SA国际传媒 Newsroom
Meeting, serving people where they are
On Thursday nights in the Denver metropolitan area, about 125-200 people, many of them homeless and struggling in their lives, come to The Table for a free meal and hope.
鈥淎 lot of them have fallen and are looking for an answer, some kind of hope,鈥� said Trevor Freudenburg, a vicar at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Lakewood, Colo. 鈥淭hey have lost their dignity with choices they have made or they have been mistreated by others. We鈥檙e trying to restore their dignity and welcome them in with our arms open wide.鈥�
Many homeless people live, work and move along Colfax Avenue, the main street that runs east-west through the Denver metropolitan area. Bethlehem is about five blocks north of Colfax, an ideal location for the people who come to The Table on Thursdays.
Rev. Tim Ahlman (鈥�08), who is now pastor of Christ鈥檚 Greenfield Lutheran Church in Gilbert, Ariz., started The Table in 2009 to better reach the surrounding homeless community with the Gospel. 鈥淓ven though we are all fallen people, we all are a special creation of God,鈥� Freudenburg said.
The outreach ministry bears out one of SA国际传媒鈥檚 institutional goals to 鈥渞aise up the next generation of pastors, missionaries and deaconesses who will carry out an evangelical ministry with mission zeal, with a deep commitment to Lutheran theology and practice.鈥�
Dr. Glenn Nielsen, professor of Practical Theology and director of Vicarage and Deaconess Internships, said the Seminary鈥檚 vicarages and deaconess internships give students significant experience in evangelical ministry. 鈥淲e seek to place our students in congregations that reach into the community with the Gospel in deeply faithful and vibrantly effective ways,鈥� he said.
鈥淒uring vicarages and internships, each of our students completes an evangelism project in which they learn about the congregation and the community and then plan an event or activity that brings people into contact with the church鈥檚 message of Jesus Christ and His salvation,鈥� Nielsen said. 鈥淲e hope that leading this evangelism effort will bear fruit not only in the congregations where they are serving but also in the one he or she will eventually serve.鈥�
Vicar Bill Grueninger鈥檚 evangelism project is to produce a book of neighboring and community events that focus on relationship-based ministry, then to teach a small group from the church how to plan and run the different events. Grueninger is serving at St. Peter鈥檚 Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ind.
At lunchtime on Thursdays, Grueninger helps make grilled cheese sandwiches for students who come from Columbus North and Columbus East high schools, both located a few miles from St. Peter鈥檚.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a new opportunity that we are taking advantage of with students,鈥� Grueninger said. He credits Aaron Littmann, the church鈥檚 director of youth ministry, for seeing the need in the community and starting the outreach among the nearby high school students.
During a recent 鈥淕rilled Cheese Thursday,鈥� 44 students attended, 20 of whom do not consider St. Peter鈥檚 their church home. Grueninger said that 16 of those 20 students would not have been at the church without the special sandwich event.
鈥淲e also have seen students who had been a part of our youth group and have fallen away from the group, only to come back for 鈥楪rilled Cheese Thursdays,鈥欌�� Grueninger said. 鈥淕od is good! God has really worked through Aaron Littmann and his ideas.鈥�
At St. Peter鈥檚, he credits Rev. Mark Teike with 鈥渓eading the charge to go into the community,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just one person. It鈥檚 all of us.鈥�
He named the many ways St. Peter鈥檚 is helping the community, including Wednesday Night Connections, Bible classes and Third Space, classes aimed at meeting the needs of those who attend. For example, a finance class is available that helps many single parents in the community learn how to manage a budget.
鈥淲e are trying to find a way to be a real neighbor,鈥� Grueninger said. 鈥淕od is calling us to make real friendships.鈥�
Fundamentally speaking, the life of a Christian is a life of witness 24/7, said Rev. Kou Seying, the Seminary鈥檚 associate dean of Urban and Cross-Cultural Ministry and the Lutheran Foundation Professor of Urban and Cross-Cultural Ministry.
Seying notes that Jesus鈥� final words to the disciples before His ascension were: 鈥淩epentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things鈥� from Luke 24:47-48.
