Life Together

Vocation

The word vocation is a rather rare one in our society. Most people think of it as meaning "a job" or a career. But it's really the idea that wherever we are in life, God calls us to serve Him there. (The word comes from the Latin word vocare, which means "calling".) So vocation means serving God by being faithful moms, dads, children, employees, employers, teammates, etc. Often we think serving God is done by "going to church" or working as a pastor or something. But a good understanding of vocation helps us understand that no matter what our situation of life, we are called by God into serving in the midst of that.

It's really a freeing thing! Martin Luther once said that changing a baby's diaper was a holy calling, because it was part of the vocation of parenthood, caring for children and raising them well. What a great example! So we see vocation as very important in our congregation. We don't want to "over-program" ourselves at the church building, because that could actually hinder the fulfillment of our vocations; we want to allow our people to serve God where they are through their various vocations.

Groups

As important as vocation is, being together in groups within the church is beneficial too. So we have some larger groups—such as Sunday morning Bible study—and some smaller groups, such as small group Bible studies, our chapter of LWMLC, and a men's breakfast group. Small groups are fluid and form as needed, and we are always seeking to grow the number of people in groups.

Serving

There are a lot of things that need to be done in a congregation, from ushering and music leading in worship, to accounting, to property care, to visiting, to setting up special events, and much more. We value serving in ways that will help others, and many times one way to do that is just to "get stuff done". There is always need for servants and serving.

Giving

Giving is last on the list not because it's least important, but because it comes as a result of the vitality of the rest of life. Finances are a reality of the church, just like any organization. But we see them also as a great blessing from God. He has given us all we have. We don't really own anything; we are just stewards—managers—of what God has entrusted to us to use. We encourage one another to give regularly and generously, so that we can do the work of God's kingdom together in ways that none of us could do on our own. We seek to give generously and cheerfully out of a heart of thankfulness to God, not out of guilt or compulsion. So we gather offerings in our worship services, and sometimes we'll do fundraising for specific efforts such as youth events or our Compassionate Care Fund.

Life Together Beyond the Congregation: LCC

Concordia is a Member Congregation of Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC). We join together with almost 300 other congregations across Canada in ministry partnership, working together in ways that none of us could do on our own. This involves Canadian and international mission work, seminary training for pastors and deacons, caring for and building up one another, and more.