Today we brought our training in the Philippines to a close. The last week we’ve been in lovely Baguio, enjoying the cool climate and teaching these ladies at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Baguio.
Sandra has done the bulk of the teaching each day, while I offer a closing each day reviewing Luther’s Small Catechism. Although my role is that of ‘deaconess supervisor’ there’s no supervision necessary! Sandra’s a pro with a wealth of experience not only in deaconess work but in sacred music, liturgy and hymnody. She’s enjoyed teaching the ladies various hymns out of The Lutheran Hymnal, utilizing her soprano recorder as a portable instrument to demonstrate the melodies.
We met with Pastor Ehican and Pastor Taran this week as well. Pastor Ehican is pastor of St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Baguio and also Vice-President of the Lutheran Church of the Philippines. Pastor Taran oversees Luther Theological Seminary here in Baguio. We wanted to meet to discuss LCP hopes for future LCMS training in the coming year.
They requested two additional deaconess training events, both on a larger scale accommodating all 100 of the deaconesses in the Highlands District. One is slated for July and will be a repeat of this class for those who weren’t able to attend. Another one in November will focus on liturgy and hymnody. We’ve submitted a tentative proposal already for this to regional leadership and trust it will be approved. What a great opportunity to strengthen and learn from our Filipina partners!
Additionally, Rev. Taran asked if I could and would return to the seminary to teach more crash courses. He’d like me to come in March to teach both Reformation History as well as a history of Israel in the Old Testament. The courses next August are not defined yet. Both of these would be two-week stints again similar to my time here in this past August. Again, I’ll await word that our region can and will support this. It’s a huge help to the seminary which has a small faculty at the moment.
Hopefully that will change in the future. Historically they’ve had graduating classes of nearly 20 students in the past though current enrollment is much lower. It would be great if we could assist them in gaining momentum to increase enrollment back into double-digits again. There’s certainly a need for more pastors! But having faculty is a critical component in that.
So I may be in the Philippines six weeks next year between deaconess and seminary trainings. Additionally, I’ve been invited to attend a preliminarily-scheduled Deaconess Conference in London in August. The hope is to gather deaconesses and leadership from all four of the LCMS Office of International Mission regions with an eye towards a standardized deaconess training program and perhaps even curriculum. Ambitious, as the regions have heretofore functioned autonomously in this respect.
These are areas where my past experience in academia and academic authoring might be of use. I’m excited at that prospect, even as I’m glad to be headed home to Medan and my family at long last! This is the last of my major travel for this calendar year and it will be good to hopefully have a little downtime. Prayers for safe travel towards Medan are appreciated, and I’m grateful for your prayers that enabled Sandra and I to finish the training here this week!
The Nelson Family Indonesia 