Message from Bishop Gronberg
Partners in Mission:
This coming Sunday is the Feast of Pentecost. This is sometimes been called the “Birthday of the Church.” When I was a kid we often had birthday cake after worship to celebrate. While the focus of course was the sending of God’s people into the world to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, I really liked the cake!
The rush of the spirit in Jerusalem reminds us that the church is not sent to one place, to one nation. The church is for all regardless of language, ethnicity, nation. This is why Christian Nationalism is a heresy. Claiming that one nation or one people are specifically chosen or blessed by the Holy Spirit is completely contrary to the scriptural witness of what God did on Pentecost. And denies our unity is in baptism.
In NT-NL we live this our in many ways through our various ministries. On Sundays in our synod we worship in English, Spanish, and Swahili. In Sierra Leone our partners in West Africa worship in English and Krio. as well as communicate in Mende, Temne, and many other local dialects. In previous years in NT-NL we also worshipped in other languages and in our territory and we know there are many other languages being spoken. Pentecost puts a challenge to us that we are called to discern how we can find ways to be witnesses to the good news and communicate in those languages.
These weeks of May are some of my favorite as I am in the midst of three consecutive weekends of 1st Communions and Confirmations at three of our Conferencia Latina congregations. Last weekend I was at Iglesia Luterana Santa Maria de Guadalupe as we confirmed and communed 21 young people. These services are examples of the spirit’s outpouring and our multilingual reality. While Spanish is the primary language of the service the young people live in a multilingual world. So we mix Spanish and English together in a beautiful spirit led worship that praises God and reminds us baptism, not nation or language, is our unity.
So as you celebrate this Pentecost day I pray you will rejoice in the diversity of our church and our world. So happy birthday church!
Juntos en mision,
Bishop Gronberg
NT-NL WELCA May Newsletter
Featured Resources for May
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Where in the world is?
NT-NL synod staff are excited to engage in-person on Sundays for worship. As good stewards of time and travel dollars, we will be utilizing online meeting formats in our new hybrid reality when possible. If you would like to schedule a meeting with the bishop or Synod staff please contact them directly.
Bishop Gronberg:
May 16-19: Wartburg Seminary Board of Directors
May 23: First Communions/Confirmations, First Sagrada Familia, Garland
Mary 24: Affirmation of Baptism, Trinity, Fort Worth
May 30: First Communions/Confirmations, San Gabriel, Alvarado
Pastora Bañales:
May 19: Community Project, East Dallas
May 19: Conferencia Latina and Solace AI Meeting
May 21: NT-NL DEM Advisory Team Meeting
May 31: First Communion and Confirmations, Adviento, Arlington
Pastor Fitting-Snyder:
May 17: Good Shepherd, Irving
May 24: Covenant, Temple
June 7: Faith, Flower Mound
June 14: Our Saviour’s, Durant
June 21: Immanuel, Killeen
July 6 – 11 Rostered Ministers Gathering and Assistant’s to Bishop Gathering, Indianapolis
July 18: NTNL Candidacy
July 19 Faith, Flower Mound
Upcoming Events
With the ever-changing guidelines and recommendations in our world right now, as we maintain physical distance in social solidarity, please keep in mind these events may be moved online, postponed, or cancelled:
- May 21: NT-NL Youth Leader Lunch, Rejoice, Coppell
- June 13: Public Witness Team Meeting
Access our full online Calendar here. Updates made regularly.
Do you have news or announcements to share? Please submit to office@ntnl.org for consideration for upcoming editions of our weekly news.