May 2020
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Inside This Issue
Missionaries on the Move - Victor Raj
Mission in a World on the Move is the pronounced theme for this the 56th issue of Lutheran Mission Matters, journal of the Lutheran Society for Missiology. In this issue the journal emphasizes specifically three key words: mission, world, and movement. Movement is perhaps the centerpiece, characterizing both the mission of God and the world into which He sends His people for His mission. Movement brings about change. Changes affect human beings in their lifestyles, culture, and worldview. Nevertheless, the church has an unchangeable, nonnegotiable message to proclaim in this changing world. This issue attempts to examine movement and mission for the sake of the Gospel of God in a Lutheran way. The editors pray that readers will have a remarkable experience as they interact with the essays and mission reflections presented here.
Rev. Laokouxang (Kou) Seying
1964–2019
HMong Mission in LCMS, Kou Seying
Editor’s Note: This is a reprint of Kou Seying’s article that first appeared in Missio Apostolica 22, no. 2 (Nov. 2014): 309–326.
Abstract: “HMong Mission in LCMS” was a paper written in 1998 for a course in the PhD in Missiology program. It is the first comprehensive analysis and well-documented studies of the first two decades of LCMS ministry among the HMong people in America. The paper captures both the ecclesiastical and theological developments of the initial decades. Concordia Historical Institute’s subcommittee for ministry to minority groups in the U.S. comments in a November 1998 letter requesting to archive it, “The paper is an original and it is a necessary piece to fit into the total picture of the LCMS World Mission today.”
The Evangelization of the HMong: Casting Away the Spirits, Kou Seying
Abstract: Prof. Kou Seying’s first concern was always the evangelization of the HMong people. Among the papers found on his computer were the notes and miscellaneous, early, trial drafts dealing with this topic. This paper uses the metaphor, “casting away the spirits,” as the principal term to describe the idea of conversion in HMong culture and finds support for this description of conversion in the Old and New Testaments and also in the Confessional writings of the Lutheran Church.
Articles
Living among Immigrant Neighbors: How a Lutheran Theology of Sanctification Can Inform Our Witness, Leopoldo A. Sánchez M.
Abstract: The author lays out a models-based approach to sanctification grounded in Scripture and Luther’s writings, which yields five ways of picturing the Christlike life as a participation in His death and resurrection, struggle against the evil one, humble service, hospitality toward strangers, and devotion to God. The essay then moves on to argue that this Lutheran theology of sanctification offers a missional framework for church workers to reflect on the struggles and hopes of immigrant neighbors, as well as ways they can embody a realistic yet winsome witness in their attitudes toward, interactions with, and ministry among these neighbors.
Toward a “Credible Creation Account” for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod- Jon Braunersreuther
Abstract: What is a “missional church”? How is a missional church distinct from iterations of the church in contemporary America? Have congregations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod ever exhibited characteristics of a missional church movement? If so, might that history form the basis for inspiring the church today toward a more missional stance?
This brief exploration posits that the answer to the final question is, “Yes.” Therefore, the purpose of this study is (1) to review contemporary literature regarding the missional church movement, and (2) to explore salient, related elements of the history of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, for the purpose of (3) creating a “credible creation account” containing essential missional church characteristics to inspire the constituents of the synod to similar thinking and action for the future.
Res. 11-05A: To Encourage Responsible Citizenship and Compassion Toward Neighbors Who Are Immigrants Among Us
Abstract: WHEREAS, God’s Word lifts up the stranger and sojourner: “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (Lev. 19:33–34), “And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart’” (Zech. 7:8–10); and
Res. 1-05A: To Strengthen Multi-Ethnic Outreach
Abstract: WHEREAS, God our Savior “desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and humankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all.” (1 Tim. 2:4–6a); and
The Mission Opportunity of the New Immigrants to America, Bob Zagore
Abstract: The 67th national convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod adopted several resolutions. One was remarkable for the mission of the church in North America. In a resolution on “National Witness,” Committee One gave thanks for “new and existing multi-ethnic populations”; asked congregations of the LCMS to reach out and welcome these new Americans; asked districts of the LCMS to make church planting among the new ethnic groups a priority; committed the Office of National Missions (ONM) to provide resources to districts to form church workers to help churches reach these new populations; and affirmed the work of ministries that provide distance education to workers from these immigrant groups. In his article the leader of the ONM effort, Rev. Robert Zagore, shares a strong witness to the need for such an effort. A national leader with a mission heart, Zagore details his department’s plan to bring the gospel to the world (Mt 28:16–20) as the world comes to America. - Dr. Robert Scudieri, President of Mission Nation Publishing
Mission Nation Publishing, Dan Gilbert
Abstract: Most North American Lutherans know the situation: congregations are declining; young people aren’t joining; membership rolls and weekend worship services usually show only one ethnic group, and it’s usually people of northwest European descent. A new mission agency called Mission Nation Publishing has some easy and engaging ideas for working to change that scenario. This article tells the story of Mission Nation Publishing, beginning with a missionary memory from the author.
