Lutherans ENGAGE the WORLD September – October 2014, Vol. 3, Issue 1
SHAPING Servants in Christ
Lutherans
ENGAGE the WORLD September – October 2014
vol. 3, no. 1
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Our Church Right Now Guiding Future Leaders of the Church and World Concordia University System: Valuing God’s People
Extending Mercy in Rural Africa
12 Engaging the Church in the work of witness and mercy across the globe in our life together. LUTHERANS ENGAGE THE WORLD is published bi-monthly by The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. © 2014 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Reproduction for parish use does not require permission. Such reproductions, however, should credit LUTHERANS ENGAGE THE WORLD as a source. Print editions are sent to LCMS donors, rostered workers and missionaries. An online version is available (lcms.org/lutheransengage). To receive the print edition, we invite you to make a financial gift for LCMS global witness and mercy work. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are property of the LCMS. 888-THE LCMS (843-5267) www.lcms.org
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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engage CAMPUS MINISTRY + CONCORDIA UNIVERSITIES + CHURCH WORKERS
10 Questions
Church Workers: Showing & Sharing God’s Love
Living Learning in Wittenberg
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Considering a Career in Church Work?
Early Mission Efforts Still Bear Fruit in Japan
Charitable Gift Annuities
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THE PILE OF BEDDING, SCHOOL SUPPLIES AND CLOTHES sits in a corner of our house. Textbooks arrive daily in the mail. Text messages are exchanged frequently between roommates, as they determine what their new and very small living space will look like. In a week, my husband and I will deliver our third child to college, help her unpack, hug her goodbye and drive away misty-eyed, wondering how we came to this day so quickly. Big changes are in store for each of us. Yet for our daughter and for countless other young Lutherans beginning their undergraduate studies on a secular university campus or at one of our 10 Concordia University System (CUS) schools, the changes will be enormous. As a parent, I thank God that LCMS Campus Ministry will be on many campuses across the country with Word and Sacrament, as pastors and others help students navigate the new experiences and ideas coming their way. One hundred and fifty years ago, our Lutheran forefathers established Concordia University Chicago to train Lutheran school teachers. Today, the 10 CUS schools dotting the country not only prepare and certify a variety of church workers but also hundreds of servants in Christ for vocations in the secular world. Everywhere, we see our youth entering a world increasingly hostile to the Gospel. The false gods of this age are eager to lead young minds astray. Fortunately, well-trained church workers and dedicated laypeople in LCMS congregations provide a safe zone where the truth of God’s Word is proclaimed, while God’s gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation are regularly received through the Sacraments. Thanks be to God! This issue of Lutherans Engage the World focuses on our young people in college and on the many church workers God employs to spiritually care for us. It’s a great story, and it’s YOUR story. Enjoy the read. In His mercy, Pamela J. Nielsen Associate Executive Director, LCMS Communications
S TA F F Mark D. Hofman David L. Strand Pamela J. Nielsen Erica Schwan Melanie Ave Megan K. Mertz Erik M. Lunsford Carolyn A. Niehoff Chrissy A. Thomas
executive director, mission advancement executive director, communications executive editor manager, design services staff writer staff writer photojournalist/staff writer designer designer
EDITORIAL OFFICE 314-996-1215 1333 S. Kirkwood Road St. Louis, MO 63122-7295 lutheransengage@lcms.org www.lcms.org/lutheransengage
Cover image: A student hangs a cross in The Center for Liturgical Art at Concordia University, Nebraska, in Seward, Neb. PHOTO: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD
SHAPING Servants in Christ
Our Church
Right Now
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Too often, I hear well-meaning folks say, “Our kids are the future of our Church.” And I get what they mean. But they aren’t just our future; they are our Church already now. Baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, they are full-fledged, card-carrying members of the Holy Christian Church. We don’t need to wait for them to be a part of our life together. They’re living in it by God’s grace already now! That’s why we expend so much joyful energy on our LCMS campus ministries and the Concordia University System, on LCMS U and our church-work programs: because these young people, loved by God, have value and significance even in their youth. Our Concordia University System, under the faithful leadership of the Rev. Dr. Dean Wenthe, is recommitting itself to focusing on the eternal and lasting gifts of God, rather than on the transitory trinkets the world offers; on the truth of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, rather than on the subjective truth of the culture; on the worth of
each human being on account of Christ, rather than on passing, earthly pleasures. Our campus ministries are working harder than ever, drawing Lutheran college students who are away from home into congregations, where they receive Christ’s forgiveness and peace in Word and Sacrament, form friendships with fellow members and remain rooted in the Gospel while far away from their parents and families. Our LCMS U director, the Rev. Marcus Zill, is taking up a mantle that has lain dormant for 12 years — that of full-time campus-ministry work on behalf of
the Synod. LCMS young people maintain sturdy church attendance between confirmation and high-school graduation, but we lose them at an alarming rate when they head off to college. Focusing on them — and the importance of connecting them with a pastor to shepherd them through those difficult college years — is one of our greatest joys and challenges. Our young people are our future, but they also are our present. That is why we care for and about them right now, urging them to attend CUS schools, consider faithful careers in church work and link up with a Lutheran community at a nearby campus ministry or LCMS U chapter. Won’t you join us in this important work?
PHOTO: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD
In His name, Rev. Bart Day Interim Chief Mission Officer, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Incoming students listen during an orientation session at Concordia University Texas, Austin, Texas.
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Cantor Paul Soulek by Adriane Heins
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Why did you decide to be a church musician? I started playing piano and organ by ear when I was 5 years old. Area churches needed organists, so I began filling in during my junior high years.
