Amidst Talks of Decline . . . “The Lord Added to their Number those who were being Saved…” Acts 2:47

By Richard Beinert

St. Luke records in the book of Acts how the Lord continued to bring new people into the Body of the Church in the aftermath of the original Pentecost.  Sometimes this was in large numbers, as we read in Acts chapter 2, at other times it was one person at a time, as Luke retells, in the account of the Ethiopian Eunuch from Acts chapter 8.  Both are equally as precious, as the Holy Spirit gathers new believers to our Saviour through the waters of Holy Baptism.  We often forget, however, that the same Triune God continues to work in our midst even today – sometimes in surprising ways that humble us—even from different “tribes, peoples, and languages” Revelation 7:9.

Many Families Become One Family in Christ

This past Easter, we were privileged to receive nine new people into our congregation: eight through the waters of Baptism—two of whom were confirmed that day, and another through Adult Confirmation. The youngest was six months old and the oldest was in her thirties.  We are reminded of accounts from Acts of whole families being received into the Church – and this still happens today – as these nine individuals represent people from four different families. Only one was the child of an established Church family.  The others came to us through various means.  One, as the girlfriend of a young man who became Christian from a non-Christian family background.  Another family came to us looking for a Church ‘with tradition’ in order to seek out baptism for their toddler son – both son and mother were baptized that day.  The father, already baptized, was received together with his bride through Adult Confirmation.  The other family is a mother with her three children – reflective of Lydia in in Acts 16 – who was prompted to get back to Church after many years away.  She was planning on visiting the Church down the street but happened to walk by as some of our members were entering the building for morning worship.  They greeted her and she came.  She has missed only one service (including the full cycle of Lenten & Easter services) since she started attending.  She and her two oldest children will be starting Adult Confirmation beginning in May; her youngest comes regularly to Sunday School now.

Different Peoples, Different Languages, One Direction à Christ

This follows an interesting up-tick in new Church attenders over the past several months.  Since December (not counting this group), we have received eight new people into the fellowship of our Church – some returning after years away from their Lutheran roots; others, through Holy Baptism & Catechism instruction, with a handful more that are beginning to just come – apparently out of nowhere; some of which are Mandarin speakers, who Catechized with an English/Chinese Catechism text.

Certainly the ‘nowhere’ comment isn’t quite accurate.  Some have had connections with a Christian Church in the past and are searching for some spiritual substance in a world which has gone awry.  We welcome them as the Lord draws them back to Himself.  Others, through connections with Church members, build up the courage to come and check us out.  There are others still, where I can’t trace what the connection might be – perhaps through our online materials – perhaps something completely different.  But the Lord knows – and we rejoice to see them return. Our challenge is to keep up with what the Holy Spirit is doing so that we “put no obstacle in anyone’s way” (2 Corinthians 6:3) but work to receive them through the means that Jesus has given.  In the meantime, we rejoice in the labour by which we have been called to be co-workers with our Lord as we welcome them in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Rev. Dr. Richard Beinert pastors St. James Lutheran Church. He holds a PhD in Historical Theology and a BA (Honours) in Linguistics. Consequently, he has worked with Deaf communities, and pastors coming through the PAT programs, specifically from different cultural and language groups (the Oromo and Anywuaa communities). 

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