‘Clarity of the Gospel’: 2023 National Offering to support needed translation work

Later this year, church leaders, delegates and guests from around the world will gather in Milwaukee for the 68th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), set for July 29 to Aug. 3 at the Wisconsin Center.

The convention theme, “We Preach Christ Crucified,” also provides the basis for the theme of the 2023–2026 National Offering: “We Preach Christ Crucified for All.”

The National Offering spans the years between conventions, giving individuals, congregations and districts the opportunity to use their gifts to directly support domestic and international mission work.

The 2019 National Offering, under the theme “Joy to the World,” bolstered efforts to proclaim Christ in word and deed in challenging urban areas, to new immigrants, among college-age students, alongside partner-church missionaries, and in church-planting efforts both at home and abroad. The 2023-2026 National Offering will support efforts to make selected materials and resources available in other languages so that all may hear the Good News of the Gospel.

In a February letter, LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison explained the 2023-2026 National Offering theme.

“God has blessed us with His Word, readable in our native language,” Harrison wrote. “He has granted us the wisdom and abilities to read theology, Christ-centered devotions and even our Lutheran Confessions in our own language. When we worship, the liturgy makes sense because it is in our language. …

“We can quickly forget that God did not reveal Himself in English. Luther did not speak English. Yet our lives are enriched by all the English-language materials and resources we read each day, especially those that bring to us God’s Word.”

Harrison noted that this work is of heightened importance today as many of the communities in proximity to LCMS congregations increasingly include people for whom English is not their first language. “The need for this translation work is both acute and urgent,” Harrison wrote.

Some of the translation work to be supported by the 2023-2026 National Offering will be simple, produced in a brief time frame, while some will require long-term planning and execution. Individuals actively involved in ministry where translations are needed will help identify which resources would be most useful to the communities they serve.

“The 2023–2026 LCMS National Offering offers you and other Lutherans the opportunity of working together to bless non-English speakers with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their native language through the simple act of giving,” Harrison wrote. “By participating, your gift of financial resources will bring the clarity of the Gospel to those around you, in languages they can understand.

“Your gift will remove the impediment of language so non-English speakers can hear and read the comfort of God’s immense love for them in His Son’s life, death and resurrection. And through that Word, God gives faith in His Son, who is the only means of salvation for sinners.”

Gifts to the 2023–2026 National Offering may be made at any time at lcms.org/national-offering.

For more information, contact LCMS Mission Advancement at 888-930-4438 or mission.advancement@lcms.org.

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Posted March 2, 2023