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Training People to Reach Their Own People
Quarterly Publication ____ _______ May 2013
From the Desk of Our President:
Being around for 72 years and serving as a pastor for 45 years allows me to reflect on a “first” in ministry experience! You see,
we at Jesus Is Lord Mission just completed month nine in our fiscal year. In most organizations to which I have belonged, it
would be time for a pep talk. It would be the normal time to give a vision on what could be accomplished if everyone would
dig a bit deeper, making it possible to reach our budgeted goal.
If you recall, our goal for 2012-13 was to provide $191,194 with the hope for a tenth year blessing to add another $10,000 for a
project to be named later. If we were trying to beat a budget, you and I could relax. For at this point in our fiscal year, the
initial goal of $191,194 has been funded 100%. The $10,000 thank offering prayerfully developed into a $62,370 commitment
to the Macau ministry – and you funded this vital ministry 100%! We can sing the doxology that, in addition, we have an
excess of $80,000 to put toward next year’s goals, for which we ask your prayerful support.
So if our Ten Year Thanksgiving goal was to beat a budget, we would have
smashed it to smithereens. BUT, BEATING BUDGETS IS NOT OUR GOAL!
Our goal is “that every knee may bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father,” so we are literally working to beat hell!
We have a wonderful opportunity to reach around the world with the great Easter
message of the Risen Christ. Thank you indeed for your partnership in the Gospel.
I am excited to see what the Lord will do in these next three months.
Paul F. Howe 30701 Berry Creek Drive
Chaplain (COL) US ARMY (Retired) Georgetown, Texas 78628
[email protected] (512) 864-2281 or cell (512) 517-6078
____________________________________________________
Lutheran Center for Theological Studies (CLET) in Togo
For several years JILM has supported the CLET as it educates pastors for several
Lutheran church bodies in French-speaking Africa. Some of our members have asked
for more information about the faculty at the school and the history of the Center. Rev.
Tim Heiney and Rev. Fred Reinhardt are missionaries who serve as area facilitators
assisting with CLET. Rev. Heiney has provided us with an example of the importance
of the CLET.
“The first country north of Togo, where the CLET is located, is a French-speaking
country called Burkina Faso. We have never had an LCMS missionary assigned to that
country. During the civil war in Liberia there was a Lutheran Liberian refugee living
in Ghana whose name was Rufus Korma. Rufus was a nurse and got a job with
Doctors Without Borders. They sent him to work in the north of Burkina. Later Rufus
decided that he wanted to plant the Lutheran Church in Burkina.
(Continued on page 3)
A Mission Society ~ Supporting the World Mission of the
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
…“that every knee may bow and every
tongue confess that JESUS CHRIST IS
LORD….”
Left, Rev. Michael Amegah, President of the
CAC, (Council for the Administration of the CLET), and (right) the Director of the CLET, Rev. Kombondjar Souk.
2
Steering Committee Proposed Projects for Jesus Is Lord Mission from The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s Office of International Mission
Stipends for Probationers-as-Church Planters in Sri Lanka $11,000 New seminary graduates, called “probationers,” are sent on three-year assignments to unchurched areas as
church planters. Most of their work is done on the distant tea plantations. They commute from their homes
daily for three to six hours by bus and on foot. Often, they must stay overnight, since the workers are only
able to meet with them in the late afternoon and evening when the buses no longer run. Each probationer
works on two or three tea plantations. Each has had many baptisms, which are performed by one of the five
ordained Lanka Lutheran Church (LLC) pastors who come once a month to administer Holy Communion.
They provide regular reports on their work to their supervising pastors. There are currently eight
probationers. Funding provides them with a monthly stipend to cover their travel expenses.
Ingria Church Outreach and Support in Russia $44,000 After the fall of communism in Russia, the Lutheran church emerged with the vigor and the strength of new
life. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia (ELCIR), the Lutheran church with which the
LCMS is in fellowship, has reached 15,000 members and 74 congregations, stretching from St. Petersburg
in the west to Krasnoyarsk in central Siberia and areas further east. This project supports the evangelism
activities of leaders from 15 to 20 partner congregations in approximately 40 locations (schools,
orphanages, youth clubs, cultural societies, and local administrative offices). Leaders use lectures, camps,
films, handouts, Bibles, and other Christian resources to take the Gospel to the people in a powerful and
appropriate way. Every event will use a specific method to connect the people with the nearest local
assembly of believers, or gather into small groups for study at the nearest mission education center.
