LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 6

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6 MISSIONS

Reiss, pastor, has an extensive ministry for reaching Viet-
namese. Our Savior Lutheran Church, Lansing, Mich., Rev,
Eldor Bickel, pastor, has been working among the “Hmongs”
(Laotian refugees) who have settled in Lansing: he has
instructed 15, baptized 24, and confirmed 7 of these refugees.
There are 25 Chinese-American children in their parochial
school.

In North America, the Synod has eight Chinese—American
pastors, six Korean-American, and one Filipino. There is an
urgent need for more workers.

The Board for Missions is sponsoring a conference for
Asian-American church workers in 1981. This is an important
step to strengthen the forward movement in this ministry.

Forward in Black Ministry

There are about 25 million Blacks in the U.S. There are
about 50,000 Blacks in the LCMS. This means that while 10% of
the population in the U.S. is Black, less than .04% of the
numbers of the LCMS are Black.

An acute need exists for many new congregations to be
planted in Black communities. With the recruitment of more
workers, we need to be ready to move forward into this mission

ield.

Many things have been happening in Black ministry
during the past biennium. The Commission on Black Ministry
has been working to strengthen congregations and recruit
workers. For complete information on Black ministry see the
report of the commission.

II. Into All the World—Forward!

Our world of the ’80s has a population which has already
exceeded 4,414,000,000 people, and the number is still growing.
(Population Reference Bureau, Inc., Washington, D.C.). This
staggering statistic is almost impossible to comprehend.

When we consider that each individual person of this vast
number of people (as well as those yet to be born) is a lost and
condemned sinner, yet is included in God’s plan of salvation,
we can begin to appreciate the magnitude of His all-inclusive
love (John 3:16). But when we remember that God’s plan of
salvation, designed in eternity and revealed in time (Gal. 4:4-7;
Heb. 1:1-3, 6), is centered completely and only in the redeeming
work of His Son Jesus Christ, and that through Him alone are
the free gifts of God's grace: forgiveness of sins, new life, and
eternal salvation (Acts 4:12), we are startled into a new
awareness of the enormous magnitude of the unfinished task
of evangelizing the world before Christ’s return to judgment
(Matt. 24:14).

Based on statistics (U.S. Center for World Mission,
Pasadena, Calif.) 71% of the world is non-Christian. This figure
includes large blocs of people who speak over 5,000 mutually
unintelligible languages. These people are further subdivided
into approximately 16,750 subcultures, each of which requires
special understanding and approach for communicating to
them the Gospel of Christ. These blocs of people are referred to
as the “Hidden Peoples” of the world that still have no church
or significant mission work reaching out to them.

“Tsn’t there already adequate Christian witness throughout
the world by other church bodies?” some might ask. Implied in
that question, asked in all sincerity, is on occasion the inference
that The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is already doing
enough with its present mission commitments and that to do
more may lead to competition and/or duplication of effort ata
cost we cannot afford. Such is not the intent of the Board for
Missions.

Seventy-one percent of the world population is non-
Christian. The shocking ‘other side of the coin” is the fact that
only 29% of the world population (1.3 billion) is classified as
Christian (committed and nominal). Of these only 300 million
are identified as committed. The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod therefore has every reason to feel with the Christian
church on earth the full weight of the divinely mandated
privilege of obedience to the Great Commission of our Lord; to
assume its full share of the burden of the unfinished task; to
respond together with partner churches to God’s lovein Christ;
to readjust its priorities; and to come up with the necessary
resources for a concentrated effort to proclaim the Gospel of
Christ to more and more unreached people at home and abroad.

The costs are indeed high. The workers are indeed few. At
the same time there is a new stirring among the congregations
of the Synod, a renewed personal interest in mission outreach.
A growing number of people are convinced that now is the time
to recapture a new vision of world missions. This is a day for
reaching out to those who come from around the world to this
country (foreign students, immigrants, refugees). It is also the
“season extraordinary” for moving out into new directions
beyond our boundaries and shorelines. With St. Paul we say, ‘I
can do all things in Him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). Of
this we can be confident: God will bless our efforts, provide the
means, show the way, and give the increase (1 Cor. 3:6).

In the name of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
the 1979 convention of the Synod solemnly resolved:

1. To encourage and assist African and European partner
churches/mission fields to increase membership (1979
Convention Proceedings, p. 88, Res. 1-03A);

2. Toencourage and assist Asian partner churches/mission
fields to increase membership (1979 Convention Proceed-
ings, p. 88, Res. 1-04A);

3. To encourage and assist partner churches/ mission fields
in Latin America to increase membership (1979 Conven-
tion Proceedings, pp. 88—89, Res. 1-05A);

4. To encourage and assist partner churches/ mission fields
to increase their mission outreach (1979 Convention
Proceedings, p. 89, Res. 1-06A):

5. To establish functioning church extension fund pro-
grams in ten partner churches’ mission fields (1979 Con-
vention Proceedings, p. 90, Res. 1-07);

6. To help develop sound accounting practices in partner
churches/ mission fields (1979 Convention Proceedings,
p. 90, Res. 1-08);

7. To open ten new mission fields overseas in the 1980s
(1979 Convention Proceedings, p. 94, Res. 1-18A);

8. To begin literacy and Bible translation work on ten
spoken languages not yet reduced to writing (1979 Con-
vention Proceedings, pp. 94—95, Res. 1-19).

From the world area reports which follow it will be evident
that some programs referred to in the resolutions are already
under way. Others have either just begun or are in the planning
stage. The Board for Missions regards each of the above
resolutions as a mandate to move forward. Under the grace of
God the board is determined to do just that.

Africa/Europe/Middle East
Ghana

Population: 11.7 million (47 tribes); population growth
rate: 3.1%.

In Ghana, as much as anywhere, to move Forward requires
faith, courage, and patience. These are precious gifts which our
Lord has granted to the leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Ghana. Economically and politically the nation is
struggling to rise above poverty and to achieve stability. Under
difficult circumstances this partner church, with the Rev. Paul
K. Fynn, president, is determined to move forward in bringing
the Gospel of Christ to more people in that land.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ghana (ELCG) was
begun in 1958 and incorporated in 1966. Since the 1979
convention of the Synod, one new station has been established,
bringing the total to 20. The ELCG works in four of the nine
government administrative regions and includes work in
regional capitals (Accra-Tema, Secondi-Takoradi, and Kumasi)
as well as in rural villages, particularly in the Bimoba tribal
area of northern Ghana.

The national staff of the ELCG consists of 6 pastors, 14
laymen, who assist in evangelistic work, and 2 ordained
missionaries from the LCMS.

A lay missionary, Mr. Larry Grooms, with his wife Gloria
and daughter Trudie, plan to arrive in Ghana late spring 81.
They will be located in Tema, about 15 miles east of the
country’s capital of Accra. As business manager for the ELCG,
he will handle the financial affairs and assist in developing
long-range goals and objectives for the national church.

The ELCG has asked the Board for Missions for two more
Missionaries in 1981, one for evangelistic work in Konkomba
area and one lay person for agricultural work among the