LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 110

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

110 SYNODICAL REPORTS

“Witness in the Public Square,” the Atlantic District Mission
Society’s first annual luncheon in midtown Manhattan, brought
well over $100,000 to add mission-planting resources. The Atlantic
District Mission Society, composed of individuals and groups from
within the District and around the country, has raised close to
$1,000,000 exclusively for the ever-expanding work of missions in
the District. Sunday worship services are held in 20 different lan-
guages in the Atlantic District, so that the Good News can be heard
by those who have just arrived on our shores.

Through a time of some trial and difficulty, the leadership of
the Atlantic District stated firmly and frequently, “We will not be
deterred from the mission of bringing Christ to the nations.” That
urgency remains at the heart and core of the Atlantic District’s
parishes, missions, schools, and agencies.

David H. Benke, President

R7-05-02
California-Nevada-Hawaii District

Change marks much of the past three years for the CNH Dis-
trict. On Oct. 20, 2001, we dedicated the very spacious and beauti-
ful Ministry Center and transferred our District headquarters from
San Francisco to Livermore, Calif. After two years of occupancy,
staff members still express appreciation for the new facility and the
ample space provided for doing their work. The new facility has

also lived up to its name as a center for ministry by hosting many:

educational and training events, seminars, and meetings for Dis-

trict and other organizations.

Significant transition for our District came with the retirement
of our beloved President Walter Tietjen, and the passing of that of-
fice to the undersigned. Walt provided loving pastoral leadership
to our District for twenty years, the last twelve as District Presi-
dent. His pastoral approach of patiently “speaking the truth in love”
promoted the blessed unity of the true faith and a common vision of
reaching those without Christ with His saving Gospel. We are
deeply grateful to our Lord and to Walt for his servant leadership
and rejoice in his willingness to continue to bless the District with
his many gifts.

Many shifts in approaches to church planting and missions have
taken place these past three years, especially with the increase of
non-English language ministries and the emergence of indigenous
leadership in these ministries, the multiplication of mission soci-
eties to launch new missions, and the increased utilization of laity
in missionary outreach. Highlights include the following:
¢ A number of new Spanish language missions developing through

the relocation of Hispanic Lutherans to new communities.

* Outreach to Arabic Muslims through the ministry of a recently
colloquized pastor from Egypt.

* Circuit and multi-circuit mission societies underwriting and over-
seeing the outreach ministries of ordained pastors working among
English- and Spanish-language people groups.

¢ Planting of a new mission congregation in Cambodia through the
ministry of our Cambodian lay minister serving in Stockton,
Calif.

¢ A Mandarin-speaking, Anglo pastor reaching out to first-genera-
tion Chinese, while English-speaking Chinese pastors reach out
to English speakers of various ethnic backgrounds.

* A Liberian youth worker who graduated from Concordia Irvine
was recently licensed to carry out the Word and Sacrament min-
istry for an emerging Liberian immigrant congregation.

¢ An Ethiopian pastor serving in the Bay Area brings great support
to the missionary outreach in Ethiopia through his radio and Bible
school programs in that country.

¢ New church plants in Hawaii are spearheaded by laity who are
leading home Bible studies and small group ministries.

2004 Convention Workbook

These ministries call us to look at new configurations of mis-
sionary partnership here and abroad and creative ways to provide
sound theological education for the increasing number of mission-
ary leaders. We greatly appreciate our partnerships with our Con-
cordia Universities and seminaries in theological education. Pro-
grams such as DELTO, the Hispanic Institute of Theology, the
EIIT (Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology), and teacher collo-
quy have proven invaluable in equipping laborers for the harvest.

With transitions abounding, we give thanks for the many min-
istry approaches that remain constant. Never was that more true
than in the Christian education ministries of our congregations.
Each day in our District, over 8,000 children, in 76 different school
settings, receive an excellent education from outstanding Christian
educators—all in the context of God’s Word. And just as He
promised, His Word does not return void. Children are not only
nurtured in their faith in Lutheran schools, but many are brought
to faith. In the last three years over 350 children that attend
Lutheran schools in our District have been baptized in the congre-
gations that sponsor those schools.

A pilot project recently completed in our District proved espe-
cially helpful in preparing early-childhood teachers to teach the
faith move effectively. The Early Childhood Christian Certificate
of Teaching (or ECCCT) project forged a unique partnership be-
tween AAL (Thrivent), the CNH District, Concordia University,
Irvine, and a number of CNH parishes that sponsor Early Child-
hood Centers. Twenty early-childhood teachers took part in the
project. The purpose of the project was to learn what impact a se-
quence of university courses, centered on the teaching of the faith,
would make in the ministry-effectiveness of early-childhood teach-
ers, many of whom have not had the benefit of an education at one
of our Concordia Universities. The program was a huge success
with all of the participants testifying to their growth in faith, their
teaching skills, and their ability and confidence in telling others
about the Savior.

Change has marked the past three years of ministry. Even
greater change lies ahead for our District as we seriously come to
grips with what it means to maintain and to confess our evangelical
faith in life and cultural contexts very different from those of our
Lutheran fathers and mothers. No longer may we make our con-
fession primarily within a Judeo-Christian context, in the presence
of other Christian expressions of the faith; instead it must be made
in a pluralistic context, in the presence of non-Christian religions
and religious pluralism. Following the synodically sponsored theo-
logical forum in Arizona (Aug. 2002) our District hosted three fo-
rums for clergy and laity to grapple with the issues of Christian wit-
ness and the public square. Emerging from those conversations was
the reality that we no longer enjoy the privileged position of being
the church in the midst of a churched society, whether it was
Solomon’s Jerusalem, or Constantine’s Holy Roman Empire.
Rather, we’ ve become the diaspora once again, God’s saints scat-
tered (sown) throughout His world (Matthew 13:37-43). And like
Daniel and his friends, or St. Paul and his, CNH congregations and
leaders are learning what it means to be God’s people in Babylon,
Christ’s churches in mission. Christian hope abounds as we recog-
nize that we face challenges similar to those faced by God’s saints
in other times and places. Unable to predict the outcomes or the fu-
ture, we recognize the limits of our best plans and efforts. At the
same time we rejoice in the eternal and unalterable promise of the
effective ministry of Christ’s Spirit, who, through His means of
grace, works faith in people where and when it pleases Him. We
are simultaneously honored and humbled by the awesome privi-
lege of joining our voice with the Spirit’s in open invitation to all
peoples everywhere to come to the marriage feast of the Lamb. To
Him alone be all glory, now and forever.

Robert D. Newton, President