Word At Work Winter 2021

The Word at Work The magazine of the Institute of Lutheran Theology

The Old Year Has Now Passed Away Photo by Galina N on Unsplash

Winter 2021

Letter From The Editor The old year now has passed away; we thank you, O our God,

to study and learn, and the programs of the school continue to

today that you have kept us through the year when danger and

expand. In this issue, President Dennis Bielfeldt provides an

distress were near.

update about these developments and the overall state of ILT. Professor Jon Sorum continues his devotional series on the

I cannot remember where I first heard this hymn by the German

Apostles’ Creed, and Master of Divinity student Adam Poe pro-

Lutheran church musician Johann Steuerlein (1546-1613), but for

vides a reflection on his pastoral internship during the recent

some reason the text and the tune have stuck with me. “The Old

COVID-19 pandemic. Also, with this issue we begin the practice

Year Has Now Passed Away” (German: Das alte Jahr vergangen

of highlighting each issue a particular Lutheran ministry outside of

ist) was written for the occasion of the New Year holiday. It is a

ILT. Though ILT does not have an official relationship with these

hymn of thanksgiving for God’s faithfulness in the previous year,

independent Lutheran mission ministries, we realize that we exist

even when times have been difficult. It is also a hymn of hope for

in the same general “orbit,” and we wish to make readers aware

the future, asking for God’s continued guidance. I can think of few

of the important work of the gospel carried out by these faithful

better words with which to begin 2021 A.D. God continues to be

organizations and people. For the winter of 2021, we highlight

faithful in providing daily bread, most especially His benefits for us

“The Friends of Madagascar Mission,” led by Rev. David Lerseth.

in His Word and sacraments.

Finally, Professor Robert Benne shares his personal experience Steuerlein began his life on this earth in the same year that Martin

with an American Lutheran congregation of Danish heritage,

Luther ended his. Steuerlein’s vocation was not as a pastor; rather,

which requires a bit of background information. Among the many

he served in a variety of roles: a church musician, a lawyer, a clerk

European immigrants that established church organizations in

to the Elector of Saxony, and a mayor. Unfortunately, his great

North America were some Danish Lutherans. Though not nearly

New Year hymn has almost been lost in the dustbin of history.

as numerous as their Scandinavian counterparts from Norway

As I prepared to record a devotion for my congregation on New

and Sweden, Danish Lutherans did leave their mark on American

Year’s Eve, I searched my collection of hymnals in vain. It turns

Lutheran history. In time, these Danes were separated into two

out that it is included in Christian Worship, used by the Wisconsin

small church bodies that reflected emphases from the old country.

Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), but I did not have access to

The one group came to be known as “Sad” or “Holy Danes,” rooted

that at the time.

in a pietistic revival movement within the Church of Denmark. The other group came to be known as “Happy Danes,” rooted in the tra-

As we are in a season of New Year’s resolutions, I wish to highlight

dition of Nikolaj F. S. Grundtvig. Benne describes his memorable

the fourth verse of Steuerlein’s great hymn. His words remind us

experiences among a group of these “Happy Danes.”

that however salutary many of our resolutions are, our relationship

Many thanks to all our contributing writers! Many thanks also to all

with God takes precedence:

supporters of the Institute of Lutheran Theology!

Oh, help us to forsake all sin, a new and holier life begin! Forgive

Rev. Thomas E. Jacobson, Ph.D.

the old year's sins, and bless the new year with true happiness.

In spite of the challenges of this previous year, the Institute of Lutheran Theology has been greatly blessed. Students continue

Editor

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

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I Believe

By Jonathan Sorum

Internship During Covid

By Adam Poe

8 My Life With The Grundtvigians

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By Robert Benne

"Making Donuts"

By Dennis Bielfeldt

14 Greetings And Information From The Friends Of Madagascar Mission

By David P. Lerseth

Christ

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Word at Work Winter 2021

Lay Academy Equipping for the Christian Life ILT has experienced Christian pastors and teachers who deliver quality and practical Bibilical education to help you take the next step in your understanding and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Whether you are looking to become more involved in the leadership of your congregation or simply want to learn more about the Bible and the Lutheran tradition, ILT can help you achieve your goals.