鈥淲e are living in an unprecedented time of opportunities to share Jesus Christ鈥檚 saving message with all the nations of the world,鈥� Seying said. 鈥淒ue to the great movement of people around the world today, it is vital that the Seminary trains servants of the church to be mission-minded in a multi颅dimensional way so that they may engage meaningfully the various worldviews that the Gospel
penetrates at the same time in any given community.
鈥淲hat we do and how we witness impacts the church and the world instantly,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hrough an intentional focus on witnessing, our students and our graduates will help the church in its mission.鈥�
At Our Savior Lutheran Church in Laurel, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C., Vicar Derrick Miliner said his church鈥檚 ministry action plan includes meeting and ministering to people from all over the world who live in the four apartment complexes near the church. Many of the children attend Our Savior鈥檚 child care center, Open Arms Christian Child Development Center, giving more opportunities to develop relationships with families. SA国际传媒 180 children attend the daycare鈥檚 variety of full- and half-day programs.
鈥淭he goal is to develop relationships with the children and their families and discover how we can best serve them,鈥� said Miliner, who is in the Seminary鈥檚 spring 2015 cohort of the Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) program.
鈥淭he SMP program has strengthened my faith in the Apostles鈥� Creed,鈥� he said. 鈥淕od is gathering us, and as the master narrator, He is telling the whole story, showing the Lutheran distinctions and what the Creed does every time we gather.鈥�
Dr. Timothy Saleska, the Seminary鈥檚 associate professor of Exegetical Theology and dean of Ministerial Formation, believes the Christian message is getting lost in society.
鈥淢ore and more people don鈥檛 understand the Christian faith, the stories of the Bible and where they come from,鈥� Saleska said. 鈥淭he need now is as great as ever to reach other people with the Gospel. If we form students with inwardly focused eyes, we鈥檙e neglecting the command of the church to go forth in society.鈥�
At the Seminary, Saleska said the faculty helps students learn what strategies to use when witnessing to others, including those who come from different backgrounds. Students are encouraged to build relationships with the people with whom they come into contact and learn how to tear down walls with the Gospel.
鈥淲e have revisited our teaching at the Seminary and have had a growing emphasis in our curriculum with MissionShift and a more intentional cross-cultural emphasis,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he LCMS districts look to us for church plantings. That鈥檚 one way our Seminary is uniquely equipped to serve.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important for congregations to begin to think about ministering to people in their communities and to build bridges with them,鈥� Saleska said. 鈥淭he old model of attracting people who are already members with programs isn鈥檛 enough and that approach is too inwardly focused. We have to intentionally go out of our comfort zone and build relationships with people who are not members.鈥�
First-year seminarians Joshua Brakhage and Jacob Buday are doing just that as they volunteer at an after-school pro颅颅gram and health clinics operated by Christian Friends of New Americans in St. Louis. 鈥淏eing around new Americans means we have the opportunity to share the message of hope and salvation of Jesus with them, potentially for the first time,鈥� Brakhage said. 鈥淭he places they have left may have been unreached or hostile to the Gospel. I pray that our nation, our communities and our churches would always be welcoming places where strangers and those far-off may encounter the light of Jesus.鈥�
At The Table outside of Denver, the doors open at 5 p.m. and people who have been outside in the cold all day come in and get warm. Freudenburg said witnessing comes through relationships and knowing peoples鈥� stories.
鈥淏efore we eat on Thursdays, we hang out,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a level of intimacy that happens when you鈥檙e eating together. It affirms that they are your friends and this is a safe place.鈥�
The people who gather at The Table range in age from 30 to 60. Many count themselves as Christians but have little to no faith life. Worship time allows them to reconnect with Christ.
鈥淲hen we get to the worship service, we explain everything that is going on, because we always have new people,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e talk about what goes on with Confession and Absolution,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e tell them about the prayer cards, which gives us a chance to also speak personally to people who have great needs.鈥�
Freudenburg said many of the people he has met at The Table are upfront about their past sufferings and struggles. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not a lot of hiding,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 bad that they have often gone through so much but it鈥檚 good that they will tell you what鈥檚 going on in their lives. There is so much need.
鈥淏ut it鈥檚 important to do something,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople are dying without knowing Jesus.鈥�
By Jackie Parker
Top Photo: Jane Littmann