Mission Work in Georgia $33,000 In 2012, the Georgian mission was blessed to register its church with the Georgian government. The church
is officially titled “The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession.” Our two evangelists,
Zviadi Charkviani and Zaza Kiknavelidze, supported by Jesus is Lord Mission Society (JILM), pastor two
congregations. The congregations are located in Kutaisi (approximately 50 parishioners, located in central
Georgia) and Tsvermagala (15 parishioners located on the Black Sea coast). There are also two Bible study
groups located in Batumi (10 kilometers from the Turkish border) and Poti (on the Black Sea coast).
Deaconess Tea Charkviani, Zviadi’s wife, keeps the accounts for the mission. She assists Zviadi by playing
the organ in church and also works with women and children. Tea does all of this without pay, sharing in
her husband’s ministry. In the summer, Zviadi and Tea went to Slovakia in order to learn more about
Sunday school work. Children are beginning to attend the church in Kutaisi, but there is a need to establish
a Sunday school program. Tamazi Tsulukiani also assists in the mission. Tamazi studied for a few years at
the Theological Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia. Zviadi and Tea are
graduates of this theological institute, where Missionary Rev. Matthew Heise often teaches. Tamazi is paid
through the 10 percent tithes of Zviadi and Zaza.
Plans for 2013 include:
Translations – Making Disciples: Baptizing . . . and The Christian Faith by Robert Kolb and The Book
of Concord
Media – seek ways to use the Internet to make Georgians aware of our ministry
Classes – teach the Bethel Bible Course so that it can be duplicated in mission sites
Self-support – explore options as to how we can begin the process of having the mission support itself
(Continued on page 7)
3
(Continued from page 1)
Members of the "CLET's Wives School," a "deaconess"
type of training. The teachers are also shown.
The building containing the CLET
faculty offices and meeting rooms.
He registered the church with the government and they
assigned him to the east of the country. This is unusual,
but this is the way the government works in Burkina.
When you register a church with them, they assign to
you where you will begin. Rufus settled in Burkina and
married a Burkinabe wife, and the Lutheran Church was
planted. But Rufus was a nurse, not a pastor.
Around 2008 with the help of an LCMS missionary
learning French in the capitol city of Ouagadougou,
three young men were sent to the CLET. The next year
two more were sent. One of the young men was named
Espoir, which is French for "hope.” He was so on fire
for the Lord that he planted three churches near where
the CLET was located. He finally was reprimanded and
told that he needed to stop planting churches and stick to
his studies, because after he left they would not have
enough pastors to cover all the churches he was starting.
In the winter of 2010 Rufus Korma died of a heart
problem. But later that same year the first three
graduates of the CLET arrived back in Burkina. Without
the training these men had received at the CLET, the
church may well have fallen into confusion. What a
blessing that trained men were ready to take up the task!
The next year two more graduates arrived in the country,
making five vicars in all.
The course at the CLET consists of one novitiate year to
determine if the candidate is truly pastoral material and
if he has the understanding of French and the scholastic
acumen to tackle the true pastoral courses. If he is
invited back, he then has two years of pastoral classes
and a very demanding vicarage. It is impossible to
complete that vicarage in one year. It sometimes takes
up to four. So all five of the men are working on their
vicarages now. But with God's help, soon there will be
three Lutheran pastors, and then five, in a country that
has never had a Lutheran missionary. And there is
another student at the CLET right now. Without the
CLET one can only wonder what state the Lutheran
Church in Burkina would be in, if indeed it continued to
exist there at all.”
CLET photos provided by Rev. Fred Reinhardt.
Rev. Albert
Koutia, his wife,
and their son.
Rev. Koutia is a
theology
professor at the
CLET, and his
wife is a leader
in the “Wives
School.”
4
GIFTS TO JILM, Jan. – March., 2013
Individual Donors Erhart and Anita Bauer
William Beckman
Robert and Elaine Besalski
Mike and Joyce Best
Paul and Martha Bickel
Charles and Frieda Birner
Henry Boehm, Jr.