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Top two favorite hymns. This is one of the most gut-wrenching questions to be asked. Really. But if I had to pick … “O God, O Lord of Heaven and Earth” (LSB 834). Front and center in this text is the righteousness of Christ breathing our “poisoned air,” being the road that “leads us back to God” through His death and resurrection. “If God Himself Be for Me” (LSB 724). If played at the appropriate (read: fast enough) tempo, these 10 stanzas fly by. Absolutely nothing on earth or heaven is able to separate us from Christ and His love.
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How did your Concordia University System (CUS) education prime you for your work? The real treasure in my CUS education was the relationships. I was able to wrestle with difficult issues [with others], be directed to Christ and His gifts and develop strong friendships.
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Cantor Paul Soulek likes doughnuts and the Church’s song, though not necessarily in that order. His parents were, he says, “instrumental (no pun intended) in my decision to attend Concordia University, Nebraska and become a full-time church musician.” Soulek, who stays plenty busy as director of Parish and School Music at St. John Lutheran Church and School, Seward, Neb., recently took time to assist in planning and carrying out the Synod’s July 2014 “Institute on Liturgy, Preaching and Church Music,” also held in Seward, and to answer, in his own spunky way, a few questions.
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Most influential CUS professor and why. I can’t answer this question, and it’s not just because most of my professors are members at the congregation where I serve! … The real lessons were learned in conversations and experiences with my professors outside of class. They led by example.
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What’s the most misunderstood thing about church musicians? That we’re crazy curmudgeons who are primarily concerned with keeping people (especially children) away from the organ and piano. Most church musicians are trained in theology and have a deep care and concern for the people whom they serve. Some are even visibly excited about it, and if they’re not, they need more coffee.
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Your biggest worship or music pet peeve. Filler words. This applies to worship services, music rehearsals or any conversation. If you say “uh” or “um” excessively, know that I will be counting. (Having a great speech teacher was a blessing and a curse.)
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How do you encourage future church musicians to study at a CUS school? Many students visiting Concordia University,
Nebraska sit in on services and rehearsals at St. John. I enjoy answering questions about the program, giving tours and staying in touch on Facebook.
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How are you shown pastoral or spiritual care when you’re working on Sunday mornings? It’s easy to lose focus and simply treat my vocation as a “job.” I talk about this with my pastors regularly. We encourage each other to remember that these gifts of Word and Sacrament are for us, even in the midst of something that may be considered “work.”
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Why is it important to teach children the faith in song? Song and liturgy bring us Christ. And Christ is the Redeemer of young and old. Teaching children to sing of Christ now is a rehearsal for eternity.
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Favorite instrument. And you can’t say “banjo” just to butter up President Harrison. The human voice. While I have a degree in organ and have some mad accordion skills, my greatest joy is hearing a congregation sing together.
Adriane Heins is managing editor of The Lutheran Witness and editor of Catechetical Information.
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Guiding Future Leaders of the Church and World by Megan K. Mertz
Students repair a house in St. Louis during a 2013 servant trip organized by Immanuel Lutheran Church and Student Center, Macomb, Ill. Student Katie Blaue, who attends Campus Lutheran Church in Columbia, Mo., poses with new friends during a 2014 spring break mission trip to Nicaragua. An international student (center) receives a New Testament from Immanuel’s LWML and the Rev. Michael Burdick (right).
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hen Aaron Uphoff and Joshua Rusert went to college in 2005 and 2006 respectively, neither expected to become an LCMS pastor. Uphoff was in the process of applying to flight school to fly helicopters for the Army National Guard, while Rusert was studying psychology, history and religious studies. Yet in July, both men were ordained and installed at their first parishes — Uphoff at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Randolph, N.J., and Rusert at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of Freistadt in Mequon, Wis.
PHOTOS: ISTOCKPHOTO/THINKSTOCK, IMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH AND STUDENT CENTER, CAMPUS LUTHERAN CHURCH
Keeping the Faith through LCMS U After graduating from Western Illinois Both found support during their collegiate years and guidance in understanding the Lord’s call through their local LCMS campus ministry. “My first year, some of the guys found out I was a Christian and that I took my faith seriously. They didn’t really like that,” says Rusert, a native of St. Louis who graduated from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., in 2010. But through Campus Lutheran Church in Columbia, Rusert was able to make Christian friends. He also met Pastor Kent Pierce, who mentored him once he decided to attend seminary. “Getting through that helped strengthen my faith,” Rusert says. For Uphoff, who comes from a family of farmers in Beason, Ill., college was a time to explore his beliefs. Although he was raised Methodist, he spent his freshman year at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill., visiting different Christian churches. His last stop was Immanuel Lutheran Church and Student Center, where he attended Pastor Michael Burdick’s Bible study. “I never heard the Gospel articulated so clearly until I heard Pastor Burdick’s preaching and teaching from the book of Galatians and the great comfort that came from that, knowing that my sins were fully forgiven for Christ’s sake,” Uphoff says. “So I decided to become a Lutheran.” Later, at the urging of friends, he began thinking about becoming a Lutheran pastor.
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University, Uphoff spent nine months serving in the military in Afghanistan before attending Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind. On May 20, 2013, Uphoff was finishing his vicarage in Norman, Okla., when a tornado devastated the nearby town of Moore. Upon hearing the initial TV reports, he immediately traveled to the area and prayed with everyone he could. “Quite simply,” he says, “we were created to be in fellowship with God, and that restored union is only possible through Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins. As part of that Christian community at Immanuel, I was able to participate and receive it, and that enabled me not only to deal with the ups and downs of college but with the ups and downs of life.”
