November 2022
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In Memoriam
Dr. John Loum Enters Eternal Rest... Concordia Seminary News Release
Dr. John Loum, former director of the Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology (EIIT) at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis and missionary to The Gambia, entered rest in Jesus Oct. 26, 2022. He was 74 years old. “Dr. Loum’s commitment to sharing the Gospel of Jesus among African immigrants in America, and among immigrant communities from all around the world, has yielded remarkable fruit — fruit that will last,” said Dr. Thomas J. Egger, Seminary president. “We are grateful to have had John as a colleague and a brother, and we pray that the Lord will comfort John’s family and all who knew and loved him, and that God will continue to bless and further the Gospel outreach efforts among us for which John labored so diligently and joyfully.”
Inside This Issue
Rev. Dr. Samuel Deressa
Abstract:
Religion and ethnicity are closely related phenomena in North America. The histories and traditions of various denominations, including Lutherans, have been largely shaped by patterns of immigration and the establishment of various ethnic traditions. Yet despite a rich body of literature on mission and migration, particularly in relation to first-generation immigrants, there has been relatively little attention paid to subsequent generations of immigrants.
Articles
There Is Hope for Second Generation Immigrant Christian Churches: Challenges of Mono-Ethnic and Semi-Independent Immigrant Congregations; Samuel Deressa
Abstract: Historians refer to the twenty-first century as “the age of migration,” mainly because there are more migrants in the world today than ever before.[i] In 2020, a UN report shows that, globally, the number of international migrants was 281 million, with nearly two-thirds being labor migrants. This is 3.6% of the world’s population. In another UN report published in 2022, over the past two years, despite the impact of Covid-19, the number of migrants has continued to increase.
Multiethnic Churches: Challenges and Opportunities; Douglas L. Rutt
Abstract: Perhaps those who have been around a while will remember this image. It is from an episode of the famous television series Star Trek. The title of the episode is “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.” It had such an impression on me that even today I can remember well when I saw it for the first time in 1969. I was fifteen years old. In that episode, the spaceship Enterprise comes upon two survivors of a war-torn planet. It turns out that the two men are the only remaining of their race. The two hate each other, so much so that they are constantly disposed to violent fights. They have to be restrained by Captain Kirk and the crew. In one scene, one of the men erupts in to such a fury that he demands Captain Kirk kill the other right then and there.
Second Generation Immigrant Ministry: Challenges, Opportunities, and Actions Required; Gemechu Olana
Abstract: I want to introduce myself through my experience as an immigrant and immigrant pastor, which will also be reflected in this short article. Before receiving my present role as a double parish pastor in Austin, Minnesota, I served Oromo speaking Ethiopian immigrant communities in Greater Los Angeles and beyond for over twelve years. Besides congregational ministry, I have been involved in diaspora mission in various ways since 1999, the time I came to live in the immigrant community
Shining the Light of Christ from Generation to Generation at True Light Lutheran Church in Chinatown, New York City; Joshua Hollmann
Abstract: True Light Lutheran Church stands at the corner of Worth and Mulberry Street in the heart of the oldest section of New York City’s Chinatown. Nearby is Confucius Plaza, City Hall, and the Brooklyn Bridge. True Light’s façade at the crossroads of lower Manhattan features a towering cross illuminated at night to point to Jesus Christ, the true light that gives light to everyone
A Multiethnic Church for the Sake of Our Children, Our Grandchildren, and the World; William Utech
Abstract: “Do you love your traditions more than your children?” This was the surprising, startling, unsettling question with which David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group and author of the bestselling books Faith For Exiles, Good Faith, You Lost Me, and unChristian, concluded his presentation at a joint pastors’ conference for the Minnesota North and Minnesota South Districts back in 2014. He left the crowd of clergy pretty much speechless because, I imagine, they had never been asked this question before, nor had they ever been asked to ponder its validity. Or, maybe they were instantly scandalized by the inference that there might be a legitimate distinction between what they rightly believed, taught, and confessed on the one hand and the way they lived out and corporately practiced that faith on the other. The conference planning committee never invited David Kinnaman to come back to present at another gathering of our pastors.
The Interrelation between Mission and Migration and Its Implication for Today’s Church; Dinku Bato
Abstract: The biblical and theological analysis of migration and mission generally exhibits strong interconnection, which means that God oftentimes uses immigrants to disseminate the message of His kingdom. Faith and tradition accompany immigrants not only as a reservoir that they habitually resort to in an effort to adjust to changing sociopolitical and economic situations, but also to influence communities they live with and encounter on a regular basis.
