Haitians help Haitians thanks to Canadian aid

Haitians unload aid following the January 12 earthquake. (Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI — Doctors treated more than 3,200 people at impromptu aid stations recently thanks to donations from the Haiti Lutheran Mission Society (HLMS).

In the weeks after a 7.0-magniude earthquake struck the tiny Caribbean nation, the HLMS wired about US $15,000 to l’Eglise Lutherienne de la Foi (Faith Lutheran Church) in Gonaives, Haiti, the mother congregation of l’Eglise Lutherienne de l’Haiti (LCH).

Faith Lutheran Church used the money to purchase supplies and rent trucks.

On January 29, Faith Lutheran Church delivered two truckloads full of aid to Village la Saline, one of Port-au-Prince’s poorest neighbourhoods.

Accompanying the aid were two doctors and 25 helpers.

“The doctors had two tables set up that were quickly laden with medicine, and one line was formed in front of them,” according to a submission to the Canadian Lutheran from the HLMS.

At a table at the end of another line, women handed out food packets containing rice, soy beans, smoked fish and water.

At two more stations, church members prayed with residents and counselled them for trauma.

Work continued until darkness and resumed the following morning.

“Another crowd of thousands gathered early, and the process was repeated until all the supplies had been given out to over 3,200 needy people altogether. Some of them were non-Christian neighbours of the Lutherans.”

Faith Lutheran Church planned to run two similar aid stations in another area of Port-au-Prince in the coming weeks.

Meantime, Canadian Lutheran World Relief has raised more than $400,000 for Haitian earthquake relief.

Action by Churches Together (ACT) Alliance, an international group of churches and related agencies dedicated to saving lives and supporting communities, is also taking action.

Rev. Revenel Benoit, president of LCH, thanked all the Lutheran donors in Canada and HLMS for their contributions.

“Please pray for us so that the Lord can continue to use the LCH to serve, help and assist so many hurting people,” he said.

Donations may be sent to HLMS, 400 Glenridge Ave., St. Catharines ON, L2T 3L2.

Haiti relief donations to CLWR almost at $400,000 mark; deadline ahead

from CLWR News

WINNIPEG– As the Canadian Lutheran World Relief Appeal for Haiti enters its third week, donations continue to flood into its Winnipeg head office. As of 9:30 a.m. Thursday, February 4, the total amount of donations receipted topped $370,000. Stacks of unopened letters will certainly push the total past $400,000 in the coming days. To donate online go to www.clwr.org/donate

Deadline looms

To have your donation matched by the Canadian government, it must be received and deposited by CLWR by Friday, February 12. Initially, the government announced that it would match donations made by individual Canadians to a maximum of $50 million. While this cap has since been removed, the deadline for donations qualifying for this match has not been extended.

Accessing matching funds

CLWR continues to work with Canadian Churches in Action (CCA) to prepare a proposal for submission to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to access a portion of the matching funds pool being created by the government. The delay in submitting this proposal can be largely placed on the difficulties faced by our partners on the ground in Haiti, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Action by Churches Together (ACT) Alliance, in gathering information and developing a longer-term plan for assisting the people affected by the earthquake.

ACT’s preliminary appeal, released last week, calls for financial support of US$20 million. CCA continues to work with ACT and the LWF to designate a portion of this $20 million program to the funds being collected by CCA members. CCA remains confident that once the proposal is in place, it will be viewed favourably by CIDA. Prayerfully, the end result will be a doubling of the value of donations.

Details about the matching fund application will be announced once the proposal has been submitted to CIDA.

Nicaraguan Lutherans support the CLWR appeal for Haiti

Iglesia Luterana Sínodo de Nicaragua, meeting in convention last week, resolved to designate the offering from its closing service to the work CLWR is doing in Haiti. The US$120 donation was delivered to CLWR by Lutheran Church–Canada President Robert Bugbee who attended the convention. Bugbee noted that although the gift may be small by our standards, “It comes from the second-poorest land in our hemisphere trying to help the poorest. It was a substantial gift of love when one considers the poverty of the donors.”

 The Situation in Haiti

(as reported by ACTCOM, the communications arm of the ACT Alliance.)

According to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Situation Report, the latest figures indicate 112,392 deaths, 196,501 injured, with one million homeless. Food aid and shelter are still in high demand, despite the many distributions already taking place. Airports and water ports’ capacities are overloaded with supplies, in particular because of transport and security issues, which complicate the distribution process. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is reporting that nearly 300,000 people have left earthquake-affected areas, migrating north and west in search of shelter and material resources.

Preparing 21st-century pastors

Looking at a new seminary curriculum 

By Edward Kettner 

EDMONTON – After three years of questioning and evaluating itself, Concordia Lutheran Seminary (CLS) inaugurated a new curriculum this fall. What was wrong with the old one? In terms of theological content, absolutely nothing! The eternal Gospel we are called to preach remains the same. But our surrounding culture has changed so much, we needed new ways of presenting that unchanging Gospel to what is virtually a new world. 