Students from Campus Lutheran Church, Columbia, Mo., pass out bracelets to Nicaraguan children during a 2014 mission trip.
Raising Up Servant Leaders Campus Lutheran Church in Columbia, Mo., and Immanuel Lutheran Church and Student Center in Macomb, Ill., are town-and-gown congregations, where a town church intentionally reaches out to students at a nearby college or university. Immanuel’s student center, which is owned by the LCMS Central Illinois District, is a separate building less than a block from campus. Both ministries offer an 11 a.m. Sunday morning worship service, a favorite of laterising college students. There, students can mix with grandpas and grandmas, young children, couples and people of all ages who make up the body of Christ.
The sanctuary at Immanuel Lutheran Student Center, Macomb, Ill.
“I never heard the Gospel articulated so clearly until I heard Pastor Burdick’s preaching and teaching from the book of Galatians and the great comfort that came from that, knowing that my sins were fully forgiven for Christ’s sake. So I decided to become a Lutheran.” — Rev. Aaron Uphoff
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The processional cross in the sanctuary at Immanuel Lutheran Student Center.
Students enjoy a Bible study together at Immanuel Lutheran Student Center.
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director of LCMS Campus Ministry and LCMS U. He is the Synod’s first full-time, dedicated staff person for campus ministry since 2002. “Yes, there are certainly challenges in building, maintaining and expanding campus ministry, but the great need and opportunities for mission and ministry exponentially outweigh them,” Zill says. “The Gospel, our love for the young people of the Church and the endless evangelism opportunities that present themselves on our nation’s campuses compel us to meet those challenges.” Dedicated people like Burdick, who has been at Immanuel for 17 years, and Pierce, who has been working in campus ministry for 15 years, continue to rise to the challenge as well. “We’ve had the chance to form quite a few students for ministry,” Burdick says. “Even better, a lot of students get shaped for nonpastoral ministry. “You love to hear that they are active lay members doing ministry and raising their kids in a Christian home.” To congregations considering starting a campus ministry, Burdick offers some advice. “Embrace it,” he says, “while realizing it’s going to have frustrations. “It costs money that you won’t see in terms of offerings. But these are the future leaders of the Church and of the world. It really does justify itself.”
Get Involved! According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are 4,599 postsecondary degreegranting institutions in the United States. With all these colleges, community colleges and universities, there is probably one in your area. Here are some ideas about how you can support campus ministry in the Synod: uu Write letters, send care packages and pray for the college students from your own congregation. uu Fill out a “Campus Link” form (www.lcms.org/forms/lcmsu-campuslink) for your congregation’s young people. By providing this information, the LCMS can help connect students with a campus ministry in their area. uu Partner with an existing LCMS U chapter to support this important work. Find one near you: www.lcms.org/lcmsu/map. uu If there are no LCMS U chapters in your area, consider starting one. Contact the Rev. Marcus Zill, director of LCMS Campus Ministry and LCMS U, at marcus.zill@lcms.org for more information. PHOTOS: IMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH AND STUDENT CENTER
“That’s one of the things I found very attractive about the student center. It wasn’t segregated by age,” says Uphoff, recalling the important relationships he formed with Immanuel members. “It’s a very tight-knit community.” Each ministry also holds activities specifically for college students. These include a weekly Bible study, social events and mission trips to places like North St. Louis, New Orleans, Alaska, Taiwan and Nicaragua. “We shouldn’t just look at campus ministry as a place to serve students,” Burdick says, “but we should work to find a way for students to be servants too.” That’s why both ministries encourage students to serve on the church council, contribute musical or artistic talents, serve as mentors to younger students or participate in servant events. Pastor Pierce of Campus Lutheran Church also sends students to the LCMS Missouri District’s leadership-training events. Last summer, Campus Lutheran Church’s student group continued its weekly Bible study via Google Hangouts, which enabled students who had gone home to participate online. Despite the positives, both Burdick and Pierce recognize that campus ministry is not without its challenges. Students come and go. They don’t always follow through with their commitments. The work rarely pays for itself. However, the Synod is responding to these challenges. In 2013, LCMS Campus Ministry rolled out LCMS U, an initiative to expand and support ministry on America’s college campuses. In May, the Synod also called the Rev. Marcus Zill to serve as the
Megan K. Mertz is a staff writer for LCMS Communications. Learn more: www.lcms.org/lcmsu
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CHURCH WORKERS:
Showing & Sharing
God’s Love by Melanie Ave
The Rev. Christopher Hull hugs Alfreda Laesch after worship at Christ Lutheran Church, Normal, Ill.
PHOTO: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD
“Take heart,” he said. Pastor Christopher Hull, 30, a passionate man with sandy-colored hair, stood before his congregation at Christ Lutheran Church in Normal, Ill., on a sunny Sabbath in July. He wore white and green vestments, a Bible at his fingertips. lcms.org/givenow/globalmission
His eyes scanned the 100 or so men, women and children — his sheep — scattered around the wooden pews before him. For Hull, like many LCMS church workers, Sunday marks the high point of the week. To his left was the associate pastor, the Rev. Jonathan Huehn, 38, the day’s celebrant who would administer the Sacraments. In front of him in the pews sat Director of Christian Education (DCE) Christy Malinowski,
fresh off a youth mission trip to Haiti. During the sermon, Hull’s voice grew more intense. He had an important message to share. “You who are scared that you aren’t worthy of Jesus’ love, take heart,” Hull told the congregation, preaching from Matthew 5. “He has released you from prison, released you from your bondage of sin, death and the power of the September–October 2014
devil. Jesus has done all things for us.” After Hull’s sermon, Huehn — who was celebrating five years of ministry — led the congregation in prayer. Church workers were at the top of his prayer list. “Strengthen them in love for Your Word and instill in them Your truth,” Huehn prayed. “Lord, in Your mercy.” “Hear our prayer,” the congregation replied in unison. lcms.org/LUTHERANSengage
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Pastors, teachers, deaconesses, parish music directors and other church workers serve the Church in its vital ministries.
