# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S26 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 26 OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS gations, and coordinate mercy work closely tied to Word and Sacrament ministry. The work in Eurasia varies greatly, not least due to the immense geographical area of the region from Europe (actually Greenland is included on the Eurasia Map) all the way to Vladivostok, Russia, on the Sea of Japan and including most all of Europe, the Middle East, all the former states of the old USSR, and Mongolia. One can only imagine the great diversity of culture over such an expanse; however, while sensitive to culture, we strive to find a proper balance between contextualization of the universals of the Lutheran Church and faith. It is easy to become oversensitive to culture, forgetting that all culture among people is the product of a fallen world and entangled by the sin of Adam. There still needs to be that divine counter-culture which can be recognized by Christians (in our case, confessional Lutheran Christians) the world over, so that Christ may be seen, heard, and remembered—and not us. As annual site visits are made to the areas of work and influence in Eurasia, it is a priority of OIM Eurasia to observe how the church, whether in the former Soviet Union, the Baltic States, Eastern, Central or Western Europe, is not merely sensitive to the given culture but especially recognized by the universals of Lutheranism. For example, whether we can understand the language of the Divine Service of Word and Sacrament, we should be able to recognize where we are even by the external markers of the Lutheran liturgical life of the mission church. It has been an amazing experience for me personally, having spent 16 years as a missionary in Central and Eastern Europe, to witness the general tendency to avoid secular intrusion into the church’s worship life as well as the keen interest in the history of the Lutheran Church in a given country. As an example, the people of the revived Czech Lutheran Church dug deeply into the theology and work of Jiří Třanovský, a Czech student in Wittenberg around 1600. His monumental hymnal includes translations of more 16th-century Lutheran hymns than all American Lutheran hymnals combined. Also, a thorough study of Luther’s Formula Missae and his Deutsche Messe led them eagerly to embrace and adopt the Order of Service from the 1530 Agenda of the Lutheran Church of Minden, Germany. (It is quite similar to Divine Service V from LSB.) Such decisions enhancing Lutheran identity are quite indicative of European churches generally. What a joy to have had a part in this development since the fall of Communism. They have understood well article XXIV of the Augsburg Confession: “The chief purpose of all ceremonies is to teach the people what they need to know about Christ.” In similar ways, this same mentality can be noticed in Eastern Europe and Russia due to German Lutheran influence not only in Russia but in the Baltic states, Ukraine, Romania, and elsewhere. Our actual work encompasses actual missionary work on the ground, support of partner and emerging Lutheran churches through theological education, and mercy projects connected with Lutheran Word and Sacrament ministry. On the ground, missionaries are working among Kazakhs in Mongolia, in Kyrgyzstan, Germany, Romania, and Italy (OIM also has two missionaries and their families in Spain, but Spain is still under the direction of the Latin America Region since the original work in Spain began under the Lutheran Church of Argentina). We are rebuilding our work in Russia with two lay missionaries working in St. Petersburg and two theological educators teaching at the 2019 Convention Workbook seminary of the Ev. Luth. Church of Ingria in Russia (ELCIR) in Koltushi, near St. Petersburg, Russia. Our full-time theological educator in the seminary of the Siberian Ev. Luth. Church (SELC) has now retired, but the Siberians now have a full faculty of their own indigenous pastors and teachers. Among our Russian-speaking work, both of these seminaries are involved in providing continuing education for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, and Belarus. While OIM Eurasia supports them in these efforts, the fine Russian Lutheran teachers are providing a valuable service to these churches. Our own LCMS men are also involved in this work, but it is always better to have qualified men teaching who are completely at home with the language and mentality of the believers being served with the Gospel. Other theological education in the region, which is sponsored by OIM Eurasia, includes: 1. CTSFW STM program in Gothenburg, Sweden. OIM Eurasia sponsors study for the more advanced indigenous pastors of the Eurasia region who can handle instruction in English. 2. Luther Academy Riga is the seminary of the Ev. Luth. Church of Latvia. OIM is assisting the Latvians in their 6-year reaccreditation process, which will now also be recognized throughout the EU with an English language seminary curriculum. The Latvian church is a strong partner with the LCMS, and we will hopefully be providing the newly accredited seminary with one full-time theological educator for their faculty as well as several associate professors from our region who will serve in Riga, teaching 1–2 week intensive courses. 3. Through Eurasia Regional support, we sponsor numerous pastoral conferences through NYLT (the Network of Young Lutheran Theologians), Corpus Christi (an annual youth conference patterned after the LCMS Higher Things), an annual theological conference for pastors and laymen from Central Europe, regular 1-week seminars for theological training and continuing education for the Ev. Luth. Church in Ukraine, and assistance with similar seminars in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Mercy projects include: 1. The Hope Center in St. Petersburg, part of the ELCIR’s work in Russia. 2. The Faith and Hope Center in Novosibirsk, connected to the work of SELC in Russia. Other efforts: 1. We currently have three GEO missionaries and one career missionary assisting in the refugee work of our partner church, SELK (Independent Ev. Luth. Church of Germany). 2. We have LCMS pastors serving in international Lutheran congregations in Prague, Frankfurt, and Kaiserslautern (in cooperation with the LCMS military chaplaincy office).