Dr. Ed Kettner and seminary class

One major change takes place outside the classroom. Since becoming a pastor involves developing character as well as mind, we have set up a “co-curriculum” to help CLS equip and evaluate students in non-academic—but essential—areas. Students earn units by participating in field education, workshops and seminars, and other events conducive to spiritual and personal growth. Developing a sense of servanthood is one important area, as are pastoral skills, worship skills and life skills in general. 

In the past generation we have moved from a culture that was at least nominally Christian to one that is purposefully multicultural. Religion is now seen as private matter of one’s own choice rather than something based on inherent truth—specifically, the inherent truth of God redeeming the world through His Son, Jesus Christ. This calls for an education that prepares pastors (and lay people) for speaking and confessing the Gospel in a culture that is increasingly indifferent or even hostile to it. 

New methods of delivering this education help extend our reach well beyond the campus. With instantaneous communication and live streaming, people living at a distance can listen and view lectures, participate in class discussions and deliver assignments. While we recognize that education takes place best in a community of Christian scholars, based on-campus, distance learning will also provide a way students can test the waters, to see if they truly have the aptitude for seminary and for ministry. 

Tradition once divided the curriculum into four fields: exegetical theology, systematic theology, historical theology and practical theology. CLS has noted that the division is somewhat fluid, that all of these categories overlap in many ways and the curriculum needs to reflect this. For example, a sermon needs to be relevant to people and well-delivered (practical), but it needs to be based on a thorough study of the text (exegetical) and reflect the truths of the Word of God that have been proclaimed through the ages in His church (doctrinal and historical). 

At CLS, “practical theology” has become “theology in praxis,” as we recognize that all theology is intensely practical, since it relates to the salvation of sinners and prepares the potential pastor and leader to bring the Gospel to bear on the lives of people in the pew and in the culture. Some courses have become explicitly trans-disciplinary and team-taught, to clearly demonstrate the importance of integrating the entire discipline of theology into a unified entity. 

Regardless of the new curriculum, the central teaching at the seminary is still Scriptures as the Word of God written, the Lutheran Confessions as a true exposition and exhibition of that Word, and the proper distinction between Law and Gospel. Students continue learning the skills of preaching, teaching, counselling, and evangelism so they can relate to the people they will serve. And they are engaged with the church through field education experiences in area congregations. 

Through the reorganized curriculum and new co-curriculum, our students grow in learning, in doing and in character, so they leave the seminary as well-rounded individuals ready to serve God through the congregations to which they’ll be called. They learn, grow, serve and mature into true “servants for Jesus’ sake.” 

Rev. Dr. Edward Kettner is academic dean at Concordia Lutheran Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta. 

For more information on Concordia Lutheran Seminary Edmonton, go to www.learngrowserve.ca

 

Ontario-based Lutheran agency increases relief to Haiti

ST. CATHARINES — The Haiti Lutheran Mission Society (HLMS) has sent a total of US $15,000 to the Lutheran Church of Haiti (LCH) for earthquake relief.

In addition to $5000 wired soon after the earthquake, an addition $10,000 was approved by the organization at its annual meeting at Resurrection Lutheran Church January 24. The initial money purchased emergency supplies of water, food, medicines, clothing, blankets and tents.

On January 28, a team of Lutherans from Gonaives, north of Port-au-Prince took with two truckloads of these supplies to distribute to Lutheran churches. Distribution of two more loads of supplies are scheduled in the following weeks.

The HLMS, a listed service organization of Lutheran Church–Canada, also plans to send a 12-metre container of clothing and other goods to the Lutheran church in Gonaives in April.

Donations to the HLMS designated “earthquake” are eligible for matching grants from the federal government. They can be sent to 400 Glenridge Ave., St. Catharines, Ont., L2T 3L2.

On January 12, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Caribbean island, killing hundreds of thousands of people and destroying 60 Lutheran churches. At the time, Howard and Wally Bogusat, members of the HLMS, and Lynn Tobin, of AIDS Niagara, were in Haiti.

All three recently returned to Southern Ontario. Read about their experiences at http://infodigest.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/mission-trip-to-haiti-a-trip-of-firsts/.

They also attended the January 24 annual meeting at which members re-elected Rev. Dr. John Wilch chairman. Gerald Higenell will serve as vice-chairman, Erna McBride as secretary, and Macklem Sherman, treasurer. Ten people will serve on the board.

Canadian describes response to Haiti earthquake on YouTube

Rev. Ted Krey, a Canadian pastor serving with LCMS World Mission missionary in Dominican Republic, shares about the Dominican Mission Teams early response at the border city of Jimani, Dominican Republic. He explains his experience from sitting in a religion class with Dominican Lutherans during the January 12 earthquake, providing physical and spiritual care at a hospital, through the LCMS planning for intermediate and long-term relief support. The ongoing collaborative response for the people of Haiti includes LCMS missionaries, Dominican Lutherans, U.S. medical volunteers, and staff of LCMS World Mission and LCMS World Relief and Human Care. (Video courtesy LCMS World Relief and Human Care)