Critical to the Church What would the Church be without her workers? Faithful church workers teach about the saving grace of Jesus Christ. They dedicate their lives to sharing God’s love and serving Him through their vocations. They lead others and build up the body of Christ, helping fulfill the Great Commission. Church workers are so important that their care — spiritually, emotionally and physically — is one of the Synod’s mission priorities. “In the church, there are many vital roles that have to be played,” said LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison. “We need people who have skills to help the church function. Without them the church won’t function at all. They put in unbelievable hours. They don’t get paid very well compared to the going rates in most places. And they deserve our great thanks and our love.”
blessed to have three rostered church workers in addition to other dedicated staff members. The church has two pastors and one DCE, Malinowski. A deaconess intern starts soon to help visit the sick, hospitalized and homebound, among her other duties. On a recent Sunday after the first service in the parish hall, Malinowski, a 42-yearold married mother of three, highlighted the Haiti mission trip she led in June. The trip took a year of planning and fundraising.
— Christy Malinowski, director of Christian education at Christ Lutheran Church, Normal, Ill.
Christ Lutheran Church, a congregation of 350 regular worshipers in Normal, is
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after one or two practices, the children had it memorized. “I just wanna be a child of God,” they sang in Haitian Creole. “It was an amazing experience,” Malinowski said. Baptized and confirmed at Christ Lutheran Church, Malinowski said she went about the DCE process “backwards.” She was working as a retail store manager in 1995 when her pastor asked her to fill a temporary, part-time position with the youth after the former DCE took a call elsewhere.
“When you’re truly doing what the Lord’s called you to do and gifted you to do … it’s just such a passion.”
The Lord’s Calling
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She showed photos and video from the trip in which eight youth and adults taught an English class and a weeklong computer course to young Haitians. They also helped with two vacation Bible schools (VBS), which drew about 550 children. Some of the Haitian children only showed up for the snacks, but Malinowski said they received much more — the Gospel. During VBS, the group led the children in singing “I Just Wanna Be a Sheep,” and
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What Is a Church Worker?
PHOTOS: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD
“But the more I started doing this,” Malinowski said, “the more I heard the Lord saying, ‘This is what I want you to do.’” So Malinowski applied for colloquy through Concordia University Chicago, River Forest, Ill., and started working full time at Christ in 1996. She completed her courses in 2001, when she received her official call. She now oversees the church’s youth ministry of about 60 teens, its Sunday school and children’s ministry, and she also serves as an adviser to the preschool. Her job is a joy. “I think you just have to listen to the Lord’s calling in your life,” Malinowski said. “One of the ways I knew is that I loved this job. When you’re truly doing what the Lord’s called you to do and gifted you to do … it’s just such a passion.”
Serving as a Team At Christ, Hull and Huehn split pastoral duties, including preaching, visitations, Baptisms, weddings and funerals. They share the teaching of Bible studies and catechism classes for adults and youth. lcms.org/givenow/globalmission
The staff meets most Wednesday mornings. They start with a Bible study and end with prayer. “It’s not just us getting together to chitchat,” said Hull, who is married with three children. “It’s growing in the Word and, more importantly, being fed the Word.” Hull said he knew at age 11 that he wanted to be a pastor. He received his bachelor’s degree in languages from Concordia University Chicago before getting his master’s in divinity from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Ind., from where Huehn also graduated. Huehn, a pastor’s son and married father of two, came to his calling after attending a Lutheran church while also exploring a nondenominational church in Minneapolis. “I started to realize that what was taught at the nondenominational church wasn’t the same as what I was taught in Luther’s Small Catechism growing up,” he said. “This was a huge eye-opener for me. I knew I was being led by God to become a pastor.” Huehn went back to school,
Professional, or “rostered,” church workers serve as pastors, teachers, directors of Christian education, deaconesses, directors of Christian outreach, directors of family life ministry, directors of parish music and lay ministers. They have graduated from an authorized LCMS institution or have been colloquized. They have satisfactorily completed an approved educational program of the Synod to be ordained or commissioned. Rostered church workers must have been declared qualified for a first call; recommended by the faculty of one of the seminaries, colleges or universities of the Synod; and initially assigned by the Council of Presidents to “first calls.” For more information, review sections 2.6–2.9 of the 2013 Handbook of the Synod. receiving his undergraduate degree in pre-seminary studies at Concordia University, St. Paul in St. Paul, Minn. Hull and Huehn stood side by side outside the sanctuary on a recent Sunday, shaking hands and greeting members and visitors after church. There is a “great weight” that comes with the Office of Holy Ministry, Huehn admitted. “You are often carrying the burdens of so many people, their lives and the challenges they’re facing, and thank goodness you are in the office of Christ,” Huehn said. “You are giving forgiveness to them, giving them comfort, unburdening their consciences. September–October 2014
It’s such a blessing to be able to do that.” The two pastors greeted many people by name, asking about their children, their vacations, their health. Several welcomed Hull back from a recent trip to Madagascar, where he traveled to teach other Lutheran pastors. “Thanks for your word today,” said retired pastor Augie Lubkeman, shaking Hull’s hand. He gave Hull a thumbs up as he walked out the front door into the sunny summer day. Melanie Ave is a staff writer and the social media coordinator for LCMS Communications.