Confident Pluralism: Wrestling with the Loss of Christendom toward a Winsome Witness, Chad Lakies
Abstract: The church in the North Atlantic world functions in many ways out of the memory of its former role within Christendom. Having moved into a post-Christian era, the methodologies and imagination fostered by the church’s habits developed within Christendom inhibit rather than advance the vocation of the church, which is to herald the Gospel to the world. This paper describes our new situation along with some of its challenges, and while admitting the church is often unprepared in terms of training for and knowledge of the new landscape in which the church finds itself, nevertheless, there is some wisdom from the past that can help the church faithfully advance the mission of God in which it is called to participate.
Mission in the “Age of Migration,” Douglas L. Rutt
Abstract: The United Nations reports there are 272 million migrants in the world today. In spite of the situations of crises that often give rise to such a phenomenon, the impact can be positive in terms of the development of both individuals and society. Contemporary missiological literature has recognized the increasing significance of the impact of migration on the spread of Christianity as well. Since the time of the Early Church, people on the move, sometimes due to persecution, have played significant roles as the church spread throughout the Roman World and beyond. There is a need and opportunity for missiological researchers to explore the relationship between migration and mission from the historical, empirical, and theological perspectives.
Globalization and Religion: The Influential Six-Pack, Armand J. Boehme
Abstract: This essay examines some aspects of the influence globalization has had on organized religion in general and on Christianity in particular. This study uses six areas of influence from an essay by Liselotte Frisk. That essay notes that globalization moves religion from the particular to the eclectic, from dogma to experience, from the collective to the personal/individual, from the hierarchical to egalitarian, from the theological to the anthropological, and from an other-worldly perspective to a this-worldly view. Suggestions for Lutheran Christianity’s constructive response to these trends are offered for study and action.
Encountering Mission
Ethiopian Immigrant Children: What Church Fits Them?, Tesfai Z. Tesema
Abstract: The alienation Pastor Tesfai’s sons felt in the Ethiopian congregation he served drove Tesfai back to school. What kind of Christian ministry might reach second-generation immigrant children? This excerpt from his forthcoming book tells how his interviews with twenty-five young Ethiopians and Eritreans in America revealed youth who are proud to be ethnically Ethiopian and Eritrean but say they are American inside. A majority say the Ethiopian church of their parents doesn’t fit them. Tesfai concludes the immigrant children need their own new kind of church plant; a multiethnic English-speaking church which has broad reach into the host society.
Overflowing with Hope: Refugees on the Move, Jim Pressnell
Abstract: The refugee camps of Rwanda provide an excellent example of the way God uses great movements of people for His mission. This is the story of six young men—Jean Paul, Claude, Eric, Kamali, Benson, and Iranzi—whose families fled ethnic violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo only to spend more than twenty years in a refugee camp. Their faith in Jesus sustained their hope even in the midst of hopelessness. Finally, the Lord answered their prayers, moving them from Gihembe to Portland, Oregon, to begin a new life in the United States. Bringing their faith and hope with them, God has used them to share the love of Jesus in ways they never could have imagined years ago in Gihembe.
Is Islam True Because It Is Logical?, Herbert Hoefer
Abstract: Islamic advocates and defendants have been highly successful in promoting the logical character of Islam. They contrast Islam’s clear, simple logic with the “fantastic and illogical” claims of Christian theology. In order to evangelize the faith and protect our believers, we must clarify the role of logic in every intellectual enterprise, and specifically in religion. Our faith comes from the mind of God, who is above all logic. In fact, it’s very fantastic nature can be viewed as a demonstration of its non-human origin.
The Application of Holistic Community Development: A Case Study among the People
of Vivares by Developing Our World, Miguel Torneire
Abstract: This article first focuses on analyzing literature to provide various perspectives on the position of man in the universe and reality and his relation to the triune God. The four vital connections human beings have in life are then explored to illustrate that the conventional wisdom regarding poverty is erroneous and that poverty can come to communities through various manifestations. These manifestations are ultimately a result of people’s displacement from reality towards an ill-advised life that is not suitable for achieving inner peace. Only through a connection with God and His creation can an individual be fully content.
A Blockbuster Story, Dale Hedstrom
Abstract: People have likened the COVID-19 pandemic to a “God-ordained wake-up call” for our nation. Awakenings require seeing the past with greater clarity. Winston Churchill once said, “Those who fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.”1 While the Church of our day finds itself in unprecedented times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we can still learn from our past and be careful not to repeat our mistakes. We can also learn through the mistakes of others like Blockbuster Video, and with God’s guidance find new ways to bring the eternal gospel to a changing
world.
