LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 5

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MISSIONS 5

number of blind people served by programs of [the] Board for
Missions.” The number of people becoming blind each yearisa
large one, approximately 2,400 in the state of Illinois alone,
according to a recent reportin the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The
majority of newly blind are over the age of 65. Some progress
has been made toward the goal of expanding ministry to the
blind. A modest increase in the past year (1980) has been noted
in the readership of the Lutheran Library for the Blind, located
in St. Louis, and in the materials transcribed by the Braille
Transcription Committee. A companion mission challenge
called for “all congregations, agencies and auxiliaries [to] be
encouraged to increase their awareness of and response to the
needs of the blind.” Chief among these needs is for a personal,
pastoral, congregation-oriented ministry and outreach. A pilot
project is underway in five Districts to help local churches and
their professional church workers become more aware of blind
people—both in the congregation (to include the blind and
visually impaired members as fully as possible in church
activities) and in the community (to include blind people on
prospect lists for evangelism callers). It is hoped that this
program will be expanded to other Districts in the next
biennium.

A corps of about 300 volunteers under the direction of the
Braille Transcription Committee of the Board for Missions is
active in providing materials for blind and visually impaired
people. Most of these volunteers are Braille transcribers or are
active in other phases of duplicating and distributing Braille
materials, especially Sunday school lessons and Christian
periodicals. An increasing number of volunteers work in the
expanding large-print and cassette-tape programs to serve the
many visually impaired who do not use Braille extensively.
Ministry to the blind has for many years been one of the unique
ministries of the LCMS. Its direction continues to be Forward.

Forward in Hispanic Ministry

The 1979 convention of the Synod confidently resolved
under the blessing of God “to grow through the planting of new
churches throughout America among all cultures and ethnic
groups” (Res. 1-12A). This resolution calls for the planting of
five new Hispanic congregations per year and for a 50%
increase in membership in Hispanic congregations during this

ecade.

Hispanics are the fastest-growing minority group in the
United States. Although the Census Bureau does not issue
projections of the Hispanic population, predictions indicate
that at the current growth rate they will increase to about 17
million by 1990. Ten years ago they represented four percent of
the population. By 1980 they account for about 6% (see David
Kaplan, “American Demographics’). From these statistics itis
obvious that we need to give a high priority to reaching more
Hispanic people with the Gospel of Christ.

Since the 1979 convention of the Synod 12 new Hispanic
ministries have been started across the country: Sacramento,
South Gate, and Maywood, Calif.; Albuquerque, N. Mex.; El
Paso, Laredo, Dallas, and Houston, Texas; Melrose Park, II1.;
New Orleans, La.; Hialeah, Fla.; the Bronx and Brooklyn, New
York. This expansion, in addition to the more than 40 congre-
gations in the Synod where Spanish services are conducted, is
real cause for thanksgiving. The task, however, is far from
complete. The Board for Missions in consultation with its
Advisory Council for Hispanic Ministries is exerting efforts to
step up the recruitment and training of Hispanics for full-time
church work.

The training of lay workers for Hispanic ministry is the
responsibility of Concordia College, Austin, Tex. The program
is somewhat like theological education by extension. The
students prepare themselves under the tutelage of their own
pastors without having to disrupt their families by having to
move to a school location. Since the arrival of the program’s
director, Rev. Leonard Stahlke, 4 of the 10 basic courses have
been developed, and six students in five different Districts
have been enrolled in the program. The Hispanic Lay Training
Program is funded through the college budget and through
gifts from the Texas District LWML and the International
Lutheran Women’s Missionary League.

The Hispanic program at Concordia Theological Seminary,
Fort Wayne, Ind., is under the direction of Prof. Alberto Garcia.
There are 11 students who are preparing for Hispanic ministry.

Of these, four are Hispanics. The Spanish language is being
taught to English-speaking students and their spouses. In
addition to the regular theological courses, those preparing for
Hispanic ministries take five courses dealing with Hispanic
culture, liturgy and evangelism, religious literature and its
background, teaching Bible class, and preaching. Three of the
courses are taught exclusively in Spanish. The program in-
cludes local field education and a vicarage year among
Hispanics.

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, has five students enrolled in
the Hispanic ministry program. Plans for expanding this
program are under consideration.

The colloquy program at Concordia College, River Forest,
Ill., has two students enrolled plus several auditors who are
waiting to qualify for approval to enter the program formally.
The uniqueness of this program lies in the fact that all courses
are taughtin Spanish and students are expected to do fieldwork
every day in one of the local Hispanic congregations. The
Northern Illinois District has employed them for programs of
practical fieldwork experience during their training. Planning
a practical Hispanic program within the necessary require-
ments of accredited institutions is a challenge in itself. It is for
this reason that 1977 Dallas Res. 10-3, calling for the establish-
ment of a Hispanic seminary extension, has been difficult to
implement. As a result, a variety of means for accomplishing
the objectives of training workers for Hispanic pastoral min-
istry are being studied and used as these become feasible.

God has blessed the work of the Hispanic Literature
Committee. This committee is composed of persons from the
Board of Parish Education, the International Lutheran Lay-
men’s League, Concordia Tract Mission, Concordia Publishing
House, the Synod’s Evangelism Department, and the Board for
Missions. This committee has been meeting regularly to
consider the needs for Christian literature in Hispanic min-
istry. The committee hopes to begin production of bilingual
Sunday school materials early in 1981 to be ready for use in
1982. The materials will be coordinated so that all age levels
will be studying the same topic at the same time to facilitate
home discussion by various members of the family, for exam-
ple, during family devotions. In addition, several major
Lutheran theological works such as Walther’s Law and Gospel,
the Lutheran Confessions, J.T. Mueller’s Christian Dog matics,
etc. are scheduled for production in Spanish. What Jesus
Means to Me and the Cross and the Common Man by Herman
Gockel will also be translated and made available. There is real
need for a variety of Christian nurture and growth literature.

As of late 1980 there is need for at least 16 certified workers
for those areas that already have expressed a desire to start
new Hispanic ministries (Texas District:5 vacancies: Southern
California District: 6 new fields in the Greater Los Angeles
area; English District: 2 congregations in transitional ministry
in the Greater Los Angeles area; Colorado District: 1 in Denver;
Florida-Georgia District: 1 in Orlando, Fla.; Southeastern
District: 1 in Washington, D.C.).

The needs are great. The doors are open for Hispanic
ministry. There is but one direction: Forward!

Forward in Asian-American Ministry

There is an urgent need to go Forward in Asian-American
Ministry. There are approximately three million Asian-
Americans in the U.S. The four basic Asian-American groups
in the U.S. have been the Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, and
Koreans. More recently, South Asians and East Indians have
arrived along with many Indochinese from Vietnam.

One out of three immigrants into the U.S. comes from Asia.
The number of Asians has almost doubled during the past
decade.

It is estimated that by 1985 the largest number of Asians in
the U.S.A. will be Filipinos, followed by Koreans, Chinese,
Japanese, and Vietnamese. At the present time 71% of the
Asian-Americans live in California and another 27% in Hawaii.
In contrast to this distribution, of the Chinese who live in the
U.S.A. 62% live in the Northeast.

The California-Nevada-Hawaii District has developed
plans to expand Chinese ministry in the San Francisco area.
Rev. Cromwell Chen has recruited three men to study for full-
time ministry. One will complete his studies this year.

Mt. Hope Lutheran Church, Boulder, Colo., Rev. Harold