• Bethel Bible Series Teacher Training • Faith & Life Certificate • • Life in Christ Certificate • Undergraduate Open Studies •

Christ College

Educating Christians for their Callings in Life ILT has experienced faculty who deliver a quality and practical undergraduate program. Whether you are looking to serve in congregational ministry, missions, or other Christian service groups, Christ College can help with undergraduate training, degree completion, and pre-seminary preparation.

Ministry Certificate and Degree Programs • Humanities Degree Program • Entrepreneurial Degree Program • Undergraduate Open Studies

Word at Work Winter 2021

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I Believe Dr. Jonathan Sorum “I believe in the holy catholic church. ”

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also hidden under much weakness, suffering and sin. So, we hold by faith to Jesus’ mighty promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. The Holy Spirit is gathering and prehrough the gospel, the Holy Spirit takes us out

of ourselves and catches us up into God’s own life: we are part of Jesus, and his Father is our Father! And if we are part of Jesus, we are part of his people, the “holy, catholic church.”

Some people think they can have Jesus without his church.

They claim to have a private relationship with Jesus, while disdaining “organized religion.” But Jesus can’t be separated from his people. If you have a Jesus apart from his church, you have a false Jesus, an idol of your own making. Being a follower of Jesus always means that you are one of the sheep who listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd and are not ashamed to be counted among the sinners who live by faith in Jesus alone. If Jesus’ Father is your Father, then his brothers and sisters are your dear brothers and sisters, too. You are part of God’s new family!

But we confess that we believe in the holy catholic church; we don’t necessarily see that the church is holy. Unbelievers are mixed in with believers, and even believers still have sin clinging to them, so that the church often presents a sorry spectacle of weakness and sin. But the church is not holy because its members are holy in and of themselves. The church is the community of ordinary, sinful people who listen to that word and live by faith in Jesus, who loved them and gave himself for them (Gal. 2:20).

Jesus’ own presence among them in his word is what makes this community holy. The Spirit sets them apart, as people who belong to God alone. They are dead to sin and death and alive to God. By the power that raised Jesus from the dead, they walk in newness

serving God’s own people and will bring us all to the resurrection and the kingdom. We can count on that!

Similarly, we believe that there is only one, universal (catholic, with a small “c”) church. If we look with our eyes, we see divisions.

Not only is the church divided into many denominations, such as Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, etc., but each congregation also has divisions within it. So how are we one? We are one because there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all. . .” (Eph. 4:5-6). Jesus is the only ground of our unity.

Divisions arise when people insist that something else in addition is needed to make us one—for example, that we all need to be under a certain kind of church government, or that we all need to worship in exactly the same way, or that we all need to have the same religious experiences, or that we all need to agree on what kind of carpet to put in the fellowship hall. People wreck the unity of the church when they try to impose their own opinions about such matters as if they were handed down by God and everyone has to submit to them. But the gospel tells us we have only one Lord, Jesus, and in him we are not slaves to humans and their opinions, but free children of God. We believe that the church is one and universal—catholic—and so we are free!

The Holy Spirit is God succeeding in being God to us. God the Holy Spirit makes us into a new creation, creatures who actually trust his word and receive all his gifts with thankfulness and praise. God wins! And when God wins, so do I, “because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5).

of life (Rom. 6:4). All of this visible enough—the church is the light of the world and a city set on a hill (Matt. 5:14-16). But it is Note: This article is the ninth in a twelve-part series on the Apostles’ Creed.

Jonathan Sorum is a Professor and Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at ILT.

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INTERNSHIP DURING COVID

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Adam Poe

n January 1, 2020, I began my year of pastoral internship with St. John and Zion Lutheran Churches of Mercer County, Ohio. My internship was arranged to fulfill the requirements of both Institute of Lutheran Theology (ILT) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) candidacy process. The circumstances of this internship were somewhat irregular to begin with. St. John and Zion are a neighboring two-point parish to my home congregation of Zion Lutheran Church in St. Marys, Ohio.

When their pastor retired in October 2019 due to the need to care for an aging parent, these neighboring congregations were left without pastoral care and had not begun a call process. At Zion in St. Marys, we had been in ministry partnership with these congregations for years going back to our collective move to the NALC, with pastors covering for one another for vacations and sharing rides to convocations. One day, shortly after the announcement of the retirement, I had a thought: I need a year of internship, and they need an interim minister. Can we work something out? Collaboration between the Mission District dean, the NALC candidacy committee, and the ILT internship coordinator worked it out, and I became the solo ministry intern with an off-site supervisor for St. John and Zion of Mercer County.

