Let's Be Who We Say We Are

In July 1961, just six months after blowing a fourth-quarter lead to the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1960 NFL Championship (the precursor to the Super Bowl), legendary Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi gathered his team to kick off the 1961 training camp. With many of the highly skilled players returning from last season, expectations were high. 

What new scheme will Coach Lombardi implement this season? What new trick plays will he diagram to give us an extra edge? What new player will he sign to get us over the hump? 

Holding up a football in his right hand, Coach Lombardi began with a simple quote. You might know it. 

“Gentlemen, this is a football.”

Standing before a team of future Pro Bowlers, Coach Lombardi shocked them all by going back to the basics. He flipped back to page one of the playbook and reintroduced the fundamentals of the game, leaving his team of near-champions speechless.

Five months later, after finishing the regular season 11-3, the Packers dominated the New York Giants (37-0) to claim the 1961 NFL Championship.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t share that story to rile up my Wisconsinite brothers and sisters. I share it because I believe it offers wisdom for where we are as a movement.

Since I assumed the role of acting EFCA president in April 2024, much has been clarified for me. And as I think about the future of our movement, I keep returning to the fundamentals. While there are many potential paths for the EFCA—new ministry strategies to implement, new players to bring in—I believe the most important thing for us is to be who we say we are and do what we say we will do.

It’s not that new things are inherently bad, but in this season, I’m convinced that we, as a movement, don’t need the “new.” Instead, if we’re willing to flip back to page one of the playbook and execute on the fundamentals of our movement—together—I think we’ll realize that we already have everything we need.

Reclaiming our First Love 

Early last year, Carol and I visited the doctor for our annual checkups. By all accounts, they began as expected. We each sat on the exam table. We went through the normal battery of tests. We answered questions about diet and exercise. You know the drill.

But as we concluded our visit, our new primary care physician—after learning my profession—posed an unexpected question. 

“Can your churches do something about the increasing division and animosity in our world?”

“Dr. S” was concerned—and rightly so. Our home state of Minnesota had just experienced the politically motivated shootings of multiple state legislators and their families, and similar tensions were rising across the country.  

Still, I answered Dr. S without hesitation: “Absolutely, yes.”

I shared Dr. S’s question as part of my message at EFCA One 2025, but it bears repeating. Why? Because the problem persists—lost, hurting people in our communities are navigating a broken, divided and sin-filled world without the hope of our Savior—and EFCA churches can do something about it.

Put simply, the EFCA exists because lost people need Jesus. Friends, this is our football. From the earliest days of our movement, our forebearers were characterized by their zeal to share the gospel with lost and hurting people. To flip back the EFCA playbook is to be a movement of churches whose evangelical DNA is never compromised and who are known in our spheres of influence as heralds of the good news of Jesus Christ.

EFCA churches, church leaders, congregants, national and international ministry leaders: The people around us are hungry for all the gospel offers, and we have the privilege—and responsibility—to introduce them to Jesus. This is who we are as His disciples and as evangelicals. The clarity of the Great Commission solidifies our common purpose as a movement.

It starts with us—as individuals. Before we call our congregations to act, we must personally review the posture of our own hearts. A first step—as churches who want to see the gospel transform individuals and communities—is to ask ourselves, “Do I personally reflect the heart of Jesus for the lost?”

In the last year since sharing Dr. S’s question, you may have heard me ask the question—on several occasions—”Who are your three?” Put another way, I challenged individuals within our movement to identify three people for whom they would pray and lovingly pursue for the sake of sharing the gospel. At our core, this is what the EFCA is all about. Our founding documents—specifically, the EFCA Articles of Incorporation—clearly state our purpose: “to glorify God through obedience to the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ by bringing individuals to personal faith in Christ and helping them toward maturity in Him.”

For me, I need constant reminders of my purpose as a disciple of Christ. I need the not-so-subtle prompts to move toward the lost. I need the clear instruction that my life—our lives—is a living sacrifice to be spent as acts of worship in service to God’s kingdom. Rightly prioritizing and acting on my responsibility as a herald of the good news is evidence that my loves are in proper order. 

To be clear, I believe that as a movement—and as individuals—our First Love is Jesus. In my time as acting president, I have seen your devotion to our Lord displayed in your prayers, your generosity, your sacrificial service toward others, among many other things. I just don’t want us to forget who we are. I don’t want us to miss the fundamentals. Rather, I want us to be known as a movement who are actively reaching the lost, living out our biblical and missional traits to their fullest extent. 

