Mission on the Move

The mission campaign of the New Jersey Synod

VISION: GOD’S DREAM FOR OUR FUTURE

Mission on the Move is a venture that belongs to us—the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. God’s dream for our future is to accept the challenge of being church in a new way in a new day. We take up a life of discipleship and stewardship that strengthens the missionary impulse at the heart of our church.

God’s ultimate interest is not in tending the institutional parameters of the church but in transforming the world. This reorientation means reconnecting the church with what God is up to in the world. Mission on the Move is our call to share that vision. … It calls for a partnership with God that is bold and adventuresome.


The success of this mission initiative will require an essential clarity about the purpose of the ministry of God’s church in your specific context, and an openness to change in order to be more faithful. Mission on the Move is our call to prayer, Bible study, dialogue, and engagement. When we are most effective, we are prepared to be missionaries to the world and ambassadors for Jesus. MOM’s purpose is to call forth a community of persons who understand themselves to be followers of Jesus with gifts to share and a vision of God’s dream for engagement with the world.

Mission on the Move calls for a transformation to a missionary culture in the New Jersey Synod, its congregations, and people. In addition, MOM seeks to gather resources necessary to enable the bold and nimble response to the challenges that God places before us. Strategic allocation of resources will strengthen the mission outreach ministry of each congregation in the Synod. Transitional ministries and mission-critical congregations will find sustainable support from the expansion of the New Jersey Synod Fund for Mission and ELCA partnerships. Financial resources will be available in a timely manner to initiate new ministry starts on the territory of the Synod.

We believe that by living a missionary lifestyle, equipping people for mission work and sharing resources for mission we make our unique contribution to God’s mission. We will not be defined by limitation but by God’s dreams for our future.


Rev. Scott Schantzenbach,
MOM Campaign Coordinator