LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 6

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6 MISSIONS

4. North America: “Beautiful Feet’ and “Sermons in Shoes”

The Synod's 38 Districts list over 1600 ‘‘missionaries”’ (pas-
tors, vicars, teachers, lay workers) in District ‘thome missions”
—work subsidized by Districts and Synod. There are, however,
additional ‘‘beautiful feet’ in North America besides those
officially listed as missionaries, just as there are overseas: the
pastors and lay members of every congregation in Synod.

There is a song that says every Christian is called to be a
“sermon in shoes.” In their Baptism, the nearly 3,000,000 mem-
bers of the Missouri Synod were called (and empowered) to
proclaim His name by Word and deed in every situation in which
God has placed them. The Board for Missions, therefore, is
concerned not only with the mission personnel and mission work
directly supported by synodical funds overseas and in North
American Districts. Part of its role is also to help each of us in
the Synod to ask the Lord to “take my feet’’—that the Synod
might be made up of 3,000,000 ‘‘sermons in shoes,”’ and so that
“souls” can be saved.

III. EVANGELISTIC VOICES AND LIPS:
PROCLAIMING THE MESSAGE OF GOD'S GOOD
NEWS AROUND THE GLOBE

Take my voice and let me sing
Always, only, for my King:
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.

“Take My Voice..."

“Oh, sing unto the Lord a new song!”’

They did in the Middle East. Not one, but many new songs
with a Christian message, written to modern Arabic tunes and
sung by well-known Arabic singing stars. These songs were first
used on Middle East Lutheran Ministry (MELM) radio programs
aimed at Arab youth and then presented in Beirut last Decem-
ber at an MELM-organized Spiritual Song Festival that at-
tracted an overflow crowd of 1,000 people.

The Rev. S. Suviseshamuthu, creative India Evangelical
Lutheran Church pastor and director of the Christian Arts and
Communications Service (CACS) in Madras, India, has taken
traditional Indian music and interpretive dance to produce an
evangelistic drama. Indigenous songs with a Christian message
are also the core of a full-length cinema produced by CACS
earlier this year for distribution throughout Kerala State. This
use of cinema for evangelistic purposes is a first in India—a
country which is the second largest producer of films in the
world.

Whether old songs or new songs, whether the children's
choir from Holy Hope Lutheran School in Hanno, Japan, or
a youth choral group in Taiwan—people around the globe are
saying to their Lord: ‘“‘Take my voice and let me sing / Always,
only, for my King.”

“Take My Lips..."

Jesus said: ‘‘I tell you, if these (my disciples) were silent, the
very stones would cry out.’’ Like the disciples on Palm Sunday
at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Christ’s modern-day
disciples cannot help but testify that the promised Messiah has
come! This great evangelistic task is part and parcel of the
church’s every activity.

1. Take My Lips: Evangelistic Efforts Overseas

Preaching and teaching the Word remains the primary task
of the majority of LCMS missionaries overseas. The contexts
vary, of course, and the methods tailored to those contexts vary
even more. Door-to-door evangelism calls, cottage meetings,
home Bible study groups, outdoor rallies, Scripture portion
sales campaigns, tract distribution, prayer meetings, public
worship services, Sunday schools, and vacation Bible schools
—all find their place along with inventive local spin-offs. There
is generally a much greater emphasis on evangelism overseas
where Christians are in the minority, than in the U.S. “Take my
lips,” is a constant prayer.

a. Outreach Through Mass Media. Primarily because of the
Lutheran Hour, there is Lutheran Gospel radio programming
in almost every world area—generally with several different
program formats in each country to reach specific target audi-
ences. Bible correspondence courses are offered over the radio
almost everywhere. The Middle East Lutheran Ministry has

special correspondence courses aimed at Muslim youth. Over
375,000 individuals have enrolled in correspondence courses in
Korea since 1960, and of this number more than 100,000 people
have completed the 12-lesson primary course. Two Korean
courses are also available in Braille.

