Being bold
Kris Brugamyer
Feb 25, 2013 
4 Comments
Yesterday was Bold Women’s Day, but today is the day that the Lutheran church remembers the bold Elizabeth Fedde, a Norwegian Lutheran Deaconess who founded the Norwegian Relief Society after being challenged by her brother-in-law. She came to the United States to set up deaconess homes and hospitals in New York City, Minneapolis and Chicago, before returning to Norway. She did all of this in five years, and she was only in her thirties! (You can read more about Sister Elizabeth here.)
Isn’t it nice to set aside one Sunday a year for us to remember bold women and to think about how we are bold ourselves? We show our boldness every time we live up to our mission statement, “mobilizing women to act boldly on their faith in Jesus Christ.”
So what is the boldest thing you have ever done, for the sake of the Gospel that is? I’m guessing you probably haven’t traveled halfway around the world to set up homes and hospitals like Elizabeth Fedde did, but perhaps there is something that stands out to you–something that you have done for the sake of the Gospel. For me, it was teaching at an elementary school on a mission station in Cameroon while in my mid-twenties.
Back in the 1980s, serving the church by going to Africa was not as commonplace as it seems to be today. I boldly left the familiarity of Minnesota to spend two years teaching in a small American school for children in grades 1 – 8. Their parents were missionaries with the American Lutheran Church in either Cameroon or the Central African Republic. Although I didn’t establish anything great while I was there, I did serve a valuable role. My presence allowed missionaries with school-aged children to follow their calling to that part of western Africa, knowing their children would not miss out on a solid, American education from a licensed American teacher.
So, am I still so bold? Maybe not in as big of a way as I was back then, but I hope so–I think so. My boldness today comes every time I fill a need somewhere or volunteer to do something that benefits others and not myself. (For example, serving on the churchwide executive board is a bold thing, don’t you think?) It is then I am being bold for the sake of the Gospel.
How have you been bold lately?
Kris Brugamyer, a member of the churchwide executive board, lives in Dickinson, N. Dak.
Photo of Elizabeth Fedde courtesy of www.deaconesshistory.org
Comments (4)
Elizabeth Fedde was in the US 13 years, not 5 but still accomplished quite a lot.
When first exposed to being bold it was at my 1st trieniel Gathering in San Antonio I was in the process of pursuing fostering children with the intent to adopt. I remember thinking that this was a bold idea and found encourage to move forward knowing that it would please God. Now 6 years later the children we adopted are 8 and 10 (21 months apart and one grade level). I remembering how difficult infertility was BUT there was much free time to spend time with God in His word. I only wish I could carve out more time for God’s word now for the challenge of parenting is way harder than infertility. When my children live as we teach them the rewards for our boldness are immense. This is especially true for my middle boy he has suffered greatly from the neglect and abuse he experienced first at the hands of his original family and then from the moving done from one foster home to another until he became our son. Only because of God’s great grace have we been able to be strong for him. And the journey continues.
Robin,
Your boldness is really a lifelong commitment to your children. Thank you for sharing your personal and very bold story!
I didn’t think of adoption as being particularly bold when my husband and I adopted an 11-year-old, but in retrospect, I see it was. Thanks, Robin, for that nudge to see parenting, especially in adoptive settings, as bold.