This year twelve pastors, seminary students, and church leaders gathered at St. Mark’s congregation in Ljungby, Sweden for the European Summer Quarter. These representatives from seven different countries came to dig deeper into God’s Word, to grow in personal faith, and rededicate their hearts to service.

During the first week, Pastor Holger Weiss from Germany led a course on Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus. In these letters the Holy Spirit speaks especially to pastors:

• Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction (2 Timothy 4:2),
• And the things you have heard me say … entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others (2 Timothy 2:2)
• For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7).

During the second week, Missionary Luke Wolfgramm led practical meditations on the life and ministry of Elijah. Participants came to appreciate James’ observation: “Elijah was a man just like us” (James 5:2). God’s great prophet faced temptations and struggles remarkably similar to contemporary pressures in post-Christian Europe. Nevertheless, the unchanging Lord equipped Elijah to serve his 7,000 elect. The same mighty God remains faithful to his people today.

Everyone enjoyed the studies, but nothing can compete with the fellowship participants enjoyed outside of class time. Evenings and weekends gave plenty of opportunity for discussions, collaboration, and mutual encouragement. Members of St. Mark’s congregation also enjoyed Sunday sermons from three guest preachers during Summer Quarter.

The CELC has a dozen member churches in Europe. The brothers and sisters in these small church bodies are often scattered. Congregations tend to be small. It’s easy to feel isolated.

Two weeks of hearty spiritual food and unhurried contact with brothers and sisters strengthens European fellowship and reinvigorates zeal to proclaim Christ. Please pray that God would continue to bless pastors and people through ongoing Bible study together.

Submitted by Rev. Luke Wolfgramm, WELS world missionary based in Leipzig, Germany

WELS convention in session at Michigan Lutheran Seminary

WELS’ 67th Biennial Synod Convention was held July 31–August 3, at Michigan Lutheran Seminary, Saginaw, Michigan, under the theme “Embrace the Cross—Anticipate the Crown.” Three hundred forty-eight convention delegates met in 19 floor committees to consider the synod’s work.

Delegates heard from WELS’ areas of ministry about the synod’s ministry financial plan, Home and World Missions, Ministerial Education, and Congregational and District Ministry. They also heard and discussed an essay by Rev. Phil Hirsch based on the convention theme. Worship services and devotions reflected this theme as well, focusing on the book of Revelation.

Several resolutions came out of the convention, including:  

      • Calls to action to increase recruitment of called workers and find solutions for the high level of called worker vacancies.
      • Encouragement to continue the informal conversations between WELS, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and the Lutheran Church–Missouri                              Synod.

As part of their work, delegates re-elected WELS President Mark Schroeder, who has been serving in that position since 2007, and Second Vice President Rev. Joel Voss.

Delegates welcomed several international guests to the convention as WELS declared fellowship with Obadiah Lutheran Synod of Uganda and affirmed fellowship with Iglesia Cristo WELS Internacional.

Rev. Makisimu Musa from Uganda greeted the delegates via Zoom. “To all of you, I express thanks on behalf of my church body,” he said to the delegates in his address. “May the Lord of the Church, Jesus Christ, graciously bless this new fellowship to be fruitful for church ministry in Uganda and the world over.”

Rev. Tonny Quintero, pastor at Most Holy Trinity, Medellín, Colombia, attended the convention as a representative of Iglesia Cristo WELS Internacional, a new synod formed in 2021 through the partnership of WELS’ sister churches across five countries throughout Latin America. This new church body is the landing point for new congregations in Latin America that grow out of Academia Cristo. One church in Bolivia recently was accepted into this church body; 25 more are working through the process. He concluded, “Thanks be to God and thanks to you for your work together with us in this great task that God has given us.”

Rev. Glenn Obenberger, president of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, also addressed the delegates.

For full convention coverage, including photos, live-stream videos, and speaker presentations, visit welsconvention.net.

Submitted by WELS Communication Services

 

                        Graduation of Hmong Pastors in Hanoi, Vietnam

On Saturday, July 15, and Sunday, July 16, two events in Hanoi, Vietnam, were striking examples of how God answers the fervent prayers of his people.

On Saturday, WELS representatives as well as representatives of the Hmong Fellowship Church gathered to dedicate a new building that will house the theological education of pastors of the Hmong Fellowship Church. Until now, more than 50 Hmong pastors received theological training either online or in temporary locations. But now, after six years of planning, the building is complete and ready to be the permanent site for the training of the next group of pastors—60 now and another 60 next year. The new building has space for instruction and worship as well as residential facilities for the students.

