[2] We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, [3] remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 1:2–3)
What do fellow Lutherans in sister churches say about your church? Is there silence, because they don’t know what is happening in your church? Or is it similar to what the Apostle Paul said about the Thessalonian church?
Imagine what it was like for the Thessalonian Christians when they first heard these words from Paul. He remembered their “work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” What a powerful encouragement!
There was a season when the first church I served as pastor was totally isolated. We didn’t participate in any activities with sister churches. The LCMS pastors in our area had stopped meeting together.
Then one day a member reported that a small sister church in a pastoral vacancy had been struck by lightning. Two of the congregation’s 100-year-old stained-glass windows were broken. Our leaders discretely inquired about costs for replacing the windows that were not covered by insurance. We then raised the funds to pay for the completion of repairs. A couple of our leaders delivered the check to our sister church on a Sunday morning. I figured that would be it for our relationship with the church.
However, while delivering the check, our leaders discovered the church didn’t have pulpit supply pastors much of the time. We had two pastors and two licensed deacons. Within two weeks we were helping fill the vacancy. In the vacancy we learned the church had two teenagers who needed confirmation instruction. The teenagers were brought into our confirmation classes.
Meanwhile, when our church had fellowship meals, members of our sister church started to make donations to the meal. The sister church started including our prayer requests in their worship services.
After two years the sister church was blessed with its own pastor. While we were not as directly connected after that, the churches remained mutually supportive.
I share this story because such relationships between churches is one way to model the relationship between the Thessalonians Christians and the Apostle Paul. The contact between churches can be purely social and still bear fruit in the mutual encouragement of one another.
(A Second Look devotions are written for the congregations of the Ohio District LCMS.)
Kevin Wilson 360 