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	May 31, 2005 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 41

	Leaders of 'specialized ministries' share ideas

	By Paula Schlueter Ross

	IRVING, Texas -- Dr. Elwin Johnson Rethinasamy of Williston
Park, N.Y., leaned across a table during the last of eight "One Mission
Ablaze -- Igniting Congregations" events, held here May 13-14.

	Rethinasamy, who serves South Asians, mostly from India, posed
an eager question to Dr. Sang Choi, who works among Koreans in Irvine,
Calif., including students at Concordia University there.

	"I am very interested to know -- are there any Indians at that
school?" Rethinasamy asked.

	By the end of that conversation on the first day of the
conference, the two pastors had exchanged business cards and pledged to
work together to reach Asian Indians in Southern California.

	"Connecting people" was a key purpose of the final "Igniting
Congregations" event, which brought together LCMS leaders in African
immigrant, Asian, Black, blind, campus, Hispanic, and Jewish ministries
nationwide.

	Unlike the previous "Igniting" gatherings, which brought
together leaders of similar ministries, this one was "unique" because of
the wide variety of ministries represented, according to Synod President
Gerald B. Kieschnick.

	Acknowledging the diversity of cultures at the conference,
Kieschnick shared his hope that more Synod congregations would someday
look "just like this group."

	Like its "Igniting" predecessors, the Irving event had a
threefold purpose for attendees, who were encouraged to:

	* set goals to reach more people for Christ.

	* share outreach ideas with one another.

	* plan individual or joint projects, funded by Thrivent
Financial for Lutherans, that would enhance their particular ministries.

	The events were planned by Kieschnick's office in an effort to
reverse the Synod's 30-year decline in membership. They also gave the
president opportunities to talk about "Ablaze!," the worldwide
initiative by the Synod and its partner churches to reach 100 million
people with the Gospel by 2017, and to share his own "One Mission, One
Message, One People" vision for the Synod.

	With 150 million unchurched people in this country -- and an
"Ablaze!" goal to start 2,000 North American congregations over the next
12 years -- LCMS congregations are being called "to do much more than
put out a welcome sign," Kieschnick said. He encouraged conference
attendees to "get out of your comfort zones and find a way" to reach
others with the Gospel.

	Lutherans need to share their faith with others -- what
Kieschnick calls the "critical event" -- "over and over and over again,"
he said, and he described his own faith-sharing efforts.

	Dining in a restaurant, for example, Kieschnick said he will
sometimes tell the server, "We are getting ready to pray. Is there
anything you want us to pray for?" One St. Louis-area waitress responded
by saying she was looking for a new "church home," so Kieschnick invited
her to worship at his own congregation, Concordia Lutheran Church in
Kirkwood, Mo.

	Kieschnick urged conference attendees to make outreach a
priority "not for the sake of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod [but]
for the sake of the people whose lives depend on it."

	Rethinasamy, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Williston Park,
N.Y., said his South Asian ministry has a goal of planting "a minimum of
100 congregations by 2017," and at least 25 "around the world" within
the next five years.

	He hopes to meet that goal by "finding the possibilities,
raising leaders, mentoring them, connecting them with their ...
districts, and letting them go."

	Jeevanandhan Prabhakaran, a lay leader who accompanied
Rethinasamy to the Irving event, led a "house church" in Saudi Arabia
for 10 years. That indicated to Rethinasamy that Prabhakaran "was the
right man" to help him in his ministry: "If he is for the Lord in a
secret country, he can do better in a free country," he explained.

	"God connects people for relationships" in ministry, said
Prabhakaran. The lay leader said he plans to begin studies this fall at
the Synod's Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology, at Concordia
Seminary, St. Louis.

	Rethinasamy has started South Asian ministries at numerous sites
on the East Coast, and is working to start Lutheran congregations among
Asians in London and in India.

	His ministry is "beyond borders," he says.

	During the conference, participants shared what they considered
effective outreach strategies, including:

	* "Analyze your ministry and the community you serve."

	* "Listen and be flexible." Said one: "God gave us two ears and
one mouth [so] we should spend twice as much time listening as we talk."

	* "Find key leaders to equip and train."

	"The pastor can't do it -- the people need to do it," said Rev.
Michael Johnson Sr., pastor of Cross of Calvary Lutheran Church in
Memphis.

	Participants also planned how they will enhance their
ministries.

	Rev. Mark Griffin, pastor of Berea Lutheran Church in Detroit,
an African American congregation, said his goal is to increase
Sunday-school attendance from the current 1 percent to at least 50
percent of the church's membership.

	"We're going to develop some Bible studies that are interesting
to particular groups -- like women, or men, or youth -- topical Bible
studies."

	Griffin said he considered the "Igniting" event "encouraging"
because of the opportunities it provided to "talk with some of our
brothers and sisters about their struggles and concerns, and get
encouragement from them and ideas on things that might or might not
work."

	Rev. Greg Fairow, who serves a campus ministry at the University
of Wisconsin, Madison, said the event pushed him and Ted Harks, the lay
leader who accompanied him, to set a far-reaching goal.

	"When we went outside and prayed about what we thought was an
attainable goal over the next five years, we came up with 5,000
'critical events.' We looked at that and said, 'This goal seems
realistic to us, but isn't God capable of doing much more through us?'
So we doubled it."

	To work toward that goal, Fairow plans to start with three to
four small-group ministries led by college students and other young
adults.

	"As a campus ministry, one of our responsibilities and
privileges is being able to train church leaders," he said. "So if we
can train them at the campus-ministry level, they can go out into the
community [to share their faith] for years afterward."

	Rev. Alex Merlo, associate pastor of St. Pauls Lutheran Church
in Aurora, Ill., said the "Ablaze!" emphasis at last summer's Synod
convention encouraged his congregation to start English classes for the
neighborhood, which is about 80 percent Latino.

	The program opened last fall with 140 students -- six of them
were confirmed as St. Pauls members five months later, along with a
dozen from the Hispanic community. The congregation is growing, he said,
both in numbers and in financial support.

	This fall the 1,200 or so "Anglo" members of St. Paul will be
moving all their worship services to a second campus two miles away, so
the congregation's 180 Hispanic members have decided to purchase the
original building so the church can remain open.

	Merlo's view is this: The Lutheran founders of the 147-year-old
church "had a vision to stay in this neighborhood and to grow. Let the
legacy continue. Let the Lutheran presence stay in the neighborhood."

	As a result of the "Igniting" event, Merlo says the Hispanic
congregation has a new goal: to start an English-language worship
service by next January for the neighborhood's second- and
third-generation Hispanic population.

	"The immigrants want to worship in Spanish, but their children,
typically after being in this culture, want to worship in English," said
Paul Maras, the church's executive director. "So we think that's what
God is calling us to do."

	****************************************

	If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release,
contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org or (314) 996-1231,
or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or (314) 996-1230.

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