Welcome! ELCA Large Church Pastors’ Gathering April 8, 2016 Baltimore, MD

Where We Work

Introduction to Bihar Nicole Hark April 8, 2016

Bihar State  3 rd most populated state  Majority marginalized  Low literacy rates  High poverty

Goals:  Agricultural improvements  Year-round food security for the family  Empowering women in the community  Increased income for most families

Increased Incomes = Increased Choice  Family health needs  Education  Migration  Quality of Life

lwr.org programs.lwr.org Affirming God’s love for all people, we work with Lutherans and partners around the world to end poverty, injustice and human suffering.

Transformative Engagement

What engaging experiences with other organizations have moved your community? What inputs from other organization have been most central to your success? Where would you like to see your congregation grow in it’s engagement and understanding of the wider world?

Communications Regular Project Updates: Stories, Photos, Videos Online Toolbox Social Media

Education Project Kick-Off Kit Walk With a Community Celebrate Project Milestones School Kits Congregational Visits Project Site Visits

Questions? Insights?

lwr.org programs.lwr.org Affirming God’s love for all people, we work with Lutherans and partners around the world to end poverty, injustice and human suffering.

Brief Service of Blessing O God, we pray for the gifts of ministry. Inspire our minds with a vision of your kingdom in this time and place. Hear us, O Christ. Touch our eyes, that we may see your glory in all creation. Hear us, O Christ. Touch our ears, that we may hear from every mouth the hunger for hope and stories of refreshment. Hear us, O Christ. Touch our lips, that we may tell in every tongue and dialect the wonderful works of God. Hear us, O Christ.

Touch our hearts, that we may discern the mission to which you call us. Hear us, O Christ. Touch our feet, that we may take your Good News into our neighborhoods, communities, and all parts of the world. Hear us, O Christ. Touch our hands, that we may each accomplish the work you give us to do. Hear us, O Christ. Strengthen and encourage all who minister in your name in places of need all over the world. Hear us, O Christ. Open the hearts and hands of many to support your Church in this and every place. Hear us, O Christ.

Jesus, Savior, made known to us in broken bread and in wine poured out for reconciliation: Give us good courage for this work of mission that as we, too, are broken, poured, and shared for the world’s feeding, we find ourselves made whole in you. Amen

Meal Words of Institution The Lord’s Prayer

The table of bread is now to be made ready. It is the table of company with Jesus and all who love him. It is the table of sharing with the poor of the world, with whom Jesus identified himself. It is the table of communion with the earth, in which Christ became incarnate. So come to this table, you who have much faith and you who would like to have more; you who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time; you who have tried to follow Jesus and all of us who have failed; come. It is Christ who invites us to meet him here.

Loving God, through your goodness we have this bread and wine to offer, which has come forth from the earth and human hands have made. May we know your presence in the sharing, so that we may know your touch and presence in all things. We celebrate the life that Jesus has shared among his community through the centuries and shares with us now. Made one in Christ and one with each other, we offer these gifts and with them ourselves, a single, living act of praise. Amen.

Commissioning and Sending In the name of the divine Trinity, Let us pray. God, you have called us into being through love. You have joined us to one another in love. How good and pleasant it is when your people dwell together in unity.

Shine your light upon your people that we can see the glory of eternal life. Grant all of us gathered here the strength to carry your blessing from this place to their next. May they we at home in any land, for all the earth is yours. And, with our hopes set on your coming glory in the world, live also an alien in all lands. May the lamp of your word guide our feet on the unsure paths of life. Our lives are but a breath, but our breaths are drawn from your divine Spirit. You have created us as walking paradoxes. Specks of dust and divine-image bearers. We are constantly restless, until we rest in you.

Grant us all a deeper fullness of being and spirit by carrying memories of one another with us in the coming journey. May our faces be fuller in glory and joy, now bearing new shape, as our faces transform and supplement one another. Go in the peace of Christ to love and serve the Lord. All: Thanks be to God! *Materials adapted from The Book of Occasional Services 2003 and Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

lwr.org Affirming God’s love for all people, we work with Lutherans and partners around the world to end poverty, injustice and human suffering.