LHF - The Word at Work; Vol. 26 No. 2

Venezuela

Lutheran Heritage Foundation:

Volume 26 Number 2 ■ March/April 2019

THE WORD AT WORK

AS VENEZUELA CRUMBLES, GOD’S WORD BRINGS COMFORT What is a pastor - or a church body - to do as their country falls apart? It’s a very real question for Rev. Miguelángel Pérez, president of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela (LCV) and for Rev. David Ernst, an LCMS pastor called to serve the LCV. Once a prosperous country, Venezuela today is in turmoil, its citizens suffering through food shortages, lack of government services and most recently, the collapse of Venezuela’s electrical grid.

“Our members are in the same condition as 80 percent of the population... they have only enough to afford food, since the minimum wage of $7 per month does not cover medicine, clothes or other essentials. There are no medicines for chronic diseases (such as hypertension, diabetes, etc.), and no vaccines,” said Rev. Pérez.

Rev. Ernst, who serves Epiphany Lutheran Church in the village of La Caramuca, witnesses the same things.

“The situation is just getting more and more chaotic,” he recounted. “Everything is in short supply. In the shops that are still open, there’s nothing in their inventory. The shelves are bare. There’s a neighborhood bakery where people go to buy fresh bread every day, but now they’re saying that Venezuela is the only

Shortages of medicines (sign above reads “Without supplies, there is no health”) and food (note empty grocery store shelves below), the Venezuelan people are growing increasingly desperate.

Venezuela cont. on page 3

INSIDE:

TRANSLATING PUBLISHING INTRODUCING DISTRIBUTING REFORMATION BIBLE-BASED CHRIST-CENTERE BOOKS TRANSLATING PUBLISHING INTRODUCING DISTRIBUTING REFORMATION BIBLE-BASED CHRIS PAGESPUBLISHING 2-3: PAGE 4: TERED BOOKS TRANSLATING INTRODUCING TRANSLATING REFORMATION BIBLE-BASED A little booklet is making a big impact in Double your gift to the LHF mission - at no CHRIST-CENTEREDLutheran BOOKS TRANSLATING PUBLISHING INTRODUCING DISTRIBUTING REFORMATION B missions around the world. Order extra cost to you - with the LHF match!

BLE-BASED CHRIST-CENTERED BOOKS your copies today! TRANSLATING PUBLISHING INTRODUCING DISTRIBUTING REFO TION BIBLE-BASED CHRIST-CENTERED BOOKS TRANSLATING PUBLISHING INTRODUCING DISTRIBUTIN REFORMATION BIBLE-BASED CHRIST-CENTERED BOOKS TRANSLATING PUBLISHING INTRODUCING DIS

JESUS NEVER FAILS:

TINY BOOKLET IS MAKING A BIG

Jesus never fails. When facing difficulties in life, it’s a message that Christians everywhere need to be reminded of.

As he traveled the world as the founder of LHF, meeting Christians young and old, Rev. Robert Rahn came back to this message again and again. Finally, he decided the time had come to write a small booklet or tract that could be shared with anyone needing to hear the Good News.

“Friends fail us. Things fail us. Health fails us,” he wrote, “But there is One who never fails us – our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

LHF first published the booklet in English in late

Now, a third printing of the little 12-page booklet (40,000 copies) is underway, but just as excitingly, its message of peace and everlasting life as a child of God is being embraced in more than a dozen countries.

In South Sudan (pictured at right), LHF has printed and distributed “Jesus Never Fails” in the Zande language. Rev. Peter Anibati Abia, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Sudan, has had experiences that are encouraging him to accelerate its translation

2018, encouraging readers to share with shut-ins, the hospitalized and imprisoned. Those copies soon disappeared, and a second printing was claimed just as quickly.

into other South Sudanese languages. He shared: “Last night as I was sleeping, I got a call from an

Venezuela

only country where, when you come to the bakery, you need ask, ‘Is there bread today?’ because there may not be.

“We’ve had no trash pick-up for two years, and many people around us haven’t had running water for two years, either.”

Under such difficult circumstances, more than 4 million people mostly skilled and educated people - have fled Venezuela. Man would understand if Rev. Ernst and his wife, Luz Maria, were to f low, but they are committed to staying and serving.

“It’s our work; it’s our calling,” explained Rev. Ernst. “Martin Lu refused to leave [Wittenburg] when there was a plague, becaus was called to minister to the people there. What would the peop here do if we left? What hope would they have? Who would min to them? And so we don’t see ourselves leaving.”

A MESSAGE OF HOPE

Above: Families from Epiphany Lutheran Church in La Caramuca, Venezuela display their Bible storybooks, provided by LHF. At right are pictured students from Epiphany’s after-school tutoring program.

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This message of hope - of a heavenly Father who loves His d children and is faithful to them through all earthly troubles and s - is being delivered through LHF books like the Spanish Bible w Small Catechism and children’s Bible storybook, A Child’s Garde of Bible Stories. More than 8,000 books have been sent to the L and they’re being delivered to the LCV’s 19 congregations as cir stances allow.

“Facing our challenges, we try to emphasize through preachin and teaching that there’s a hope other than the things of this wo

G IMPACT AROUND THE WORLD unknown number which woke me up at around 12:30 a.m. I wanted to ignore it, but the caller persisted and I decided to answer the call. The caller was a man; he started first by apologizing for calling at the middle of the night.