On Sunday, we celebrated the graduation of 55 Hmong pastors from the theological training program. This seminary-level education has been carried out for more than six years, with the result that these men have now been thoroughly trained as Lutheran pastors who will help to shepherd congregations in a church body consisting of more than 140,000 members in more than 350 congregations. A dozen of these pastors were also commissioned to return to their home villages to instruct other Hmong pastors in biblical, Lutheran doctrine.

We are grateful to the government of Vietnam for granting WELS permission to carry out this training and to erect a building in which to do it. We are thankful to the Hmong Fellowship Church for inviting us to train its pastors. We thank the members of our synod for their generous gifts of love and faith to make this possible. Above all, we are thankful to our gracious God for giving us this amazing opportunity to share the gospel in Vietnam.

For more about the ministry with Hmong people in Vietnam look here.

By WELS President Mark Schroeder
From the July 18 TOGETHER e-newsletter

             Hmong Theological Training Center in Hanoi, Vietnam

                       Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Lutheran vicar ordination
                                  and graduation service – Indonesia

Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio are the basis of Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Lutheran (STT Lutheran), the seminary of the Gereja Lutheran Indonesia, to produce reliable and faithful theologians. Based on the theologies put forward by Luther which rested on pure Bible teachings, STT Lutheran has produced many servants of God who work in his fields.

June 16, 2023 was a happy moment for five students, Danial Banunaek, Fekitaris Bonla’e, Johan Fotis, Septurial Kinbenu, and Yofni Tse, who graduated and were ordained vicars. They spent four years studying theology, both doctrinally and practically. The president of the Gereja Lutheran Indonesia, Pastor Medi Sutrisno, said in his sermon to the five students: “You will be God’s ambassadors who bring freedom to those who live in slavery to sin.”

Vicar Septurial Kinbenu said: “It is not because I have gone through a learning process for four years at STT Lutheran that I was appointed to be a servant of God, but these are all God’s miracles. I used to be the worst, but now I am entrusted with the sharing of God’s redemption. Through the STT Lutheran professors and the lessons that have been taught, I have the opportunity to enjoy pure biblical teaching,”

STT Lutheran has a doctrinal and practical theological education program for four years at the seminary. After that, students who have graduated from the seminary will become vicars for three years with the Injili, Konfesional and Mandiri (Evangelical, Confessional, and Self-supporting) program. They will serve in two different places for two years, then return to the seminary for one year to study again. After going through this process, they will be appointed as pastors and receive a new call.

“God works in every way to spread his gospel. This is what I felt while studying at STT Lutheran. God moved sincere people to teach us; he also encouraged our brothers and sisters around the world to become donors to support ministry in Indonesia. May they continue to support our ministry and always carry us in their prayers,” said Vicars Johan Fotis and Yofni Tse.

The Graduation and Vicar Call Service on June 16, 2023 was attended by a variety of people. Even some who are not believers witnessed and heard that Christ has freed us from sin, and now has entrusted that news to the five students who have been ordained as vicars.

A hymn that was created by Ms. Nani Warsito and the STT Lutheran Team was also sung as proof that STT Lutheran stands as an institution that brings love to everyone around it. The song in English says:

Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Lutheran
Carrying the commission of the Lord Jesus
Go to all corners of the world
Make disciples of all nations
Faithful in duty and devotion
Uphold his word of truth
Loving one’s neighbor
Based on God’s love
Sola Gratia and Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura
Become my passion
Grace, my lifeblood
Serving Jesus Christ my Lord.

Vicar Fekitaris Bonla’e said: “The Graduation and Vicar Call Service was something that amazed me, at which time I felt that God’s love is always present. I felt that I will be inadequate at first, but when I heard my call for the first time, I immediately realized that it is not about me, but about him I serve.”

In the new academic year, STT Lutheran will graduate an additional eight students who will be appointed as the new vicars. Let all this happen according to God’s will. May STT Lutheran be a means used by God to produce his servants. Please keep us in your prayers.

Submitted by Pastor Michael Simarmata

                Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Lutheran 2023 graduating class

 

         Timothy Schmeling presenting the GTEC Report

The Global Theological Education Commission (GTEC) of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC) gave its initial report at the CELC convention held in South Korea on June 6-8. The report was entitled: “Shepherds under Christ: The Training of Confessional Lutheran Pastors in Our Time and in Our Places.” This report lays out a model CELC seminary curriculum, representing a consensus of best practices based on the input of theological professors from the various regions of the CELC.

It is hoped that this document may serve as a useful tool for evaluating and enhancing theological training programs throughout the CELC. The document along with other information about the GTEC can be found here.

The GTEC was formed in 2021 with the following members: Bradley Wordell (WELS), chairman, Angus Cheung (Asia-Oceania), Anthony Phiri (Africa), Andrés San Martin (Latin America), Timothy Schmeling (ELS), and Holger Weiss (Europe), with CELC President Thomas Nass as a non-voting member.