"PASTORAL THEOLOGY & PRACTICE" PROF. HAROLD SENKBEIL & DR. RICHARD WARNECK CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY: CAPTION FIRST, INC. P.O. BOX 1924 Lombard, IL 60148 1-800-825-7234 * * * * * This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in Order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings * * * * * >> JOSH: There aren't a lot of churches out here in Wyoming, but every now and then we all get asked to become involved in community causes. What is a proper Lutheran approach when it comes to community affairs? What can we as a congregation do? What can I counsel congregation members to feel comfortable doing? >> Great question, Josh, because especially in a sparsely populated area like you're in, the reputation of a congregation is going to be clearly visible on the part of all the outsiders, those who are not members. And so the way you interact with the community affairs is going to be very visible. It really, I would say, is part of the extension of your evangelism and your outreach in those communities which have, among them, even though they're sparsely populated, quite a number of unchurched people. So you want to take a prominent role. You don't want to sit on the side lines when you're being asked to participate in the community affairs. Now, as you know, we've already talked about church fellowship issues. We must make a distinction, however, between those things which belong to the essence of the church, the marks of the church, namely the proclamation of the word and the administration of the sacraments, in other words, public church services no matter where they occur; and on the other hand, works of Christian charity and Christian love. The fathers in our church call this cooperation in externals. The internals, the essentials, are the marks of the church: The word and the sacraments. The externals, those works of Christian charity and love, are what flow from these internal things, from these core things. So when it comes to Christian charity and compassion, certainly our congregations would want to be part of these things. If there's an effort, for example, in your community to address drug abuse or to care for the needy, I think our congregations, our Lutheran congregations would want to be right there in the forefront participating in them. We want to be good neighbors in every way that we can so that the Gospel has a good reputation, that the Lutheran proclamation of the truth of the Word of God could be clearly heard by those who are observing the kinds of works of Christian faith and charity that we're exhibiting there in the community. So definitely I think there's a place for such kind of activity. And I would encourage members of my congregation also to volunteer their time in participating with such public service opportunities. * * * * * This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in Order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings * * * * *