Austin City Lutherans is fifteen years old as an organization! It’s an opportune time therefore to unveil a revamped website. We’ve consolidated everything you need for all-things-ACL here: opportunities for volunteering, guides for donating in-kind and financially, a calendar of events, news, and links to partner organizations and churches.
As some of you know, ACL’s leadership has had conversations—internally and with some of you—about changing the name of the organization. We want to ride the wave of the growth that we’ve experienced, in the past five years, with services and volume. We were thinking . . . that a new organizational name would help with expansion. We were thinking . . . that the name “Lutheran” might restrict that growth.
Those conversations never produced a better name for the organization. And volunteers who are not Lutheran, at Bread For All Food Pantry and the Move-In Ministry, told us that it wasn’t so much the name of the organization that mattered, but what the mission of the organization is. And that hasn’t changed: serving our Austin-area neighbors who need a helping hand up. That’s part and parcel Lutheran-thinking as well. To quote Martin Luther: “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant to all, subject to all.”
We share much needed food and nutrition. We share furniture and provide beds for people who are leaving life on the streets or who are at-risk of landing on the streets. We serve single moms with kids fleeing domestic abuse, families who have trouble making ends meet, and individuals who are, due to one reason or another, down on their luck.
We do this out of a spirit of compassion. Many of our volunteers look to scripture like Matthew 25:31–46, Jesus’s parable of the Sheep and the Goats, for the inspiration to serve. Other volunteers serve out of a spirit of goodwill and civility: All of us know that when more people in our area—our neighbors—have access to the goods they need, Austin is a healthier, stronger, and more equitable community.
So, the name remains the same—Austin City Lutherans—as does our mission.
And whether you’re Lutheran, or Episcopalian, or Presbyterian, or a neighbor who serves and partners in this organization, thanks for making this organization what it is.
We are “More, Better, Together” since 2011!
Pastor Tim Anderson
ACL Director