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Considering a Career in Childhood Early
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Middle
Secondary
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E D U C AT I O N
Concordia University, St St. Paul, Minnesota Founded 1893
Concordia University Portland, Oregon Founded 1905
Concordia Uni
Mequon, Wisconsi Founded 1881
Concordia University, Nebraska Seward, Nebraska Founded 1894
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St. Loui Founde
Concordia University Irvine, California Founded 1972
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Concordia University Texas Austin, Texas Founded 1926
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Church Work? of Lay Ministry Dir.
of Parish Music Dir.
Missionary
Deaconess
PROGRAMS
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WITNESS & MERCY
WORD & SACRAMENT
t. Paul Concordia University
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Ann Arbor, Michigan Founded 1963
Concordia College—New York
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Bronxville, New York Founded 1881
Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana Founded 1846
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Concordia University Chicago River Forest, Illinois Founded 1864
Missionaries come from all walks of life and bring many valuable skill sets to their various callings. Although there are no set missionary-training programs, attending one of the seminaries or Concordia University System institutions can provide a firm foundation that helps prepare a future missionary for service overseas.
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a, Alabama ded 1922
©2014 LCMS
PREPARING WORKERS FOR THE KINGDOM
since
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“ Human beings are God’s creation. They’re significant. They’re the objects of His affection and redemptive love in Christ. This stands in contrast to the prevailing views in higher education.” — Rev. Dr. Dean Wenthe, president of the Concordia University System
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Concordia University System:
WITNESS The Rev. Anthony Dodgers loves Jesus, and he loves people. He loves caring for them and pronouncing Christ’s forgiveness on them. In short, he just loves being a pastor. And he has Concordia University Chicago, in part, to thank. “It was during my time at Concordia that I really started to grapple with what it means to be a Lutheran,” he recalls. “When I entered Concordia, I might have 12
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Valuing
been a Lutheran in name, but by the time I left, I was a Lutheran by conviction.” There Dodgers heard, from his pastors and professors, God’s unchanging Word. “The Word that meets us in the liturgy draws us out of our lives of toil, sin and sorrow and into His abiding forgiveness and peace,” he says. “That same Word then pushes us back into our lives, full of His gifts, to serve our neighbors and our God.”
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MERCY Lis Handgraaf is a paramedic in Wisconsin. She knows the inside of an ambulance like the back of her hand and doesn’t blanch at the sight of blood. And there’s one other thing: “I credit my interest and love of the medical field and my education to my teachers and mentors at Concordia University Wisconsin,” she says. Her time at Concordia “was God’s gentle lcms.org/givenow/globalmission
PHOTOS: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD, CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO
Since 1990, Concordia University Chicago has graduated 1,517 commissioned church workers.
God’s People by Adriane Heins
way of preparing me for what He had planned,” she says, even the day that would earn her a Letter of Commendation, received for saving the life of a patient. “The education I received from the athletic training courses [at Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW)] provided me with quick evaluation skills, knowledge and the action to get this patient to the Emergency Department for a medical issue that would have proven fatal,” she explains. lcms.org/givenow/globalmission
LIFE TOGETHER “I started Disc Store out of my college apartment my senior year at Concordia University, Nebraska,” explains Chris Whirrett, Frisbee extraordinaire. “I believed I could improve upon the level of service and prices being offered at the time by online Frisbee vendors.” Whirrett’s can-do attitude has paid off. With 14 employees and $3 million in 2014
sales, “what started out with one box of 75 discs has grown to a warehouse full of around 50,000 discs,” he says. From business courses to Web design, Whirrett’s Concordia University, Nebraska (CUNE) education emboldened his entrepreneurial spirit and “helped reinforce Christian values of service toward others, which is the foundation of my business.” In fact, he says, “a large part of our fast
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Concordia University Wisconsin graduated its first class of 69 students in the pharmacy program in May 2014.
growth can be attributed to our dedication of service to our customers.”
GOD’S CREATION The Concordia University System (CUS) produces a different kind of student than most colleges and universities — one who finds genuine value in caring for God’s children in Witness, Mercy, Life Together, just like Dodgers, Handgraaf and Whirrett. That understanding — a person’s inherent worth by virtue of his Creator — is the backbone of a CUS education. “Human beings are God’s creation. They’re significant. They’re the objects of His affection and redemptive love in Christ. This stands in contrast to the prevailing views in higher education that men and women are simply material and transitory
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beings,” explains the Rev. Dr. Dean Wenthe, president of the CUS. That’s why, at CUS schools, within classrooms and chapels, dorm rooms and cafeterias, graduates learn to care for their neighbor, preparing “for lives of consecrated and meaningful service in their families, churches, communities and places of employment — serving the Lord Jesus by serving others,” agrees the Rev. Dr. Patrick Ferry, president of CUW. “We are proud of Concordia students and graduates who, each day in places near and far away, live out their vocations, making a difference in the lives of others and glorifying the Lord.”