Ralph Bohlmann
David and Dolly Brammer
John and Mary Ann Brown
Murray and Katherine Brown
Betty Buss
Charles and Ruth Collier
Victor and Dorothy Constien
Rubin and Evelyn Covington
Joyce Dickey
Louise Drosche
Arthur and Betty Dueker
Duane and Monica Ehrhardt
John and Elva Ellermann
Ronald and Mildred Fink
Duane and Mary Lee
Florschuetz Robert Foelber
Leland and Jeanette Frese
Elvin and Anna Harms
Walt and Ellen Harms
Harold and Della Heckmann
John and Debra Heckmann
Joyce Heckmann
Harry and Elenora Hobratsch
Raymond and Viola Hobratsch
Alice Hobus
Paul and Lois Howe
Robert and Diane Hrabovsky
Marvin A. Huggins
Richard and Eileen Izzard
Raymond James*
Bill and Emily Johnson
Bonnie Kahle
John and Elaine Kieschnick
Vic and Emilie Kilian
Harry and Gigi Klepper
Glenn and Wanda Kollmeyer
Burnell and Shirley Kraft
Otto and Arlene Kretzmann
Carol Kreyling
Joyce Kuhl
Robert and Eloise Kuhlmann
John and Karen Leicht
Edwin and Marilyn Londenberg
Alfred J. Luehmann
Harry and Gladys Marburger*
Geraldine Mass
Alvin and Dorothy Meissner
Weldon and Jean Mersiovsky
Erwin and Eunice Metz
David and Vivian Meyer
Delbert and Anna Meyer
Janet Meyer
Wilburn and Betty Michalk
Curtis and Marilyn Mickan
Elmo and Frances Miertschin
Don and Monie Muchow
Ray and Joyce Moldenhauer
Orville and Clara Mueller
Paul and Andrea Muench
Roger and Monie Neeb
Mary Neubacher
Larry and Bonnie Noack
Glenn and Sandra OShoney
Orval Oswald
Robert and Joan Petersen
Richard and Cynthia Pieplow
Gilbert and Linda Pingel
Bernie Raabe
Thomas Raabe
Benjamin and Lois Rathgeber
Robert and Barbara Rauh
Eugene and Meriam Reddel
Otto and Rosalie Reinbacher
Frances Riffel
Karl and Shirley Schmidt
Alfred Scholz
Albert and Janet Schudde
Carl and Karol Selle
Al and Ruth Senske
Gene and Florence Snow
Thomas and Carolyn Soltis
Ross Stroh
Carl and Thea Streufert
Bernie and Doris Symm
Leo and Rose Merle Symmank
Hubert and June Temme
Tim and Faye Tognetty
Frederick and Chris Tschulin
John Wackler
Richard and Madge Wagner
Alber and Adeline Walther
Melvin Witt
Sharon K. Zieschang
*Indicates new member
__________________________________________________________________________
In Memory Of
James Barr
Ellford Bigon
Bill Brinlee
George Cage
Eric Domel
Jay Finley
Doris Rader
Ernie Greenwald
Clare Herlein
Don Imboden
Clark Jaeger
Ellen Kissman
David Kuhlmann
Marilyn Kurpius
Donald Leicht
Emma Merz
Evelyn Mueller
Myrna Mumme
Joseph Neubacher
Jim Nicholson
Ron Pettit
Adeline Rizzo
Gretchen Schiefer
Arvilee Schneider
Lois Scholz
Mary Jo Cash Schrieber
Hilda Schroder
Nina Syner
Loretta Wilson
Lucille Wolff
Gilbert Zieschang
5
Thrivent Choice Donors
Kerry Baxter
Joyce Best
David Brammer
John Brown
Elsie Cloeter
Bobby and Fay Davis
Sally Gerharter
Edward and Arlene Greenthaner
Walter Harms
John Heckmann
Jimmie and Nancy Horton
Tom and Rebecca Menke
Jean Mersiovsky
Dalton Noack
Glenn OShoney
Neal Rabe
Billy Schaefer
Matthew Sell
Wilbert Sohns
Ruth Zeile
Sharon Zieschang
Congregation and Organization Donors
Austin, TX, Hope Lutheran Church
Austin, TX, Our Redeemer Lutheran Church
Cedar Park, TX, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church--Omega People
Gatesville, TX, St. Paul Lutheran Church
Houston, TX, LWML of Pilgrim Lutheran Church
Killeen, TX, Grace Lutheran Church
Lago Vista, TX, Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church
Uvalde, TX, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
Walburg, TX, Zion Lutheran Church
In Honor Of Bettie Horn Bendewald (honoring her mission work)
Concordia, Austin (60th Anniversary of Class of 1953)
Bruce Collier (birthday)
Mr. and Mrs. Rudie Mitschke (50th Wedding Anniversary)
Milton Arldt (80th birthday)
Deanne Noack (75th birthday)
