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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 15

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

MISSIONS 15

the task of setting up a curriculum for Christian education
“from the cradle to the grave’’ for the Chinese-speaking
churches in Asia. Rev. Andrew Chiu of the Hong Kong
Mission — LCMS is chairman of the committee. Dr. Walter
Wangerin of Concordia Teachers College, River Forest,
Ill., serves as one of the consultants.

The churches related to the Hong Kong Mission of the
LCMS participated in the Ebenezer Thankoffering by
contributing approximately $10,000.

6. Taiwan: Each in His Own Tongue

a. Local Leadership. The China Evangelical Lutheran
Church (CELC), which adopted its first constitution in
1966, grew out of Missouri Synod activity begun in Taiwan
among refugees from mainland China a little over 15
years ago. At its general conference in 1968 this church
of almost 2,000 baptized members elected its first Chinese
president, Rev. Wen Sheng Chu. Although the vice-
president and treasurer are Americans, all other mem-
bers of the governing board of the CELC are Chinese.
The national leaders are filled with zeal and enthusiasm
to involve the entire membership of the church in its
multifaceted ministry. The theme which the CELC has
chosen for its 1969 evangelistic emphasis is ‘‘Gaining
People for Christ.”

b. Christian Education. A significant development
during the past biennium was the opening of Concordia
Middle School in Chia Yi. The first stage of construction
was completed in September 1967. Dormitory space and
more classrooms were added in 1968. When the third
stage of construction is completed in 1971, anticipated
enrollment is 900 students.

c. Christian Service. The Lutheran Social Service
Center has continued to minister to needs of people in a
particularly depressed area of Taipei. This ministry,
launched by the CELC in 1965, has been supported by
the Board for Missions, the Wheat Ridge Foundation,
and the Board for World Relief. The major emphasis
is on the rehabilitation of people by providing assistance
in the area of physical help, job training, nutrition and
sanitation, personal and family counseling, etc. Present
plans call for an increased emphasis on social ministry
in all congregations.

d. Mass Media. The literature department produces
Truth magazine, Christian tracts, and other literature.
Among books published in the last 2 years is the Chinese
translation of Dr. Franz Pieper’s Christian Dogmatics by
veteran missionary Erhard Riedel.

Both the Lutheran Hour radio ministry and joint
Lutheran television programing have continued in
Taiwan. The Lutheran Television Committee (repre-
senting both the CELC and the Taiwan Lutheran Church
—TLC) produces and broadcasts a half-hour dramatic
program on Sunday afternoons. Correlated with the
program is the distribution of a weekly “TV guide”
entitled The Sower. Nine Lutheran groups in Europe
and the United States, all related to the China Advisory
Committee, support the program. Total budgeted cost
for 1969 is $40,000. The LCMS portion is $5,500.

e. English-Language Ministry. In the fall of 1967
Grace Lutheran Church, an English-language congrega-
tion serving all Lutherans in the Taipei area, formally
organized and called a full-time pastor for its ministry
among the expatriate business, diplomatic, and military
communities.

f. Church Relations. Since 1967 the doctrinal unity
committees of the China Evangelical Lutheran Church
and the Taiwan Lutheran Church have been holding
regular consultations, exploring the degree of unity
that exists between the two churches, with a view to
closer relationships in their life and work together in
Taiwan. Complete doctrinal agreement exists on the
points discussed so far. Plans are also progressing for
opening a joint Lutheran seminary in the fall of 1969. The
joint seminary would provide not only a more effective
theological training program than either of the two
churches has been able to provide in the past but also a
stronger Lutheran witness in Taiwan and the entire
Chinese community in Asia.

7. The Philippines: Each in His Own Tongue

a. Growing Maturity. Missouri Synod work began in
the Philippine Islands in 1946. Today the “mission” is a
church. At its convention in October 1968 the Lutheran
Church in the Philippines elected Rev. Alvaro Carino
(the Synod’s first missionary to the Philippines) as its
president. Readiness to assume an ever greater leader-
ship role in the church was demonstrated by the large
majority of Filipino delegates at the conference as well
as by the election of the first Filipino president.

At the same convention the LCP, the only Lutheran
Church represented in the Philippine Islands, passed a
resolution expressing its desire to enter into a formal
sister-church relationship with the Missouri Synod.
During the Ebenezer year in 1967 the LCP gathered
offerings of almost $3,000.

b. Shared Responsibilities. In a nation where 90 per-
cent of the people claim to be Christians, the LCP has
articulated its particular role as ‘‘a responsibility to
perpetuate the Gospel heritage of the Reformation and to
seek to help bridge the gap between the Roman Catholic
Church and the Protestant churches in the Philippines.”
In seeking to delineate this role more specifically the
church has said, ‘‘We agree that LCP should continue
to work to extend the influence of Lutheranism through-
out the Philippines; but that, nevertheless, LCP’s pri-
mary responsibility is not to increase her own member-
ship. Her responsibility to the unbaptized is to witness to
them so that they may be brought to the fellowship of the
church; to the baptized it is to nurture and strengthen
them in Christian fellowship.”

In a statement entitled “Ecumenical Attitudes” the
LCP emphasized the importance of demonstrating the
unity that exists in Christ without ignoring the differences
that still divide Christendom. As a tangible step to carry-
ing out its felt responsibilities in this area, the LCP re-
solved to apply for membership in the National Christian
Council in the Philippines. The NCCP is a council of