Happy New Year! But why stop there?
“And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new!’” (Revelation 21:5)
Your Heavenly Father and mine gives not just a clean start but a clean heart. Jesus the Savior brings a whole new life instead of only a new calendar. Almighty God has forgiven our every mistake and all of our failures—in 2015, and before, and forever. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). Our salvation “is nearer to us now”—in 2016—“than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11)! We are “waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). “But our citizenship is in heaven” already! (Philippians 3:20)
But this New Year also increases urgency. Even as you rejoice with me, this world in its present form is passing away (1 Corinthians 7:31). I believe you would agree the last 12 months have witnessed a worsening of Satan’s lies, sinful human selfishness, and death at its most demonic:
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The state of California hastily legislated physician-assisted suicide despite widespread and passionate objections from medical professionals, legal experts, public officials, disability rights groups, and organizations advocating for the elderly.
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A series of high-profile, undercover videos revealed abortion providers and biotech executives negotiating the harvest and sale of remains from aborted unborn children, and the public responded by discounting the accuracy of the videos or by attacking opponents and denying the violent reality of the industry.
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The Supreme Court’s decision favoring same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges and an Olympic athlete born male but identifying as female left the culture confused about the relationship between body and life.
These events and trends cheapen the whole human race, don’t they? These actions and ideas undermine God’s generous blessing of life together. They break hearts, darken minds, and sear consciences. They threaten the well-being and survival of our neighbors, and they endanger the eternities of the ones we love—and the ones God loves as His children.
Lutherans For Life shines hope into these conditions. Lutherans For Life shares healing for these people. The Gospel of Jesus Christ shows the better Way, the greater Truth, and the fuller Life (John 14:6). As Lutherans For Life, we bring the uniquely Lutheran voice of Scripture, grace, and everlasting resurrection to the culture’s vital debates and society’s life-and-death decisions. We energetically and effectively equip Lutherans to be Gospel-motivated voices For Life. And, through you and me, the Lord does not fail to touch hearts, save lives, and change the world.
I want this joy to be yours! God Himself rejoices in life! He desires nothing more than for you and me to have the same joy that He has. That’s why I’m asking for your financial support and your partnership. With your special financial gift, you will not only witness firsthand the miracles of the Author of Life, you will personally take part in the faith-giving, salvation-making ministry He Himself is carrying out.
Consider Lutherans For Life another invitation from Jesus to join Him in calling all the precious souls He has lovingly created and painstakingly redeemed to be His own (Isaiah 43:1). Gifts of every amount directly fund delivering this Word through printed resources, in-person presentations, and caring relationships.
Multiplied Returns
God guarantees these seeds success. “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose” (Isaiah 55:11). By teaming up with Lutherans For Life, you’ll gather joy alongside the Lord in these abundant harvests:
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Word of Hope is Lutherans For Life’s 24-hour, confidential, post-abortion counseling hotline (888.217.8679; www.word-of-hope.org). For more than 20 years—and nearly 250 calls a month—Grace Kern, and the other professionals at Word of Hope, have walked beside hurting individuals to ease their abortion regrets and pregnancy concerns with Gospel-healing. It means so much to one enlisted serviceperson that, after her months of talks with Grace, she has been encouraging fellow soldiers with worries like hers to call—not just on her base but on others around the country too.
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Owen’s Mission is our ambitious initiative to present Touch of Life fetal models and teaching materials to all 1,078 Lutheran elementary and high schools in the United States. Over 16,000 students so far have seen and felt how our Creator knit them together in their mothers’ wombs (Psalm 139:13), including Immanuel Lutheran School in Washington, Missouri, just a few weeks ago. Preschoolers cradled the four models (showing unborn babies at 12, 16, 22, and 26 weeks). A seventh-grade girl exclaimed, “I never realized we were so heavy!” Her male classmate added, “And so soft!” It’s curing the culture and securing the future. “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
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Life Teams offer life-affirming awareness and activism in congregations and communities. Lutherans For Life is improving and customizing the Life Teams strategy to offer an even more distinctively Lutheran equipping process. Some 100 Life Teams are currently working across the nation. Along with our Chapters, these are Lutherans For Life’s “front lines,” putting the Gospel’s For Life message into practical motion. (One of our Life Team Leaders recently told me, “I can’t wait to help other churches in our area start their own Life Teams!”)
You are helping accomplish all this with your gift! You reach just as many people and make just as much possible as any of our staff, board, members, or volunteers! And through your gift you accompany us in numerous other uplifting undertakings:
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our widely-circulated quarterly journal, LifeDate
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our extensive selection of brochures, booklets, and bulletin inserts
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our celebrated Life Sunday sermons, services, and Bible studies
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our website’s exhaustive collection of articles, audio, and video
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and more than I have space or time to itemize!
An Exciting Time!
Being Gospel-motivated voices For Life is really getting good. Lutherans For Life is celebrating our 38th year of activity in 2016, and it’s already shaping up as the best one yet! Serving as your new Executive Director, I thank and praise our Lord and Savior for the momentum Dr. James Lamb’s decades of leadership and service have given us. The heart of our ministry and our message is beating stronger now than ever with the Gospel he has proclaimed and embodied. Please join me in these celebrations that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has brought us:
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The fewest annual abortions in the United States since 1990 (but still far too many)
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Communist China relaxing its one-child policy often enforced by abortion and sterilization
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The current generation of young adults, who are raising children and occupying positions of social influence, are more for-life than their parents’ generation—and more vocal and active about it
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Hundreds of life-affirming laws passed in dozens of states in just five years
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Increased media attention to life matters, such as assisted-suicide bills and Planned Parenthood’s practices, offers broader audience and additional Gospel opportunities
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Number of abortion providers and facilities continues to decline nationwide
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Some 400 attendees at Lutherans For Life’s annual conference in October
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LFL not only strengthening cooperation with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (as a Recognized Service Organization) but also developing closer relationships with life-minded congregations of the North American Lutheran Church, Lutheran Churches in Mission for Christ, American Association of Lutheran Churches, Association of Free Lutheran Congregations, the Church of the Lutheran Brethren, and international partners in Latvia and India
I hope you’ll give generously and take advantage of this opportune time with us!
Most of all, I ask for your ongoing fellowship. Please fund Lutherans For Life as your own, but also be Lutherans For Life and do Lutherans For Life with me, in your conversations and your relationships. Remember our mission in prayer. Mention us to your congregation and your neighbors. Call or e-mail us with your questions and stories. Our website, www.lutheransforlife.org, outlines hundreds of other ways to be Gospel-motivated voices For Life (including over 200 practical suggestions in the free downloadable booklet, How You Can “Speak,” also available inexpensively pre-printed at www.cph.org – Item LFL 100B).
Thank you for your gift, your support, and your partnership! All the hearts reached and touched through your contribution—those in need of Christ’s love, God’s forgiveness, Scripture’s truth, and the Christian Church’s strength right now—will thank you themselves in the kingdom to come.
We especially appreciate our monthly sponsors and the members of our Abundant Life Giving Society ($1,000 or more per year)!