Herb Hoefer
Update
22 January 2006
Friends and Family,
I've just returned from another 14-hour day of bouncing, swerving travels
over washed out roads. I preached at two churches and at two parsonage
dedications, visited chapels under construction, prayed in pastors' homes,
counseled, and tried to encourage. The area also has not had an LCMS
missionary visit for 25 years, so it was important that I bring that
statement of partnership in their struggles and mission effort.
It was encouraging to see the parsonages that the congregations had built
for their pastors. They people are very poor, but the church is the one
source of strength and identity in the oppression that they face daily. They
want their pastor in their midst so they give sacrificially to get him
there.
It was a joy to be with a couple of the former probationers, who are now
pastors of established congregations. I inquired of them how the
church-planting experience has affected their ministry
since ordination two years ago. They emphasized that they wouldn't be able
to do what they have done in their parishes if it had not been for that
experience. I was musing on this phenomenon and discussing with the seminary
van driver about it, as he has driven to all those probationers' sites over
the years.
The effect of the church-planting seems to be in several ways. One is that
they all speak about having to start from nothing. They learned to work hard
to make something happen. It wasn't just given to them from the past. They
had to create it under the power of the Holy Spirit. They have brought that
attitude of initiative and confidence into their parish ministry.
The driver observed that they have also learned to work with the people.
They have learned how to lead. Instead of being under an established pastor
with an entrenched leadership and structure, they had to inspire and
envision for their people.
They also have had the joy of evangelism. That is catching. The sense of
mission is what raises a congregation above its petty quarrels and into a
shared future. Every Christian has the desire to share the faith. They just
need someone to model and facilitate it.
This set of young pastors will be the third group that has the liturgy
workshop by Dr. Borecki. She has really enjoyed the first two groups, and
this one will be even more experienced and motivated. India is such a great
place to teach.
I thought you might be interested in how they do a parsonage dedication. The
event starts in the church with a brief devotion. They then parade out
singing to the parsonage. Once there, they have the formal prayers of
dedication and official cutting of the
ribbon across the door. When they enter, they go to the various rooms
praying and singing and have a message (that was me). They then use the
traditional custom of pouring milk into a pot in the center of the room,
three cups to symbolize the Trinity, almost everyone taking turns. Then they
formally light the first fire in the home and warm the milk before giving it
out for all to drink. Interestingly, the most emotional event for the pastor
was the handing over of the house key, with prayers and songs once again.
(Indian Christians love to sing!)
Both parsonages were built totally by the people. They bought the
materials and did most of the work. One had three rooms and the other
had four, besides the kitchen, all for $7000.
Yesterday morning I visited one of the non-baptized believers whom I had
interviewed 25 years ago. Some of the family are now living in Nagercoil,
quite near to the seminary, for the sake of the boy's high school education.
Both the mother and grandmother are widows. They are part of the third caste
in the Hindu heirarachy, so socially in the top 30% of the population.
This is the family that is the descendents of the famous Christian martyr,
Devasahayam Pillai. He was the official adviser to the Hindu king a hundred
years ago. When the king reluctantly was forced to demand that his trusted
adviser recant his Christian faith, Devasahayam Pillair refused and was
killed on the spot
for defying the wish of the king. At any rate, his descendents have kept the
faith over the past five generations, but never joining a church.
When I entered their small apartment, I was struck by the prominent Hindu
shrine, with photos of Jesus on the adjacent wall. I had brought them a gift
of a wall cross, and the boy immediately found a place on the wall for it. I
asked him whom he worshipped, the Hindu gods or Jesus, and he said, "Both."
Both the boy and the grandmother have the traditional forehead
markings of a Hindu. Basically, they are externally indistinguishable from
their community, though everyone knows they are worshippers of Jesus.
The women expressed some embarrassment that they had not "converted,"
because of the affect it would have on them in their community. I told them
that the important thing was to keep the faith. The mother spoke of how she
kept a Bible at her desk at work. She said there was a lot that she
didn't understand, but she had some Christian colleagues and she would just
ask them for clarifications.
These people find different ways to access the teaching of the church,
whether through correspondence courses or radio or mass rallies or Christian
friends and colleagues. She said they intentionally have the boy in a Roman
Catholic school. Interestingly, at one of the congregations today the leader
of the youth group was a convert from their same caste. We talked
with him about getting in contact with this family.
I leave Nagercoil tomorrow eve. and head to Chennai and then on to North
India. My time on the train is the one time I have to myself, so I'm really
looking forward to it. It used to be that only when I was in Ambur I had
people insisting to see me and to take me to their work/needs. Now that
people in the other two
districts have gotten accustomed to me, I have the same night and day
demands here. I know my presence for them is really helpful and needed, but
it is exhausting emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Thanks for
the strength of your prayers.
I had good meetings with the pastors of all three districts in the past ten
days. Besides getting them a chance for pastoral fellowship, I wanted to
discuss with them the church-state issues that have arisen with the church
under court-appointed administrators. In traditional Lutheran
theology, it is the distinction between the Kingdom of the Left and the
Kingdom of the Right. I hope these discussions help the pastors protect the
integrity of the church in these complex, tense times.
God bless.
Herb