It’s been a while since we’ve given you an update on all that’s going on in Philly from this site, but if you’ve been following Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries on Facebook (the best way to get regular news and info from us!) then you know that Pastor Gale has been anything but facing a dull time. From networking with the hidden homeless communities of Philly to walking with his Bible and clerical collar amid the madness of the “Occupy” movement, he continues to wait on the Lord for guidance on the mission of putting a new confessing Lutheran congregation back into one of the greatest cities in North America.
Hearty thanks are due to the many of you who continue to support Pastor Gale’s work through donations (making use of that yellow button to your right!) as well as the countless stream of gifts (socks, blankets and non-perishable foodstuffs) that are coming via FedEx, UPS and the post in order to keep the work among the least of these moving full swing. In the coming month, hopefully we’ll be able to publicize an even bigger, even more exciting way in which PLM is getting to the heart of reaching into the city, so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, as I (Pastor Fisk) bow out of my current duties as the Director of Publicity and Fundraising for PLM, in order to move on into another call which our Lord has given me in the Chicagoland area, I wanted to share with you how blessed I’ve been to see this Ministry blossom and grow over the last several years. Having Pastor Gale here is truly the great, first step in a vision that was seeded long ago. Sometimes we weren’t certain it would ever happen. Sometimes we thought that we’d never have a chance to get Ministry back into the city. But our Lord proved faithful, as he always does. So, while I’m moving on, there is no question that our Lord’s work won’t even bat an eye. “Trust not in princes!” Rather, pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send workers into his harvest fields, and to sustain those he has sent. Then, know that this is precisely what he is going to do.
You can count on me and mine to continue to support PLM and Pastor Gale even from the heartland where we are headed. In fact, that is exactly what we’ve been trying to promote all along: PLM is congregations working together to do those things that we can’t do alone – like send missionaries back into our cities. So join me in the commitment to support PLM and Pastor Gale over the long haul. Get on board! Plan a youth mission trip out to work in the city, talk about adding PLM to your congregation’s regular mission budget, and, by all means, tell your friends and family about PLM’s dream of doing mission the old fashioned way: by sending missionaries into those places we pray the Church will soon be found in abundance!
Peace to you in Christ. Remember, our Lord is always with you in your Baptism.
“In these last days of great distress, grant us, dear Lord, true steadfastness, that we keep pure till life is spent your holy Word and Sacrament!”
Last weekend, to these amazing words penned as a hymn by Lutheran father Philip Melancthon, the new Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries “Northeast Philly Project” Missionary at Large was installed. Rev. Joshua Gale has already been hard at work beating the meanest of the Philly streets, working with homeless people in the center city and scouting neighborhoods for a potential Witness and Mercy center in the northern neighborhoods. To our great joy, Josh already has his first catechumen, Carl, a homeless man who loves to read Dostoevsky. Josh and he are studying Luther’s Small Catechism, which gives ample opportunity for proclaiming the amazing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You can follow Josh’s work by joining the “Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries” group on Facebook, and receive regular updates and pictures of Josh and the people he is meeting. But now, it’s official as it gets. You have a missionary to the city of Philly!
One of the great things about the internet is the speed with which we can now communicate. In the last three weeks, your missionary to Philadelphia has not only been on the ground, walking the deep streets of the city and meeting a vast variety of people, but thanks to technology, he is also able to share what he’s doing everyday with you.
If you’d like to see pictures and hear stories about confessing Lutheran mission in Philadelphia, use your Facebook account to search for “Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries” and click the “like” button on the page. Every time Pastor Gale updates the status, whether with a picture of someone he just met or an update on the hopes he has for a new mercy site in the badlands, you’ll be among the first to see, know and experience the mission of Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries.
Meanwhile, don’t forget: Rev. Gale will be officially installed as Missionary Developer for the Northeast Philly Project on August 7, at 3pm, at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Blue Bell, PA. Don’t miss out on this momentum changing moment for Philadelphia Lutheranism.
The new missionary developer for the Northeast Philly Project will be installed Sunday, August 7 at 3pm at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Blue Bell, Pa. You’ve been hearing about this great opportunity for over a year now, and at last the Lord has blessed us with a man on the ground, bold in walking the streets and confessing the Gospel of our risen Lord Jesus Christ.
You don’t want to miss this landmark event for Philadelphia Lutheranism, a milestone in the kind of good things that can happen when “congregations work together.” Come stop buy and pray with us for Joshua, his wife Amanda, their children, and all the Philadelphia Lutheran congregations who are blessed to be their support in sending confessing Lutheran mission back into the heart of one of the largest cities in the USA.
This past weekend the quarter-annual PLM Leadership Forum hosted Pastor Detlev Schulz, Professor and Chairman of Pastoral Ministry and Missions at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, IN. Participants were treated to presentation on mission in the city, with an emphasis on Witness, Mercy, Life Together and Liturgy.
Also present was new Missionary Developer Rev. Joshua Gale, who addressed the assembly. “I believe firmly that God sent me to Philadelphia, that God is sending us to Philadelphia.” He motioned to the entire room, encouraging both laity and pastors alike to remember that Christ’s Church is a confessing Church. “Being a confessional Church, we are a missional Church. Confession is mission. We speak, and people believe.”