In these circumstances, being “the guy” with an off-site supervisor, preaching weekly, visiting shutins and the hospitalized, and knowing it was likely that ministering at funerals would be in my future, I expected a full and challenging year of internship.

In the first two months, my expectations were realized. It was indeed full. It was challenging. My first two funerals occurred right away, the second of which was in early February under tragic circumstances. I found both my supervisor and ILT family, professors,

and fellow students to be of great help in ministering to the family and preaching the Gospel in tragic circumstances.

Then came March.

One might think that being a ministry intern would put me in a particularly difficult position to deal with the emerging crisis of the coronavirus and resulting shutdown. Looking back, I think perhaps the opposite was true. As an intern, I had a people intentionally looking out for me. I was fortunate to have at my disposal the wisdom of my supervisor Pastor Dan Powell and his many years of pastoral experience. I was also blessed to be able to draw on insight from my many connections: ministry professionals, teachers, and my fellow students who were also embedded in congregational ministry.

All of us together: students and teachers, younger individuals and older, resilient and more at-risk, we stumbled through, talking through the process of shutting down, becoming televangelists, parking lot worship, issues around the celebration of Holy Communion, how to keep up with our people and make sure their physical needs were being met, and using the word “unprecedented” more times than I would care to count. Together we shared the feeling of helplessness, the frustration, and the heartbreak of not being able to be with people when they most needed the Gospel. It was also a very unusual Easter.

As summer drew near, we continued to collaborate and share our stories and situations, discussing when it would be appropriate to move back to in-person worship. We continued to work out issues concerning the celebration and distribution of Holy Communion, mask-wearing, home visits for those not ready to return to worship, and still the frustration of not being able to visit so many of our facility-bound shut-ins. I have been blessed by the resilience, creativity, and

perseverance of my fellow students, pastors, and prothis process of providing recordings will stop7anytime Word at Work Winter 2021

fessors, especially my ILT family, in the proclamation of soon. We struggle with how or if we will accomplish the Gospel through this challenging time. our normal community outreach events and children’s programming. Our normal joint Christmas Eve service Here in rural west-central Ohio, in Mercer County, I might not be possible. have been blessed by my congregations as well. Both internship congregations, from the beginning, have What can be said other than that my internship made decisions and acted with love for one another as in 2020 has been challenging? At the same time, their guide. While I worked to provide materials, both the collaboration that these challenges have brought printed and online, for weekly worship, I was blessed about—the sharing of burdens, the prayers—they have with individuals from the congregations who saw to the been a blessing! Much of that blessing has come from distribution of those materials for our members who are my classmates, fellow interns, pastors, and professors not active online. Both congregations from the beginof my ILT family. In this time of difficulty and struggle, I ning have been thoughtful and flexible in their response will end with words of our Lord Jesus: as circumstances continually change. Both congregations were creative and resourceful in putting together Seeing the crowds, {Jesus} went up on the mounparking-lot services, finding a sound system to use, tain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. and even setting up flowers for Easter and Mother’s And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: Day. Both congregations were faithful, engaging with “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingone another and the worship materials throughout the dom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shutdown and even keeping up with giving throughout. shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they Because of my collaboration with so many others, I am shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger aware that not all of us were as blessed as I was. and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

In the midst of all these things, my own mother Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. joined the Church Triumphant in late June. She had sufBlessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called fered from dementia and Alzheimer’s for many years, sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted and a series of seizures took away what little function for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of she had left. I was again blessed by my supervisor, my heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and ILT family, and my congregations through their prayers, persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you words of support, care, and time off. My family was also falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your blessed by Capitol City Hospice and the facility that reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the cared for my mother. They granted me the opportunity prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:1-12 ESV to enter the facility through a back door to spend time with her in the last days and moments of her life.

