President’s Letter
What is the ministry in Social Ministry?
There are thousands of organizations in our country that are dedicated to helping people in various ways. A small percentage of them have the word “ministry” in their title. Using the word “ministry” does cause some confusion. Some people think that we are a church. Others ask if we only work with church people or just serve Lutherans. Because of this confusion, we do discuss whether the word “ministry” helps to explain who we are, or if it makes understanding more difficult.
Even with the confusion, we feel it is important to have the word “ministry” in our title. The odd thing is that “ministry” was never intended to describe who we serve, but rather why we serve. Our programs are intended to serve all people, of every kind of background, category, income, race, religion or anything that can describe a person. We have a special interest in the poor and underserved, and realize that nearly everyone has needs for caring, community and hope.
What defines us as ministry is the reason for our work. Our Mission Statement tells us that what we do is “in response to God’s love as revealed in the Gospel.” We see ourselves as being loved by God and then responding to that love. Many organizations respond to needs, but our first response is to God’s love. It is not just that we see a need for compassion, it is that we have experienced compassion.
This understanding of the reason for our work is what drives us to provide so many different services. We are not in this simply because we enjoy doing housing or like helping children. The roots of what we do are in this sense of response to God’s love. So, when people watch what we do, it may look a lot like many other social service agencies. But this sense of ministry pushes us to higher quality, better future thinking, greater inclusiveness and broader understanding.
This understanding of who we are is part of the reason that we have such wide support from so many different people, businesses, foundations and agencies. They see how we are able to direct our focus to meet a range of needs both today and in the future. Our work each day is a response to the love that God has already shown to us, and that response is what directs us into the future.
Rev. Jerry Nugent, President and CEO
“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” Ephesians 3:17
