ELCA Missionary Reveals That Her Job is Not to Convert Anyone to Christ

10/23/2013

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America promotes that everyone, worldwide, is saved by grace. This theological position flies in the face of sound Biblical teaching. That's why you will not hear ELCA leadership respond to the question, “What must I do to be saved?” with a Biblical answer like “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31) or “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38).

This false understanding of salvation for all plays out clearly through the ELCA's policy for the very small number of missionaries that they send out. ELCA missionary Rev. Angela Zimmann lets everyone know what her job is NOT as a missionary of the church. She writes,

“My job as a missionary in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is not to convert anyone to anything. The 'accompaniment model' for missionary work, to which we subscribe, is defined as walking together in solidarity, practicing interdependence and mutuality.” (read here)

Jesus said, "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 27:19). Yet in complete opposition to the Prince of Peace, an official website of the ELCA churchwide published an article whose author clearly states,

“I usually associate evangelism with an effort to convert nonbelievers to Christianity, something that makes me very uncomfortable. Too often the desire to bring about conversions grows out of a belief that nonbelievers need to be 'saved' from eternal damnation by adopting the Christian faith.

To the extent that evangelism is about 'saving souls,' I want nothing to do with it.

I approach matters of faith and belief with humility, unwilling to assert the superiority of my own religious beliefs over those of others.” (read here)

Can it be true? The ELCA and its missionaries do not seek to bring anyone to knowledge of God and faith in Jesus? There is no doubt. The ELCA once again admits it on their website Living Lutheran -

“Today, missionaries with the ELCA serve in 48 countries. . .Most missionaries from Europe and North America are now lay people with special expertise, rather than clergy intent on conversion.” (read here)

I imagine that the enemy of God is very happy that the ELCA does not seek to save anyone who does not know Christ as Lord and Savior. So if ELCA missionaries and ELCA leaders are not interested in bringing the lost to Jesus, then what is the point?

7 Comments

Dianna Knutson

10/23/2013 09:50:58 am

"I approach matters of faith and belief with humility, unwilling to assert the superiority of my own religious beliefs over those of others.”

If you can't bring yourself to spread the Gospel of Christ, which is that the only way to be saved is to believe in Christ and follow his teachings, then you are NOT a Christian!

Anyone who does not believe in Christ, does not believe that the Bible is the true and perfect word of God, please DO NOT call yourself a Christian. True Christians believe in and follow the New Testament. True Christians believe that they were sent into the world to bring the world to salvation through Christ.

Leslie Bartlett

10/23/2013 03:23:21 pm

First paragraph makes a position statement. Second paragraph flaty contradicts the point of the first.

F. Steve Malloy link

10/23/2013 12:35:44 pm

The "Social Justice" [false] Gospel reigns supreme in today's ELCA; Rev. Zimmann's perspective is certainly a far cry from the hard work & sacrifice of the Confessional Augustana Missionaries of the 1930s thru the 1970s.

Chuck Braun

10/24/2013 12:29:45 am

The liberal mainline Protestant churches have had seminary professors and theologians who denied the Divinity and the miracles of Christ's Incarnation, Virgin Birth, Penal Substitutionary Atonement and Resurrection for years. Finally in the 1960's, their false views began to be made open and eventually tolerated by the laity. So in essence, the ELCA theology has reduced Jesus from being the Christ who brings eternal life through His death and Resurrection to simply being a nice man who was a passionate advocate for social reform.

That begs the question: Why would the Disciples and the first Christians give their very lives for claiming Jesus to be the resurrected Savior if He was merely a dead social reformer? Mere social reform could have been advocated for without asking people to change their belief systems from Judaism or paganism to Christianity. The early Church was driven neither by a desire for money, power, land or social status as they spread the Gospel. It is ludicrous to believe that these brave early Christians would defend a dead social reformer as the divine, risen Savior to their peril.

So the ELCA advocates what passes for justice and mercy? How are support and promotion of Islam, a faith which suppresses its women and has factions who desire to wipe Christianity off the map, and the support of the slaughter of the unborn, in any way standing for justice or mercy?

Countless thousands died defending the faith, so that Rev. Zimmann could be saved. And yet this very faith in Jesus Christ is an embarrassment for her to tell anyone about, lest they be offended, especially as an ordained pastor?

Obviously, the ELCA now denies that Jesus is come in the flesh as the Christ. And according to St. Paul, that makes the ELCA antichristic. Small wonder an ELCA pastor denied the Book of Revelation as prophecy, pooh-poohing the whole idea of there being a final Antichrist. Christian eschatology does make it clear that there will be a great falling away from the faith in the last days. It's not for us to know when Christ will return, but the current state of the Church in the West seems to align quite well with prophecy.

We need to pray for this pastor and her church, that they return to the Lord their God. In her Baptism, she received salvation in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. But she's belittled the free gift of salvation and is now only leading herself and others away from their Savior. Pray that the tens of thousands of true Christians remaining in the ELCA would be awakened to the great peril to their salvation which prowls around like a hungry lion in their midst, and run from that false church of the Enemy. Kyrie eleison...

Didaskalos

10/24/2013 02:24:46 am

An ELCAnite explains his denomination's "missions" philosophy: "To the extent that evangelism is about 'saving souls,' I want nothing to do with it. I approach matters of faith and belief with humility, unwilling to assert the superiority of my own religious beliefs over those of others.”

Jesus responds: "“Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. . . I told you [Pharisees] that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins. . . I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

At least there's some consistency in the Jesus-denying ELCA. When you're preaching universalism and licentiousness, who needs missionaries? When your paramount denominational goal is to stay in the world's good graces, why would you want to incur the world's displeasure by telling them they need Jesus? For the thoroughly modern ELCA, Jesus isn't the Savior anymore. He's simply The Great Example, who shows us all how to be social activists working for trendy causes.

College professor and provost Gene Edward Veith, a confessional Lutheran, writes:

". . . legalism just isn’t the problem in the church today. Rather, churches are rife with licentiousness. Too much preaching of grace and forgiveness can encourage people to keep sinning. We need more preaching of the Law to encourage people to act morally. Actually, though, both legalism and licentiousness are different forms of self-righteousness. The legalist thinks to earn God’s favor by his rectitude. The libertine does whatever he wants with no guilt to hold him back. Both are antinomian, denying their condemnation under the Law. Both reject the Gospel because they think they don’t need it. Neither has faith."

Phil Gagnon

12/3/2013 03:13:47 am

Amen, Gene! Wouldn't they also be examples of Gnosticism as well being antinomian?

Faith

12/14/2013 01:00:21 pm

Salvation is the prerequisite to evangelism, that's why I understand the position of those who say they don't evangelize. You can't teach what you don't know.

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ELCA Missionary Reveals That Her Job is Not to Convert Anyone to Christ

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