Adam Poe is the Director of Youth Ministry at Zion Lutheran Church in St. Marys, Ohio. He is a Master of Divinity student

As I write this at the end of October, just before All Saints’ Day, the congregations and I still face challenges and unknowns. Cases of COVID-19 are currently surging in our area. Consequently, we are still slightly paranoid and experience a fresh wave of apprehension in gathering. While we have resumed our in-person worship life, I am also still going through the process each week of pre-recording sermons for YouTube and sending out the worship services by email for those who are not yet with us on Sundays. I do not imagine that

at ILT and a candidate for ministry in the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). He currently serves as an intern at Zion Lutheran Church of Chattanooga, Ohio and St. John Lutheran Church of Hopewell Township, Ohio. He is married to Emily, and his children are Clara, Elias, and Caleb.

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

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Word at Work Winter 2021

MY LIFE WITH THE GRUNDTVIGIANS Robert Benne

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knew a bit about Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783-1872) and the Danish Lutheran tradition that he shaped before my wife and I visited Denmark as Fulbright students in the spring of 1960. I knew that he had represented a churchly tradition that emphasized the living continuity of the Apostolic Church through Word and Sacrament. His great hymn “Built on a Rock, the Church Doth Stand” witnessed to that conviction. I also knew that he was a proponent of the Folk School Movement that communicated a strong and wholesome national culture to young Danes. It emphasized folk dancing, art, history, music, and domestic skills as a way to civilize the young. He bore a rich Christian humanism whose slogan was: “first a man, then a Christian.” I also knew that his prodigious talent and energy were expressed as a poet, historian, theologian, hymn writer, and politician. His first two wives died, and he married again at age 76, which I thought was pretty remarkable.

With all that in mind, we decided to visit the church named in his honor when we were in Copenhagen on a Pentecost Sunday morning in 1960. We were expecting a full church that still embodied the great Grundtvigian tradition. Were we disappointed! The only attendees beside us in the huge church was an extended family that was to have a baby baptized, which was done after the service.

So much for post-war religious vigor in Denmark.

That disappointing experience was mitigated, however, when I went off to graduate study at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. Phil Hefner, a fellow student, had interned at St. Stephen’s, a member of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC), on the South Side and invited us to attend worship there.

St. Stephen’s, and its sponsoring denomination (AELC), were in the Grundtvigian tradition. They, named the “Happy Danes” because of their adherence to Grundtvig’s Christian humanism, were contrasted with the “Holy Danes,” those influenced by the rival Danish pietistic movement. The former had their college and seminary (Grandview) in Des Moines, Iowa, while the latter had their college (Dana) and seminary in Blair, Nebraska. It is a great irony that the latter—the more conservative of the Danish churches—produced one of the most liberal of Lutheran ethicists, Paul Jersild, who was instrumental in getting the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to accept same-sex marriage.

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Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

We, not only my wife and I, but also a newly born daughter, became student members of St. Stephen’s. What a wonderful experience that was! Robust congregational singing of the great Scandinavian hymns in Hymnal for Church and Home. At least fifty of the great hymns were written or edited by N. F. S. Grundtvig. Others had a lively and lovely folk character to them—nature, joy of life, unforgettable tunes. I can still sing them! There was also fine preaching by Pastor Harry Andersen, who was also generous in inviting us and the Hefners to Sunday dinner after church. Harry had been a conscientious objector in World War II and had suffered a good deal for his witness. That gave him needed strength and courage when the church faced a struggle over integration. Harry later became a bishop in the ELCA.

Pastor Harry Andersen and wife and children, with a bunch of students at Sunday dinner.

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Many of the Danes had prospered as owners of garbage collection services in Chicago. One generous and well-heeled Dane—Jim Hansen— took us student pairs to the exclusive Kungsholm Scandinavian club and restaurant for a sumptuous dinner in downtown Chicago, followed by attendance at the wonderful musical The Fantasticks.

Other Danish families invited us to holiday dinners, including Christmas, when we experienced the Happy Dane custom of dancing around the Christmas tree. Their dinners were always well lubricated with Aquavit. Pietists they were not.

Pictured: Ben Vennergrund and Benne's daughter, Kristin.

From top counterclockwise: John Mortensen (son of the host), Bob Benne's wife Joanna, Phil Hefner, Neva Hefner carrying our daughter Kristin, and Mrs. Sogaard (one of the grandparents of the Mortensens).

A special family was the Vennegrunds, headed

by Ben, the only Swede at St. Stephen’s, that invited us repeatedly to Danish feasts on Sunday.

