Concordia Lutheran Mission Society | Mission Projects 2007

2007 Approved Mission Projects

0701: Seminary and Mission Centre, Ukraine
0702: Vacation Bible School, Nicaragua
0703: Church Heating System, Krasnoperekopsk, Ukraine
0704: Friends' Club and Summer Camp, Ukraine
0705: Short-Term Missionary, Ukraine
0706: Children's Christian Education, Nicaragua
0707: Support for Deaconesses, Nicaragua
0708: Pastoral Education, Cambodia
0709: Mission Start-Up, Kao Lak, Thailand
0710: Mission Rental, Costa Rica
0711: Dormitories for Mission Centre, Nicaragua
0712: Mission Rental, Nicaragua
0713: Church Building Rental, Thailand
0714: Mission Vehicle, Kapasseni, Mozambique
0715: Van for Mission Outreach, Ukraine
0716: Crew Ministries Summer Teams' Bus Passes
0717: DVDs for Lutheran Open House Project

0701 � Seminary and Mission Centre, Ukraine � $12,000

Since 1998, CLMS has supported a program of theological education to prepare pastors for service in the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Ukraine. Classes have been held in cramped quarters in the village of Kamenka, about 50km from Odessa. Students have had to sleep and study in quarters located in the nearby village of Kagarlyk. With the help of previous grants from CLMS and other sources, a seminary and mission centre have been under construction on property located just outside the city limits of Odessa. This building, which will provide classroom space, dormitories, guest quarters for visiting faculty and visitors, a library, and provision for the church's humanitarian aid program, is nearing completion but has been delayed due to inflation and rising labour costs. Therefore, additional funds are needed to complete it.

0702 � Vacation Bible School, Nicaragua � $3,000

During the school holiday in January, the children of the villages have little to do to avoid boredom and trouble. The mission in Nicaragua has been offering a VBS experience for many villages spread out in the countryside. The children have the opportunity to learn Bible stories and be educated by Christian deaconesses and teachers who share God's love through the message of the Gospel.

For a cost of about $1.50 CA, all the materials and the teacher can be provided for one child in a remote village to attend a VBS. This project, to support 2000 children, offers a simple yet significant opportunity for North American children to contribute to the spiritual welfare of Nicaraguan children.

0703 � Church Heating System, Krasnoperekopsk, Ukraine � $8,500

In Krasnoperekopsk, strategically located in the northern Crimea area of Ukraine, a flourishing congregation has grown up which has provided much of the missionary energy of the Lutheran Church in the area. The congregation has already mothered mission congregations in two nearby communities, and is poised to do the same in a third. It also continues to show compassion for people in these mission congregations.

To accommodate the rapid growth in its own community, the congregation has purchased and renovated a building strategically located near the market using almost exclusively volunteer labour. Amazing progress has already been made but the congregation lacks the finances to install proper heating in the building. This presents a significant hardship in the Crimean winter, especially for the elderly and the children.

0704 � Friends' Club and Summer Camp, Ukraine � $5,000

Friends' Club is an important ministry among and for children in Dnepropetrovsk who have been cast out by their families to live on the streets. Mr. Vlaimyr Koilov and his wife have committed themselves to operate a drop-in centre and over the years have nurtured a large number of children through their school years, enabling them to study and qualify for university. Some of the children are now working with our mission volunteers during the summer months. Our missionary, Rev. Alexey Naverotsky, is gathering them into a Lutheran community of faith as the nucleus for a future Lutheran congregation. Of great importance is the summer camp where many of the children join with other students in a camp experience which helps them grow in their faith and fellowship.

Funds are needed to pay for an apartment which is used as a centre for the children. This centre enables them to gather and to study, tutor each other, prepare a good meal, study Lutheran doctrine and the Bible, and support each other. Funds are also needed to enable them to attend a summer camp.

0705 � Short-Term Missionary, Ukraine � $0

This project has been withdrawn.

0706 � Children's Christian Education, Nicaragua � $5,400

This project is one of the chief outreach tools of the mission in Matagalpa and Jinotega, Nicaragua. It provides each child with a half day of tutoring and catecheses. While this project is supported by CLWR, the mission always has more children wanting to enter the program than it has funds to support them. CLMS will support 50 children.

0707 � Support for Deaconesses, Nicaragua � $4,800

The congregation and mission stations in Nicaragua are blesses with over a dozen deaconesses who are active in Christian education, evangelism, social ministry, and family ministry. In spite of their valuable work, they are very poorly paid, with the result that many must quit their service in the church and find secular employment. To worsen the situation, they must personally pay for their transportation costs and work related expenses.

0708 � Pastoral Education, Cambodia � $10,000

Cambodia is a beckoning mission field with tremendous potential in Southeast Asia. Out of the devastation following the political developments under the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, numerous Christian congregations have developed in this officially Buddhist country. Lutheranism has been introduced to the largely untrained and unordained pastors of these congregations through the distribution of Luther's Small Catechism by Lutheran Hour Ministries personnel in Cambodia. To date, contact has been made with 150 such pastors.

At the same time, a Lutheran Institute for Southeast Asia (LISA) has emerged in Bangkok, Thailand. Its goal is to train pastors and other church workers for Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Burma. LISA is looking to Canada and the United States for seminary professors and pastors who can teach the courses in its curriculum. Candidates for the ministry will carry on an apprentice-type ministry between seminary courses.