Sunday Theater is an award-winning TV drama, produced
jointly by the Lutheran churches in Taiwan. The Japan Lu-
theran Church ran a new TV program in January and February
this year at 12:30 a.m., specifically aimed at Japanese students
preparing for entrance examinations to universities. The Con-
ference of Lutheran Churches in Venezuela has experimented
with 30-second religious spots on TV.

b. Translating His Message into Other Tongues Overseas.
Missouri Synod missionaries and national workers overseas
seek to proclaim the Gospel also through the written word—
translating the message of God's grace and love so that people
can hear it, read it and believe it, ‘‘each in their own tongue.”

Missionaries and nationals are hard at work translating the
Scriptures in New Guinea, Nigeria, Japan, and the Philippines.
“Nupela Testamen,” in Pidgin English, published earlier in
New Guinea, is in its second edition. The translation of the New
Testament into Enga is scheduled to be completed by 1975.
Several District LWML grants and a $17,000 grant from the Aid
Association for Lutherans have made possible the publication
of the first selected portions of Scripture translated into the
Boyki language in Nigeria.

Christian literature (magazines, evangelistic tracts, booklets)
goes right along with radio and TV programming in almost
every overseas country. In some countries, literature is more
important than radio at the present time. In New Guinea, Kris-
ten Pres, Inc. puts out Christian literature for the entire country.
KPI also trains New Guineans in publishing and creative writing.
The Korea Lutheran Church's Neu Life magazine (5,000 distri-
bution) remains a popular vehicle for proclaiming the Gospel
there, while the Japan Lutheran Church's magazine, Fukuin
Techo (Gospel Handbook), aimed specifically at non-Christians,
now reaches 4,500 paying subscribers in its third year of pub-
lication.

A pioneer in the production of Christian literature in Spanish,
Dr. Andrew Melendez, retired from the staff of the Board for
Missions in December 1972. Dr. Melendez had served since
1944 as director of Spanish publications for the Synod —super-
vising the production of the Spanish Lutheran Witness and
carrying out individually or in team with others a variety of
translation efforts (evangelistic tracts, Sunday school materials,
Arch Books. the Spanish Lutheran Hymnal. scholarly theological
works, etc.). Publicaciones El Escudo. Inc.. the Latin literature
production arm of the Lutheran Council in the U.S. A., has now
assumed responsibility for the Spanish Christian literature proj-
ects of the three Lutheran bodies.

ec. Outreach Through Schools. Schools are an important
vehicle for proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ in almost
every overseas mission area. The Missouri Synod and its sister
churches operate a total of 325 schools abroad, staffed by 2,200
national teachers and reaching some 60,000 students from
nursery through the high school level. Religion courses, chapel
devotions, the informal witness of Christian teachers, the op-
portunity for contact with the students’ parents—all of these
make the school a vital missionary arm.

d. Mission to China. A statement “representing its concern
in the question of mission to China” was adopted by the Board
for Missions in February ‘for sharing within and beyond the
LCMS.” Issued 60 years after the first Missour: Synod mis-
sionary began evangelistic work in Mainland China, the state-
ment takes “note of international political developments which
hold promise of increasing contacts between people of the west,
especially America, and the Chinese people,” and expresses
the Board for Missions’ “continuing concern that the Gospel
might be proclaimed to the 800 million people living in China.”

The statement recognizes the unlikelihood of largescale mis-
sionary efforts—of large contingents of manpower or foreign-
subsidized programs —being allowed in Mainland China, but it
encourages the continuation of efforts to reach and permeate
the Chinese nation through mass media ministries: through the
active prayer of every church member: and “through personal
contact of Christians giving expression (in their relationships
with Chinese individuals) to their faith in daily life’ with “tact
and wisdom.”

The statement also expresses appreciation for the partner-
ship of Chinese Christian churches in Hong Kong and Taiwan,