Annual Report - Lutheran Services in America

Welcome
A God More Invites Trustworthy Us to Look World Ahead
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not
for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
The western Christian church is in the
midst of the penitential season of Lent, with
an eye and hopeful heart looking toward
Easter. God calls us to repentance because we,
like Israel, are all too aware that our suffering,
brokenness and captivity are the result of sin.
More importantly, God invites us to look ahead
to the Resurrection of the Lamb who has taken
away the sin of the world.
Sin, suffering, and death do not get the
final word. God does. This Gospel shapes a
different future for us. It is a future and a hope
that is visible and real.
How can you say no to that?
Shape the Future
This Gospel calls and moves the Body
of Christ to shape the future for a world that
knows no blessed future and has no lasting
hope. As God gives to us, we extend tangible
expressions of God’s hope and mercy. It is
a mercy that is clear about why Lutheran
congregations and health and human
service organizations are engaged within
communities, working neighbor to neighbor
with those in need of food, clothing, safe
housing and neighborhoods, health care,
senior residential care, counseling and so much
more.
Limitless Opportunities for Mercy
Just as Psalm 36 declares that the
mercy of God knows no limits, our service in
communities shows us limitless opportunities
for mercy. Every community that receives
visible and real expressions of His mercy in
Word and Sacrament ministry and in love for
one’s neighbor has a future and a hope. These
are the plans of God.
Holy Work
Together, we are called to shape the
future as we dream dreams and see visions
of wholeness and life. Called by one Lord,
through one faith, in one baptism, Lutheran
Services in America, the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, and The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod through their collective 300
plus health and human service organizations
do a holy work, blessed by God, whose impact
will extend well into the future.
Thanks be to God that we are blessed to
be part of these plans!
Lutheran social ministry
organizations live out their
Lutheran identities.
“... 300 plus health and human service organizations
do a holy work, blessed by God, whose impact will
extend well into the future.”
Together in
the Spirit
Rev. John A. Fale is the Interim Executive Director of LCMS World
Relief and Human Care. Previously he also served as Associate
Executive Director and as Director of Ministries in chaplaincy,
pastoral counseling, and clinical education. He is a board
certified chaplain by the Association of Professional Chaplains,
a certified Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral
Counselors, and a Nebraska licensed mental health practitioner.
Rev. Fale also serves as a co-editor of Mercy Works, an LCMS
World Relief and Human Care journal. He is a current member
of the LSA Board of Directors.
April 2012 | Together
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