St. Peter Lutheran Church
2929 F.M 972 (at F.M. 1105)
Walburg, Texas 78626
Office: (512) 863-
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St. Peter Lutheran Church at Walburg, Texas
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Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ
Last Updated:
March 12, 2019
The Expanding Family
by Guest Author Percy Smerek
My family has expanded.
My children married. That brought some new members, a daughter and sons into my family. Their children have married and I now have a new granddaughter and new grandsons. This is what happens in a real family: People move out and yet expand the family.
What happens in the family of God? We stay in the house and the family grows; maybe or maybe not. Our natural children move out and sometimes return to the community, but often move out, but others are filling in spots around us who may not be in the family ever.
Oh, when the children marry and we get those new family members, we discover that they are raised differently, with different histories and sometimes different baggage than our nuclear family. There is often a bit of a struggle to see the family in the same way. The truth is that families change. Likewise, the family of God has always gone through change.
So the question for our congregations is: Do we want, desire, hope for our families to expand? We all love to see visitors, new members and such, but have the children reached out to bring in “joint heirs” or “brothers and sisters” into our families?
The call of Jesus is to go into our city (Jerusalem), our nation (Judea) and beyond (all the world). In Acts 1:8 Jesus commissions his followers: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." We are given the treasure of life with our God to bring it out of our congregations to raise up faith in others. This is the call of Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ… “Hi Kids!”
Special thanks to Pastor Percy Smerek for submitting this month’s Mission Moment as Pastor Bryce Formwalt cares for his dying mother in Iowa. Pastor Percy is the Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Stonewall, Texas and is a member of the LCMC Texas District Council. Pastor Bryce Formwalt is the Director of Mission Growth for the LCMC Texas District. Residing in Georgetown, Pastor Bryce is available to coach congregations on mission. Feel free to contact him with any questions or comments: 512-
© 2019 Bryce J. Formwalt, All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission.
March 2019