Kingdom work

Saying goodbye is a part of our ministry. Our congregation ministers to members of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division and saying goodbye is a part of military life. I’ve had to do it 59 times over the past six years. 59 individuals have come to Redemption and have departed. Families come, stay for two to four years, and then they go to their next duty station. They come to be fed with the Word, and in the process I learn to love them, to rejoice with them, and to carry hardships along side them. Though saying goodbye is a part of this ministry, it hasn’t become any easier in the past six years. It still hurts every time.

As much as it hurts to say goodbye, I have to also remember that the transient nature of military life has also granted me some of the sweetest moments in my ministry. It was a military family who came to us while we were still worshiping in a conference center. They had been looking for a church online and came across our website and watched two separate videos on David and Ruth. They liked what they heard, so they came.

In spite of the fluorescent lighting inside and in spite of the portable worship space, in spite of the odd location of the conference center and in spite of the family passing multiple churches on their way, the gospel did its work on them and they kept coming. One Sunday I baptized four of their children. Another Sunday we celebrated two adult confirmations.

These are the moments when I have to remember that ministry is not about me. It is not about what I feel, rather it is about the work of the kingdom. Our congregation has to keep the work of the greater kingdom in view. While families are here we work to equip them for service as best as we can with the gospel of salvation. We strive to make our congregation a nexus for equipping individuals for wherever military life may take them.

The military family who came when we were worshiping in the conference center doesn’t live here anymore. They are over 1,500 miles away doing the work of the kingdom. In their new congregation, the husband stepped into the position of church president. He gave me a call a while back, “We want to run some outreach events,” he said, “I just wanted to pick your brain.” That’s the work of the kingdom.

When they lived here I confirmed two of their children that I had baptized. One of those young men would faithfully usher while he was here. He even spent one of his school breaks to build some book shelves for our church. This coming fall that young man will attend Martin Luther College to begin his studies for the pastoral ministry. That’s the work of the kingdom.

The work in Watertown is not about me, and it’s not even really about Redemption Lutheran Church. It’s about the kingdom of God. It’s about equipping the Saints for works of service wherever the Lord may take them. It’s about preaching the Word and planting it in the home so that families can be assured of God’s love for them wherever they find themselves. It’s about raising a new generation of missionaries who take on the work of the kingdom.

In a sense, saying goodbye is a good thing. Families come, but they leave equipped with the Word. That means that our work here is being multiplied across the country as families take the Word planted in them wherever they go.

Written by Pastor Aaron Goetzinger, Redemption Lutheran Church in Watertown, N.Y.

 

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