LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 40

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40 SYNOD REPORTS

meetings included leaders from LCMS districts, Concordia Uni-
versity System schools, the seminaries, LCMS auxiliaries, recog-
nized service organizations, mission societies, and more. Many of
these groups have set their own Ablaze! goals inside the larger goal
of reaching 100 million people by 2017.

Individuals, congregations, and schools have taken up the invi-
tation to join the Ablaze! journey. Congregations are leading the
way in sharing their Ablaze! resources across the Synod. One ex-
ample is “50 Days Ablaze!” from St. Luke Lutheran Church in
Cabot, Pennsylvania. Individuals and congregations are upholding
Ablaze! in prayer and with organized prayer vigils. Many others
have downloaded the Ablaze! Web site link to their Web sites and
blogs. More than 1,500 congregations have downloaded the
Ablaze! logo to add to resources as part of their Ablaze! participa-
tion. Today, more than 2,000 LCMS congregations—or one-
third—have joined the movement with formal outreach and
evangelism activities in order to reach 100 million people around
the world with a personal Gospel presentation by 2017.

On the international level, a regionwide Asia Ablaze! Summit
for church leaders, laypeople, missionaries, and partners convened
in Hong Kong in 2005. Regional Ablaze! summits took place in
2006 with LCMS partner-church leaders in Eurasia (Cambridge,
England), Africa (Nairobi, Kenya), Latin America (Cochabamba,
Bolivia), and Asia (Shanghai, China). Many partners have begun
setting their own Ablaze! goals and beginning plans for implemen-
tation in their unique context. The LCMS partner church in India,
for example, set a goal to reach 25 million people with the Good
News of Jesus by 2017.

These meetings and planning followed up the 2004 Ablaze! In-
ternational Summit in St. Louis and lead up to the second Ablaze!
International Summit to be held in conjunction with the 2007
Synod convention in Houston.

Scope of Current LCMS World Mission International Work

LCMS World Mission’s international work is organized into
four geographic regions—Africa, Asia, Eurasia, and Latin Amer-
ica. To help effectively carry out our Ablaze! purpose, each region
has strategic emphases for international mission through which we
connect work with our partners to proclaim the Gospel, plant
churches, and develop leaders. They include:
¢ Africa—Reaching people through human care ministries.

« Asia—Reaching people through education ministries.

* Eurasia—Reconnecting people to their Christian heritage.

¢ Latin America—Building the capacity of our partners, which
includes training and equipping national missionaries.

During the triennium, LCMS World Mission relationships
and/or work expanded into six additional countries, including:
Congo-Brazzaville, Dominican Republic, Georgia, Madagascar,
Mongolia, and Peru.

Sponsored work/projects for 2006-07 were as follows:

¢ 16 countries with work/projects totaling less than $25,000
annually:

Benin Bolivia Chile Cuba
Czech Republic England Ethiopia France
Ivory Coast Latvia Liberia Mexico
Myanmar Paraguay Poland Portugal

¢ 15 countries with work/projects totaling between $25,000 and
$100,000 annually:

Argentina Belgium Brazil Dominican Republic
The Gambia Ghana Grand Cayman Guam
Island
Jamaica Philippines South Africa Sri Lanka
Sudan Tanzania Uganda

2007 Convention Workbook

¢ 16 countries with work/projects totaling between $100,000
and $300,000 annually:

Cambodia Guatemala India Indonesia

Japan Korea Macau Papua New Guinea
Puerto Rico SierraLeone Slovakia Spain

Taiwan Thailand Togo Vietnam

* 11 countries with work/projects totaling more than $300,000
annually:

China Germany Guinea Hong Kong
Kazakhstan Kenya Kyrgyzstan Nigeria
Panama Russia Venezuela

*¢ 26 countries with historic or working relationships only:

Afghanistan Angola Australia Belarus

Botswana Burkina Faso Canada Congo (Brazzaville)
Congo (Kinshasa) Denmark E! Salvador _ Eritrea

Estonia Finland Georgia Haiti

Honduras Hungary Laos Lebanon

Lithuania Madagascar Mongolia Pakistan

Peru Uruguay

¢ International work/project totals for triennium

2004/05 actual $12,363,386
2005/06 actual $11,245,130
2006/07 budget $10,828,145
TOTAL $34,436,661
3-year average $11,478,887

Scope of Current LCMS World Mission National Work

Today, the national work of LCMS World Mission is organized
around three centers:
¢ New Church Development—The last Synod convention as-

signed LCMS World Mission, National Ministry with the task of
beginning 2,000 new missions. Various initiatives are bringing
this into reality and moving church planting to a congregation
base. One such initiative is identifying 600 Ablaze! Covenant
Congregations upon which training, personnel, and funding will
be focused. The “Association of Related Congregations” model
is another new strategy for beginning new missions on a congre-
gational level with loans instead of grants. During the last trien-
nium, more than 200 new LCMS churches were started.

* Mission Revitalization—The 2004 convention called for every
LCMS church to move toward being a mission outpost. Currently,
67 LCMS congregations are participating in a pilot program test-
ing mission revitalization strategies. This pilot will lead to a
process which will begin in 2008 that has a goal of 2,000 revital-
ized congregations by 2017. GroupsAblaze! is also a revitaliza-
tion tool available to congregations.

¢ Evangelism/Outreach—Following the 2004 Synod convention
mandate, Outreach Ministry joined the LCMS World Mission
team beginning in July 2005. As LCMS World Mission has been
charged with the responsibility of providing leadership to reach
the national Ablaze! goal to share the Gospel with 50 million peo-
ple by 2017, work in outreach and evangelism invites and equips
LCMS members, congregations, and districts to share their faith
and join the Ablaze! movement. Many are sharing their faith-shar-
ing stories and resources through the Ablaze! Web site.

National Mission also covers three regions in North America
founded upon strategic emphases to advance the Ablaze! movement
through:
¢ Northeast—Starting new ethnic ministries and mission revital-

ization within existing ministries.

¢ Great Lakes—Starting new urban ministries, along with mission
revitalization.