Global Mission Updates Winter/Spring 2019 Dear Friends of ELCA Global Mission, “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this” (Esther 4:14b). Esther’s life changed quickly. This young Israelite girl found herself living in the king’s palace, along with other teenagers competing to become queen. Esther was chosen. What a change, from the streets of Susa to the royal palace! Life was indeed good for Esther, but all the comfort and luxury could come to an end. Her adoptive father, Mordecai, challenged her to plead the case of the Jews before the king. Esther faced a difficult situation. No one could come before the king without an audience, doing so would result in death. Mordecai challenged Esther: You were given this gift — use it! Like Esther, we all have been gifted by God. These gifts are not our own possessions but tools for building up the body of Christ and engaging in God’s mission to restore community. Our world cries with deep sighs, lifting up the eyes to the hills, wondering, “where will my help come?” (Psalm 121:1). We have been gifted with the Spirit for just such a time as this, doing God’s work with our hands. This edition of Global Mission Updates provides a panoramic view of how our gifts and talents touch the lives of peoples from around the globe. I hope that, through these stories, God will touch your hearts and fill them with the burning fire of the Spirit, so that you too will become part of this great missional journey. Please get in touch and let us know how you are making use of Global Mission Updates. Thank you for your prayers and financial support for this labor of love that continues throughout the world in God’s name. Pax, The Rev. Dr. Rafael Malpica Padilla Executive Director, ELCA Global Mission ELCA Global Mission Updates is a biannual collection of stories and insights that highlight the ministries of our global companions. This resource provides a platform for a diversity of voices and perspectives that seek to honor the unique context from which they come. 2 Table of Contents Asia and the Pacific 4 Madagascar, West and Central Africa 5 Latin America and the Caribbean 6 East and Southern Africa 8 Europe, Middle East and North Africa 9 Mission Formation 12 Lutheran Office for World Community 13 Peace Not Walls 14 AMMPARO: Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, 15 Advocacy, Representation and Opportunity Companion Synod Program 17 International Leaders Program 19 Diakonia 20 Global Service Team 22 Young Adults in Global Mission 22 3 Asia and the Pacific (AP) Lutherans first arrived in Australia from Prussia and established a new church in 1838. In the 20th century efforts were made to bring unity, and in 1921 five churches joined together. Another joined in 1926. The final union in 1966 created the present-day Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA). One condition the church brought to this final merger was a formal detachment of the LCA from the Lutheran World Federation and International Lutheran Council. Since then linkages with the ELCA have been limited. However, the ELCA and the LCA have shared common engagement in a number of Asian countries: Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Cambodia. The LCA has also looked to the ELCA for guidance in the practice of cross-cultural ministry. New opportunities for engagement have emerged from the Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program in Australia. Now in its third year, the program places YAGMs in LCA social service ministries, camp programs, schools, congregations, and aboriginal ministries. Together the ELCA and LCA have partnered with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea; sat at the partnership table in Malaysia and Singapore; coordinated mission engagement in Cambodia and Myanmar; organized fund-raising appeals for Indonesia and beyond with Australian Lutheran World Service; joint support for the Lutheran Study Center in Sabah, Malaysia; joint YAGM volunteer Isaac Taylor delivering a children’s sermon support for the establishment of a new Lutheran at Alice Springs Lutheran Church (Photo: Y. Franklin Ishida) Study Center in Indonesia; the Australia YAGM program highlighted above; joint scholarship support for students from Papua New Guinea; theological education support (through supporting an ELCA missionary professor at Australian Lutheran College); and informal consultations on methodologies for cross-cultural ministry. Montana Synod Bishop Jessica Crist attended the LCA General Synod last October. A hoped-for resolution to permit the ordination of women failed again at that synod, but participants resolved to bring the LCA and ELCA closer together, mostly through conversations with LCA Bishop John Henderson and other key LCA leaders. Participants plan further talks on how to express prayerful support for those in the LCA who seek the ordination of women. Also, the Asia-Pacific Team has been forging ties with the Mara Evangelical Church, an LWF member church in Myanmar. Mara congregations in the U.S. are already cooperating in this effort. Representatives of the Mara Evangelical Lutheran Church with Bishop William Gafkjen from the Indiana-Kentucky Synod. 