship”.
LWML Sunday is traditionally held in October of every year to draw attention to the work of the LWML—Lutheran Women in Mission. Mission grant information is shared, congregations and pastors are thanked for their help, and usually there is a meal or refreshments involved.
Today, at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Tulsa, OK, we finished our Braille workshop (20 copies of Leviticus in Braille) and then we got to admire the LWML Sunday display they had for church Sunday. Every grant had photographs, information sheets and the center “stairway” on the display also had photos of the grants. It was very colorful and attention-getting. They also had a brunch and displayed the Lutheran World Relief contributions of the congregation. Mission Grant bookmarks were handed out. All of this was accessed through the www.lwml.org website! One of the important things that Lutheran Women in Mission do is bring mission awareness to their congregations. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is part of so many wonderful ministries out there that meet the spiritual and physical needs of God’s people! Often, our congregations have not heard of them. Knowledge about them can even inspire new mission outreach plans in some congregations.
At my church, Christ the Redeemer, also in Tulsa, we took a door offering. People love to work together to help fulfill needs. Letting them know what those needs are is a key activity for us all as women in mission.
If you haven’t had your LWML Sunday yet, please make a big effort to inform, thank, and engage your congregation in our mission outreach and funding of our mission grants. Use the resources available on our website. We won’t all have displays like the women of Our Savior had, but we can have fun and enjoy telling others about our LWML—Lutheran Women in Mission.
Greetings from my friend, Cherry, my husband, Bill, and myself! Love to all of you!
Patti
Cherry, Bill, and I attending LWML Sunday
This week I want to continue on the topic of being a mentor to the next generation. I’ve invited Ashley Jenkins, Marketing and Communications Manager for the LWML to write an article about someone who inspired her:
It was 1993, a beautiful fall morning, and I was the young age of 5, dressed to impress for my first day of kindergarten. My mother always dressed me up. As we approached school, I remember being completely overwhelmed by the sight of Historic Trinity Lutheran Church. It was more than my 5 year old brain expected. I clutched my mom’s hand and refused to let go. She sat with me and didn’t leave. The other parents hugged their kids and said goodbye but mine didn’t. We sat in church and listened to Pastor Dave Marth greet us and pray for God’s blessings on our school year ahead. When the time came to enter the school hall I wasn’t ready. I burst into tears and grabbed my mom. She gave in and held onto me. We walked into the classroom together and my mom directed me to my desk. I was totally stoked because my name was on the desk “Ashley Elliott”. My mom stood back as the teacher introduced herself. Eventually she snuck out. From that day forward my mom was always there for me, and then she would silently sneak off when she knew I would be okay. The only reason I can call myself a Lutheran today is because of her. My mom was the best mentor I ever had. We regularly went to church and took Bible classes together. I’m so thankful to God for blessing me with Karen Elliott as my mother. I look forward to sharing God’s word with my own daughter. I will pass the torch to her as my mom did to me.
One week before my 29th birthday, my mom went to be with the Lord. She died from Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s Association is a foundation I support in order to continue her fight. She held onto me for as long as she could but now she’s snuck away because she knows I’ve got this.
Let us all reflect on what Jesus has called us to do as mentors. Have you spoken to someone younger than you about Christ? Invited them to church? Even the simplest act of kindness can speak multitudes to those who need it.
Thank you President Patti for inviting me to share my story. I hope my story can inspire others and from one generation to the next we can continue to share God’s love to the ends of the earth.
