Broken and suffering, the world waits for its redemption. The gospel announces that God in love sent Jesus Christ into the world as Savior to call for the world's repentance and to die for the sins of the world. Raised from death, Jesus Christ is God's victory over sin and death and is God's promise of a new creation. There are two billion people who have not had the opportunity to hear this gospel. Another one and one-half billion persons have a minimal knowledge of Christ.
Christian congregations are centers of mission.
The Holy Spirit through the ministry of Word and Sacrament calls, creates and nurtures ever-new communities of Christians. These persons, empowered by the Holy Spirit, are sent into the world to witness to Jesus Christ. In our religiously plural world, we have learned from people of other faiths that the great religious traditions offer life-sustaining power to their people. These religious communities challenge the validity of our witness among people of other faiths. Even though this incarnate God is unknown to people, the Triune God is already present and active in their lives and desires that the depths of God's saving love in Christ might be known by them.