For the Life of the World December 2015, Volume Nineteen, Number Four
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Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne For the Life of the World December 2015, Volume Nineteen, Number Four From Kazakhstan to Fort Wayne to Odessa: Ukrainian Bishop a CTSFW Graduate By Timothy C. J. Quill Spanish-Speaking Pastoral Formation By Don C. Wiley A Bold Vision: Blessed by God Through Many Partnerships By Theodore Krey December 2015 1 FROM THE PRESIDENT Photo courtesy LCMS Communications/Erik M. Lunsford ecently the Wall Street Journal featured an article titled, “Missionaries Face a Recall.” It outlined challenges faced by the International RMission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Mission Society, an organization with Methodist roots based in Norcross, Georgia. Missionaries are being recalled and offered early retirement. As one affected missionary put it: “There are seismic shifts happening in the nature of missions…. Our role is changing, and our dominance is changing.”1 At the same time, our own Lutheran of Concordia Seminary, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Church—Missouri Synod, at its 2013 convention, OIM, CTSFW and the Luther Academy in overwhelmingly passed Resolution 1-11 thereby forming pastors, deaconesses and lay leaders. committing the Synod “to double the number of We hear again of the explosion of the Gospel in career missionaries engaged in church planting, Tanzania through the words of Pastor Yohana mercy work, and theological education during the Nzelu in the Southeast of Lake Victoria Diocese. next triennium.”2 God has blessed that effort and Finally, CTSFW Academic Dean Charles there has been a significant increase in the number Gieschen shows how the unique partnership with of Lutheran missionaries in the international field. mission-minded congregations in California is As this issue of For the Life of the World enabling the extension of the Lord’s kingdom. shows, Concordia Theological Seminary Enormous challenges continue to face the (CTSFW), Fort Wayne, has played a key Church both in North America and throughout role in the implementation of that resolution. the world. At the same time, even greater Building on expertise developed throughout opportunities continue to present themselves. the presidencies of Dr. Robert D. Preus and Dr. The efforts outlined above are simply a sampling Dean O. Wenthe, CTSFW has continued and of God’s remarkable work through CTSFW as expanded its worldwide imprint for the sake of it forms servants in Jesus Christ who teach the the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. faithful, reach the lost and care for all. Your Seminary is making an impact here in the United States and throughout the world. In Christ’s service, Next year, 2016, will mark the 20th anniversary of CTSFW’s Russian Project. Conceived in the immediate wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Project brought Lawrence R. Rast Jr. talented, committed young Lutherans from the President former USSR to CTSFW. These pastors are now Concordia Theological Seminary providing the next generation of leadership for Fort Wayne, Indiana the church of Eastern Europe and are professing the scriptural Gospel as confessed by the Book of Concord (1580) with great vigor and courage. 1 Tamara Audi, “Cash-Strapped Missionaries Get a New Calling: Home.” Wall Street Journal Online, Oct. 25, The Rev. Don Wiley outlines CTSFW’s latest 2015. http://www.wsj.com/articles/cash-strapped- efforts in Spanish-Speaking Pastoral Formation in missionaries-get-a-new-calling-home-1445765402, North and Central America, the Caribbean and the accessed November 9, 2015. “Southern Cone,” efforts that began in the 1970s. 2 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 2013 Convention Proceedings, p. 104. www.lcms. The Rev. Theodore Krey, regional director for org%2FDocument.fdoc%3Fsrc%3Dlcm%26id%3D2586 Latin America of LCMS’s Office of International &usg=AFQjCNHNiOR5Wy-fCylJSwxToMUD_xH1TA, Mission (OIM) outlines the vibrant partnership accessed November 9, 2015. 2 For the Life of the World CONTENTS Volume Nineteen, Number Four FEatuRES 4 From Kazakhstan to Fort Wayne to Odessa: Ukrainian Bishop a CTSFW Graduate By Timothy C. J. Quill In March 1991, the young man was confirmed. At the time, no one could have imagined what the Lord had in store for him—an adventure that would take him to America to study at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and eventually to Ukraine where he would be consecrated as bishop of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ukraine (GELCU). 7 Spanish-Speaking Pastoral Formation By Don C. Wiley Most recently, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, has expanded its service in Spanish Language Church Worker Formation with the inauguration of the Bilingual Pastoral Formation for Latinos (BPFL) in August 2015. This new program recognizes God’s hand in bringing Latinos to the United States where the LCMS can carry on international mission within our own communities. It also recognizes the need for continuity in handing on the faith to the saints across generations of immigrants. 