LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2010, Page 30

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30

SYNOD REPORTS
Short-term team multimedia training curriculum has been
developed in partnership with Lutheran Hour Ministries and
LCMS World Relief and Human Care and is available online,
free of charge.
• Conversations of Hope.net: A new online growing repository
of ideas, stories, and resources designed to help you share your
faith in six areas of faith development: connection, community, conversation, conversion, commission, and confidence.
The project was developed by LCMS World Mission, Center
for U.S. Missions, and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, with
the help of 11 subject matter expert authors.
• Operation Barnabas: Training, online resources, and support
is provided for members of LCMS congregations to reach out
to chaplains, military personnel, and veterans in their congregations and communities, especially those far from the support
of military bases.
• Ministry to the Armed Forces Sunday Materials: Printed
bulletin inserts, responsive prayer, and suggested sermon message for pastors are offered free of charge each spring.
• Beautiful Feet Mission Conference: Sponsored by LCMS
World Mission and led by students on college campuses,
participants are encouraged and equipped to reach out to people in their community, at their schools, and throughout the
world. The school hosts include Concordia, Portland (2007);
Concordia, St. Paul (2008); Concordia, Chicago (2009); and
Concordia, Texas (2010).
• Mission Partners’ Conference: Sponsored by LCMS World
Mission annually to bring together district mission and evangelism executives, mission and ministry facilitators, and
others active in mission work to support them, thank them,
and encourage their efforts in the mission fields. Specialized
topics have included church planting (2007), outreach and
international mission (2008), and church revitalization (2009).
• Friendship of Jesus and Muslims Conference: The firstever event, held in Detroit in spring 2008, was co-sponsored
by LCMS World Mission and People of the Book Lutheran
Outreach (POBLO) to raise the level of conversation, direction, motivation, and preparation for sharing the love of Jesus
for Muslim friends and neighbors. Session workshops were led
by missionaries and others experienced in relationship-building ministries with Muslims in the United States and overseas.
• Ablaze! in God’s Word Bible—Listening Project for
Lutheran Schools: In 2008–09, more than 30,000 students
(grades 1–8) in 260 schools received their own digital audio
Bibles—listening to the New Testament for 40 days, supporting overseas Bible listening groups in India Lutheran
schools, and being equipped to share God’s Word with their
families, neighbors, and friends. This project was made possible by a collaboration of LCMS World Mission, District and
Congregational Services—Lutheran Schools Department,
Lutheran Education Association, and Hosanna/Faith Comes
by Hearing. A pilot project was also conducted in 2008 on the
campus of Concordia, Ann Arbor.
• Children’s Mission Project Curriculum and Resources:
Mission projects and resources in collaboration with LCMS
World Relief and Human Care offered through Concordia
Publishing House’s VBS curriculum included: 2008—
Children around the World, 2009—India Schools, and
2010—Dominican Republic.
• Connecting with LCMS World Mission through Web 2.0
tools: A blog was launched in 2008 with RSS feed capabilities, as well as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Picasa pages

that offered convenient access to the latest videos, photos,
news, and resources celebrating God’s Mission. All are easy
to access, easy to share with others, and available “on the go”
for mobile devices.
People Focus: Identify and develop people who have the expertise
and capacity to link partners, mission responders, and resources to
mission opportunities in a creative and innovative manner.
T.E.A.M.—Together Everyone Achieves More

LCMS World Mission is broken down into work teams that are
not only committed individually to what they do separately, but are
also committed to what their teammates are doing on a daily basis.
Every work team is assigned a specific area to “own”—executive,
administration, communication, development, recruitment, mission
education, Ministry to the Armed Forces, International Mission, and
National Mission—but ownership doesn’t end with each team’s specific area of responsibility and expertise. The entire mission team
owns and is committed to the vision that LCMS World Mission is
the place where the church turns for quality, collaborative mission
involvement!
We give thanks to God that in this 2007–10 triennium, LCMS
World Mission called and sent more career missionaries than in the
two previous trienniums combined (2001–04 and 2004–07)! The new
Network-Supported Missionary (NSM) model established in 2007
helped to make this turnaround possible, allowing for an expansion
of missionaries in service. In fact, today 34 new career national and
international missionaries are now walking together with individuals, congregations, districts, and organizations from across the LCMS
in their mission service.
These NSM-model partnerships create “hands-on,” personal mission-learning experiences, participating in the act of sending another
to go in the name of Christ, and then celebrating God’s mission
through His people. Partners within this model also provide vitally
important prayer support and give the financial resources necessary
for ongoing Gospel outreach in non-Christian and post-Christian
cultures everywhere. As the mission partnerships grow between the
network members and the missionary, people start telling other believers what God is doing in mission and inviting them to join through
their own personal mission involvement. Learn. Pray. Give. Tell.
Send. Go. Celebrate.
Personnel Statistics for the Triennium

As of January 2010, 115* career missionaries and personnel based
in 31 countries are serving through LCMS World Mission.
• 41 clergy
• 6 teachers
• 3 DCEs and DCOs
• 1 deaconess
• 1 vicar
• 3 medical missionaries
• 21 laypeople
• 39 spouses with missionary solemn appointments
(*Seven are clergy serving in the U.S. An additional 9 missionaries from our partner churches around the world serve in
other countries in a partnership through LCMS World Mission.
Known as Ablaze! Alliance Missionaries, these individuals—
all clergy—each fill a traditional career missionary position.)
• Throughout 2009, 109 GEO (Globally Engaged in Outreach) longterm missionaries served in 27 countries.

2010 Convention Workbook

2010 Convention.indb 30

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