Bethlehem Lutheran Church

The mission/outreach focus in February is on Global Mission. Last year, the outreach ministry team included my trips to India in that category; so as one of your missionaries, I offer some reflection on the work I have been privileged to do in Bethlehem's name!

I completed two trips to India in 2007, in the spring and late fall. On the first trip, I served as adjunct faculty for TAFTEE, The Association For Theological Education by Extension, which is the largest accredited distance learning theological school in the world. 7,000 students from Kenya to Malaysia, with the vast majority in India, are enrolled in programs from certificate level (basic Bible learning for lay people and pastors with no theological training) through Ph.D. The Director of TAFTEE is Dr. David Samuel who could be teaching on any theological faculty in the world, but who is passionate about offering training to pastors and lay leaders who cannot afford either the tuition or the time necessary to study in traditional seminaries.

I go wherever Dr. Samuel sends me. Often I don't know where I am going to be teaching until a week or so before I leave; and sometimes, my itinerary changes after I arrive! Most often, I work with a group of between 35-100 pastors and lay leaders sharing with them The Purpose Driven Church-a very practical seminar on "how to do church," and  how to think about church in the 21^st century. We engage in lively discussion on the five purposes of the church, what it means to be a pastor and leader, how to connect to the community, and how to plan worship and preaching. I do my best to offer encouragement to these leaders. Their task in a non-Christian country is formidable, sometimes to the point of being persecuted for their faith. I learn much from their faithfulness.

We spend two or three days together- working hard, worshipping, sharing stories and praying together. I share my meals with them; and I have learned to treasure Indian food.

When it's time to go, I leave my business card with all who have participated resulting in more work from home, as the mentoring/teaching relationship continues, even though we are half a world apart.

On TAFTEE trips, I work with a variety of Christian denominations. On my trip last spring to Amritsar, in Punjab, northwest India, I was hosted by a Church of North India (a merger of the "traditional churches" founded by English missionaries from Church of England, Congregationalist, Presbyterian, etc.) but there were also Salvation Army, Baptist and several Pentecostal denominations participating. These seminars can bring people together who otherwise don't talk to one another, which has turned out to be an important part of the ministry. After the seminar in Amritsar, I was taken to Kashmir, where I preached in a Church of North India congregation, and then flew all the way south to Coimbatore, where I repeated the seminar, this time with Church of South India, some Lutherans (!) and several independent churches. After that, there was a meeting with TAFTEE's leadership in Bangalore, to assess and evaluate the work, and then home to you! We pack a lot into thirteen days (including three days of travel between the U.S. and India).

In late November, it was my privilege to work with Lutherans in Tamil Nadu, South India. We taught the same seminar; but this time, I worked with my Norwegian friends in Chennai, and then further south in Pondicherry. We worked with six Lutheran denominations (which is what south India needs-SIX Lutheran churches, complete with their own hierarchies, organizations, schools, etc.) Each church was founded by a different missionary group, and rarely, if ever, speak to each other, or share resources. Our task with Lutherans, then, is not  

only to teach, but also to help them build relationships so they can work together in the future. In this, we are facilitated by the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India-an umbrella group for Lutherans, led by Dr. Augustine Jayakumar.

Altogether, your support for this mission provided for my transportation, the cost of the TAFTEE seminars, the strengthening of more than 200 Indian pastors and lay leaders, helping them build relationships with one another. In a strange but wonderful twist, it has also helped connect Lutherans from Norway and the U.S. to work together to renew God's church in India. And not coincidentally, I am a better pastor for having had the opportunity to travel to India and learn from Christians in another part of the world.

I encourage your continuing support for mission; and I thank you for the special contributions that go so far in sharing what God has been doing here, and sharing what we have been learning with our Indian brothers and sisters. Your giving truly makes a difference across the world.

Thank you for your partnership in the Good News.
Pastor Christopher Nelson

P.S. To read my blogs from India, follow this link...http://www.bethlehem-church.org/blog/7