LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 22

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22

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

with the Synod in line with the charter entrusted to the OIM that
we, together, as one body, may preach Christ crucified.

early 2023), Asia Region collaboration with each school is proceeding once again.

This region deeply appreciates the resources and personnel that
have been entrusted to the Synod’s work in its supportive role on
the continent and encourages the Synod to continue to send missionaries and resource them and the programs and projects they engage so that we may continue to Spread the Gospel, Plant Lutheran
Churches, and Show Mercy—and preach Christ crucified.

We watched with heavy hearts during this quadrennium as our
long-time partners in the Japan Lutheran Church (JLC) continued
down a path we could not follow. Despite conversations that started
before 2009, the JLC embraced the ordination of women to the
pastoral office, voting to enshrine this practice in their constitution
and electing a woman pastor to serve as the vice president of their
church body. The Asia Region is now pursuing new activities and
partners in Japan, led by second-generation LCMS missionary Rev.
Dr. Daniel Jastram. The Lord has reserved for Himself a beautiful
remnant in Japan who are still interested in hearing the truth of
the Word and the Lutheran Confessions. We are excited to see the
various parties in cities like Osaka, Niigata, and Tokyo involved in
translation, proclamation, and catechesis. Our major effort at this
time is to pull together these various parties and encourage them to
work together. We have already supported and seen the translation
of Walther’s Law and Gospel into Japanese and are hopeful to see
Chemnitz and Pieper completed in the very near future.

E. Asia Region
The OIM Asia Region was hard-hit by restrictions related to
COVID-19 since the last convention, largely due to the fact that the
virus originated in one of our countries. Many people in Asia still
remember dealing with the SARS virus just 20 years ago, and surgical masks were already commonplace in everyday life. The restrictions in all our Asia Region countries came swiftly and absolutely,
shutting borders, denying visas, closing public spaces, and eliminating travel. The OIM properly instituted a ban on non-essential
travel in March 2020, but gave unflagging support and opportunity
to any missionaries who wanted to return to the U.S. The vast majority elected to stay in their countries of assignment.
During those restricted times, Asia Region missionaries turned
their attention to projects of translation (particularly in Japanese,
Indonesian, Khmer, Pidgin, and Chinese) and to helping our local
partners think through a proper Lutheran response to pandemics
and other such challenges. We met largely over remote electronic
means, like the rest of the world. Our missionaries used generators
and batteries when electric power was unavailable, and cellular signals carried intermittent voices. Missionaries did without their visits home, most without seeing family for the entirety of two years.
Some had family members die in the U.S. and have yet to see the
graves, since they could not return for funerals and burials.
Travel restrictions also prevented our partners from receiving the expertise and instruction from visiting teachers typical for
our region. Our educational programs were set back on numerous
fronts since missionaries could often not visit, and we could not
gather together church workers to be taught. We had to find ways
of making do with the personnel we had in-country, since the opportunities to bring new missionaries into our Asian countries was
curtailed and eliminated while immigration departments were shut.
We are thankful that most countries in Asia have now opened
up for gathering and visitation, at least with lesser restrictions. We
are still limited in some places by vaccination requirements, and
some COVID-19 reactions have necessitated the relocation of missionaries to new fields. We are not experiencing the freedom we did
before COVID-19, but we have certainly turned corners and are
joyfully ramping up activities again.
Our international schools (in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Hanoi)
were particularly impacted during the pandemic in their respective countries. The strategic dialogues between LCMS and school
leadership teams were brought to a standstill, despite having made
two distinct stretches forward. The schools were each forced to
pivot to online learning, even when portions of their student body
were forced out of the country with no return in sight. Each of the
three schools, in addition to the pandemic, also struggled with its
own contextual challenges: Hong Kong International School with
the passing of the new security law, and Concordia International
School Shanghai and Concordia International School Hanoi with
transitions (smooth and full of blessings) to new heads of school.
With the re-opening of travel in each country (as of late 2022 and
2023 Convention Workbook

The Asia Region has continued to settle into its new regional
headquarters in southern Taiwan. We enjoy an ongoing healthy and
trusting relationship with the China Evangelical Lutheran Church
(CELC), which was planted by LCMS missionaries decades ago.
We saw our five-story headquarters building (owned by the CELC)
become nearly vacant during COVID-19, with just two families
remaining at one time. As 2023 gets going, we will have filled up
nearly every available unit with missionaries and families.
The CELC Taiwan has requested the exclusive help of the
LCMS in determining a new path for their church workers, which
will form servants who are more distinctly Lutheran. OIM Asia has
enjoyed a good partnership not only with the CELC in this task but
also with our LCMS seminaries in Fort Wayne and St. Louis. Lockdowns during COVID-19 were used for online dialogues and planning with representatives from the seminaries, their partners, and
OIM Asia. The first three years will be spent taking their current
church workers through a seven-course colloquy program so they
are better prepared to serve their current assignments and as mentors for the first cohort of new students. Now that many restrictions
have been lifted, the program has been initiated: the first course was
taught in August 2022. There will be at least three more courses in
2023, all taught by PhD-level LCMS educators and translated into
Mandarin Chinese. We expect that the servants formed in this program will be a resource not only to the people of Taiwan but also to
the entire Chinese-speaking world.
Lutherans understand that theology and music are closely connected. As we educate Lutheran laity and workers in Taiwan, we
want others to understand and appreciate that relationship as well.
The year 2023 will see the Asia Region engaging with David’s
Harp (davidsharpmusic.org), based in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to
establish a conservatory of sacred music connected closely to the
local church. This school will be set up in unutilized space on the
ground floor of our regional headquarters, which also houses classroom and library space for the theological education effort. It will
foster a proper understanding of the place and power of music in
the church, offer opportunity for instruction in liturgy and hymnody, and provide a place for intersection with the public. Many in
Asia in general, and the Taiwanese people in particular, have an existing interest in Western classical music, often attending concerts
and sending their children for instruction. We hope to make use of
this interest, offering recitals, demonstrations, lectures, and lessons