LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 85

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Convention Essay
❷ Baptized for Witness!
Acts 2:38

BY THE REV. AMOS BOLAY, BISHOP OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF LIBERIA
65th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod | July 22, 2013
To the President of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, the Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison; the honorable Vice-President; other high officials of the Synod; district presidents; heads and officers of other
agencies within the Synod; foreign guests to this convention; officials of government here present; and
brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

The peace of the Lord be with you all!
In the name of God the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Before my presentation, I first would like to bring you greetings from your
brothers and sisters in Christ of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Liberia.
I would like to introduce to this convention my God-given parents, Joe and Joanie
Harwell of Christ Memorial. Joe and Joanie live right here in St. Louis, and their
home is known by some at Concordia Seminary as the “International Home of the Harwells.” Their love and support for international
students from Africa, India, and other countries is an introduction to my very message. Joe and Joanie are a true manifestation of their
Baptism and a witness to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

P

lease permit me to speak to you on the theme “Baptized for
Witness!” Acts 2:38 reads: “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit.’ ” This is pure Gospel demonstrating God’s desire to
save all of humankind purely out of His fatherly and divine love for
us. “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness,
but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and
renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). Your Baptism is God’s way
of graciously enlisting you into His dear kingdom for the service of
witnessing to the lordship of His dear Son, Jesus, the Christ. George
F. Vicedom rightly stated, and I quote: “Justification consists, after
all, in nothing less than reception into the kingdom of God. The
doctrine of Justification should answer only the question: How
do we enter the kingdom of God? He who is justified is thereby
taken into the service of God.” When justified, we are at the same
moment enlisted into the kingdom of God. We become a citizen of
His dear kingdom by birth through our Baptism. This is God’s gift
bestowed upon us freely by His good and pleasing will. As enlisted
men and women into His dear kingdom, we are at the same time
enlisted into His service for witnessing to the lordship of His dear
Son, Jesus, the Christ. A major and important theme throughout
the Book of Acts is My witnesses/we are witnesses. See Acts 2:32;
3:15; 5:32; 10:39; 13:31; and 22:15. He has called us and saved us
through the means of Baptism to be His witnesses. This is God’s
mission, the salvation of mankind, who are then being brought into
His kingdom for the proclamation of the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Positive Aspects, Uniqueness, and Challenges
of the Liberian Church
In order to have a feel for much of what I am going to talk about, it
will be necessary to give you a brief picture of the Liberian context
C o n v e n t io n E s s ays

and its uniqueness. The Liberian church is very unique because
it was founded by LCMS missionaries, but was left to grow and
became expanded by Liberians themselves. Like the prophet Amos,
who was a shepherd and a tender of Sycamore fig trees when God
called him, God used a native from Liberia to be a witness and
to extend unto His own people a confessional Lutheran church
(LCMS) with the message of repentance and forgiveness through
Word and Sacrament. Dr. Benjamin G. Dennis, who was then a
professor of anthropology at the State University of Michigan–Flint
(1970–1991), had served on the LCMS Board for Mission and was
instrumental in the establishment of the LCMS in Liberia. Dr.
Dennis’s request to the LCMS was like that of the Macedonian
call found in Acts 16:9 (“Come over to Macedonia and help us”).
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod gladly accepted Dr. Dennis’s request and extended her faithful witness to the country and
people of Liberia.
In 1978, LCMS missionaries through the work of Lutheran Bible
Translators started work in Liberia, which was later followed by the
establishment of a church under the name Evangelical Lutheran
Mission (ELM). LCMS World Relief and Human Care’s first project
was to replace a bridge that was crucial for local farmers’ and
missionaries’ transportation. Later projects included orphanage
dormitory construction, agricultural training and production,
widow micro-enterprise assistance, handcraft and vocational
training, orphan nutrition assistance, assistance for those displaced
by war, resettlement assistance for people displaced by civil strife,
a roof for a clinic, and famine relief. Since 1978, LCMS World
Mission, through its faithful witness, has supported leadership
development for lay preachers by developing and establishing a
center for theological studies and curriculum materials for leadership
training programs. As a result of these training programs and
evangelism, more than 835,000 people were reached with a clear
2 0 1 3 C o n v e n t io n P r o c e e d i n g s

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