LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 7

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

MISSIONS

Bimobas. The ELCG has one student in seminary training.
Fourteen evangelists have been commissioned to preach the
Word and administer the sacraments. Another 12 are enrolled
in training in the Theological Education by Extension (TEE)
program of the ELCG.

The ELCG has approximately 1,500 souls, of whom 386 are
communicants. They are grateful to the Lord to be in partner-
ship with the LCMS. They are determined under the blessing of
God to move Forward to achieve their goals of outreach for the
remainder of this decade. During the 80s they hope to expand
the work into nine regions. Their goal under God’s blessing is
to increase their membership to 9,000 souls and 3,000 com-
municants. They plan to reach out with the prayer that God
would increase the number of their congregations to 60 and
their preaching stations to 75. To do the Lord’s work they will
encourage their members to increase their offerings. They plan
to work hard to increase the number of ordained/commissioned
workers to 30 and the enrollment in their worker training
programs to 105. The ELCG has also requested that we send an
additional evangelistic missionary as well asa lay missionary
whois a qualified agriculturalist. Let us remember this church
in our prayers and with our help. Their task under difficult
circumstances is a real challenge. Their direction is Forward.

Nigeria

Population: 77.1 million; population growth rate: 3.2%.

The Lutheran Church of Nigeria (Rev. Nelson Unwene,
president), a partner of the LCMS, is the outgrowth of mission
work begun by the LCMS in 1936. The LCN, under the blessing
of God, has experienced a net membership gain of 5% during
1980: This rieafis an increase of 2,191 baptized members. Their
present total membership is ca. 45,049. soo

In order to reach larger numbers of people the Lutheran
Church of Nigeria has placed a renewed emphasis on leader-
ship training. The LCN is committed to enrolling 10 new
students per year in an evangelistic training program, super-
vised by its seminary. Stewardship and evangelism workshops
will also be continued.

As a part of the LCN’s forward movement in mission,
church planting efforts have recently been initiated among
unreached peoples in rural areas and urban centers. So, for
example, new work has been begun among the Izi people. The

_Izi are over 200,000 in number.

Work has also been started among the Bako people. In
November 1980 the BFM called a professional y trained lay
linguist to enable the evangelistc missionaries to devote more
of their time to church planting efforts. There are approx-
imately 60,000 speakers of the various Bako dialects, which
include: Nkim, Ekajuk, Nnam, Abanayom, Nde, Nta, and
Nsele. Initially the linguist will conduct a survey to determine
whether or not one translation might serve all of these people.
After the survey work has been completed, the demanding task
of language analysis will begin. After the language has been
reduced to writing, a team of translators will begin work on the
translation of the Bible into this language.

Within the past year New Testaments have been published
in two previously unwritten languages spoken in southeastern
Nigeria—Yala and Kukele. A third New Testament transla-
tion—Boki—was published and dedicated during the latter
part of 1979. With the publication of these three New Tes-
taments the Word of God has been made available to approx-
imately 150,000 people who previously did not have His Word
in their own languages. What is needed now is an intensive
development of literacy programs so that these people can
actually read the Scriptures.

On June 1, 1980, Lutherans in Nigeria celebrated the corner-
stone laying of a new church building in the federal capital of
Lagos. This church has a seating capacity of ca. 800. A
national pastor has been assigned to work full time with this
growing congregation. The cornerstone laying in Lagos marks
the first time that a large church has been built in a major
urban center outside the Cross River State which is the “home”
or “heartland” of the LCN.

Many Nigerian Lutherans have migrated to other urban
centers as well. These include cities such as Ibadan, Sapele,
and Port Harcourt, not to mention the proposed federal capital
of Abuja. Plans are in the making for_purchasi i
church sites in a half dozen urban centers in Nigeria.

The desire of the LCN to move Forward in mission is also
reflected in their requests for more missionaries. These include
two evangelistic missionaries, an ophthalmologist, a literacy
worker, a high school English teacher, and a professor for their
seminary.

Liberia

Population: 1.9 million; population growth rate: 3.2".

The Lord has blessed the work of The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod, which was started in Liberia in 1978 by
missionary Allen Konrad among the Mende people in the
village of Vahun in the extreme northwest corner of that
country. To help facilitate the logistics for that work, the
mission has a business manager in Monrovia in the person of
Mrs. Merlie Bruning. Since that time church membership rose
from zero to 260 baptized members. Two preaching stations
have been established. and a number of lay leaders in the
church there are now being trained.”

The Board for Missions is grateful for the assistance that
was given by a volunteer lay missionary couple from Horseshoe
Bend, Ark., Mr. George Brandau, a professional carpenter, and
his wife Ruth. Under difficult circumstances in a primitive,
tropical setting, they worked with their own hands and also
guided local help in gathering materials and supplies for
constructing a permanent missionary residence and meeting
space for the mission work in Vahun. Their Christian witness
made a deep impression on the local people.

The Board for Missions is currently conducting a study and
evaluation of its work in Liberia to determine what direction.
priorities, and resources should be set for the future of the work
there.

Togo

Population: 2.5 million: population growth rate: 3%.

When the Missouri Synod entered Togo, it entered a new.
field. In April 1980 a letter was received from the Honorable
K.T.D. Lacle, Minister of the Interior for the Federal Republic
of Togo, authorizing the Board for Missions of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod to begin a ministry of rural devel-
opment and evangelism among the Bimoba people, located in
the northern part of that country. This is truly an example of
how God does open doors. In 1978 the Togolese government
issued a decree limiting the churches in that country to:
the Evangelical Church of Toga (including the Methodists),
Roman Catholic Church, Assemblies of God, the Baptists, and
the Seventh-day Adventists. All other church and mission
agencies were excluded. When the Minister of Interior gave
permission to initiate the new work in northern Togo, a door, ,
previously closed, had been opened..

The new work was started among the estimated 30,000
Bimoba-speaking people who live in the northern part of that
country. An almost equal number live immediately across the
border in Ghana. Missionary Walter DeMoss with his family,
assigned to launch the new project_in Togo, had formerly
served among the Bimoba people in Ghana. By virtue of their
previous experience in Ghana they are well qualified for their
Togo assignment. Missionary DeMoss has also learned to
speak French, which is the language used in many business
and government circles.

As in Liberia so also in Togo the problems of establishing a
mission station, including construction of a missionary res-
idence and necessary facilities for starting work in primitive
circumstances, were resolved with the assistance of a dedicated
volunteer couple from Pelican Rapids, Minn., Mr. Norman
Krabbenhoft, a retired but vigorous farmer/builder and his
wife Ollie, a registered nurse. With their expert short-term help,
the beginnings of the Togo work have been made easier for the
DeMoss family, who are eager to move Forward with the
Gospel to reach these people for Christ.

Botswana

Population: 815,000; population growth rate: 3%.
In keeping with the Synod’s 1979 convention Res. 1-18A,
“To Open Ten New Mission Fields Overseas in the 1980s,” the

Board for Missions has resolved to answer the call from the

Mission of Lutheran Free Churches, that is, the Bleckmar
Mission (MELF—Mission Evangelisch-Lutherischer Frei-