wfn.org | [LCMSNews] Board paves way for school in Vietnam

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>12.12.2008		
>	LCMS News	 	
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>THE LUTHERAN CHURCH Missouri Synod  	 	
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	December 12, 2008 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 74

Board OKs corporation for new LCMS school in Hanoi

>By Joe Isenhower Jr.

The Synod's Board of Directors, meeting Nov. 20-21 in Indian Wells,
Calif., authorized forming a corporation in Vietnam to open a new LCMS
international school in Hanoi.

This would be the third LCMS international school in Asia. The others
are Concordia International School Shanghai (CISS) and Hong Kong
International School (HKIS) -- both of which have experienced steady
growth as they serve their local and international communities.

In an application to the Vietnamese government, the name for the school
project that is being submitted for approval is Concordia International
School Hanoi.

For the school's first year of operation, the application requests
approval of grade levels from pre-school through middle school to open
this fall, with high-school classes added for the 2010-11 academic year.

Notes for a business plan -- prepared by Dr. Allan Schmidt, Asia school
developer for LCMS World Mission -- provided the Board with background
information and the rationale for the school.

In those notes, Schmidt writes that "the LCMS entered Hanoi" in 1996,
with the calling of Rev. Ted Engelbrecht and his family to set up an NGO
(non-governmental organization) with human care and teaching English,
and through a partnership with "the leaders of the National Institute of
Nutrition (NIN).

"That work has prospered," Schmidt wrote. He also noted that NIN
leaders, Engelbrecht, and he (Schmidt) spoke of the need for an LCMS
international school in Hanoi when they attended an Asia Ablaze! summit
in Hong Kong three years ago.  At that time, they pointed out that two
international schools in Hanoi were at maximum enrollment, with waiting
lists.

LCMS World Mission's Asia Management Team, led by Regional Director Rev.
John Mehl, "considers Vietnam the prime location for the next LCMS Asia
international school [and] Hanoi, Vietnam, shows the greatest promise at
this time," the business plan notes indicate.

In addition to the two existing international schools in Hanoi being
filled to capacity as a reason for establishing the new school,
Schmidt's notes also point to:

*	"The expressed need by multinational corporations, the U.S.
Embassy, government leaders, [and] local and foreign parents for a third
western-type international school in Hanoi."

*	"Hanoi has the potential for additional foreign investment,
expatriate growth, and support of local citizens for a highly academic
American-accredited, English-based, PS-12 school like HKIS and CISS.

*	"Vietnamese parents send their children to U.S. boarding schools
in large numbers but prefer to keep them in Hanoi in a school that
prepares them for top U.S. universities."

*	"The [Vietnamese] government indicates its willingness to
consider a charter for a wholly foreign-owned PS-12 values-based
institution open to local Vietnamese and foreign students."

*	Plans for the school are based on "what has been learned from
LCMS presence in Hanoi and from learning more about the educational
climate in Vietnam and especially in Hanoi."

*	"The United States Embassy staff ... feature American education
as an improvement goal and have demonstrated their support for an LCMS
school like HKIS and CISS in Hanoi that will lift the educational levels
and provide more seats for students living in the Hanoi and South East
Asia region."

Both the Hong Kong International School and Concordia International
School Shanghai support establishing a school in Hanoi, "specifically
with help of their staff," Schmidt noted.

A call for nominations to fill the position of head of school for the
new international school in time for the 2009 academic year appeared in
the December Reporter.

The Synod Board of Directors also passed a number of other resolutions,
including one that encourages a joint Task Force For Concord -- made up
of members of the Board and the LCMS Council of Presidents -- to
"further develop" plans for a process to restore harmony in the Synod.

Such a plan was mandated in Resolution 4-01A of the 2007 Synod
convention, which directed that the joint group call a summit of
"respected leaders" in the Synod to develop a proposed strategy for
achieving harmony.

"We have established a wonderful trust level," Betty Duda, one of the
three Board representatives, told the Board concerning the task force.

Kermit Brashear, also a Board representative, said that members of the
task force are intent on the summit being "an event where people will
know that they have been heard."

Board member Roy Schmidt also is a member of the task force.

After meeting with representatives of the Wittenberg project, the Board
adopted a resolution expressing "disappointment with the failure of the
[project] to submit a viable business plan." That action also requests
that the plan be submitted in time for the next Board meeting, Feb.
19-20, and "that the [Synod] President's Office assist with church
relations issues."

At its meeting in August, the Board had requested a business plan in
time for its meeting in Indian Wells.

The Wittenberg Project proposes establishing a Lutheran congregation in
Wittenberg, Germany, and restoring a former school building which dates
to 1564, to serve as a visitor-conference center. Current partners in
the project are LCMS World Mission, LCMS World Relief and Human Care,
Concordia Publishing House, and the Independent Evangelical Lutheran
Church, an LCMS partner church in Germany known as SELK, its German
acronym.

>Among other actions, the Board:

*	approved procedures to be followed for correcting "negative
budget variance[s]" experienced by a national Synod department,
commission, or program board.

*	appointed Board members Betty Duda, Gloria Edwards, and Roy
Schmidt to the Council of Members of the Concordia University System.

*	authorized funding for a "strategic and operational study" of
the corporate Synod's information-technology investment and deployment.

The Board of Directors also met with the LCMS Council of Presidents and
Commission on Constitutional Matters for several hours Nov. 20 to hear
updates from the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and
Governance.

A printed "overview" of the Fan Into Flame campaign indicated that, as
of Oct. 28, total gifts (including pledges) had reached nearly $36.9
million, with $17.3 in cash receipts.  The campaign's goal is for $100
million to be used for outreach worldwide by 2017, the 500th anniversary
of the Reformation.

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

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