January 2018Volume 9, Issue 1 • Newsletter

A newsletter of LCMS Rural & Small Town Mission

Reaching Rural America for Christ

Servant Leadership

Please Pray for These Important Dates

Jan. 18 - Webinar “Pastor As Community Leader” with the Rev. Todd Kollbaum, director, RSTM 1–2 p.m. CST

Feb. 10 Engaging the Wandering Event Rapid City, S.D., with the LCMS South Dakota District 9 a.m.–3 p.m. CST

March 15 - Webinar “Working Partnerships: Dual/Multi Parishes” with the Rev. Richard Boring, LCMS Nebraska District 1–2 p.m. CST

If you have an idea or story for Rural Outreach, contact Amy at the RSTM office.

Phone: 888-463-5127 Email: amy.gerdts@lcms.org

© 2018 LCMS

Our “Life Together”• To follow the core beliefs of

the LCMS• To equip rural professional and

lay leaders• To support congregations in

community engagement

Remember: RSTM is eligible for Thrivent Choice Dollars!

PHOTOS: ISTOCKPHOTO, LCMS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD Reaching Rural America for Christ 1

Don’t forget: RSTM provides free monthly webinars on topics important to congrega-tions in town and country settings. Up next is Pastor As Community Leader with the Rev. Todd Kollbaum, director, RSTM, on Jan. 18, followed by Children’s Midweek Program Ideas in February.

Past webinars are in the webinar archive on our website as a free resource for use when you need it. Register for our Engaging Your Community and our

Engaging the Wandering events at lcms.org/rstm, where you can also see our full calendar.

Check out the details from last year's RSTM National Conference at lcms.org/rstm/conference. Contact our office at 888-463-5127 or rstm@lcms.org.

RSTM Events Update

Much can be said of the servant leadership role of the pastor in a rural

and small-town congregation. To be sure, he must often, as Paul puts it, “become all things to all people, that by all means [he] might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22). However, one must balance all of the things he is called to do and still maintain his own health and sanity. Congregations and their leaders must also be aware of this and “get on board” as it were so that all might work together for the benefit of the Kingdom!

In a recent class on missionary leadership, the instructor stated, “Leadership is not about how you handle people but how you handle yourself.” How can we as pastors and congregational leaders best handle ourselves in order to make an impact in the commu-nity to which we have been called? Dr. J. Robert Clinton of Fuller Theological Seminary defined leadership as:

• a God-given capacity and

• a God-given responsibility

• to influence specific groups

• towards God’s purposes.

(continued on page 2)

“And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.” ACTS 16:13

The Rev. Dr. Heath Trampe colors with a child following worship at Faith Lutheran Church, York, Neb.

2 Reaching Rural America for Christ | January 2018

LCMS Rural & Small Town Mission supports and encourages rural and small-town congregations in engaging their communities and growing together in Christ through Word and Sacrament.

Learn more about RSTM at lcms.org/rstm or by calling Amy at 888-463-5127. “Like” us on our Facebook page at facebook.com/lcmsrstm.

Click the Give Now button to support the work of RSTM.

So, perhaps a better question would be how can we use the talents and abilities that God has given us to influence the groups within which He places us for His purpose of sharing the Good News of salvation in Christ?

Practically speaking, a good leader in the church must be where the people are. The ever-increasing demands for the time of our pastors, leaders and church members make this a difficult situation. So, for a difficult situation, perhaps the best answer is a simple one: Make the best use of the time and situations that are already a part of your life, and add in those things which make the most sense for the season in which you find yourself. This simply can’t happen only behind a desk and a closed study door or in front of a computer screen. There certainly must be some of that, but that cannot make up the sum total of your ministry. Perhaps more simply put, the people by and large will not just come to you. You must go to where the people are to be found, as St. Paul tells us in Acts 16. Here, we have an opportunity to set the stage, engage the culture and reach the people.

Perhaps there is a ministerial alliance or the possibility to partner with other Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod con-gregations in your area to engage in acts of mercy or charity. Food and clothing pantries, indigent assistance, meals on wheels and other philanthropic endeavors are excellent ways to engage your commu-nity without sacrificing the mission and ministry of the congregation.

Another great opportunity is to involve yourself with local service organizations. Events such as community cleanup days and local celebrations are often simple ways we can have a presence in the community in order to make and foster relationships through which the Gospel might be shared.

A third option, and perhaps one of the best, is to have a connection with the local school or schools. Students are so often drawn away from church by so many activities. Being a part of the system helps your voice to be heard, not to mention the great sense of community pride rural and small towns often have for their schools. Supporting this in a healthy way allows you to model the Christian life for others.

While this list is just a start and is certainly not exhaustive, I encourage you to be bold and creative. And while it is true that Paul said he became all things to all people, he didn’t do that all at once. Even St. Paul engaged people where they were based on the time and place in which he found himself. Furthermore, re-member that a little goes a long way. Sometimes just a quick visit or drop-in is enough. At times, a note, a call or even a text (social media isn’t all bad) is just the thing we need to do to connect at critical

Servant Leadership (continued from page 1)

PHOTOS: LCMS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD

times in order to be the leaders we are called to be.

Finally, brothers, none of this is pos-sible without consistently being in God’s

Word and prayer. Apart from these things, the others are simply activi-ties which anyone can endeavor to do. The more time with God becomes a part of our daily lives, the more God’s Word will

become a part of everything about us, and those ways in which we demonstrate our servant leadership will have that Word as their very character.

“Make the best use of the time and situations that are already a part of your life, and add in those things which make the most sense for the season in

which you find yourself.”

Clockwise from top left: (L-R) Sweet Rose and Arnie Suan chat with Barb Erickson in the boutique of the Iowa Life Care Clinic in Creston, Iowa; Student Bennett Shane helps make blankets for Christian care kits at Martin Luther High School in Northrop, Minn; Paul Turpin, a veteran, works with fellow members of Trinity Lutheran Church, Grangeville, Idaho, to erect the TLC4Vets outreach tent at the local Independence Day celebration.