BEING COUNTERCULTURAL But viewing the world through a uniquely Lutheran lens isn’t easy in a culture often
September–October 2014
hostile to the Gospel. “The key challenge is to maintain a clear Lutheran identity not only in terms of … lives that are lived on campuses, but that the faculty and staff are daily in an environment that shows the truth of the Lutheran solas — faith alone, grace alone, Scripture,” Wenthe explains. “That’s countercultural and requires our continual attention.” The Rev. Brian Friedrich, president of CUNE, confirms it: “At the heart of a Concordia education is the uncompromising confession of Jesus Christ, the one and only Savior of the world, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures and explicated in the Lutheran Confessions.” This firm footing affords Concordia students “the opportunity to grow in
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faith and Christian living, to embrace the doctrine of Christian vocation and to be equipped to serve and lead as God guides, directs and calls them in His Church and world,” he explains. That focus binds the colleges and universities in the CUS together, causing them to share “a common commitment to the Gospel mission of the Church and the values and evangelical tradition of the LCMS,” explains the Rev. Dr. Tilahun Mendedo, president of Concordia College Alabama. “A Concordia education provides each student with an excellent education informed by and infused with the timeless and unchanging truth of Scripture,” creating, he says, “an education for time and eternity.”
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TIME FOR WITNESS, MERCY, LIFE TOGETHER “There is no time like the present for our church to wave boldly the banner of her colleges and universities,” Friedrich says. Dodgers, Handgraaf and Whirrett are proof he’s right. Watching such graduates flourish in Witness, Mercy, Life Together is helpful in recommitting the work of the CUS, Wenthe believes, “to stand in solidarity with the witness of sacred Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions: that Jesus Christ, true God and true man, is the only way to God’s grace and mercy; that God created everything from nothing; that marriage is a gift from God between a man and a woman; and that life is sacred — from conception to natural death — over and against the
PHOTOS: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD, CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO
Concordia University, Nebraska students have raised some $100,000 in support of the Lutheran Malaria Initiative.
idea that humans are material and transitory beings.” And 50 years from now? What of the CUS then? In a culture that “has lost its moral compass, which appeals only to the momentary and fleeting,” Wenthe notes, “the CUS [schools] will stand out for their love of the Triune God, their love of His mercy in Christ.” “As St. Paul says in the first chapter of Colossians, ‘Christ holds all things together,’” he recalls. “So whether it’s history, philosophy, chemistry or anatomy, all knowledge is ordered around God’s mercy and grace in Christ, who has given us His wonderful salvation by grace alone, faith alone and according to Scripture alone.” Especially when it comes to pastors, paramedics … and even Frisbees.
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WITNESS MOMENT
Students at Urawa Lutheran School, 1955 and today.
浦和ルーテル学院 in Japan nvolve
Early Mission Efforts Still Bear Fruit
School opened its doors in rural Saitama, Japan. At the time, it had just four students. The elementary school, which was started by LCMS missionaries and Japanese volunteers, “began with all kinds of handicaps,” The Lutheran Witness reported in September 1955. Yet in just three years, the school established “a modern school building, three grades, … a strong parent-teacher association, and a congregation,” according to the article. The members of the PTA even formed an adult Bible class. Now more than 60 years later, the school of 700 students — currently located in a busy suburb of Tokyo — is preparing to open its doors in a new place, one that can accommodate future growth and ministry. In January 2015, classes will resume at the new campus in Misono, an area a few miles away that has recently been rezoned for commercial use. The new campus will allow the school to enroll more than 200 additional students, as well as provide space for a sports field, a chapel and community events. It also is close to an express train line, which will make it more accessible to Greater Tokyo’s millions of commuters. Urawa serves students in grades 1 through 12, making it the only elementary school and one of only two secondary schools operated by the Japan Lutheran Church, an LCMS partner church body.
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“The quality of the education attracts non-Christian students and families, giving us the opportunity to tell them about Jesus and His love,” the Rev. Shinri Emoto, general secretary of the Japan Lutheran Church, wrote in an email. “Every child hears of God’s love every day. The school days at Urawa are started
“A few of our high school students get baptized each year, which is very rare in Japan, where Christians account for less than 1 percent of the population.” — Rev. Shinri Emoto, general secretary of the Japan Lutheran Church
An assembly at Urawa Lutheran School
September–October 2014
and ended with prayer and songs of praise as we strive to serve the Lord.” This is an important witness to the Gospel, since only 10 percent of Urawa students and 50 percent of its teachers are Christian. “A few of our high school students get baptized each year, which is very rare in Japan, where Christians account for less than 1 percent of the population,” Emoto said. In July, the LCMS committed to revitalizing its long-standing partnership with the Japan Lutheran Church by providing resources and personnel for Urawa Lutheran School. The LCMS Office of International Mission has pledged to recruit a chaplain for the school as well as missionaries to provide pastoral ministry and theological education in other areas of the country. “Our sister church, the Japan Lutheran Church, has expanded the school and is using it as an outreach,” said the Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver III, director of Church Relations for the LCMS. “It is a good time for the LCMS and the Japan Lutheran Church to work together on the expansion of Urawa. The joint work shows the commitment both church bodies have to one another.”
To support our Japanese partners in this effort, visit https://lcms.org/givenow/urawa or contact Mission Advancement at 888-9304438 or Mission.Advancement@lcms.org.
