Congregation Offers 50 Days Ablaze! Campaign

50 Days Ablaze!, a Mission Outreach Campaign. 

Such is the name of one church’s effort to put into action the Ablaze! focus promoted by the LCMS Board of World Missions.

Excited about the theme and intent of Ablaze, Pastor Barry Keurulainen took the initiative to develop a mission pilgrimage for his congregation, St. Luke Lutheran in Cabot, a suburb of Pittsburgh.  He worked closely with Karen Driscoll, St. Luke’s Director of Discipleship.

St. Luke offers the program to any and all who want to implement parts of it.  To date, 40 congregations are participating in the 50 Days of Adventure from Easter to Pentecost.  The campaign can be done, however, at any time of the year.

This kind of partnership between a lead congregation and synodical staff is likely to occur more often as mission initiative returns to congregations that developed synod to serve their needs.

Participation at Three Levels

The 50 Days Ablaze! Campaign  offers participation at three levels:

Individual: through the reading of each of the 50 daily devotions prepared by Pastor Keurulainen.

Group:  through weekly small group Bible studies based on the theme for each week.

Congregational” through participating in weekly worship services and hearing sermons based on the theme for the week.

The 50 days address these seven themes:

Learn Pray

Give Tell

Send Go

Celebrate

The heart of the program is discipleship.  “A disciple is one who responds in faith and obedience to the gracious call of Jesus Christ.  Being a disciple is a life-long process of dying to self while allowing Jesus Christ to come alive in us.”

The materials for participation are just the beginning of what St. Luke developed and now offers congregations.

The Pilgrimage is a Campaign

The pilgrimage is approached as a campaign, complete with a manual for developing an organization with guidelines for ten coordinators:  Campaign spiritual leader, campaign director, plus coordinators for prayer, communications, worship, small groups, servants events, mission fair, implementation and celebration.

Publicity draws on graphics and material already sent out to congregations by the Board of Mission Services.

Further information about 50 Days Ablaze! can be found at www.stlukecabot.org.  See also the list of 40 congregations already participating,  or call Karen Driscoll at 724-352-2777.