From long-term missionary Josh Lange on assignment in India
“Hebrews 13:7 served as one of several ‘theme verses’ for the Golden Jubilee celebration of the India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC), held this month on the campus of Concordia Seminary in Nagercoil, India. Hundreds of pastors and lay people from across India and Sri Lanka, along with several visitors from the United States, including me, gathered to celebrate the IELC’s 50th year as an independent church body.
“The Bible passage from Hebrews reads, ‘Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith,’ and was meant to remind the IELC members of their past leaders, both from India and from abroad. India became the first overseas mission field for the LCMS when missionaries arrived in 1895. In the 50-plus years that followed, the LCMS served as the ‘mother church’ for the Lutheran church in India, and hundreds of LCMS missionaries served there as the church grew during that period. In 1958, the India Evangelical Lutheran Church was formed (thus the reason for the celebrations this year). The people of the IELC have an amazing amount of respect and gratitude for the LCMS and still refer to our church body as their ‘mother church.’ The past and present leaders of the IELC have certainly followed the advice from Hebrews and have imitated the faith of those great servants of God that came to India to serve as missionaries.
“In fact, after my trip to India, I think maybe the tide has now turned. Maybe it’s time for us to start looking to them as examples. I had the opportunity to meet so many amazing men and women that are living their life with a strong faith that is definitely worth imitating. The people of the IELC struggle with financial hardship, discrimination from anti-Christian groups, and even discord within their own church body, but still they are sharing Jesus with the people around them and the church is growing rapidly. The IELC is one of the LCMS’s strongest worldwide partners in the Ablaze! movement. Of the 100 million people that Ablaze! aims to reach with the Gospel by the year 2017, the IELC has set a goal to reach 25 million of those, and they are well on their way.”
