Join congregations, schools, and individuals across the Missouri District in praying together each month. Our monthly prayer calendar follows the priorities of the Missouri District Strategic Plan, including prayers for God to send out laborers into the harvest field, as well as for congregations, schools, and seminaries.
Living as citizens of two kingdoms
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the church! One of the key tenets of Lutheran theology is that individual Christians are citizens of two kingdoms, the “right-hand kingdom” of the church and the “left-hand kingdom” of the state. God works...
Christ gives gifts to His Church
When we speak about ministry in the Church, it is easy to begin with ourselves—our abilities, our responsibilities, our programs, our plans, and sometimes even our frustrations. But Paul begins somewhere entirely different. He begins with Christ: “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,”...
The God Who Is Able
When Rev. Dr. Alvin L. Barry, 10th president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, died in office March 23, 2001, Dean David Smith preached his funeral sermon under the title, “The God Who Is Able.” The text was Jude 24: “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling...
The dead can only stink…
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,” (Eph. 2:1–2a ESV). Paul does not say that we were spiritually sick. He does not say we were weak, wounded, confused, or merely in need of a little assistance. He says we were dead. And what...