0709 � Mission Start-Up, Kao Lak, Thailand � $5,000

When the tsunami hit Kao Lak, the world discovered that many northern European people visit the resorts at Kao Lak regularly. Many German speaking men and women also own and operate resorts along the broad expanse of beach in the area. These resorts are a source of employment for many Thai people. Takuapa Sahatay Lutheran Church has recognized an outreach opportunity among the Thai people who serve the resorts, and hope to start a new mission among them.

This project allows Takuapa Sahatay Lutheran Church to find a location from which a missionary could work, as well as resources for a mission start.

0710 � Mission Rental, Costa Rica � $4,000

Rev. Pedro Adolfo Quintero and his deaconess sister, Antonia Quintero, serve the community of Heredia, Costa Rica. From this location, they are able to reach people on both the San Jose side of the mountain and the other side leading to the Atlantic coast. The outreach mission began approximately two years ago and the missionary reports that over 70 people are now gathering regularly for worship and study. The missionary and the community have also identified individuals who will begin preparations for pastoral and deaconic service in the congregation. Of great need for this emerging congregation is a place from which the pastor and deaconess can work and where this congregation can gather for worship and study.

0711 � Dormitories for Mission Centre, Nicaragua � $12,000

The mission centre in Chinandega, Nicaragua was intended to be a resource for education and outreach throughout Central America. It was dedicated in March 2006, and will now serve as the place where seminary courses will be offered for the men and women who have been elected by their congregations. However, the centre does not have facilities to house the professors and the students during the time they are in Chinandega attending seminary classes. The centre is located on ample land on which to construct as many as ten dormitories to serve this purpose.

0712 � Mission Rental, Nicaragua � $6,000

Rev. Rufino Laines and his deaconess wife, Marianna, began an outreach ministry in Granada, Nicaragua, in 2005. God has richly blessed this ministry both within the city and in some villages outside the city. There are at least three groups which now meet regularly for worship and Bible study in the homes of people touched by the Gospel. The mission has had particular impact upon the Granada police department; at least seven families of police officers have come to faith through this ministry.

The time has come for this mission to have a designated place for gathering God's people for worship and study. This project is to cover the rent of a facility from which the missionary and deaconess can work and where this emerging congregation can gather for worship and study.

0713 � Church Building Rental, Thailand � $2,500

The experience of Takuapa Sahatay Lutheran Church is that Thai people do not normally invite groups other than family into their homes for meetings. Public schools are also not open for religious groups to meet and private schools are in use every day of the week. It therefore becomes crucial to rent a building or house for Sunday School, classes, church meetings, and regular worship, as well as a place out of which pastors and church workers can work in the many communities in which they serve the Gospel.

0714 � Mission Vehicle, Kapasseni, Mozambique � $5,000

The Kapasseni Project in Sena, Caia District, Sofala province, Mozambique is dedicated to assisting in the regeneration of the country by providing children and their families with educational opportunities, medical assistance, community development, and spiritual support.

Rev. Alfazema does all of his outreach work by bicycle or on foot. Due to the large distances between the villages and towns, and the weather changes each season, it is difficult to get to places that are asking for the Word of God. By contributing to the purchase of a shared SUV between the Home Based Care program and the spiritual mission, more villages could be visited, more people will hear the Word of God, and will be invited to Sunday services, Sunday School, Bible classes, and adult instruction classes in a location near to their village.

0715 � Van for Mission Outreach, Ukraine � $5,000

Missionary Alexander Brodt, a 2005 graduate of the Odessa seminary, has shown himself to be very effective at outreach in Armansk as well as in the village in which he lives southeast of Krasnoperekopsk. He has also provided significant support to the mission station in Pervomeisk which is further south and will undoubtedly be involved in any plans to mother further mission stations in the surrounding towns of the north Crimea. Pastor Brodt owns his own automobile which is in constant need of repair because it is the only vehicle available to any of the missionaries in the area for any purpose.

An effective approach to mission work has been for musicians and others who can assist in singing in the worship service from the established congregations and missions to travel with the missionary when he goes out to less developed groups. A van would be very useful to him to transport more people as well as pick up people to get them to the worship services.

This project will be done in partnership with the Lutheran Women's Missionary League�Canada.

0716 � Crew Ministries Summer Teams' Bus Passes � $6,400

Since 1988, CREW Ministries has been sharing the saving love of God with all people, especially youth across Canada, through music, humour, drama, and interactive relationships. Over the years, 10 full-time teams and 20 summer teams have been involved. Each summer team assists some seven to ten churches with their Vacation Bible School or camp during their seven week tour. As they share the Good News, they touch the hearts of hundreds of children and their families across Canada. This project will cover the summer teams' bus passes as they travel by Greyhound for the seven weeks across Canada.

0717 � DVDs for Lutheran Open House Project � $3,500

In September 2007, Lutheran Church-Canada is sponsoring a nationwide open house which will include print and radio advertising, and an interactive website. Local congregations will be supplied with a variety of additional resources. The mission executives of Lutheran Church�Canada propose, in partnership with Tobias Communications, to produce and distribute DVDs of The Story of Jesus For Children and Jesus: Legend or Lord.

Funding will provide seed money for large scale production of these videos which active members could purchase for sharing with neighbours, friends, and family. This project is in partnership with Lutheran Hour Ministries.

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