“He said, ‘Thank you for the booklet ‘Jesus Never Fails.’ He’d gotten the booklet (in the Zande language) just yesterday and started reading it. He’s found it very helpful for his personal life and wants to learn more about the Lutheran Church. Today in the morning, I got this text message from him: “‘My name is Cornelius. I am so excited to have Jesus

Never Fails booklet! May GOD help you to talk more about our Savior Jesus Christ! If possible, connect me there to help me with such teachings daily or according to your willing and abilities.’

“This booklet helps the common people in my country - who live in constant fear about what they will eat or drink, sickness and so many other things - to understand that they can rely on Jesus Christ, who does not fail even when everything else is not working,” Bishop Anibati said.

“Jesus Never Fails” has now been requested in more than 2 dozen languages in Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe and South America.

To order copies in the United States, email LHF at info@LHFmissions.org or call the office at (800)5540723. The booklet is also available in PDF format at the LHF website: www.LHFmissions.org.

cont. from page 1 to

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said Rev. Ernst. “Sometimes it’s a challenge for us to convince people that God is still here. But on the other hand, more people are looking for some hope beyond what they see here. They have nothing else.” “[LHF’s] books have helped simplify the process of evangelizing new visitors to our churches, because they are given Bibles and are familiarized with the catechism as the most practical way to respond to their questions about the faith we profess,” added Rev. Perez.

“Pastors use the children’s book in Bible schools, held inside and outside the church. Families with this book have one more resource for talking to little ones about faith in Christ.”

Rev. Ernst said his congregation presents the Bibles to new confirmands. His wife uses the Spanish A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories to teach religion to her 25 students in their church preschool and to the 15-20 children enrolled in after-school tutoring.

“A lot of children in the after-school programs are in advanced grades, but they really can’t read that well,” Rev. Ernst said. “So we’re killing two birds with one stone: we’re teaching them the Christian faith, but we’re also teaching them to read.

“We’re grateful to LHF, who has been a great help to us from the beginning [of my ministry here],” he concluded. “Everything passes in this world, but we have eternal life in Jesus. This is the basis for hope and joy, even in difficult circumstances.”

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WHY DOES AFRICA NEED CATECHISMS?

ETHIOPIA

9 million Lutherans 6,000 pastors (1: 1,500)

TANZANIA NIGERIA

2.5 million Lutherans 1,200 pastors (1: 2,083)

7 million Lutherans 3,500 pastors (1: 2,000)

MADAGASCAR

4 million Lutherans 2,500 pastors (1: 2,500)

$24 ,07 5

Imagine if your pastor could provide a worship service, baptisms and Holy Communion for your congregation only once every month or two. There would be no way he could provide Bible study or other instruction classes.

This is the situation faced by most pastors in countries like Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Madagascar, where each pastor serves upward of 1,500 people.

“Given these circumstances, Luther’s Small Catechism sometimes replaces the work of the pastors in their absence,” explained Rev. Dr. Dinku Bato, who was a youth minister in Ethiopia before accepting the call to be LHF’s coordinator for African translation projects. “The pastor goes to 9 or 10 churches and mainly preaches. He can’t teach and do confirmation classes in all those places, with perhaps 150 people in class. LHF’s catechisms are vital!

They faithfully teach in the languages of the people when pastors cannot.”

HOLDING UP THE PROPHETS’ HANDS:

YOU CAN HELP WITH THE LHF MATCH! Has it been over a year since you’ve sent a gift to the LHF mission? Or have you never been a part of LHF’s work?

NOW IS THE TIME to make your move!

A faithful supporter of the LHF mission is once again offering the “LHF Match,” a dollar-for-dollar matching program where any individual, church or organization who hasn’t donated to LHF in the past 12 months or more will have their new gifts matched. (Note that the maximum individual gift for this matching program is $5,000 and grants and bequests are not eligible.)

This means that your $25 gift becomes $50 - 10 books for Sunday school children in Ethiopia. $200 becomes $400 for printing 80 catechisms to introduce former Buddhists in Thailand to the Savior Jesus!

To date, more than $24,000 of the $165,000 total gift has been matched.

“If you’ve already made a gift toward LHF sometime in the past year and are therefore ineligible for this match, I encourage you to forward this information to your family and friends, even your congregation’s mission committee,” advised Rev. Dr. Matthew Heise, LHF executive director.

“The Holy Spirit works powerfully through your gifts!”

LUTHERAN HERITAGE FOUNDATION 51474 Romeo Plank Rd. ■ Macomb, MI 48042 ■ 1-800-554-0723 ■ info@LHFmissions.org ■ www.LHFmissions.org

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“The Word at Work” is the official publication of the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. Permission is hereby granted to excerpt from this publication for not-for-profit purposes. The Lutheran Heritage Foundation is a Recognized Service Organization of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. LHF translates, publishes, distributes and introduces confessional Lutheran materials throughout the world so that people can be brought to Christ. LHF is not subsidized by the LCMS or any other church body. It is entirely supported by individual donations and grants. (“Word at Work” staff: Rev. Dr. Matthew Heise, executive editor; Jennifer Bagnall, managing editor and graphic design)