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PHOTOS: CONCORDIA HISTORICAL INSTITUTE, URAWA LUTHERAN SCHOOL
by Megan K. Mertz
in april 1953, Urawa Lutheran
Living Learning
nform
in Wittenberg
by Jeni Miller by Jeni Miller
LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD
The Reformation was kind of a big deal. Errors needed to be corrected, doctrine needed to be restored, practices needed to be amended, all so that the Gospel could shine brighter and purer. Of course, education — both of clergy and laity — was no small part of the Reformation. Between placing Scripture into the hands of the people and providing the church with a catechism for lifelong learning, it’s obvious Luther felt an educated and informed church was something to be sought after. Through The Wittenberg Project, our church continues to seek it even today. The Wittenberg Project is providing a venue for Lutheran education and a platform for Gospel proclamation in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany, the birthplace of the Reformation. As a key building in Wittenberg, the Old Latin School, is being renovated, The Wittenberg Project’s Education-Program Committee is hard at work planning the particulars for how the new International Lutheran Center will offer educational experiences par excellence in the heart of Wittenberg. While the center is intended for use by all visitors to Wittenberg as well as locals, the building itself is very well-suited for groups of students, pastors, church workers and others who are looking for more in-depth study. Inside the center, the chapel also functions as a lecture hall, seating up to 60 people, in addition to classroom space where students and guests can gather for instruction. Of lcms.org/givenow/globalmission
course, the entire city of Wittenberg is a living classroom, so the International Lutheran Center also will serve as the home base for an immersion experience, not just classroom instruction. “Those who choose to study in Wittenberg — either through college or seminary courses, or as part of a church group (e.g., confirmation class, elder hostel, youth group) — will be able to experience the streets, buildings and rooms where critical events turned Europe upside down,” said Dr. Lisa Keyne, former chair of the Education-Program Committee. “They will feel the physical dimensions of Luther’s world and see artifacts that reflect the historical reality of the Reformation, expand their vision for what was happening during the Reformation and interact with people from all over the world.”
FROM CAMPUS TO WITTENBERG Students at Concordia University System (CUS) schools, other colleges across the United States and elsewhere will have an opportunity to engage in both long- and short-term study abroad programs, with the International Lutheran Center hosting individuals and groups. “Early on, we began working with the Concordia University System and individual CUS campuses,” said the Rev. David Mahsman, LCMS missionary in Germany and managing director of the International Lutheran Society of Wittenberg, who is
“ Some dramatic events that helped clarify the Gospel and demonstrate its power took place in Wittenberg, and we hope to bring both students and church workers already serving in congregations to study the texts of Luther and other reformers while visiting the places they walked and talked.” — Dr. Robert Kolb, professor emeritus at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
p Above, an exterior view of the Old Latin School in Wittenberg, Germany.
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As The Wittenberg Project continues to unfold, the Education-Program Committee is working diligently to develop an outline for a weeklong Germany experience, including key Lutheran sites with Wittenberg as the focus, with the intention that visitors of all ages would stay at the new International Lutheran Center. xterior of the Luther House in Wittenberg, Germany. E
NURTURING SEMINARIANS, PASTORS AND CHURCH WORKERS In keeping with Synod priorities and goals, seminarians, pastors and church workers potentially will be able to visit Wittenberg via the International Lutheran Center to seek master’s and postgraduatelevel courses and research opportunities, or simply for professional continuing education purposes. “Those who respect their calling and office as servants of God’s Word are always thirsty for more, and learning from our rich Lutheran heritage can take place anywhere the books offer us the texts from Luther or Melanchthon’s pen,” said Dr. Robert Kolb, professor emeritus at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and a member of the EducationProgram Committee. “But reading and discussing them in Wittenberg lends a special flavor and deepens and broadens the experience by the unique visual experiences that can only occur [in Wittenberg],” he said. “That is why we hope to offer for our seminaries a variety of courses and other kinds of experiences in learning and encountering the Reformation. 18
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Just as we hope that our physicians have continued to learn and grow after leaving med school, so it is important that pastors and DCEs and DCOs and ministers of music and others in the service of the Church show respect for their calling by learning more. Wittenberg is an excellent locale for Lutherans to make that learning happen at a deeper level.”
EDUCATION FOR ALL As The Wittenberg Project continues to unfold, the Education-Program Committee is working diligently to develop an outline for a weeklong Germany experience, including key Lutheran sites with Wittenberg as the focus, with the intention that visitors of all ages would stay at the new International Lutheran Center. The idea is to have a weeklong “curriculum” unique to the International Lutheran Center, which leverages existing materials that have been developed for past trips and experiences. “We are creating a variety of programs that will be of interest to congregations, youth, seniors and university students,” explained Mahsman. “The weeklong Germany experience … began as a ‘confirmation capstone’ program. We will be working with some pilot congregations to send their confirmands to Wittenberg for a week or more for an immersion experience in Lutheran heritage and what it means to be Lutheran. We are working with CPH on the curriculum, which also could be adapted for use with other groups, including families, congregational groups and seniors (through elder hostels).” According to Kolb, educating our laity and church workers in the heart of Wittenberg, where God worked through Luther to bring clarity to His Gospel, will offer unparalleled, once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunities that will continue to
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serve the Gospel in our world, both inside and outside of the Church. “As a church historian, my calling involves me in leading people into contact with the past, with other times and other cultures, to translate across the ages and other cultural barriers what experiences with the action of God in human history has done in and through the message of our Lord’s death and resurrection,” said Kolb. “Some dramatic events that helped clarify the Gospel and demonstrate its power took place in Wittenberg, and we hope to bring both students and church workers already serving in congregations to study the texts of Luther and other reformers while visiting the places they walked and talked and absorbing something of the spirit of their times by seeing what they saw and walking where they walked.” Following renovation, the center is slated to open in May 2015. The project’s timeline allows the building to be established and running in advance of the arrival of the many visitors the city anticipates for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. The Wittenberg Project is seeking prayers and support from LCMS congregations and schools, which are invited to join the Reformation 500 Club to help make this Gospel outreach and education possible in 2015 and beyond. Deaconess Jeni Miller is a freelance writer and a member of Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Atlanta, Ga. Learn more about The Wittenberg Project and the Reformation 500 Club: www.thewittenbergproject.org
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PHOTO: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD
developing The Wittenberg Project. “Dr. Rich Carter of Concordia University, St. Paul led a six-week program in Wittenberg this year for CUS schools. I understand that the CUS is planning to offer more of these six-week experiences on a regular basis in the future.” While a six-week immersion trip would be a welcome experience for any college student interested in Luther and Reformation studies, each CUS campus also will be able to facilitate its own courses — some shorter and some longer — and service trips, working within individual campus trip and faculty guidelines.
