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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 19

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

MISSIONS 19

11. Europe: Each in His Own Tongue
a. Denmark. The smallest church to whichthe Missouri
Synod is related in Europe is the Evangelical Lutheran
Free Church of Denmark. One pastor takes care of seven
small groups which now total 193 baptized members.

b. England. Since 1960 the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of England (ELCE) has geared its total work to
a 25-year “master plan” which is to be completed in
1985. This plan proposed 10 years (1960—70) of expan-
sion at the rate of one new mission per year. The next
phase (1970—75) calls for consolidation. The final phase
(1975 — 85) also calls for consolidation, with new missions
opening at the rate that ELCE resources will allow.

Since 1953 the ,Evangelical Lutheran Church of
England has been self-governing. It has facilities for
theological training of pastors at Westfield House, Cam-
bridge. Concordia Publishing House Ltd., London, is
able to provide printed matter and audiovisuals. The
Church Extension Fund is building up capital for future
building needs. Self-support is a constant goal.

According to the master plan, baptized membership
of the ELCE was to reach 1,273 by 1967. This goal was
exceeded by 531, or 41 percent. Communicant member-
ship reached 734 instead of the planned 667. Per-capita
giving for 1967 had been estimated at £20, but actual
achievement was £26. The ELCE has 15 congregations —
13 in England, one in Scotland, and one in Wales.

The Board for Missions also supplies subsidy to the
Polish Evangelical Lutheran Church in Exile, located in
London. Five pastors serve some 2,000 baptized (1,400
communicant) members. This church has established
altar and pulpit fellowship with the ELCE.

c. Finland. The Confessional Lutheran Church of
Finland is a small group of 420 baptized (269 communi-
cant) members, principally in and around five cities in
southeastern Finland.

The Finnish church has been especially active in the
field of literature production. During the summer, youth
camps and family camps it sponsors are well attended.

d. France. The Evangelical Lutheran Church —Synod
of France and Belgium comprises 12 congregations in
France and one in Belgium. The congregation in Belgium
has grown from a group of 40 baptized (29 communicant)
members to 88 (63). In France the church has grown from
502 (346) to 1,056 (561) members. Of the present 12 con-
gregations, four are in the Paris environs.

The church has a church extension system ojder than
ours, operates various health units, and carries on an
extensive literature program. The Lutheran Hour is a
valued outreach instrument in France and in other
French-speaking countries. A seminary is operated in
the Parisian suburb of Chatenay. Plans are being made
to enlarge and strengthen the faculty and to upgrade the
seminary curriculum in order to attract additional
students.

Mention should be made of a new outreach effort in
Poitou, about 200 miles southwest of Paris. The initial
approach was through a vacation Bible school conducted

by several individuals from the Alsace region.

e. Germany. In Germany the Missouri Synod is re-
lated to three Free Churches. Because of their histories
and customs these churches have not yet merged, though
they have and practice full altar and pulpit fellowship.
The three churches cooperate in youth work, in evan-
gelistic endeavor (Volksmission), in foreign missions
(Bleckmar Mission Institute), in the issuance of doctrinal
statements, in mass communications, and in the mainte-
nance and operation of a seminary at Oberursel, near
Frankfurt. The Missouri Synod financially assists the
German churches with their seminary program. Since
this school is attended by students from sister churches
and from the German territorial churches, it can also
influence the ministry and theology of wider areas of
the church.

12. Latin America: Each in His Own Tongue

a. Time Running Out. “Ambassador Mein fell in a
flurry of chattering machine guns in Guatemala. . . .This
gangland style murder. . .is surely another piece of evi-
dence for believing that Latin America is in the count-
down of a major crisis, with precious little chance that
anyone will be able to prevent the blast-off. The papal
encyclical on birth control will probably speed up the
countdown.

‘|. .Time is running short here for traditional methods
of doing mission work. ...A majority of people who know
the situation well are convinced that some kind of violent
upheaval is coming. Despite aid from the outside and
some movements toward reform on the inside, it still
really is true that the poor are getting relatively poorer
and the rich positively richer. It is an explosive situation,
made more so by the fact that the local people who have
enough wealth and power to bring about basic changes
don’t seem to be in the least bit inclined to do it. This
leads to heightened frustration on the part of the poor
and the few concerned people of the middle and upper
classes who sincerely want to do something about
remedying the situation.

“Our tiny churches and missions have to ‘work while
it is day.’ All the efforts of all the Christian groups will
not be enough, humanly speaking. Only recently the
Roman Catholic Church woke up to the fact that Latin
America is really mission territory for her too. Far from
resenting our presence, the clergy and laity of the ‘new
wave’ see us as allies in the same cause. They, we, and
all the others have to do everything possible, and some
things that are impossible (but the Spirit brings them
about), to prepare the believers for the tense present
and the crisis to come.

“Will the churches be able to survive the giant social
upheavals? Will they be classified as ‘foreign’ and ‘anti-
social’ in the future? We don’t know. We can only fix our
hope on the Author and Finisher of our faith and hurry
to get the message across as quickly and completely as
possible, knowing that the big shake-up ahead will be
a time of testing for the believers. That puts us in sort of
an emergency situation. We are happy to see that more