# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2004_S46 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 46 SYNODICAL REPORTS Scope of Current LCMS World Mission International Work LCMS World Mission’s international work is organized into four geographic regions—Africa, Asia, Eurasia, and Latin Amer- ica. Sponsored work/projects for 2003-04 were as follows: 25 countries with work/projects totaling less than $25,000 annually: Afghanistan Benin Belarus Bolivia Cambodia Chile Cuba Czech Republic Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia France The Gambia Guam Hungary Ivory Coast Laos Lithuania Mexico Myanmar Pakistan Paraguay Sri Lanka Sudan Tanzania 13 countries with work/projects totaling between $25,000 and $100,000 annually: . Argentina Australia Haiti Grand Cayman Islands Korea Latvia Philippines Poland Sierra Leone Slovakia South Africa Spain Uganda 16 countries with work/projects totaling between $100,000 and $300,000 annually: Brazil Germany Ghana Guatemala Guinea India Indonesia Jamaica Japan Liberia Macau Papua New Guinea Puerto Rico Taiwan Thailand Vietnam 10 countries with work/projects totaling more than $300,000 annually: . China Hong Kong Kazakhstan Kenya Kyrgyzstan Nigeria Panama Russia Togo Venezuela 13 countries with working relationships only: Angola Belgium Botswana Burkina Faso Canada Congo(Kinshasa) El Salvador England Finland Honduras Lebanon Portugal Uruguay ¢ International work/project totals* for triennium 2001/02 actual $15,720,824 2002/03 actual $15,447,633 2003/04 budget $11,268,206 TOTAL $42,436,663 3-year average $14,145,554 *These totals do not include salaries and benefits for personnel or administrative expenses. Scope of Current LCMS World Mission National Work The national work of LCMS World Mission is organized around giving assistance to special LCMS task forces and mission societies working in ethnic and specific areas. North American work also focuses on supporting congregations, Districts, and groups with training in church planting, church turnarounds, evan- gelism, and small-group ministry. Support is given to the Center for U.S. Missions in Irvine, Calif., for the work of training church planters who work in North America. Significant support is also given to the Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo., for distance-education programs leading to ordination for ethnic church leaders. During the last triennium, a missionary formation track at the seminaries was begun to train missionary pastors for work in North America. The Open Arms Institute was established to help Districts plant congregations through early-childhood development centers. Additionally, the President’s Task Force on Mission in the 21st Century was formed to research and report to the President of the LCMS and the 2004 Synod convention how the LCMS can be more faithful to mission development in North America. 2004 Convention Workbook Ethnic and specific mission work among 12 categories in North America: African Immigrant—90 ministries Blind—-25 cities/60 work centers Campus/Int’! Student—73 ministries Hispanic—160 ministries Muslim—46 ministries/12 cities Urban—S cities Asian Immigrant—198 ministries Campus—190 ministries/610 host congregations Deaf—95 ministries Jewish—S cities Native American—17 ministries Open Arms Early-Childhood Centers—35 National work/project totals* for the triennium 2001/02 actual 2002/03 actual 2003/04 budget TOTAL 3-year average $1,993,733 $2,080,883 $2,789,369 $6,863,985 $2,287,995 *These totals do not include salaries and benefits for personnel or administrative expenses. Balanced Focus Plan—Partner Focus Kindle a common vision and mutual commitment to sharing the Good News of Jesus with 100 million people by the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. The “partner focus” of the Balanced Focus Plan concentrates on groups who are outside of the LCMS World Mission organiza- tional structure. Partners include such entities as church bodies, missionary alumni, auxiliaries, Recognized Service Organizations, mission societies, universities, seminaries, and LCMS Districts. LCMS World Mission views partnership as an opportunity for sep- arate entities to fully engage strategically in a common goal. LCMS World Mission does not look for partnerships that merely involve a 50/S0 division of responsibilities. Real partnership happens when two or more groups individually agree that they will be equally committed at 100 percent to a common goal. The success of the Ablaze! vision will be achieved when partners agree that they share equally in the responsibility of achieving the goal. Partnership Examples of New Work Mission Society—In the spring of 2003, LCMS World Mission Executive Director Rev. Robert Roegner signed a historic partner- ship agreement linking the Synod’s mission board with People Of the Book Lutheran Outreach (POBLO) in a joint effort to plant churches and train leaders in Pakistan and other Central Asian countries. While LCMS World Mission has signed more than 30 other for- mal partnership agreements, this agreement marked the first time it had delegated the key function of church planting among a specific cultural group to another U.S.-based organization. The firstfruits of these efforts have resulted in a Lutheran church, seminary, and medical clinic being established in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2003. POBLO, an LCMS mission society based in Dearborn Heights, Mich., reaches out to Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs in the United States and abroad. POBLO is a member of the Association of Lutheran Mission Agencies (ALMA). The organization already sponsors workers in Pakistan and northern India, and plans to reach out into other countries as well. LCMS District—In 2003 the Mid-South District of the LCMS formed a partnership with the East of Lake Victoria Diocese (ELVD) in Tanzania to plant more churches through the establish- ment of mission-training centers, where indigenous leaders can re- ceive training for such activities as church planting and evange- lism. To date, there are four training centers in the ELVD established through this partnership with the Mid-South District. Through the ministry of the first two training centers, in approxi- mately two years, more than 100 leaders were trained and almost 1,800 people baptized! At one of the newest of the four centers, ap- proximately 400 additional people were baptized in spring 2004.