# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2007_S40 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 40 SYNOD REPORTS meetings included leaders from LCMS districts, Concordia Uni- versity System schools, the seminaries, LCMS auxiliaries, recog- nized service organizations, mission societies, and more. Many of these groups have set their own Ablaze! goals inside the larger goal of reaching 100 million people by 2017. Individuals, congregations, and schools have taken up the invi- tation to join the Ablaze! journey. Congregations are leading the way in sharing their Ablaze! resources across the Synod. One ex- ample is “50 Days Ablaze!” from St. Luke Lutheran Church in Cabot, Pennsylvania. Individuals and congregations are upholding Ablaze! in prayer and with organized prayer vigils. Many others have downloaded the Ablaze! Web site link to their Web sites and blogs. More than 1,500 congregations have downloaded the Ablaze! logo to add to resources as part of their Ablaze! participa- tion. Today, more than 2,000 LCMS congregations—or one- third—have joined the movement with formal outreach and evangelism activities in order to reach 100 million people around the world with a personal Gospel presentation by 2017. On the international level, a regionwide Asia Ablaze! Summit for church leaders, laypeople, missionaries, and partners convened in Hong Kong in 2005. Regional Ablaze! summits took place in 2006 with LCMS partner-church leaders in Eurasia (Cambridge, England), Africa (Nairobi, Kenya), Latin America (Cochabamba, Bolivia), and Asia (Shanghai, China). Many partners have begun setting their own Ablaze! goals and beginning plans for implemen- tation in their unique context. The LCMS partner church in India, for example, set a goal to reach 25 million people with the Good News of Jesus by 2017. These meetings and planning followed up the 2004 Ablaze! In- ternational Summit in St. Louis and lead up to the second Ablaze! International Summit to be held in conjunction with the 2007 Synod convention in Houston. 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. To help effectively carry out our Ablaze! purpose, each region has strategic emphases for international mission through which we connect work with our partners to proclaim the Gospel, plant churches, and develop leaders. They include: ¢ Africa—Reaching people through human care ministries. « Asia—Reaching people through education ministries. * Eurasia—Reconnecting people to their Christian heritage. ¢ Latin America—Building the capacity of our partners, which includes training and equipping national missionaries. During the triennium, LCMS World Mission relationships and/or work expanded into six additional countries, including: Congo-Brazzaville, Dominican Republic, Georgia, Madagascar, Mongolia, and Peru. Sponsored work/projects for 2006-07 were as follows: ¢ 16 countries with work/projects totaling less than $25,000 annually: Benin Bolivia Chile Cuba Czech Republic England Ethiopia France Ivory Coast Latvia Liberia Mexico Myanmar Paraguay Poland Portugal ¢ 15 countries with work/projects totaling between $25,000 and $100,000 annually: Argentina Belgium Brazil Dominican Republic The Gambia Ghana Grand Cayman Guam Island Jamaica Philippines South Africa Sri Lanka Sudan Tanzania Uganda 2007 Convention Workbook ¢ 16 countries with work/projects totaling between $100,000 and $300,000 annually: Cambodia Guatemala India Indonesia Japan Korea Macau Papua New Guinea Puerto Rico SierraLeone Slovakia Spain Taiwan Thailand Togo Vietnam * 11 countries with work/projects totaling more than $300,000 annually: China Germany Guinea Hong Kong Kazakhstan Kenya Kyrgyzstan Nigeria Panama Russia Venezuela *¢ 26 countries with historic or working relationships only: Afghanistan Angola Australia Belarus Botswana Burkina Faso Canada Congo (Brazzaville) Congo (Kinshasa) Denmark E! Salvador _ Eritrea Estonia Finland Georgia Haiti Honduras Hungary Laos Lebanon Lithuania Madagascar Mongolia Pakistan Peru Uruguay ¢ International work/project totals for triennium 2004/05 actual $12,363,386 2005/06 actual $11,245,130 2006/07 budget $10,828,145 TOTAL $34,436,661 3-year average $11,478,887 Scope of Current LCMS World Mission National Work Today, the national work of LCMS World Mission is organized around three centers: ¢ New Church Development—The last Synod convention as- signed LCMS World Mission, National Ministry with the task of beginning 2,000 new missions. Various initiatives are bringing this into reality and moving church planting to a congregation base. One such initiative is identifying 600 Ablaze! Covenant Congregations upon which training, personnel, and funding will be focused. The “Association of Related Congregations” model is another new strategy for beginning new missions on a congre- gational level with loans instead of grants. During the last trien- nium, more than 200 new LCMS churches were started. * Mission Revitalization—The 2004 convention called for every LCMS church to move toward being a mission outpost. Currently, 67 LCMS congregations are participating in a pilot program test- ing mission revitalization strategies. This pilot will lead to a process which will begin in 2008 that has a goal of 2,000 revital- ized congregations by 2017. GroupsAblaze! is also a revitaliza- tion tool available to congregations. ¢ Evangelism/Outreach—Following the 2004 Synod convention mandate, Outreach Ministry joined the LCMS World Mission team beginning in July 2005. As LCMS World Mission has been charged with the responsibility of providing leadership to reach the national Ablaze! goal to share the Gospel with 50 million peo- ple by 2017, work in outreach and evangelism invites and equips LCMS members, congregations, and districts to share their faith and join the Ablaze! movement. Many are sharing their faith-shar- ing stories and resources through the Ablaze! Web site. National Mission also covers three regions in North America founded upon strategic emphases to advance the Ablaze! movement through: ¢ Northeast—Starting new ethnic ministries and mission revital- ization within existing ministries. ¢ Great Lakes—Starting new urban ministries, along with mission revitalization.