Curtis and Kathy Hehman (40th Wedding Anniversary)
JILM Newsletter Editorial Staff
Joyce Best Barbara Bielss John Brown Roger Neeb Dalton Noack Glenn O’Shoney
Steering Committee
Paul Howe, Pres. (Pastor) Wilbern Michalk, VP/Sec. (Pastor) Alber Walther, Treas. (Layperson) Curtis Mickan (Layperson) Mary Schumann (Layperson) Joyce Best (Newsletter Editor) Alvin Meissner (Pastor) Mark Dankis (Pastor) Bettie Horn Bendewald (Layperson)
JILM Volunteer Coordinator
Dalton Noack
JILM Website Manager
Larry Noack
JILM Website P.R. Material Manager
Betty Liese
Membership
672 Families and Organizations
Contact JILM
PO Box 11 Walburg, TX 78673 [email protected]
JILM website: www.jilmission.org
May God continue to bless you as you share your gifts with the Jesus Is Lord Mission
to spread the message of the Risen Christ!
6
All members are invited to attend the JILM annual meeting at 9 a.m. on Thursday, June 6, at Zion Lutheran Church in Walburg. It will be a
business meeting only, with no lunch served.
The Steering Committee is working to schedule an event for all members in the fall, probably October, to meet Rev. Michael Wu, LCMS missionary in Macau. Rev. Wu will be visiting in Texas to inform
congregations and mission-minded individuals about his work in Macau. The Steering Committee hopes to have a definite date and
time to announce by the time the August JILM Newsletter is published.
Volunteer Coordinator Report – Dalton Noack
Thank you for taking the time to vote and send your signed ballot in the JILM envelope by
June 1, 2013. JILM is blessed to save on postage by including the ballot information with this
newsletter.
JILM is blessed through Terry Biesboer, our relationship holder with LCMS Office of
International Mission. He and his team are very helpful in efforts to serve you, the JILM members, with accurate
information relating to the projects JILM members adopt each year.
Thanks to everyone who shares items that need coordinating. Suggestion or questions that help strengthen our JILM
ministry are always welcome. Two points of contact are email at [email protected] or through calls to 512-
569-0631.
Thanks to Thrivent and JILM members who have committed to place their
Thrivent Choice Dollars toward God’s mission supportive of the JILM
adopted projects.
JILM Financial Report, January-March, 2013 Balance for LCMS Ministry, 12/31/2012 67,290.25* Gifts and interest received 1/1/2013-3/31/2013 26,672.87 Project Support, 1/1/2013-3/31/2013
CLET (100% funded of $100,579 commitment) India Probationer Stipends (100% funded of $42,000 commitment) Eurasia (100% funded of $10,400 commitment) Philippine Theological (100% funded of $7,875 commitment) New Guinea Bible School (100% funded of $8,400 commitment) New Guinea Theological (100% funded of $10,500 commitment) Sri Lanka Probationer (100% funded of $11,340 commitment) Macau-China Ev. Luth. Church Taiwan (100% funded of $62,370 commitment)
Expenses, 1/1/2013-3/31/2013 -3,208.17 Ending funds for LCMS Ministry, 3/31/2013 90,754.95* *Includes $6,000 in Thank Offering gifts re-designated for the Macau project, disbursed 4/1/2013. Contributed to date (since 2002): $1,962,582.11.
7
(Continued from page 2)
CELC Missionary in Greater China $67,220 In partnership with the China Evangelical Lutheran Church (Taiwan), this project supports the overall
effort for Lutheran training and materials in China by sending Rev. Michael Wu to work with the LCMS
Greater China team based in Hong Kong. Rev. Wu trains lay leaders, teachers, and pastors in rural and
provincial Bible training centers. He also supports the development of Lutheran theological training
materials in the Chinese language and equips local Chinese-speakers to write them.