Reinforcing our unity 

Back to Dr. S’s question: What role does the local church serve as we consider the division and polarization in our world today? Like Coach Lombardi holding up the football, I think the answer is staring us in the face.

For decades, the people of the EFCA have used different catchphrases to describe our ethos—the unwritten, but distinct spirit of our movement. I have no doubt you’ve heard many of them, but a few have special significance to the question at hand.  

• “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” 
• “Debate but not divide.” 
• “Major on the majors and minor on the minors.”  

Each of these phrases points to the importance of two core values: 1) our unity and 2) our ability to navigate disagreement. The essence of these fundamental traits is also captured in the EFCA tagline: Biblical and missional. United and free. 

Our movement is united, first and foremost, by the good news of Jesus. Let’s not lose sight of this. The foundational work of Jesus Christ transforms enemies into siblings—uniting us as members of one body, one faith, one baptism. We call people to a kingdom where one thing matters: our devotion to Jesus. If we can get that right, if the pursuit and proclamation of the saving work of Jesus becomes the foundation of our lives and the central message of our movement, if we take Jesus at His word that He has overcome the world and all its troubles, our unity will serve as a unique emblem of hope in a divided and fractured world. 

Organizationally, we are united by our shared Statement of Faith, Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. These guiding documents and convictions of our movement ground us in the gospel and reinforce our central purpose to reach the lost. They tether us to the truths of Scripture, which serve as the lens through which we see and interpret our world today, and orient us around the Great Commission. 

I believe these statements and the unity they describe are critical for us on two levels. First, we must be united as a movement of 1,600 autonomous congregations as we seek to reach entire communities and regions where there is significant gospel need. But we must also reflect that unity within each of our unique local churches.

It isn’t hard to find division in our world today. Politics, immigration, gender, racial justice, economic policy, use of force, school curriculum—the list goes on and on. There’s always another reason to disagree, consistently elevated on the nightly news and social media. Sadly, many people see the same division evidenced in churches today—or they see churches as places to reinforce political or cultural alliances. Both sides of that spectrum tarnish our witness to our polarized society. To a world that now expects any difference of opinion to drive people away from each other, our unity as believers and as a movement of churches offers a unique and appealing witness. But we must protect it and invest in it.  

Are there issues of theology and ministry practice where EFCA congregants, pastors, ministry leaders, missionaries and national leaders disagree? As my friends from the upper Midwest will say, “You betcha.” But how we navigate those disagreements impacts our witness to a broken and fractured world. We can remain unwavering in our commitment to the Bible while also navigating differences with charity and grace. If we get it right, our skill to “debate but not divide” may become one of the defining characteristics of the Free Church as we navigate the days of ministry before us.

Does this pursuit keep us from holding firm convictions? Absolutely not. Are there important issues we must navigate where there are significant differences of opinion? Yes. Will we need to navigate serious theological or moral issues that require us to sever ties with a brother or sister in error? Sadly, yes—though with deep sorrow and after much prayer. Churches and our movement as a whole have navigated many challenges throughout our history, and still, the defining characteristic of unity remains a vital part of the EFCA ethos.

To reach a divided and diverse world, we must be a united and diverse Church. Reinforcing our unity as a movement will propel us—together—toward the fulfillment of our mission.

Remembering our purpose 

I think about the end of my life almost every day—not in a morbid sense, but in a way that motivates and clarifies what is most important in my life. Death has a way of waking us up. It keeps us focused on what really matters.

In this season of my life and ministry, I’m growing even more convinced that the local church—specifically EFCA churches—offer something unique and needed in our world today. It’s not anything new or complex—it’s being who we say we are and doing what we say we’ll do.

I recently visited a vibrant, multiethnic, intergenerational EFCA church in a college town with incredibly diverse demographics. What I saw gave me great hope. This church—and the gospel truths they proclaim—was bringing together people who normally gravitate in different directions. I saw a congregation hungry for the Word of God, being drawn into greater love and appreciation for their Savior and for one another, and tangibly living it out with compassion and conviction in their community.

Friends, as I think about the world today, despite its challenges, I have hope. I have hope because EFCA churches can do something about the brokenness we see. The unity we have as believers and as a movement are gifts to our broken and divided world. With a firm foundation in the truth of God’s Word, anchored in the fundamentals of our movement, EFCA churches have a clear purpose to reach the lost and raise them as disciplemakers. Our churches are the means through which gospel transformation can happen in our country.

How will you and your church respond to the gospel need in your community? I know you want to see God work in and through your churches. Let’s be who God has called us to be. Let’s do what God has commanded us to do. Let’s live out fully what it means for us to be the Free Church.

Biblical and missional. United and free.