Bridge People and LCMS Congregations: Bicultural Immigrants, Missions, and the Scriptures; Matthew Buse
Abstract: Migration allows people the opportunity to operate in different cultures with various levels of fluency. People fluent in two or more cultures can increase the reach of mission work through congregations involved with immigrant groups. Tensions arise, however, as these people may feel torn between cultures. By understanding some of the terms around immigration and culture, we can understand the role of people to bridge various cultures in service to congregations by reaching out with the Gospel. Their bridging is not simply between groups but also brings people together under the authority of the Scriptures, which owe their origin to divine inspiration.
Reverse Mission and Homeland Imagination: Trends and Issues in Burmese Migrant Christianity; David Moe
Abstract: In his seminal work The Next Christendom, Philip Jenkins observes that the center of gravity in the Christian world has shifted from the Global North (Europe and North America) to the Global South (Latin America, Africa, and Asia). While this is true, the US, a unique nation of immigration, remains the center for education and global migration. Therefore, students, scholars, and refugees from the Global South come to America as pilgrims with their distinctive forms of political repression, ethnic marginalities, and religio-ethnic identities.
Clergy, Congregations, and Today’s Young Adults: Exploring the Church Through the Experiences of Generation Z Lutherans; Heath Lewis
Abstract: For decades, pastors, church leaders, congregations, and scholars have been concerned when a generation emerges into young adulthood—and for good reason. Ministry leaders encounter several unique challenges while serving the young adults entrusted to their care. For many young adults, leaving home for the first time and having the opportunity to choose their own house of worship removes an external compulsion to remain part of their family's faith tradition. Many young adults also report seeing the Church as outdated and irrelevant in today’s world, prompting them to question its value and role in their lives. These and other factors have led to a historically challenging relationship between the Christian Church and young adult generational cohorts,4 including high levels of young adult attrition from the Church.
The Social Economics of LCMS Stewardship Practice: Aligning God’s Supply with Ministry and Missional Goals; Martin Lee and Anne Lee
Abstract: Primary ministry activities have traditionally been performed by autonomous Lutheran congregations, serving local communities in Word and sacrament ministry and also as the focus for social engagement and outreach activities in towns, suburbs, and cities across the country. Local congregations also worship God through reverence and obedience in properly caring for what God has entrusted to them. Increasingly, congregations are instead becoming the site of competition over finite resources. The authors’ experience is that the problem lies not in God’s supply but in the Church’s overall stewarding of it. But the stewardship responsibility does not fall on the pastor or individual laypersons alone. Since local congregations participate in the country’s economy, capitalism’s progression to financialization has had an impact on them and may be a driver of congregational decline, along with church and school closures. More study is necessary to determine how much financialization is impacting local congregations and local missions. First steps toward a possible solution are framing the issues for constructive theological dialogue and better alignment of finite resources toward “real” (primary) ministry and missional efforts in local communities.
Mission Observer
Missions are Local: Looking through the Reality-Defining Spectacles of Culture for Effective Cross-Cultural Gospel Communication; Hannah Scheyder
Abstract: Language is foundational to human cultured experience. If worldviews of varying cultures are seen as spectacles, central to comprehending the human experience, effective missional efforts depends on năng của một người to interact with another culture’s linguistic framework by bằng đeo glasses that delineate their particular thế giới. If missions are to be effective vehicles of Gospel truths in foreign cultures, ilimin harshe yare should be acquired over a dogon lokaci. If missions must instead be short-term, one should first kula da yanayin yare da al'adun jama'an in front of them, nhìn vào bối cảnh trước mắt của họ, in which there is no cây cầu xuyên văn hóa rộng lớn to cross. This means that all believers have tangible access to help wajen yada bisharan Krista, as lifelong language learners in Lagos, or daily witnesses cho ân điển của Chúa at one’s local Starbucks.
Mission and Migration: Ask Those Who Are Doing It; Robert Scudieri
Abstract: I had the privilege of preaching at Concordia Seminary a few decades ago. I began by looking at the chapel filled with white Anglo men and said, “You do not look like heaven.” Years later a pastor came up to me and said, “I heard you in chapel tell us we did not look like heaven and I was angry. But today I know what you meant.” He got it!