Ben was a blue-collar driver of a bread van, who had definite racist attitudes, which were exacerbated by having his daughter sexually molested by a black man in the midst of neighborhood change. As an idealistic graduate student, I was quite judgmental of Ben. But my opinion changed when I watched him perform a heroic deed. Let me explain.

One Sunday a nicely dressed black couple came to the door of St. Stephen’s on a Sunday morning in hopes of attended the morning service.

The ushers politely told them that they would be more comfortable in the black Baptist church a couple of blocks away. When he found this out, Pastor Andersen hit the ceiling. He immediately called an emergency meeting of the council, of which Ben was president. The pastor demanded that the council make an official decision to open the church to all visitors. The sides were pretty even. Ben, with all his racist attitudes, also knew what he should do as a Christian. He called for a break, went out in the alley and vomited, and returned to cast the vote that opened the church.

Blacks became members and were greeted kindly by the Danes. In due time St. Stephen’s became a mostly black congregation, served by one of the first black pastors in the Lutheran Church in America (LCA), Robin Skyles.

Word at Work Winter 2021

We left St. Stephen’s in 1965 when I went off to teach for two years at the Rock Island, Illinois, campus of the newly formed Lutheran School of Theology. (There I was engrafted into the Swedish Augustana Synod, but that is another story.) When we came back to teach at the new Chicago campus of the Lutheran School of Theology, we found that two members of the newly assembled faculty were from the former AELC’s Grandview Seminary—Johannes Knudsen and Axel Kildegaard. There we again experienced Grundtvigian hospitality and revelry.

We also were invited to one of the remaining folk schools in America, a number of which had been founded by the Happy Danes. So off we went one summer to Danebod, a folk school in Tyler, Minnesota. There we were again refreshed by the music, worship, dancing, folk arts, and storytelling of the Happy Dane culture in America. The folk school still continues there.

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Though much of the Happy Dane culture has disappeared by now, we continue to have vivid memories of those good times with the Danes when we sing the ample supply of Danish—and Scandinavian hymns more generally— in the Lutheran Book of Worship and With One Voice.

The robust Christian humanism that produced them was a great gift of God to the church universal.

Robert Benne is Professor of Christian Ethics at the Institute of Lutheran Theology

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Word at Work Winter 2021

"MAKING DONUTS"

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Dennis Bielfeldt

he early days of the Institute of Lutheran Theology (ILT) were filled with dreams about what we might be. To say we started small is an understatement. We had neither staff nor operating funds. What we had was commitment to an idea: We wanted to establish a place within the ELCA to study seriously classical Lutheran theology from a confessional Lutheran perspective.

Early board meetings at ILT were at hotels in the Twin Cities because early board members did not wish to fly out to Brookings. When the board met, I would report on our dreams and our conversations with others who had dreams. When conversations became too ethereal, one board member would exclaim, “Let’s make donuts!” The phrase was meant to end conversation about dreams and politico-ecclesiastical maneuverings and return us to the task at hand: How should we best deliver classes to students in exchange for tuition?

Most theologians think abstractly. We like big ideas and don’t routinely spend our lives in the concrete. Maybe this is why theologians generally don’t start new institutions of higher education. Starting a new seminary, graduate school, college, or university is very concrete work. Plans must be made, realistic goals set forth, objectives specified, and concrete implementation undertaken.

Over the years I have come to realize that establishing and growing an institution of higher learning is less about inspiration and more about perseverance.

It is in many ways a very concrete business undertaking that yet is not a traditional business. It cannot be traditional business, because our success is not found in the bottom line, but in something much more

important: How well have we taught students how to teach and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

If we have accomplished this for a few students, we have had some success; if we teach this to more students, we have more success. Growing student numbers is an important goal of ILT because in so doing, more people learn to teach and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our postmodern world ought not “cancel” its theological past, but it must affirm it for the sake of any humane future. To study classical theology from a Lutheran perspective is to address the contemporary human situation head-on. Politics left or right cannot save us; only the Gospel of Jesus Christ, taught and preached through the centuries, can do that. ILT has been gathered together to do that which confronts the human situation head-on.

Our work is very important.

But now I remember the voice of that former board member. I am talking a good game, but what about the donuts? Are we making good donuts, and if so, how many?

