wfn.org | [LCMSNews] Missionaries are young, enthusiastic

["LCMS e-News" <LCMSENEWS@lcms.org>]

>       
>       
>       
>       
>7.8.2010               
>       LCMS News               
>       

>THE LUTHERAN CHURCH Missouri Synod             
>       

        

        July 8, 2010 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 56

>New LCMS missionaries are young, enthusiastic

>By Paula Schlueter Ross

RIVER FOREST, Ill. -- Although the number of missionaries beginning
service with LCMS World Mission this year is about the same as last
year, most of them look a little different. They're younger.

And that's not a bad thing, according to Ron Scherch, director of
recruitment services with the Synod's mission board.

"We're really pleased that young people who are just completing their
college education are choosing to do missionary service as a first-time
call or just as a first-time experience before they return to follow a
professional or commercial career -- whatever their life goal is,"
Scherch said.  "More and more, we're finding young people want that
global experience and global service.  And I think our church body is
going to see an increasing number of young people choosing to be
missionaries -- and that bodes well for the future."

Of the 29 new missionaries, only about a half-dozen are over age 30.
The missionaries will be serving in 16 locations, including Hong Kong,
Latvia, Macau, Panama, Peru, Poland, Slovakia, Uganda, and Central and
Southeast Asia.  Most will begin their service in late summer or fall.

Today's 20-somethings "want relationships" and "are driven by a passion
of the heart, not the pocketbook," Scherch says, so they're a good match
for relationship-driven mission fields.

Those who seek missionary positions with LCMS World Mission typically
have a strong faith, he says, and missionary service is something
they've often thought about doing.  Most already have experienced life
in unfamiliar cultures by taking part in high school or college mission
trips.

They're less materialistic and career-driven -- "they're just here to
serve," he says.

Serena Little, a 22-year-old from Seattle, was among those taking part
in the June 14-24 missionary orientation sponsored by LCMS World Mission
at Concordia University Chicago, River Forest, Ill.  She will teach
English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) in Macau, beginning in October.

Little, who graduated in May from Concordia University, Portland, Ore.,
with a teaching degree, got her first taste of mission work two years
ago in Guatemala.  There, she spent two weeks working at a dental
clinic, holding the hands of children who were having teeth extracted,
and "connecting with people."

She called the orientation "definitely" useful and said she is "excited
and still a little bit in shock" about serving overseas.

Asked if she's "too young to do this," she laughed, "Well, probably, but
God is telling me something different."

Also at the orientation was Elliot Derricks of Green Bay, Wis.
Derricks, 23, graduated this spring from the teaching program at
Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon.  He will serve at least a year
in Slovakia, teaching EFL while building relationships among the people
there.

Derricks said he took part in mission trips to Juarez, Mexico, while in
college, and "just fell in love with missions.  I got to know so many
wonderful people there, and made so many great connections."

On his first trip, he helped build a three-bedroom house for a family
with seven or eight children.  When his group presented the house to the
family, Derricks said he was overcome with emotion and shed tears when
the father announced that, to thank God, the whole family would be
baptized.

While Derricks doesn't know how long he'll end up serving -- many of
those with one-year assignments renew them for longer terms -- he says
he's "absolutely" certain that mission work "is something I need to do
right now."

He added: "I'm just looking forward to this opportunity, and I'm just
excited to see where God's going to lead me, what He wants to do with
me."

The orientation, held annually, is designed to prepare new missionaries
for overseas service, and includes presentations and discussions on
topics such as culture shock, self-care, living cross-culturally,
communication, raising financial support, income and health insurance,
witnessing, building relationships and teaching EFL.

"Whose mission is it?" Rev. John Mehl, regional director for Asia with
LCMS World Mission, asked several times in his presentation on "mission
engagement."

>"God's!" responded the group.

Mehl said he wanted the missionaries to "focus on the fact that this is
God's mission that we're in.  We are sent [by God].  It's all about Him
-- it's not about us."

He added that this year's missionaries "are young [but] they are quite
mature -- spiritually mature.  They know and understand that God is
calling them to this ministry" and they have "a tremendous amount of
enthusiasm" to serve.

At the orientation, Bruce Wall was both a presenter and a new
missionary.  In his talk about short-term service, Wall said "the
greatest resource in the LCMS is its people."

Wall served at the Synod's International Center in St. Louis for four
years as program director for short-term mission service before
accepting a call to become a career missionary.  Now, as area
facilitator for the Caribbean and Peru, he said he and his wife, Sarah,
believe "God is leading us."  They are based in Panama with their two
young children.

Graham Guenther, 23, of Overland Park, Kan., credits God -- and his
sister, Emilie Dubert -- for opening his heart to missionary service.
Dubert, 27, is returning to the United States this year after teaching
EFL in Taiwan since 2006.  Graham will take his sister's place on the
mission field, arriving in Taiwan in mid-August.

Just a few months ago Guenther told his youth minister that he had "no
interest" in doing what his sister was doing in Taiwan.

"So, within a couple of months it went from 'no interest at all' to
'here I am getting ready to go,' " he mused.  God, he says now, "has a
plan for me" and led him to believe that "this is what I need to be
doing."

He encouraged others to "consider [missionary service] because you never
know what God has in store for you."

For information about missionary service with LCMS World Mission, visit
http://www.lcmsworldmission.org (click on "Service Opportunities" at
left) or call 800-433-3954 and ask to speak to a placement counselor.

>****************************************

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.

>****************************************

>       
>       

This Edition of "LCMS News" e-News is provided
by:

Board for Communication Services, Division of News and Information

Contact Editor

<http://www.lcms.org/enews/contact_editor.asp?title=LCMS%20News&editori d
=6> 
        

This LCMS e-News message comes from a "Send Only" mailbox that
does not recognize replies. To reply to this message, please click on
"Contact Editor" above.

>_____

To subscribe to or unsubscribe from this Newsletter and many others,
please visit LCMS e-News <http://www.lcms.org/enews> .
Share this Newsletter <http://www.lcms.org/enews/forward.asp?m=8870
with a Friend.  
MessageId=8870 UserId=10073

>_____

© 2002 - 2008 The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod  <http://www.lcms.org/
.
No reproduction without consent. All rights reserved.