LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 72

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72

SYNOD REPORTS

laypeople who continue serving “where they are” has been the workable, good stewardship administrative model for all 111 years of the
SELC’s existence (first as the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church,
then the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, and since 1971, the
SELC District, LCMS). The challenges the SELC faces are maintaining a cohesive “family” with a nongeographic character along with
the effects of social and economic change among many of our SELC
“northern tier, industrial area” congregations.
Most SELC congregations are involved in a variety of social ministry and mercy ministry endeavors that demonstrate Christ’s love for
the world by establishing, supporting, and volunteering in food pantries, crisis pregnancy centers, homeless shelters, free meal programs,
free medical clinics, and community ride programs. Many SELC
congregations have recognized the opportunities for outreach into
the changing neighbors around our long-established congregations,
using English-as-a-Second-Language classes and hospitality ministries to break down barriers for the Gospel. The district has subsidized
Hispanic ministries in Chicago, IL, Whiting, IN, and Tampa, FL;
Asian Indian ministries in Clark, NJ, and Chicago, IL; and Chinese
ministries, plus hospitality ministry to Middle Eastern immigrants,
in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Short-term mission trips are sponsored
regularly within the United States to assist in areas devastated by
storms and to “foreign lands” to teach Vacation Bible School, repair
damaged homes, or to help build culturally appropriate buildings for
worship, education, or group dwellings.
Our larger SELC congregations have recognized a special role in
planting missions, using the satellite model to take advantage of centralized resources of people and finances to meet the spiritual needs
of people in areas of population growth.
The SELC is unique in that we “own and operate” the Lutheran
Haven, an independent-living adult retirement community in Oviedo,
FL. It also includes an assisted living facility and a skilled nursing
facility. The Lutheran Haven has also begun a home health care
agency, seeking to help both our Haven residents and residents of
Seminole and Orange Counties (FL) to receive medical and rehabilitative services that allow them to remain in their own homes longer
as they age.
The SELC strives to be good stewards of the resources that God
has provided through congregational pledges and offerings, individual gifts, interest, and LCEF positive operating results. In the past,
because of financial reserves, the SELC has been able to utilize 90
percent of congregational receipts in the support of the Synod, our
two LCMS seminaries, SELC students in the Concordia University
System, our SELC seminarians, and our own district mission endeavors, with the full district administration funded by financial reserves.
The year 2013 has brought the challenge of a balanced budget,
wherein cuts in historic funding practices have been needed—however, always keeping outreach, evangelism, and mission funding
as our SELC District’s highest priorities. With mission outreach as
our focus and with a balanced budget, the SELC District holds onto
Christ’s promise—“I will build My Church” (Matt. 16:18)—praying that He would use us in effective ministry for the growth of His
kingdom, both in time and in eternity. To God Alone Be All Glory!
Carl H. Krueger Jr., President
R3-03-29

South Dakota District
The theme for the 2012 South Dakota District convention was
“Called Into Partnership: For Witness” based on Acts 1:8: “But you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you
will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and
to the end of the earth.” This theme highlights one part of the threefold
2013 Convention Workbook

emphasis of “Witness, Mercy, Life Together: In Christ, for the
Church and the World.”
Oftentimes when Christian people hear the word “witness,” their
first thought is something that we are to do. That is Law. Wonderfully,
however, the words of Jesus in Acts 1:8 speak first and foremost of
who we are as a result of God’s gracious action in the giving of His
Holy Spirit. We are redeemed children of God and, as such, witnesses of Christ. That’s grace and Gospel! The Holy Spirit not only
has made us God’s people through Baptism and God’s Word, but He
has also empowered us as witnesses to bring the Gospel to the ends
of the earth.
The congregations and their members, the schools, and the
missions and ministries of the South Dakota District truly are in partnership for witness, both for “For the Church and the World.”
In the combined total of 117 congregations and preaching stations,
the witness of God’s Word and Sacraments is regularly given so that
through these means, the Holy Spirit is given “who works faith, when
and where He pleases, in those who hear the Gospel” (AC V). In turn,
pastors and members of congregation are witnesses of the Gospel
to those who are outside of their congregations. Likewise, in our
combined total of 23 early childhood centers, preschools, elementary schools, middle schools, and high school, children and young
people both grow in God’s Word and are equipped as witnesses to
others. Many of these children come from non-Lutheran and even
non-churched backgrounds. Two days before I wrote this report, I
was told of a non-Lutheran child at one of our schools who has asked
to be baptized!
In 2012, nearly 80 percent of our district’s work program was
directed toward witness and mission endeavors. Honoring the commitment that was made at the Synod’s fiscal conference in 2007,
32 percent of all “missions receipts” the district receives from congregations directly support the national and international mission
and ministry of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. In addition,
the district continues partnership with Synod’s Together In Mission
(TIM) program, with support over the past 20 years for a missionary
in Kazakhstan and the commitment to ongoing TIM support.
South Dakota has nine American Indian reservations and designated tribal land areas—more than any other state. The American
Indian population of South Dakota makes up nearly 9 percent of
the state’s population and is one of the highest nonchurched populations. The district supports a full-time missionary on the Rosebud
Reservation, a part-time specific ministry pastor (SMP) missionary
on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and is exploring the possibility of a
missionary on the Cheyenne River Reservation.
Another largely non-churched population is that of persons who
are deaf or severely hearing impaired. The state School for the Deaf
was located in Sioux Falls for 130 years but closed as a residential
school in 2010. The closing of the school resulted in the exodus both
of deaf students who are now mainstreamed in their own communities and of families who lived in Sioux Falls and were associated with
the school. For decades, the district supported a full-time missionary to the deaf who also served as the pastor of a deaf congregation.
Much of his work was with students and families associated with the
school. Yet God had a plan so that ministry with the deaf can continue. Our deaf congregation has joined with a hearing congregation
to form a two-point parish, and together they have called the former
missionary to be their pastor.
Sioux Falls is the largest city in South Dakota and continues to be
a regional hub for receiving immigrants, including many from African
nations. A Sudanese group and two Ethiopian groups hold services in
three Sioux Falls congregations and are served by a called Sudanese
pastor and an Ethiopian man enrolled in the Ethnic Immigrant Institute
of Theology (EIIT) program. A fourth congregation has an active