Ablaze!

What is Ablaze!?
Ablaze! began as a vision of LCMS World Mission to involve every member of the LCMS, its partner church bodies and partner mission agencies in one focused and concentrated effort to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those who do not yet know him. By joining together in this effort, not only would those who hear and receive the message of salvation in Christ be transformed by it and brought into the body of Christ, but our own church bodies, mission organizations and congregations would be strengthened as members grow in discipleship through mission involvement. Additionally, all our Lutheran resources would be strategically coordinated, so that more can be accomplished in mission to the glory and honor of our God. It was the desire of LCMS World Mission to give this vision away—to ignite a spark that would become a mission movement of individuals, groups, congregations, etc., all committed to the goal of reaching 100 million unreached and uncommitted people with the Gospel by 2017, which is the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation.

LCMS World Mission Purpose Statement
Praying to the Lord of the Harvest, LCMS World Mission, in collaboration with its North American and worldwide partners, will share the Good News of Jesus with 100 million unreached or uncommitted people by the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.
LCMS World Mission adopted this new purpose statement in 2002 for the following 15 years to direct the mission effort entrusted to the organization by the Synod in its bylaws. Under the larger umbrella of the Ablaze! movement, it emphasizes four core components of the way LCMS World Mission approaches our Lord’s Great Commission task.

Prayer
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. (Psalm 2:8)
The purpose statement of LCMS World Mission intentionally begins with prayer. Truly, prayer is most important in any effort to share the Good News of Jesus with others for whom Christ Jesus died, for our Lord says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matt. 7:7) 

Partnership
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil. 1:4-6)

There are a growing number of Lutheran mission societies, such as Lutheran Bible Translators, People Of the Book Lutheran Outreach and Lutheran Heritage Foundation, which are involved in mission work throughout the world. These partners often work with LCMS missionaries, as well as our partner churches. LCMS World Mission desires to build strategic partnerships with entities such as these, so that our total LCMS resources can be used in the most efficient and effective ways possible.

Of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s 28 partner churches, the origins of 16 are connected with LCMS mission work. We humbly stand before our God as a church body, praising Him for using the LCMS to start Lutheran churches, many of which have also commissioned and sent out missionaries to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who have not yet heard. We desire to strengthen our partnership with these national churches, and with the approximately 30 additional emerging and established Lutheran church bodies in other countries in which the LCMS is involved in mission work, to serve these bodies in the most appropriate ways and to continue to work with them to build capacity for the mission endeavor, so that all the peoples of the earth might believe on the name of Jesus and be saved.

Proclamation
Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. (Matt. 13:8)Sharing the Good News of Jesus is at the heart of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20a.) These were among the last words Jesus spoke before He ascended to heaven. As Lutherans, God has given us a great doctrine/understanding of His Word as related to the means of grace.

We believe that conversion takes place through the power of the Holy Spirit, using God’s Word and the Sacraments. God has called each of us to mission involvement through our own conversion as His redeemed, forgiven people. We now have the privilege of sharing the Good News of Jesus with others.
LCMS World Mission places strong emphasis on witnessing to “unreached” or “uncommitted” people—those who are not already believers in Jesus Christ.  

• “Unreached” people are those who have never heard a clear message in the name of Jesus. The Middle East, Asia, Africa, India, China and the former Soviet nations are still home to many unreached people who have never had access to the Good News of Jesus.

• “Uncommitted” is a term used for people who have been exposed to the Word, who have had an opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus, but who no longer have faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. “Uncommitted” people live mainly in such areas as Europe, Australia, North America and South America.

The figure of 100 million was chosen intentionally after much research, prayer and deliberation with our missionaries and mission partners. In our Lutheran understanding of conversion, God does the work of converting the unbelieving heart through His Holy Spirit. By setting this goal we are not limiting the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit will determine how many people will be touched by the Gospel through our efforts, but we will be faithful sowers of the seed and will hold ourselves accountable to sowing the seed of the Gospel in the hearts of 100 million people in North America and around the world.

Reformation
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Rom 12:2a)

One of the outcomes of the Reformation was the rediscovery that God’s grace is offered freely to all people through the Word and Sacraments. We have a precious message to share!

In the past, Lutherans have frequently celebrated significant church anniversaries by publishing a new book on the Reformation or the Confessions. As a church body that grew out of the Reformation, what better way is there to mark a historic anniversary in our Lutheran heritage, than to bring together Lutheran churches around the world to celebrate God’s blessings through sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with people who do not yet know Him?

Ablaze!
“They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’ They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, ‘It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon’”—Luke 24:32-34.

The vision of igniting a worldwide Lutheran mission movement to share the Gospel with 100 million people is expressed by the word, Ablaze! LCMS World Mission’s goal is to ignite a movement that will change the culture of our Lutheran church bodies to be one in which every member is fully engaged in personal mission involvement through the Seven Mission Responses: Go, Pray, Learn, Give, Tell, Send and Celebrate. While this is the expressed vision of LCMS World Mission, it is the organization’s intention to give this vision away, because it is God’s desire that all people be saved, and He has called all His children to participate in the task! This is a “Quantum Leap” forward in how we approach doing the work of the Lord’s mission.

Ablaze! is not a program or a campaign. It began as a mission vision with the hope of starting a mission movement. Each participating congregation, group, mission society, partner church, individual, etc. is challenged to pray about its own particular situation and the part of the mission endeavor it can impact and to design its own strategy to contribute to reaching 100 million people. LCMS World Mission is asking the church to develop mission models that work and can be shared with others. Ablaze! is not an answer…it’s an invitation!