4 Madagascar, West and Central Africa (MWCA) In the fall of 2018, the MWCA team hosted several guests. Four theologians from the Malagasy Lutheran Church visited the U.S. in September to observe the church’s work and engage with their companion synods. They were able to visit the ELCA churchwide office and the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago (LSTC), where they spoke with a class and visited with LSTC President James Nieman. Many of the conversations centered on theological education and what the two churches have in common. After the MWCA team and staff from the ELCA’s Mission Advancement unit visited the Lutheran Church in Rwanda Bishop Mugabo and ELCA area director for (LCR) to see the newly built Kayonza Parish, the team was MWCA, Rev. Dr. Andrea Walker visit with happy to host LCR Bishop Evarister Mugabo. His first stop students at LSTC. was the LCR’s companion synod, Sierra Pacific, then the bishop traveled to Chicago to visit the ELCA churchwide office and connect with Young Adults in Global Mission who had served in Rwanda. He later visited with Pastor Veronica John Mwakasungura, who is studying at LSTC. In November, the Lutheran Communion in Central and West Africa (LUCCWA) had its biannual meeting in Senegal, where Andrea Walker, ELCA area director for MWCA, discussed possible future projects with bishops, church leaders from around the region and other partner church members. The LUCCWA members were pleased to be joined by Archbishop Musa Filibus, president of the Lutheran World Federation. Rev. Hansen of the Lutheran Church in Bavaria sits with members of LUCCWA in a breakout session. 5 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) At the end of June 2019, five missionaries serving in companion churches in South America will return home. Curtis and Katie Kline have served in Colombia since August 2014, accompanying the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Colombia (IELCO) in its Ministry of Human Rights and Peace Building. They started their ministry during the complex peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Katie Kline accompanied the IELCO in its churchwide ministry of education, on issues related to the strengthening of Lutheran identity, the formation of Sunday-school teachers, and leadership formation in the church. Although there have been missionaries in Colombia in past decades, Curtis and Katie Kline Curtis and Katie are the first missionaries to have worked within the (photo: Gustavo Driau) theological and methodological approach of accompaniment. During their time in Colombia, the IELCO has undergone some institutional difficulties. In such a difficult context, God provided Curtis and Katie with the patience, humility and wisdom to overcome these conflicts and bear witness to God’s love and mission. When Curtis and Katie arrived in Colombia, the church had a single initiative in human rights, justice and life. As they prepare to leave, the IELCO is carrying out three different programs for human rights and peace building, along with a fourth, very recent program to support Venezuelan migrants. The IELCO’s experience with Curtis and Katie Kline has been so fruitful that it has extended a call for a new ELCA missionary in 2020. Ryana Holt has served as a missionary in Chile since February 2017, accompanying the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile (IELCH) in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). Ryana has served in all regions of Chile that support IELCH congregations, training hundreds of students of varying ages from the communities of faith and diaconal works of the IELCH. Her ministry has unfolded during a period of crisis that has seriously threatened the church. God has Ryana Holt with her blessed Ryana with the strength to accompany and help the church students. overcome very difficult situations. Krystle Moraska and Ignacio Madrussan have served for nearly eight years as country coordinators for the Young Adults in Global Mission program in Argentina and Uruguay. Along with their children, they have been a beloved part of the ELCA family in Latin America, and we will be sad to see them go. They have faithfully nurtured our companionship with the United Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELU) and the many communities and organizations that we partner with in Argentina and Uruguay. For over seven years, they have served as pastors, coaches, Krystle Moraska and Ignacio Madrussan cheerleaders and friends to young adults from the United States, with their children, Emilio and Camilo. each of them on a distinct vocational journey. 6 We thank God for the gifts and lives of Curtis and Katie Kline, Ryana Holt, Krystle Moraska and Ignacio Madrussan; we pray for a joyful completion of their calls to serve in mission globally, and for new ministerial fields back home where they can continue learning and serving God’s mission.