# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S6 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 6 MISSIONS c. And the Ladies. A small group of LWMLers, to- gether with leaders of the ALC and LCA women’s groups, are making plans for a visit with Lutheran Christian women in Japan. For several years LWML members have participated in mission tours following their annual convention, putting what they learn to use in their threefold program of missionary information, missionary education, and missionary inspiration. 2. And from East to West The STAPOC (Special Training Assistance Program for Overseas Churchmen) is the other side of the coin. It provides an opportunity for national churchmen to study in the United States or to serve in specific congre- gations here for a year. Rev. James Selvaraj of Bombay served in the Chicago area; Rev. P. Charles Paul of the Kolar Gold Fields in India served in Mission, Kans.; and Rev. Chizuo Shibata of Tokyo has been serving in Washington, D.C. Mission is not a one-way street. Christians around the world ought to speak to us in our own land, to help us to understand more fully Christ’s total mission. Edifi- cation goes both ways—so that we can communicate better to all corners of the world. As these projects ex- pand, they could include a variety of persons from a variety of backgrounds. Funding, however, will be a difficult problem — especially funding to enable addi- tional nationals to come to our land. D. Edification: Interdependent Churches Ministering to One Another A new day has dawned in the overseas mission. Much has changed—the way we operate, our relation- ship with the people in each country, and the types of projects we undertake. We don’t talk much in terms of “sending” churches and “mission” churches anymore. Instead we look upon ourselves as partners in mission. The past biennium in India provides many illustra- tions of what has changed and of what the overseas mission will increasingly be like in the seventies. India can be an example of the sharing and ministry that goes on between interdependent churches in mission. A handful of missionaries were once the primary bearers of the Gospel in South India. Now our Lord has provided 130 ordained Indian missionaries, 400 servants of the Gospel in schools, more than a hundred medical and paramedical workers, and nearly 40,000 baptized witnesses to His name. As the government of India tightens a policy (begun in 1954) of not granting visas to foreigners for religious work, local Christians are made more keenly aware of their mission obligation. The 32 missionaries remaining in India find that their role has changed also. They are no longer the developers of ‘‘Missouri’s Mission Operation.” They are fellow laborers with Indian colleagues, bringing another point of view as one among several inputs to the total church situation. Although we have sent them, they are not “our” missionaries so much as they are the India Evan- gelical Lutheran Church’s missionaries. They have been loaned by us to the IELC, and they work under the national church. The changing circumstances in India compel us to find other ways of providing enrichment or the resource of specific skills and competencies for the Indian church. Dr. Walter Wangerin of River Forest spent several weeks in India (and in other countries) following up an effort of 2 years ago in which the LWF assisted national churches in developing curricula and materials for Chris- tian nurture. Dr. Theodore Raedeke and Rev. Walter Meyer spent several weeks in India in a series of evan- gelism workshops. Several Indian brethren have come to America for study, experience, or simply for con- sultation. All of this implies a new kind of sharing. E. Edification: Lutherans Preparing for Mission There are other examples of our ability to be ‘at one, with one purpose,” while sharing diversities of gifts and experiences in the service of God’s mission. For ex- ample, for more than 40 years mission executives of some of the American Lutheran bodies responsible for over- seas mission efforts had been meeting together in an organization known as the Lutheran Foreign Missions Conference of North America. Prefield training of mis- sionaries frequently came up for discussion, and the executives became convinced that missionary training could be improved. When the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. was formed, the Division of Mission Services convened a meeting of mission executives to discuss the possibilities of joint inter-Lutheran prefield training. A plan was developed to provide the very best prefield training possible within the few weeks available in the summer. The Board for Missions, in accordance with New York Resolution 1-02, resolved to participate in the program, which also includes coordination of overseas on-the-field orientation programs. The new prefield training program will not have a set faculty nor its own campus. The 1969 session will be held in Chicago, the 1970 session in St. Louis, and the 1971 session in St.Paul. The Program also aims at strengthening the mission departments of the various seminaries in the United States. F. Edification: Churches Working Together In many parts of the world the churches and missions in partnership with us have found it Scripturally correct and imperative to cooperate with other churches and missions in faithfulness to Christ and His mission. After many years of discussion and much prayerful study, pulpit and altar fellowship has been established with fellow Lutherans in India, New Guinea, and Japan. Joint theological training and Joint teacher training pro- grams have been established or are being considered in Mexico, Ghana, New Guinea, India, Taiwan, and Japan. The production of literature, as well as radio and tele- vision programing, is carried on jointly in many areas. In some areas churches and missions have taken membership in federations (such as the Federation of Lutheran Churches in India) or in national councils.