LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 4

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4 MISSIONS, EVANGELISM, AND SOCIAL MINISTRY

cordia Seminary. St. Louis, in September 1983. All four stu-
dents are full-blooded native Americans.

Hispanic Ministry

Next to English, Spanish is the second language in the
United States of America in terms of numbers of speakers.
Hispanics are the fastest growing minority group in the United
States. The current Hispanic population is estimated to be
anywhere between 15 and 20 million. Ten years ago they
represented 4% of the population. By 1980 they accounted for
about 6% (see David Kaplan, “American Demographics”).
From these statistics it is obvious that we need to give a high
priority to reaching more Hispanic people with the Gospel of
Christ. This is a mission challenge in itself. The BFMS
recognizes the need to train Hispanic church workers who are
better equipped in language and cultural understanding for
reaching out to those not yet won for Christ and for the pastoral
care and upbuilding of Spanish-speaking congregations.

With the approval and recommendation of the Projects
Committee for North American Missions (PCNAM), the BFMS
approved a Forward in Remembrance Gift Project Proposal for
$325,000 over a five-year period (FIR Category North American
Missions and Ministries, subcategory C, “Ministry to People of
Other Cultures,” point 3, “We must translate into action our
verbal commitment to the Hispanics (the fastest growing
ethnic group in the United States). This decision is to
undergird the decision of the Board for Professional Education
Services to continue the Hispanic pastoral colloquy program,
identified as Lutheran Institute for Hispanic Ministries
(Instituto Luterano de Ministerios Hispanos) at Chicago (River
Forest).

To provide a director for that training program, an agree-
ment was approved by both the Board for Professional Educa-
tion Services and the Board for Mission Services for the
seconding of the Rev. Carlos Puig from the staff of BFMS to the
BPES to serve as director of the Hispanic Ministries Program
for one year, effective from Sept. 1. 1982.

Deaf and Blind Ministries

In 1894 a beginning effort was made in Chicago to minister
to deaf people. Two years later The Lutheran Church—Mis-
souri Synod assumed responsibility for this ministry. After 87
years the challenge still remains for the church to reach out to
the deaf and the hearing-impaired with the Gospel of Chnist.

The 1979 convention of the Synod adopted the mission
challenge to begin 20 new deaf ministries during the 80s,
adding to the 53 already in operation in North America. One
new ministry has been begun among black deaf in Atlanta,
Ga., another in cooperation with local congregations in
Rochester, Minn.

Of special need are more deaf ministries among sizable
ethnic minorities—Hispanics in the Southwest, Florida, and
New York City, and Blacks in the southern states. In these
ethnic groups the number of Christian deaf ministries are few.
and the number of unchurched deaf are many.

The church needs to continue to explore new methods in
expanding deaf mission and ministry. For example. can deaf
and hearing-impaired people be effectively reached by being
integrated into “hearing” churches? Can lay members be
equipped to assist their pastor and other professional church
workers in ministering to deaf people?

If the Synod is to live up to its convention theme, “Him We
Proclaim.” more workers will have to be recruited, trained and
placed into deaf ministry. In 1981 two pastors entered the work
among the deaf and hearing-impaired. In 1982 only one was
placed.

Special training programs at the seminaries and colleges
are designed not only to provide for more future workers but
also to help students become more aware of and sensitive to the
deaf and hearing-impaired and their special needs. It is hoped
that more and more church workers will seize the opportunity
to reach out to deaf people as part of their total ministry in the
community.

Ministry to the Blind

For more than 50 years the Board for Mission Services has
been proclaiming the Gospel to the blind and visually impaired

so that with the eyes of faith they might see Jesus as their
Savior and Lord. Most of the 1.7 million Americans who are
legally blind depend on the Braille system of raised dots for
their written information. For that reason the Lutheran Li-
brary for the Blind performs an important ministry in provid-
ing Christian materials to the visually impaired. Much of the
material is transcribed by a corps of some 300 volunteers under
the direction of the Braille Transcription Committee. These
materials include Sunday school lessons, Christian periodi-
cals, large-print, and cassette-tape programs. In January 1983
the BFMS authorized the publication of 300 Braille copies of
the Lutheran Worship hymnal to make it possible for blind
persons to participate more actively in worship services.
Concordia Publishing House has granted permission to pub-
lish such an edition. An allocation from the Special Blind
Literature Fund will subsidize the project so that the sale price
can be 350% of the publication cost. Ministry to the blind and
visually impaired has for many years been one of the unique
ministries of the LCMS.

Urban and Rural Ministries

The Board for Mission Services is concerned that as much
as possible every opportunity for mission outreach in North
America be investigated and followed through with proper
action as much as resources will allow. One such area of
concern is urban ministry. The other is rural ministry.

An urban ministry task force of five district mission
executives has been meeting to develop guidelines for district
mission boards in providing subsidy for congregations in
changing communities. Already this past year the task force
was instrumental in getting a group of five vicars assigned to
the LCMS Urban Coalition in Baltimore for training for
specialized urban ministry. The vicars’ assignment began in
September 1982. By December 1983 it is the goal of this urban
task force to develop a network of resource people and an
instrument for evaluating the effectiveness of urban ministry
programs.

A rural ministry task force of three District mission execu-
tives plans to meet with District mission executives to discuss
and develop a program for outreach to large numbers of
unchurched people in rural areas.

Commendation and Commitment

During this past year the Alberta-British Columbia District
of the LCMS resolved to become self-supporting. The Montana
District has resolved to do the same. The Board for Mission
Services is grateful to the Lord for this step of faith on the part
of these two Districts and for their determination to continue in
partnership in the Gospel.

Him We Proclaim. With the Gospel of Christ God sends His
people out into mission to call others to repentance. forgiveness
of sins. and life eternal. Because this is the good and gracious
will of God, the work of missions in North America is not
finished, norcan it be restricted here. for next door is the world
in which there still are many unreached peoples in a wide
variety of cultural settings who need to hear the Good News.

Il. Him We Proclaim—to the Nations

Ina recent interview for the Lutheran Witness (Dec. 1982).
the executive secretary of the Board for Mission Services
repeated a statement he had made in the January 1979
Lutheran Witness: “Ihave said this before and I'll say it again.
I believe we stand on the edge of unprecedented challenges in
our church.”

God is opening doors for our church in countries around the
world in unbelievable ways, in ways that clearly indicate that
this is the Lord’s doing. The Lord has blessed The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod with a strong commitment to His
word and sacraments, with a firm evangelical loyalty to the
Lutheran confessions, with a consequent solidarity—all good
ingredients for mission outreach to those who do not yet know
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

The Lord has blessed our church with resources. But one
thing we need more ofisa larger view of what God is doing and
of what God expects of each one of us in His strategy and His
plan for reaching people with His Word. Prayer is a good place

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