10 A Bold Vision: Blessed by God Through Many Partnerships For the Life of the World By Theodore Krey Five years ago, 23 men were studying at Concordia PUBLISHER Dr. Lawrence R. Rast Jr. Seminary Argentina. Now, thanks to the additional 20 President scholarships from The Lutheran Church—Missouri MANAGING EDITOR PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Synod and the joint certificate program with Concordia Jayne E. Sheafer Colleen M. Bartzsch Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, enrollment is at 65. COPY EDITOR ART DIRECTOR With only 140 Spanish speaking pastors currently serving Trudy E. Behning Steve J. Blakey across all of Latin America, the Lord is making possible For the Life of the World is published by Concordia Theological Seminary Press, the opportunity to double the number of pastors in the 6600 N. Clinton St., Fort Wayne, Indiana 46825. No portion of this publication may coming five years. be reproduced without the consent of the Managing Editor of For the Life of the World by email at [email protected] or 260-452-2250. Copyright 2015. Printed in the United States. Postage paid at Berne, Indiana. Also in this issue: What Does This Mean? .................p. 13 For the Life of the World is mailed to all pastors and congregations of The Lutheran Called to Serve .......................p. 14 Church—Missouri Synod in the United States and Canada and to anyone interested in the work of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Faculty Focus.........................p. 16 Military Project .......................p. 27 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture verses are from the English Standard Version Profiles in Giving ......................p. 28 (ESV). Bible Study ..........................p. 30 Calendar of Events ....................p. 31 December 2015 3 From Kazakhstan to Fort Wayne to Odessa: Ukrainian Bishop a CTSFW Graduate By Timothy C. J. Quill (l-r) Bishop Serge Maschewski, Dr. Gennadij Khonin and Dr. Timothy Quill 4 For the Life of the World erge Maschewski was born in 1975 in the remote city When asked about his time at of Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, near the Mongolian border. At CTSFW, Bishop Maschewski that time Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union, and recalled, “It was very difficult but S also a blessed time. We had to learn the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in the a huge amount of information in Cold War. Kazakhstan was used by the Soviets as a place to our classes. It was difficult working test nuclear weapons as well as launch rockets in the Space through the language barrier and Race with the West. Northern Kazakhstan also contained thus integrating into student life many prison camps or gulags where countless Lutherans are and American society. We came buried in unmarked graves. from a different background. We grew up in a different country Despite relentless persecution from him that he had an excellent young man with a different ideology. But we the communist government, shortly after whom he would like to send to Fort his birth the infant Serge was baptized. Wayne. When Khonin inquired about his had great professors and in time His father and mother were Lutheran, age, the Bishop replied, “Serge is 22.” developed close friendships with but it was his devout grandfather and Khonin responded that maybe he was a the American seminarians. We grandmother who brought him to church. bit too young. Moser replied, “What do prayed together in daily worship, In March 1991, the young man was you think? Does the Church only need and the Lord gave us the ability to confirmed. At the time, no one could old men like you?” At the time, Khonin pass through difficulties. have imagined what the Lord had in store was a mere 52-years-old, however the for him—an adventure that would take life expectancy of Russian males had him to America to study at Concordia dropped to 57 years. As Maschewski Theological Seminary (CTSFW), Fort recounts the story, “Bishop Moser didn’t Wayne, Indiana, and eventually to ask me if I wanted to go to the Seminary Ukraine where he would be consecrated in America. He just told me I was going. as bishop of the German Evangelical I was so shocked I didn’t answer at Lutheran Church in Ukraine (GELCU). first. I told him that I had to think about In 1989, the world watched in awe it. Moser replied, ‘Why do you have and amazement as events surrounding to think? We don’t have any educated the dissolution of the Iron Curtain pastors, you have to go.’” Maschewski and the breakup of the Soviet Union continued, “My grandmother was very unfolded. Serge first heard about The happy to hear I was invited to America. Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod She and my family said I had to go. (LCMS) in 1993 when a woman Moser was a hard man, so I went.” in Pavlodar told him about LCMS When asked about his time at CTSFW, missionaries who were holding Bishop Maschewski recalled, “It was very theological seminars in Kazakhstan.