LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 39

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SYNOD REPORTS 39

R1-01
LCMS World Mission

Introduction—Twenty-first Century
Challenges and Opportunities

The Unfinished Task

* The 6.6 billion people in the world come from approximately
12,000 ethno-linguistic groups, speaking more than 7,148 lan-
guages.

¢ The top four languages spoken in the world today are Mandarin
Chinese, Spanish, English, and Hindi-Urdu.

* More than 4 billion people—or two out of every three—do not
know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

¢ The world Christian population stands at 33 percent, with Muslim
at 20 percent, and nonreligious at 15 percent.

¢ The U.S. population crossed the 300 million mark on Oct. 16,
2006.

* Between 1975 and 2004, the U.S. population grew by more than
70 million. In the same time period, though, membership in the
LCMS declined by 395,406.

Nearly 50 percent of Americans claim no religious affiliation, and
only 15 percent of the U.S. population worships every Sunday.

Civil Unrest, Disease, Natural Disaster, Terrorism, and War

The 2004-2007 triennium was filled with numerous world
events that impacted the work of LCMS World Mission.

The December 2004 tsunami in South Asia is perhaps the
most far-reaching natural devastation we have ever witnessed. It
affected 11 countries, and the United Nation lists 229,866 people
were lost, including 186,983 dead and 42,883 missing. In Indone-
sia alone, a half million people were left homeless—with another
4.5 million homeless elsewhere in Asia. All reports from our mis-
sionaries and other Lutherans involved in surveying the destruc-
tion caused by the tsunami and related earthquakes contain the
same message: There aren’t adequate words to describe the extent
of the devastation.

In March 2005, a political coup in Kyrgyzstan brought
protests, rioting, and looting in the capital of Bishkek. AJl LCMS
World Mission missionaries serving in Kyrgyzstan were able to re-
main in country, but the field office was temporarily closed.

In September 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita brought
utter devastation upon the Gulf Coast region of the United States.
As many as 50 LCMS parishes and thousands of LCMS members
and students were seriously affected by the storms. Katrina is the
costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the
United States, with more than 1,800 lives lost.

In October 2005, Hurricane Stan poured heavy rains over Cen-
tral America. In Guatemala, the rains caused severe flooding and
landslides that destroyed homes and wiped out whole villages.
More than 1,000 lives were lost and tens of thousands of people
were displaced from their homes.

In February 2007, civil unrest in Guinea led to upheaval across
the nation. Four LCMS missionary families evacuated to neigh-
boring African countries.

In spite of the difficulties that the twenty-first century presents,
God continues to faithfully fulfill His mission. He also continues to
bless the LCMS with the resources to make a significant impact in
North America and around the world. In many of the situations pre-
viously listed, God used them to bring about good and bear His
fruit.

The Response: Ablaze!®

Praying to the Lord of the
Harvest, LCMS World Mis-
sion, in collaboration with
its North American and
worldwide partners, will
Share the Good News of
Jesus with 100 million un-
reached or uncommitted
people by the 500th an-

niversary of the Reformation in 2017.

This worldwide Lutheran mission movement, empowered by
the Holy Spirit, began as a vision of LCMS World Mission in 2002
and was adopted and affirmed by the 2004 Synod convention, 29
international partner churches, and by individual districts, congre-
gations, mission societies, and other groups and individuals who
have collectively pledged their commitment and personal involve-
ment toward reaching the goals of the movement.

The two major Ablaze! goals are:

1. Share the Gospel with 100 million unreached or uncommitted
people, including 50 million in the United States, by 2017.

2. Plant 2,000 new communities of faith in the United States
(and work with our partners toward another 3,000 in Africa,
Asia, Eurasia, and Latin America).

Accordingly, every LCMS congregation is encouraged to see
itself as a mission outpost by strengthening evangelistic outreach
in the mission field of its own community. For this reason, LCMS
World Mission has set a goal of assisting 2,000 LCMS congrega-
tions in mission revitalization.

A strong emphasis has been placed on witnessing to “un-
reached” or “uncommitted” people—those who are not already be-
lievers in Jesus Christ. Yet, we know that in our Lutheran
understanding of conversion, God does the work of converting the
unbelieving heart through His Holy Spirit. However, by setting this
goal, we are not limiting the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit
will determine how many people will be touched by the Gospel
through our efforts, but we will be faithful sowers of the seed and
are holding ourselves accountable to sowing the seed of the Gospel
in the hearts of 100 million people in North America and around
the world.

LCMS World Mission has been entrusted with this initiative of
the Synod; a privilege and responsibility that drives every move of
the organization.

Strategy—“Balanced Focus Plan”

LCMS World Mission uses the term “Balanced Focus Plan” to
express its mission strategy, which is built on its purpose statement.
The goals of the Ablaze! movement will be achieved by the grace
and blessing of God, through focusing energy, activities, and re-
sources in the six areas specified in the Balanced Focus Plan: mis-
sion focus, partner focus, mission responders focus, people focus,
leadership focus, and board focus.

Balanced Focus Plan—Mission Focus:
Ignite a global Lutheran mission movement.

The Ablaze! movement has quickly taken root, not only in the
LCMS, but it is spreading among Lutherans throughout the world.
It has been and continues to be our desire to work in collaboration
with our national and international Lutheran partners—to build the
capacity of each other—so that the Good News will be shared with
100 million unreached or uncommitted people worldwide by 2017.

Each LCMS district convention in 2006 had an Ablaze! pres-
ence in one form or another. Leaders encouraged involvement in
the Ablaze! movement, and resources were distributed to all par-
ticipants, including a Concordia Publishing House small-group
Bible study, How do you start a fire with water? Ablaze! cluster

2007 Convention Workbook