Attendants left excited and eager, looking forward to what the future holds.
Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries’ new missionary developer Joshua Gale graduates from Concordia Fort Wayne today, but he is also already hard at work thinking about how best to dig into the North East Philly Project, and how best to help you get on board too.
It is with that in mind that we are excited to announce the PLM VBS Mission Project, a simple and fun way to make your VBS memorable and “mission-minded.” People in the city don’t always have all the things we take for granted, and in a northern climate like Philly, the winter can be tough. Just think how much fun it could be for your VBS to gather scarves and mittens, hats and diapers, put them all in a big box and mark “Philadelphia!” on the side.
All the information you need is right here in this link. Be are part of “letting Philadelphia remain.” Adopt the Northeast Philly Project as your VBS Mission project.
It is with great joy that Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries announces the Divine Call of Rev. Joshua Gale to be the Missionary Developer of the Northeast Philly Project, as we Philly Lutheran Congregations work together to go back into our city with the blessed and pure Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Joshua, his wife Amanda, and their children will be joining our Philadelphia family this summer, in high gear and ready to get their hands dirty in the good works of Witness, Mercy and Life Together. After the call service at the Fort Wayne Seminary, Amanda posted to Facebook: “WE ARE GOING TO PHILLY! Josh has been called as Mission Pastor to the Greater Philadelphia Area! We are so excited about what God has planned for us!”
If you and your congregation have not yet made your commitment to working together as PLM in support of mission work to our city, please speak with your pastor about congregational support, or download the personal support form from by clicking on the “Give Now! Adopt A Missionary” button to the right.
This is an exciting time for Philadelphia. We have prayed to the Lord of the Harvest and this is the firstfruits of his answer! Now is the time to rejoice and buckle down to the task: we are Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries; we are Congregations Working Together.
This evening, May 3, 2011, Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries was pleased to receive the placement of candidate Joshua Gale from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne Indiana as our mission developer for the Northeast Philly Project. Check back tomorrow for more info!
“We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.” Isaiah 53:4
Lenten greetings to you on behalf of Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries, LCMS congregations working together in the greater Philadelphia area. As your Executive Director, I continue to be excited about the many puzzle pieces coming together in our region. For many years now it has been my prayer that we would see a revival of life and energy in our congregations. Little by little, it looks like that kind of catalyzation is truly taking place.
We continue to see a variety of avenues of confessing mission and mercy grow in our life together: work with Korean and Ethiopian immigrant communities, the Worldview Everlasting video podcast on the internet, young adult discipleship at both Martin Luther Chapel, and in the Villanova area, the PLM Leadership forums. The list is exciting.
Perhaps the biggest news to pass on to you is that we have extended a call to fill the missionary position of the Northeast Philly Project. Please remember this call in your prayers through this holy season of Lent, and ask our Lord to send us the right man in the right time to impact our city with the wonderful purity of our Biblical doctrine.
Because this call has been extended to a candidate from one of our Seminaries, we won’t know if this particular candidate will be accepting it until early in the month of May. In our Lord’s mercy, we hope to see both him and his family join us early this summer, eager to get their feet on the ground in the Northeast corridor.
Another neat story comes out of our Liberian brothers and sisters at Christ Assembly Lutheran Church. Pastor Arthur Zogar has been teaching a special doctrine class using the new Concordia Publishing House resource: Lutheranism 101. Nothing draws the interest of discipleship minded Christians like pure doctrine, and already their regular group is experiencing the blessing that comes from unifying around the content of God’s Holy Word.
Meanwhile, our new Director of Mission Development, Pastor Jonathan Fisk, has been speaking at conferences in the midwest, encouraging them to join us in our vision of “Let Philadelphia Remain.” We have also released a new video of the same title that can be viewed on our website at www.phillyministries.org.
The purpose of the season of Lent is to set before us the fulness of our weaknesses, in order that we might all the more confidently boast of the strength we have in Christ. As you sing and pray and learn in this season, please keep Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries on the forefront of your mind and prayers. Under God’s mercy, while we are weak on our own, we are strong together as a body confessing God’s Almighty Word according to the cross of Christ. As LCMS congregations working together, we share the wonderful hope of the Church, knowing that though we sojourn in suffering for a while, the one who was stricken on our behalf is already risen for our justification. Because of him, there is no more exciting time to be the Church together than right now, right here. I, for one, am glad to be a part of this life together with you.
-Tom Engler, Executive Director PLM and Pastor St. Mark’s Ridley Park
It’s been a while since we’ve given you an update on all that’s going on in Philly from this site, but if you’ve been following Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries on Facebook (the best way to get regular news and info from us!) then you know that Pastor Gale has been anything but facing a dull time. From networking with the hidden homeless communities of Philly to walking with his Bible and clerical collar amid the madness of the “Occupy” movement, he continues to wait on the Lord for guidance on the mission of putting a new confessing Lutheran congregation back into one of the greatest cities in North America. 
