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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 31

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
well with a humble and capable leadership team and missionaries deeply, passionately, and capably involved in spreading the
Word, planting churches, and showing mercy. We have two dozen openings for new missionaries in this area alone and countless unmet requests and opportunities within the churches with
whom we work.
The significant numbers of individuals, congregations, districts, Recognized Service Organizations (RSOs), and entities of
the LCMS who are operating independently of the OIM reflect
the capacity of the LCMS and the eagerness of our brothers
and sisters in Christ to serve His church around the world. Such
independent LCMS-affiliated mission endeavors can be a Godglorifying complement to the work of the LCMS as a Synod
through the OIM. Unfortunately, those same independent mission endeavors can also support heterodox groups, foster conflict within the autonomous church bodies with whom we have a
relationship, or undo a generation’s worth of work through the
Synod’s official mission arm and thus act at odds to our synodwide endeavors and to the Gospel itself.
In one country in this area, an independent group of several LCMS congregations refused the counsel of resident missionaries and lacked an understanding of the local culturally
nuanced means of communication. They elected to behave directly contrary to the local church body’s direction and were
primary contributors to a conflict that has resulted in deep and
ongoing schism in the church, removal of pastors from leadership and ministry, and the filing of local lawsuits against the
church. Much of the conflict was due to the abundant resources
this group brought to bear, their belief that they were more astute than those workers the LCMS called and sent as residential
missionaries to live in the context and serve the church, and the
independent group’s decision to select for themselves local individuals to work with, contrary to the church’s requests. The
conflict has led God’s people to leave the church and congregations to leave the church body altogether. Missionaries carry
heavy in their hearts example after example of well-intentioned
LCMS-affiliated work that caused significant damage.
This area calls for a unification and collaboration between
independent efforts and the work the Synod has tasked the OIM
to do or a clarification of the intended role of the OIM in missions abroad. While the OIM is resoundingly supportive of the
directives of the Synod, it must be resourced to carry out those
directives. As your selected and tasked mission arm, the OIM
has scores of sometimes fleeting opportunities we are eager to
fill, openings where we are eager to walk with members, congregations, and the Synod’s entities to spread the Word, plant
churches, and show mercy.

Asia Region—Rev. Charles Ferry, Regional
Director
As the Synod gathers in convention this 2019, we remember 125 years ago, when the LCMS sent out its first official
missionary. No one feels more profound gratitude and respect
for those blessings than those of us who serve in the Asia Region of LCMS International Mission. Rev. Theodore Naether
and his family were sent to India to preach the Word and plant
churches, and we are blessed today to continue interacting with
the descendants (natural and theological) of what our Lord
accomplished through that first missionary. The Lord Jesus is
still doing that work, using the same underestimated Means of

Grace, although our role in Asia looks dramatically different
today than it did 125 years ago.
In today’s mission work, the LCMS works almost exclusively through established church partners. Many (if not quite
all) of these church partners are the fruit of first-generation
LCMS missionary work. They have carried forward what the
LCMS brought to them in years past: proclamation of the
Word, theological education, scriptural and confessional resources, and donations of property. Today, they are autonomous sister churches. But they still request our fellowship, our
assistance, and our partnership.
This is most joyfully and clearly seen in places like Japan,
Papua New Guinea (PNG), the Philippines, and India. In previous generations, the LCMS missionaries in these places were
myriad and were involved directly in proclamation of the Word
to those who had not yet heard it. They often hacked their way
through the bush to find newly discovered groups of people. We
hear first-hand stories of those who engaged in just that work,
and we are amazed and thankful.
Today, we are blessed to build upon the work from years
ago and to take it forward in the direction requested by our partners. What a joy to see people like Rev. Dr. Daniel Jastram, who
grew up in Japan as the child of LCMS missionary parents, now
returned to Japan and engaged in furthering the work of his
father and others. Similarly, Dr. Martin Dicke, son and nephew
of former LCMS missionaries to PNG, returned to the country
where he grew up and continues the family legacy. These two
men are just two examples of the multi-generational work our
church performs in these mission fields, which outside organizations cannot or will not stay engaged long enough to do.
We remain cautiously optimistic regarding India, our
original mission field. The secular Indian government has officially recognized the faithful and rightful leaders of the India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC) after much suffering
by the faithful Indian church workers and servants. We remain
hopeful that this situation will eventually fully resolve and we
will remain partnered with the IELC administration to continue fighting. We have also expanded our partnership with the
IELC seminary (Concordia Theological Seminary, Nagercoil)
in southern Tamil Nadu. We look forward to the first official
Pastor’s Refresher Course to be held at CTSN in several years,
following the leadership of the seminary faculty and our own
Rev. Dr. Edward Naumann, a descendant of the original LCMS
missionary to India.
Our partner churches most frequently ask us to continue
providing theological education. This is a perfect fit for us with
the long-established LCMS Mission Priority 2: “Support and
expand theological education,” and has always been a strength
of the LCMS in her work domestically and internationally. Our
church partners continually request us to send our pastors, professors, and teachers into their midst to provide ongoing and
continuing education in the Scriptures, the Confessions, pastoral practice, teaching methods, Sunday School instruction, the
faithful service of women in the church, Lutheran homiletics
[preaching], and other topics. Thanks to the faithfulness of our
congregations and your dedication to true Lutheran identity,
the LCMS continues to be seen as experts in these fields.
The Asia Region of the LCMS has seen incredible change
over these last three years. As the past triennium was beginning, the position of Regional Director was vacant, and the
2019 Convention Workbook