Since 2009, ILT has increased its headcount an average of 20.2% per year, while increasing its credit hours generated an average of 17.6%. In the fall of 2020, we had 103 students registered for courses generating 488 hours of course credits. The breakdown is this: 14 Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) students, 14 Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) students, 12 in the Master of Sacred Theology (S.T.M.) program, 23 studying at the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) level, 11 pursuing Master of Arts (M.A.) degrees, and 30 at the undergraduate level, which includes our Pastoral Ministry Certification (P.M.C.) program.

Since its inception, ILT has benefitted from $7,891,162 in donations, with $711,025 arriving in calendar year 2020. So far in fiscal year 2020-21

(beginning in July), individuals and congregations have accomplish. We are making donuts now, and we13 don’t Word at Work Winter 2021 donated over $480,000 to ILT. A couple of months ago, plan to slow down anytime soon! we received word of an endowment left on our behalf that will support M.Div. students on an ongoing basis.

Dennis Bielfeldt is President of the Institute of Lutheran While not everything is finalized yet, the gift will be in Theology. the neighborhood of $1,000,000. Interest and dividends from this gift, together with other gifts, will allow ILT to offer over $100,000 in student aid each year.

We have hopes to have 105 or more students in the spring of 2021 and 128 in the fall of 2021. Making donuts begets the making of more donuts. My goal is to grow ILT 25% a year over the next three years. If we can do this, we should be in position explicitly to affirm a dream goal that I have: 1,000 students by the end of academic year 2030-31.

What would a 1,000 student ILT be? It would be a small, international, comprehensive university with programming at the undergraduate level in many fields.

Its graduate school and seminary would concentrate on theology and ethics, biblical studies, church history and pastoral theology. I see a future where our Ph.D. program, presently with 15 students, grows to 75, where our D.Min. program, presently with 14 students, is at 75, where our S.T.M. has 50 students, our M.A. has 50 students, and where 100 or more students are studying at the M.Div. level. While the graduate school growth is quite predictable, whether we get to 1,000 students depends upon the growth of our undergraduate programming.

None of our growth would be possible without so many people praying for us, recommending us, and helping us with financial gifts. Of course, whether people pray, recommend, and support is ultimately an affair of the Spirit. ILT has been a “God-thing” since its inception; we exist simply because God has blessed us.

God owns the future, and ILT is determined to step into that future. It will be tremendous work, and it will take maximum commitment by faculty, staff, students, and ILT supporters to provide us with the funds to operate, but it is doable. The more students we have, the greater will be the percent of revenue generated by student tuition, and the more that is possible for us to

Photo by Ashleigh Joy on Unsplash

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Word at Work Winter 2021

GREETINGS AND INFORMATION FROM THE FRIENDS OF MADAGASCAR MISSION

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David P. Lerseth

o students preparing for ministry at the Institute of Lutheran Theology, I wish to say “congratulations” for choosing to prepare for service in the ministry of the gospel! I have traveled this road myself, and over time I served in three different calls: a three-point parish, a suburban industrial parish, and a large city congregation. In addition, woven in between these calls, I served as an assistant to a bishop and as Director of Global Mission Support of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Then came retirement. In retirement, which I call “refirement,” I have also answered the call to serve two interim ministries, but that was not to be my full time calling.

What was I going to do in this new time in retirement?

God used all my experiences in parish and administrative service to prepare me for a new full time calling in ministry: founding and managing a global mission organization called “Friends of Madagascar Mission” (FOMM). I am delighted to share with you a bit about this important work.

National church body mission programs have gradually diminished in the past 25 years. The reason is mainly because they have lost the passion for mission. Also, funding for global mission has drastically diminished because national churches have not told the story of mission. So today, God is opening the door for small, nonprofit mission organizations to begin and carry on

the work of mission. God led me to begin the FOMM mission organization because He planted a seed in my heart as a young boy when I heard and studied in my congregation about the needs of Madagascar. We even had special mission Sunday emphasis where we learned about places like Madagascar.

Mission work in Madagascar began in 1866.

Hundreds of Lutheran missionaries from Europe and North American brought the Gospel to Madagascar. As a result, today the Malagasy Lutheran Church (FLM) has grown into one of the largest Lutheran church bodies in the world. Missionaries are still welcomed, but today the Malagasy themselves provide all the pastors, teachers, evangelists, and other personnel that they need to be a strong mission church. What they lack is financial support for their mission and ministry. Madagascar is always among the top five poorest nations in the world. The average income is three hundred dollars a year. So, we work with them to provide prayer and financial support.

