A Note from Pastor

 The Apostle Paul wrote, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”  (Philippians 1:3-5)
    These are the theme verses for the upcoming District Convention to be held at Camp Okoboji from June 26 through June 28.  What is filling the apostle with joy and thankfulness is the “koinonia” or partnership the Church shares in unity of faith and doctrine in the “Good News” of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. 
    Knowing the Church is always under assault from within and without, we too should continually thank God for our participation in the Gospel and pray for unity among us. Since its beginning 175 years ago, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) has enjoyed a significant amount of unity in the pure doctrine of God’s Word as taught in our Lutheran Confessions.  This unity predates our synod by over 250 years as the preface to the Book of Concord shows, 
   “To us, indeed, nothing could happen, either more agreeable, or which, we would judge, should be sought for more earnestly and prayerfully from Almighty God, than that both our churches and our schools should have persevered in the pure doctrine of God’s Word and in that longed-for and godly unanimity of mind, and, as was the case while Luther was still alive, that they should have been regulated according to the rule of the divine Word, and handed down to posterity in a godly and excellent way.”  
    Indeed, we give thanks to God for this and pray God would continue to preserve His church in “koinonia” with Him and with each other.