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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 16

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

16 MISSIONS

churches in which members, as they desire, may cooper-
ate in the work of any or all of its four commissions —
Mass Media: Social Matters and Social Education; Chris-
tian Education and Literature; Studies, Civic Affairs, and
Ecumenical Relations. Since the NCCP is of a conciliar
nature, its resolutions are not binding on any of the
member churches.

c. Special Ministries. The Lutheran Church in the
Philippines is involved in a wide variety of ministries
in both “lowland” and “highland” areas and in both
urban and rural situations. There are ‘“‘normal” parish,
or congregational types of ministry, evangelistic out-
reach to isolated pagan tribal minority groups in the
mountain areas, Muslim, agricultural, and medical minis-
tries. There is even a credit union headed by a group of
Lutheran laymen. Lutheran campus ministry is corre-
lated with that of several other Protestant churches serv-
ing an area of several square miles in Manila, which has
a concentrated student population of 200,000. Two Prince
of Peace Volunteers from America are enrolled as
university students in Manila and relate as Christian
students to young adults with whom they are in daily
contact.

d. Mass Media. Opportunities are being explored
for more extensive involvement in mass-media ministry;
presently there are preaching and dramatic type radio
programs under Lutheran Hour sponsorship and airing
of “This Is the Life’? TV programs. Because of the many
languages in the Philippines (the LCP has ministries in
eight of them), a translations department has been added
to the literature program. Its missionary director is also
serving part time in Bible translation work with the
Philippine Bible Society.

e. Christian Education. The Department of Parish
Education sponsors a program of lay training through
literature and through an annual series of institutes
held in each of the three districts of the LCP. During
1968 a 30-acre site for a future seminary campus was
purchased adjacent to Union Seminary south of Manila.
Actual relocation of the seminary will not occur for a
number of years. Experiments in formal Christian educa-
tion are taking place in two congregations on the lower
elementary level and may lead to more active and exten-
sive school development.

The LCP, a church of approximately 9,000 members,
is dedicated to sharing its Lutheran heritage in a nom-
inally Christian land, realizing that it has both something
to teach and something to learn as it carries out God’s
mission in the world.

8. Ghana: Each in His Own Tongue

The young nation of Ghana, first African country to
become independent after World War II, is rapidly be-
coming one of the most stable countries in West Africa
today. Ghana’s eight million people speak 56 different
tongues, presenting a major challenge to the communica-
tion of the Gospel.

a. Lay Involvement —to Get the Word Out. The Evan-
gelical Lutheran Church of Ghana (ELCG), incorporated

as a legal entity in Ghana since 1961, adopted its consti-
tution in 1968. It lists six congregations with 291 baptized
members and 166 communicants, served by six mission-
aries. Two Ghanaians in training programs will be able
to serve the church as ordained ministers by 1970. Addi-
tional Ghanaians will be trained within the next 10 years.

Heavy emphasis has been placed all along, however,
on “lay mi.istrv.”” On the congregational level, for ex-
ample, laymen communicate the Gospel so that people
hear ‘in their own tongue.” One missionary described a
typical worship service:

Our small congregation in Tema numbers only 25 communi-
cants, but those 25 speak eight different languages. In an
effort to join all together in one worship service, we use
English a good deal in worship but need to provide at the
same time opportunity for people to speak about and think
through the meaning of faith and Christian living in their
own language. Thus, after the sermon, we break into various
language groups for a Bible study related to the message of
the sermon—with a different elder leading each language
group represented in the congregation.

b. Urban Work. Since its beginning the work in Ghana
has been concentrated in urban areas — Accra-Tema, the
capital and main port city of Ghana: Kumasi, the most
strategic inland city; and Takoradi-Sekondi, another
major port area. Outreach in these cities is centered
primarily in government housing areas. In many of these
areas, even though the urban population is listed as 40
percent Christian, there is relatively little or no Christian
work being carried on.

In the past 2 years two chapels have been built in
Ghana with the aid of an LWML grant to the ELCG
Church Extension Fund. Negotiations are under way for
purchase of other sites. The ELCG has appointed a
planning commission to determine primary church goals
and objectives for the future and to work out specific
plans to meet these objectives. At its 1968 convention the
ELCG voted to survey two areas of outreach, one in the
general urban area where the church is presently work-
ing and one in a rural area to determine the mission
potential there.

c. Mass Media. Much interest has developed in the
use of mass media. Since early 1968 the Lutheran Hour
is broadcast in English over commercial Radio Ghana.
“This Is the Life’’ (also in English) appears weekly on
the commercial television station. Mail response from
both radio and television programs has been encouraging.

d. Church Relations. The ELCG is looking into the
possibilities of working with the Lutheran Church in
Liberia on a joint religious curriculum project. The ELCG
has also indicated its interest in sister-church relationship
with the Missouri Synod. Negotiations are now under
way.

The ELCG is a young church with lay leadership that
understands its role in God’s mission to Ghana. The
ELCG has become a member of the Council of Churches
in Ghana and desires to work with other Christian
churches there to strengthen the Christian witness in
that land.

9. Nigeria: Each in His Own Tongue

a. Binding Wounds and Sharing Burdens. The tragedy