They own the mission and ministry. We do not control the work; we walk with them. Currently we support six major programs: 1) Evangelists: After graduating from a Bible school, the students are equipped to serve as an evangelist in an area under the supervision of an ordained pastor. They live in a specific village, but they travel by walking or riding a bicycle to surrounding villages to share the gospel.

Currently, we support fifty evangelists.

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Photo by Chelsey Faucher on Unsplash

2) Prison ministry: There are 83 prisons in the country, and we currently provide mission outreach in sixteen prisons. The programs include a program of evangelism and vocational training. Currently, we are developing a strategy to expand this congregationally based ministry to more prisons.

3) Bible schools: The two-year curriculum includes studies of the New and Old Testaments, church history, Lutheran doctrine, Christian ethics, stewardship, leadership development, and Malagasy natural religion and how to witness within it. In addition, teachers are trained to teach people how to read and write in order for them to read the Bible.

4) Ejeda Hospital nutrition program: This hospital is located in the arid part of southwest Madagascar.

It is one of the most arid regions in the country and rated as one of the most susceptible regions to suffer starvation in the world. Families are responsible for providing meals for the patient. If they do not have food, they do not bring a sick family member to the hospital. This program encourages them to come to the Christian hospital for treatment and have the gift of food provided for them.

5) Drip irrigation training sites: The people in southwest Madagascar live on the brink of starvation almost every year. Half of the children in this region are chronically malnourished or stunted. Our goal is to teach them how to grow vegetables through the dry times of the year and feed their family nutritious food.

When they have gone through the training program, we give them a drip irrigation kit to use in planting and harvesting at least three crops a year.

6) Tandroy Bible translation and printing project: The Tandroy people of southern Madagascar have not heard the gospel message in their native dialect. There is a national Malagasy language, but many of the people refuse to speak that language. So, American missionary Steve Lellelid has, over the course of eighteen years, translated the Bible in this dialect. Steve is an electrical engineer, but he taught himself both Greek and Hebrew to accomplish this great work. To date, twenty thousand Bibles, at a cost of 65 million dollars, have been given to the Tandroy people, allowing them to hear the gospel for the first time. We are working to raise more funds to print thousands more of these Bibles so that the Tandroy people can become Christians.

FOMM is involved in many other one-time projects as funding becomes available. All the projects focus on sharing the gospel, even as they care for the physical needs of people. The gospel and social justice are like a hand and the glove in the organization’s understanding of mission and ministry.

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Walking with Malagasy church has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my ministry.

I receive more than I could possibly give. They have so little, but they are eager to hear the gospel, believe so strongly, and live so faithfully. If anyone wants to learn the meaning of evangelism, travel with me to Madagascar on one of our Mission Education Trips. You will be changed and prepared for your ministry!

For more information on our mission work visit our web site: www.MadagascarMission. org or contact me at: 847-445-8177. In addition, if you wish to receive our quarterly newsletter, please provide me with your email address.

Peace in Christ!

Word at Work Winter 2021

The Rev. David P. Lerseth is Executive Director of the Friends of Madagascar Mission

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Word at Work Winter 2021

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Word at Work Winter 2021

Institute of Lutheran Theology Board of Directors Rev. Kip Tyler, Chair Senior Pastor, Lutheran Church of the Master, Omaha, NE Dr. Phil Wold, Vice Chair Retired Physician, Mankato, MN Fred Schickedanz, Treasurer Real Estate Developer, Calgary, AB, Canada Rev. Becky Hand, Secretary Pastor, Life in Grace Ministries, Odessa, TX ​R ev. Charles Stevenson Pastor, St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Peabody, MA Adjunct Professor of Engineering, Technology, and Aviation, Southern New Hampshire University, Hookset, NH ​C urtis Lund Retired, Whitefish, MT ​D orothy McNaught Retired RN, Afton, IA ​ r. Douglas Bahr D Physician, New Braunfels, TX ​ ev. Ed Skutshek R President of the Canadian Association of Lutheran Congregations, Pastor, Grace Lutheran, Kelowna, BC, Canada ​ ev. John Bent R Retired Pastor, Belgrade, MT ​J ohn Stiegelmeier Head Football Coach of South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD

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