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CORE Voice Newsletter, Issue 2,
March 2025
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In This Issue
- What makes for faithful Christian living?
- Where will the devil attack you?
- Space thriller for readers of all ages
- Pew's '23-'24 "Religious Landscape Study" involved
36, 908 adults and ...
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by Pr. Brett Jenkins, NALC pastor from Pennsylvania and former board member of Lutheran CORE
If your church is following the three year lectionary, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday with 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10. Officially, the pericope begins, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:20b–5:21, ESV) In light of the fact that he is addressing established Christians, what Paul is obviously driving at here is the ongoing need for even the most committed Christians to realign their lives with the will of God. “Be reconciled” implies that these already-converted Christian believers are not in a conciliar state with God; in fact, Paul is addressing them for a third time precisely because while claiming Christian identity, they are behaving in ways inimical to God.
At a recent gathering of primarily conservative clergy, I got some hostility but engendered much more fantastic conversation when I brought up the danger of Christianity being coopted by [...]
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Approaching the Throne of Grace With Boldness | |
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by Pastor Dennis D. Nelson, Lutheran CORE Executive Director
Every year Lent is a time when we give thanks to God for His great love and amazing grace. How much we need that love and grace. Every year on the First Sunday in Lent the Gospel reading is the account in one of the synoptics of the temptation of Jesus. This year the reading is from Luke 4. The Gospel writers tell us that Jesus resisted the tempter and how He did so. The author of the letter to the Hebrews expresses so beautifully and powerfully what that can mean to us. “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4: 15).
We have a God who can empathize with us. But more than that, we have a God who paid the penalty for and broke the power of sin and who won the victory over death and the devil. Therefore, we can “approach the throne of grace with boldness” for it is there that we will “receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4: 16) [...]
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The Implications of Current Religious Trends | |
by Pr. Don Brandt, Congregations in Transition and Congregational Lay-Led Initiative
To use a somewhat dated expression, it’s “hot off the press.” I am referring to the latest Pew Research Center “Religious Landscape Study.” This is Pew’s third large-scale “Religious Landscape Study,” involving, in this 2023-2024 survey, 36,908 United States adults. The first of these “Landscape surveys” was 2007, and the second in 2014. As a result, we now have, between these three surveys, a thorough and comprehensive picture of U.S. religious trends over the last 17 years.
To keep this in perspective, Pew has become the preeminent source for this kind of information. Not even the Gallup organization can compete when it comes to findings and data related to religious life in the United States. Gallup surveys contact only 1,000 adults. And unlike Gallup, Pew Research’s survey of just under 37,000 respondents focuses entirely on in-depth questions related to religious affiliation, practices and beliefs.
So—now that I have your attention—here is a summary of the results of this latest Religious Landscape Study.[...]
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Video Ministries: Captain Comet and the Intergalactic Patrol
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by Pastor Dennis D. Nelson, Lutheran CORE Executive Director
Many thanks to Alan Williams for his video review of his book, “Captain Comet and the Intergalactic Patrol.” A link to Alan’s review can be found HERE. A link to our YouTube channel, which contains fifty-six reviews of books and videos on topics of interest and importance, can be found HERE.
Alan writes, “As a retired Lutheran pastor for 54 years of ministry (NALC and LCMC), I wrote three books that are science fiction, outer space and Christian, in hopes to touch the minds of high school and college aged people to come to know God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The spaceship Star Treader, with a crew of fourteen, [...]
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BYLD: Building Youth As Leaders Who Are Disciples of Christ—Geneva College, Beaver, PA. July 7-12, 2025. Click here.
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The NEXUS Institute 2025--Grand View University, Des Moines, IA. July 24-26,2025 with mentor training July 21-23.
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2025 ELCA Churchwide Assembly—Phoenix, AZ. July 28 - Aug 2, 2025. Click here.
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NALC Lutheran Week 2025. Pittsburgh, PA. August 3 - Aug 8, 2025. Click here.
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LCMC 25th Annual Gathering & Convention — Lakeville, MN. October 5-8, 2025. Click here.
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Nicaea Pro Ecclesia: The Status and Potential of Our Nicene Heritage in Christian Catechesis and Ecumenical Dialogue — Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, Birmingham, AL. January 12-14, 2026. Click here.
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© 2024 Lutheran Coalition for Renewal
Email Editor (Kim Smith)
PO Box 1741 Wausau, WI 54402-1741
1-888-810-4180
www.lutherancore.org
Lutheran CORE's mission:
- A Network for Confessing Lutherans
- A Voice for Biblical Truth
Our purpose can be summed up in two words– Network and Voice. As Network for confessing Lutherans, we support and connect Lutheran individuals and congregations who seek to live in accord with Biblical and confessional teachings and practices. As a Prophetic Voice, we advocate for Biblical authority and confessional fidelity among churches of the Lutheran community.
We communicate Biblical truth through our newsletter, mailings, and various forms of social media.
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