LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 21

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OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
bravely and resolutely. For their devotion to duty under extreme
circumstance they are all to be heartily commended.
The war in Ukraine caused OIM Eurasia to require all missionaries to leave or be diverted from both Russia and Ukraine. At the
same time, the outpouring of LCMS support for the multitude of
Ukrainians fleeing the war into the EU has been remarkable and has
been instrumental in bringing the Gospel to these people outside
of their homeland. The major hubs of Ukrainian refugee work in
Eurasia are in Germany, Romania, and Slovakia, but smaller efforts
in cooperation with regional partners are also underway in Latvia,
Lithuania, and the Czech Republic. OIM Eurasia is also able to
send medicine, food, and other supplies to our partner church in
Ukraine for distribution among church members and their communities. The Ukrainian bishop of the ELCU, with whom OIM Eurasia cooperates, reports that in spite of the fact that many of their
members have fled the country, the war has actually caused their
membership in country to expand. Soldiers are receiving catechesis
and Baptism on the battlefield. Laypeople are turning or returning
to the church in the realization of the transitoriness of this world.
The brave pastors remaining in Ukraine have been given helmets
and Kevlar body armor for ministry near the war zone. The bishop
himself was saved by it after being hit in a mortar attack. It is truly
awe-inspiring to see how our merciful Lord turns even such evil to
the salvation of the lost.

C.3. Showing Mercy
Mercy connected to Word and Sacrament ministry is an important part of the mission endeavor, even as Jesus says in connection
with the Beatitudes: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful”
(Luke 6:36).
Again, the war in Ukraine has caused difficulties in the region,
but also many blessings. With sanctions on against Russia, due to
its aggression, Eurasia mercy projects in Russia have become problematic. Sending support to the Hope Center of the ELCIR in St.
Petersburg and to the Faith and Hope Center in Novosibirsk is difficult, if not impossible, so long as the Russian war rages on.
At the same time, Eurasia mercy work has expanded exponentially due to the war. The Eurasia concept of mercy is to connect
such efforts to the preaching of Christ crucified, proclaiming the
Gospel of forgiveness of sins in accordance with the Scriptures
and the true testimony of the Lutheran Confessions. As stated, a
large mercy effort within Ukraine is reaching many in the war-torn
country. Faithful Ukrainian pastors are risking their lives to connect
their members and the newly catechized and baptized to Word-andSacrament ministry. While missionaries cannot go into Ukraine,
mercy projects for refugees in the EU are serving more people than
ever. These projects are also strongly tied to Word and Sacrament
ministry.
As it has been with Eurasia work among Iranian and Afghani
immigrants (former Muslims) to Germany, so it is now with the
refugees from Ukraine. It is impossible to send missionaries into
countries dominated by Islamic governments that deny Christian
witness in their countries. Still, the Lord has opened the door to the
Gospel to them outside of their oppressive countries. And now this
is happening again with refugees from Ukraine. The Lord can open
doors beyond our imagination. If we cannot bring the Gospel to the
people, God, in His grace, will bring them to us. We only need to
see it when He does it and follow His lead.

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D. Africa Region
The OIM Africa Region, in furtherance of the mission emphases
of the LCMS, seeks to Spread the Gospel, Plant Lutheran Churches (and train church workers), and Show Mercy across the region.
Under the office of the President, we serve as the primary collaborative internal interface in all the Synod’s Africa mission endeavors and the primary mission interface with Lutheran church bodies
in Africa, in accordance with the Synod’s fraternal covenant. This
region carries working relationships with local church bodies, supports the ministries they prioritize within our own emphases, and
embodies a loving, trusting, interdependent, and humble community of exceptional professionals who preach Christ crucified.
The OIM Africa Region supports relationships with church bodies in 25 countries across the continent. Within these countries, the
LCMS has relationships with some 35 church bodies—including
church bodies at all stages, from very small and young to the three
large church bodies in Madagascar, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. In line
with the region’s strategic plan, the Synod’s resources entrusted
to this work through the OIM are invested primarily in the two
most frequent requests from these varied church bodies—walking
with the local church body in the formation of church workers and
walking with the local congregation in the showing of mercy. The
LCMS, through OIM Africa Region, supports 15 seminaries in 13
countries, offering a variety of programs up to accredited master’s
degrees to prepare candidates to preach Christ crucified to those
communities entrusted to their care. Three of these institutions provide deaconess training programs in addition to the pastoral training programs. Each year, roughly half of the financial resources
invested in church bodies in Africa are expressions of compassion
and mercy in close proximity to Word-and-Sacrament ministry,
with the most notable ongoing project being Christ’s Care for Children.
After a quadrennium of decline in missionary numbers in the region, and the recombination of the two areas into one region under
one regional director, the area is stabilizing the missionary force
through a renewal of the longstanding use of Alliance Missionaries, currently sent primarily from the IELB in Brazil but also from
the ELCK in Kenya. A renewed emphasis on recruiting within the
LCMS is encouraging, and the region’s workers and church bodies
are praying that, over the next triennium, the Synod will be able to
fill the more than 40 new positions requested by those church bodies in addition to replacing missionaries who are retiring from field
service. Such additional personnel will greatly expand the Synod’s
ability to respond to the myriad of opportunities and requests to
support the local church in preaching Christ crucified.
The significant numbers of individuals, congregations, districts,
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 God-glorifying complements to the work of the LCMS through
the OIM. Unfortunately, those same independent LCMS-affiliated
mission endeavors can also support heterodox groups, foster conflict within the autonomous church bodies with whom we have a relationship, or undo generations worth of work through the Synod’s
mission arm and thus act at odds to our Synod’s endeavors and to the
Gospel itself. The region’s missionaries continue, despite the desperate shortage of personnel, to improve and extend our ability and
resourcing to cooperate, collaborate, coordinate, and communicate
2023 Convention Workbook