“Now you, my friends, are children of promise . . .”
–Galatians 4:28
I sat in chapel last month listening to a wonderful sermon based on the first chapter of 2 Corinthians. I reached for the pew Bible to check the exact wording and discovered–to my surprise and delight–that there were no Bibles in the pew. NONE! And the pew in front of me had only one black Bible sticking out of its underside. This was good news!
Last year, new Bibles were placed into the pews of the seminary chapel by donors David and Andrea Hayes. We’ve challenged our community every week to use these Bibles in chapel, then take them to give away to people who need the Word of God.
Our students and faculty are giving away our Bibles–Hallelujah! How many? During the last six months, 190 Bibles have been given away. And 150 Bibles were given away last semester! Evangelism is alive and well at Luther Seminary!
As “children of the promise,” you might say that Luther Seminary is a community of promise. In fact, we are a school that lives off promises; promises made, promises believed, promises passed on and promises kept. When we learn to give away the Word of God, we are promise keepers; that is, we are striving with God’s help to participate in God’s mission.
The key to this Bible giveaway is this: We want to be a seminary that educates leaders to effectively and faithfully give away the Word of God. We do this in many different ways. In the present Strategic Plan, we make a promise to educate more and better prepared leaders for a time of mission. One of the key components of such a promise is the commitment to the Word of God. One fundamental objective of our curriculum is not only that students “learn the story,” but that they learn how to give away the story.
That’s our promise! By the way, the Bibles in the pew I was sitting in have been replaced. I’m looking forward to sitting there soon and finding out they’re missing once again!