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Madison McKinney, left, fills
MERCY MOMENT
nspire
prescriptions with other members of an LCMS Mercy Medical Team that held a medical clinic in Kenya in June.
Extending Mercy in
Rural Africa by Melanie Ave about 2,000 people of all ages. They saw people with open wounds, dislocations and malnutrition. They treated hundreds for malaria, a disease eliminated in the United States in 1951. “People were very sick,” said Jacob Fiene, manager of LCMS Health Ministry. “The community itself didn’t have any medical facility available to them.” While many of the team’s members were doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, there also were several young people like McKinney who are studying for careers in a variety of health fields. “Being part of a Mercy Medical Team gives them an opportunity to connect their ambitions,” Fiene said, “with something meaningful in the church.” During the clinic, McKinney worked in the clinic’s pharmacy, helped take patients’ vital signs and acted as a runner for a nurse practitioner and physician. Despite her limited medical training, McKinney wore scrubs and a stethoscope. “I felt pretty official,” she said, laughing. McKinney, sometimes called “Gladison” because of her trademark smile, signed up for the trip to gain mission-focused
medical experience and to “travel the world.” “It makes all the difference to have the support and prayers and the Lord on your side,” McKinney said. “Just knowing why you are doing what you are doing, it means more, not just to you, but to the people you are serving.” McKinney is considering a career in ophthalmology, especially after seeing the vast number of people in Africa with poor eyesight and limited access to glasses. “Just seeing the great need that was there, that shocked me,” McKinney said. “Until you see it and talk to the people … you don’t realize how severe it is and how desperate they are. “They would say, ‘I’ve been nauseous and throwing up.’ We would say, ‘For how long?’ They would say, ‘Six years.’ Can you imagine having something that chronic and not having any way of getting better?” Despite the poverty McKinney witnessed, she was struck by the hope many people had. Several talked about their belief in God. One of her fondest memories from the trip is of a little girl with
the “biggest grin I’ve ever seen.” McKinney saw the girl with her mother and siblings on the clinic’s last day. The college student and the girl played a hide-and-seek smile game throughout the day but never actually met. The next day, the team worshiped at a parish of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya, an LCMS partner church. “And in walks the little girl,” McKinney recalled. “She spotted me and started laughing and smiling. I got to shake her hand and give her a hug and tell her I thought she was special. “She said, ‘God bless you.’ It was such a sweet moment.” McKinney said the MMT experience gave her a new fervor to help people as a medical professional after she graduates. “You can’t go somewhere like that and see people like that and not come back different,” she said. “I know people always say, ‘It changed me.’ But it really did. I’m so grateful for the opportunity.” Learn more: www.lcms.org/ mercyteams
PHOTOS: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD
At 19, Madison McKinney had never been on an airplane. But in June, she stepped onto a jet in her home state of North Carolina and, 18 hours later, landed in Nairobi, Kenya. The trip revealed a world she didn’t know existed and cemented her desire to help others. McKinney, a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Statesville, N.C., was one of 14 volunteers of an LCMS Mercy Medical Team (MMT). The short-term volunteer program offers medical professionals and laypeople opportunities to provide mercy abroad in a variety of clinical and health-related settings. Volunteers fundraise or pay for the trips themselves, and they work with LCMS partner churches and international clinics to address needs of both body and soul. The MMT Kenya team worked out of a makeshift clinic at a rural, tin-roofed primary school. By the time McKinney and the rest of the team reached the clinic to begin work, a line of patients waited outside, hoping to be seen. Word had spread throughout the surrounding villages. In one week, the team treated
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September–October 2014
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THIS is the year. This is
YOUR
time to stand!
Won’t you join us? EVERY LIFE MATTERS! I AM PRO-LIFE
Where: Washington, D.C. When: Jan. 22-24, 2015 www.lcms.org/events/lifeconference 20
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September–October 2014
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nvolve
CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITIES
make drea ms reality, leave legacy
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hat mission is your dream? What ministry is your passion? God has spoken to your heart, but where do you begin? The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Foundation’s charitable gift annuities make a difference in the world, while providing ongoing benefits to those whose dream involves a preferred ministry.
Blessings and benefits for you now; a gift for ministry later. “These gifts are an opportunity to have a huge impact on a ministry for God’s work in the world,” said Allen Helms, the Foundation’s senior vice-president for Gift-Planning Services. “Charitable gift annuities provide blessings and benefits for you during your lifetime and then to a specified ministry at the end of your earthly life.” Helms said charitable gift annuity benefits include:
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PHOTO: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD
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September–October 2014
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NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID Burlington, WI Permit No. 12
College is tough. YOU NEED JESUS. We’ll help.
Connect to an LCMS campus ministry at www.lcms.org/LCMSU/findcampus. f LCMSU | www.lcms.org/LCMSU | 888-THE LCMS (843-5267)