The ELS celebrates mission beginnings
The ELS celebrates mission beginnings
In 2003, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) is celebrating several important anniversaries: the 150th anniversary of the organization of its spiritual forebear (commonly known as the Norwegian Synod) and the 35th and 10th anniversaries of the synod’s mission work in Peru and Chile.
For many years, the ELS had provided both financial support and manpower for Synodical Conference mission work in India, China, and Africa. After the Synodical Conference dissolved, the synod supported the foreign work of its sister synod, WELS. In 1967 the ELS resolved to establish its own mission fields and to spread the gospel as God opened doors.
The Board for Missions first looked southward. In 1968 its first missionary began to work among the barriadas of Lima, Peru. Lay missionaries, volunteers, and other called workers soon followed. Over the years, many WELS members have been called or have volunteered to serve in this field.
What changes have taken place in the Peru field since the early days when missionaries mounted public address systems on their cars and traveled dusty streets in search of an audience! Today the work has progressed to the point where the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Peru is a full-fledged member of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, taking its place among 18 sister church bodies around the world.
Presently four ELS missionaries serve alongside the six national pastors, who are graduates of the seminary in Lima. The missionaries, national pastors, vicars, and seminary students together serve over 30 congregations and preaching stations scattered around Lima, in the Andes Mountains north of Lima, and in the Upper Amazon Basin. Worshiping in modern buildings, adobe houses, and thatch-roof huts, over 1,000 of our brothers and sisters in Christ learn of their Savior and then, in turn, proclaim the gospel in their communities.
In addition to the seminary in Lima, missionaries teach extension classes in the mountains and rain-forest. God also has blessed the mission with two Christian elementary schools and a Therapeutic Community for drug rehabilitation.
Though the political climate is relatively safe today, in the 1980s social unrest moved the Board for Foreign Missions to establish a sister mission in Chile as an escape hatch for the missionaries in Peru. Today several hundred members are found in three congregations in the southern regions of Santiago, and other work is in progress in towns and villages south of that city. Because Chile is somewhat more prosperous than Peru, missionaries here reach into middle-class communities through radio broadcasts as well as the traditional outreach methods of personal evangelism, Bible study, and worship services.
For many years, the ELS had provided both financial support and manpower for Synodical Conference mission work in India, China, and Africa. After the Synodical Conference dissolved, the synod supported the foreign work of its sister synod, WELS. In 1967 the ELS resolved to establish its own mission fields and to spread the gospel as God opened doors.
The Board for Missions first looked southward. In 1968 its first missionary began to work among the barriadas of Lima, Peru. Lay missionaries, volunteers, and other called workers soon followed. Over the years, many WELS members have been called or have volunteered to serve in this field.
What changes have taken place in the Peru field since the early days when missionaries mounted public address systems on their cars and traveled dusty streets in search of an audience! Today the work has progressed to the point where the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Peru is a full-fledged member of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, taking its place among 18 sister church bodies around the world.
Presently four ELS missionaries serve alongside the six national pastors, who are graduates of the seminary in Lima. The missionaries, national pastors, vicars, and seminary students together serve over 30 congregations and preaching stations scattered around Lima, in the Andes Mountains north of Lima, and in the Upper Amazon Basin. Worshiping in modern buildings, adobe houses, and thatch-roof huts, over 1,000 of our brothers and sisters in Christ learn of their Savior and then, in turn, proclaim the gospel in their communities.
In addition to the seminary in Lima, missionaries teach extension classes in the mountains and rain-forest. God also has blessed the mission with two Christian elementary schools and a Therapeutic Community for drug rehabilitation.
Though the political climate is relatively safe today, in the 1980s social unrest moved the Board for Foreign Missions to establish a sister mission in Chile as an escape hatch for the missionaries in Peru. Today several hundred members are found in three congregations in the southern regions of Santiago, and other work is in progress in towns and villages south of that city. Because Chile is somewhat more prosperous than Peru, missionaries here reach into middle-class communities through radio broadcasts as well as the traditional outreach methods of personal evangelism, Bible study, and worship services.
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