# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1998_S15 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) SYNODICAL REPORTS 15 North America ) | Se North America The 1992 synodical convention declared North America a world mission field. Today in North America the Good News is preached in 20 different languages in LCMS congregations. District mission executives and other leaders meet annually with LCMS World Mis- sion to plan mission strategies. Goals for 1998 include * 60 new U.S. mission starts, including 10 new African-American, five new Hispanic, three new Native American, five new Asian- American, and one new Jewish; * growth in the total number of baptized LCMS members; * new international student ministries and deaf ministries; * more outreach to blind people. North American missionaries are training indigenous leaders to begin small group Bible studies and to establish a growing number of new congregations. Distance Education Leading to Ordination (DELTO) helps with this task. In addition, the Church Planter’s In- stitute expects to train 150 church planters by 1999. Education and human-care ministries are linked to North Amer- ican mission priorities. Most of the funding for these efforts comes from LCMS World Relief and Lutheran Brotherhood. Specialized Mission Work For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “‘] have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth’” (Acts 13:47). Mission with the Deaf Although there are 2.5 million profoundly deaf people in the United States, less than 5 percent of them are active in a Christian church. The need is great. LCMS World Mission also works with deaf people in Australia, Brazil, Ghana, Hong Kong. India, Macau, and Norway. LCMS ministry among deaf people has continued for more than 100 years. Educational ministry began in 1873 at the Lutheran School for the Deaf, now known as Lutheran Special Education Ministries, in Detroit, Mich. Congregational ministry began on March 4, 1894, at First Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Chicago. There are now 59 congregations for deaf people and another 110 congregations provide interpreters. Together, these congregations have more than 8,000 deaf members. Mission with the Visually Impaired Lutheran Mission with Blind Persons is celebrating 75 years of serving the visually impaired. The LCMS started a program for work among the blind in 1923, publishing Luther’s Small Cate- chism in braille. The Lutheran Library for the Blind loans books and tapes through the mail. More than 700 volunteers in 54 work centers across the United States produce braille, large type, and cas- sette materials that are sent to 5,000 people every month. More than 9,000 items go out monthly. LCMS World Mission also works with blind people in India and Ghana. Braille materials are shared with the visually impaired in several other countries. Ministry to the Armed Forces The first LCMS pastor to serve as a military chaplain served during the Civil War. Today, 315 pastors and 2 Directors of Chris- tian Education minister to nearly 1.5 million men and women serv- ing in the Armed Forces, plus veterans and those in the Civil Air Patrol. Eighty-seven are chaplains on active duty. Nearly twice that many serve in various reserve forces. Thirty-four chaplains serve Veterans Administration hospitals and 22 pastors serve units of the Civil Air Patrol. Laborers For Christ Laborers For Christ build sanctuaries, classrooms, and multiuse buildings for LCMS churches, missions, schools, and related insti- tutions. Rostered Laborers are retired carpenters, handymen and women, and other “willing workers” who have committed them- selves to build or remodel facilities for Christ’s mission and min- istry at minimum wage. Volunteers from the community where the project is located also help with construction, saving the congrega- tion additional expense. Campus Ministry The 200 LCMS campus and international student ministers serve students from LCMS congregations and bring the Gospel to other students who have never heard it. International students— 550,000 every year—come from some 200 different countries, some of which are closed to the Gospel. Some may carry Christ’s message with them when they return home, helping to plant new churches around the world. How LCMS World Mission Works Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). The sole effective means for turning people from unbelief to salvation is the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments (AC V). A Holistic Approach Because missionaries and national workers proclaim God's Word to real people with real needs, it is necessary to use a holistic approach to mission. Programs like education, literacy, agricultural development, and medical work are closely linked to LCMS World Mission priorities of church planting and leadership formation. Most of these programs are funded by LCMS World Relief. Expanding through Partnerships LCMS World Mission works in partnership with synodical Dis- tricts and mission societies to provide financial, emotional, and prayer support to mission fields, missionaries, and specialized groups. Mission partners also help recruit volunteers to serve as missionaries, carry out servant projects, and even gather cultural information in preparation for opening a new mission field. Through Together In Mission (TIM), congregations become partners with missionaries by providing financial and prayer sup- port. TIM congregations often help recruit volunteers and send members to work on Servant Events.