Recently, Rev. Wu taught at a Bible Training Center. He taught students at the center, but also focused on
equipping the teachers at the center to better understand Law and Gospel and see Christ as the central
message. This center is preparing to send workers to a nearby city of 8.5 million to start congregations at
the universities and in the central neighborhoods. Funding for this project will provide Rev. Wu’s support
package as well as his travel to the Bible Training Centers.
Lutheran Center for Theological Studies (CLET) in Togo $61,908 The Lutheran Center for Theological Studies (CLET) in Togo serves to educate pastors for Lutheran church
bodies all through French-speaking Africa, including Togo, Benin, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso,
Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Seminary students need to be supported for
visits back to their sending church body for practical experience and meeting the spiritual needs of their
emerging church body. In addition, there are book supply and health care costs. Seminary support will be
handled differently this year. Students who apply for and receive scholarships to the seminary have, in their
scholarship packet, money that covers not only their seminary expenses, but also the expenses of the CLET.
This alleviates a separate project for the CLET since all operating expenses are included in the seminarian’s
scholarship.
Coordinating Center for Theological Studies (CCTS) in Sierra Leone $12,495 The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sierra Leone (ELCSL) was planted by LCMS missionaries in the
1980s and has struggled through civil war and adversity. The ELCSL currently has 8,882 members in 135
congregations. The ELCSL also reaches out through 32 outstations and 18 schools and a number of
students at their pastoral formation training center in Jembe. This project supports 12 students enrolled in
pastoral studies at the CCTS which prepares pastors for service in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Funds are used
for student transportation, meals, materials and books, and center security.
New Mission in Greater China $14,960 Through a partnership with the Lutheran Church—Hong Kong Synod (LCHKS), the LCMS, and Concordia
English Center (CEC) in Macau, there is renewed vigor for the church planting efforts in Macau. Vicar Dan
Ho has been sent by the LCHKS to lead the Concordia Preaching Station as the outreach efforts of LCMS
missionaries and local Lutherans work toward starting a new congregation. Vicar Ho is sent to deepen the
connection to the church with those who are reached through the efforts of CEC, the missionaries, the local
deaf fellowship, and others. He leads Bible study, catechism classes, and worship in Cantonese (with
translation to Mandarin, English, and Macau sign language when necessary). The project will support a
portion of Vicar Ho’s salary and benefits and travel for his work with the church plant. In the fall of 2013,
an LCMS ordained missionary will also arrive in Macau to work alongside Vicar Ho and support the efforts
of the LCHKS to start this new congregation.
Local Church Initiatives in Cambodia $16,500 As the LCMS continues God’s mission in Cambodia, one of the greatest tasks is to train and equip local
pastors and other church leaders. The goal of the Pastor and Lay Training project is to help leaders of the
Cambodian church grow in their knowledge of the Scriptures and their ability to discern the Word of God.
Along with the Bible, Lutheran doctrine will also be taught, using the small catechism. Training will not
only take place in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, but also in Ratanakiri province near the
Vietnamese border. Through this training, the LCMS will reach the Khmer majority in Cambodia, along
with the Jerai, Nhoun, Tpoun and Karen minority groups.
TOTAL AMOUNT NEEDED TO FUND ALL PROJECTS: $261,083
8
.
RETURN SERVICES REQUESTED
10 YEARS OF SHARING CHRIST IN 27 NATIONS
Afghanistan (1 year) Argentina (1 year) Chile (2 years) China (1 year) Cambodia (2 years) Dominican Republic (2 years) East Africa (select nations, 1 year) Georgia (3 years) Ghana (3 years) Guinea (4 years) Honduras (1 year) Hong Kong (1 year) India (8 years) Kazakhstan (1 year) Kyrgyzstan (2 years) Nigeria (4 years) Pakistan (1 year) Papua New Guinea (3 years) Peru (1 year) Philippines (4 years) Russia (2 years) Sri Lanka (7 years) Sudan (1 year) Togo, West Africa (2 years) Turkey (1 year) USA (4 years) Vietnam (1 year)
Rev. Michael Wu leads worship. Rev. Wu works with the LCMS team based in Hong Kong. Rev. Wu trains lay leaders, teachers, and pastors in rural and provincial Bible training centers.