Local Mission Partners

The nations are here! The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is changing to reflect the rich and diverse population that lives and worships in St. Paul.

Consider this: St. Paul has more Hmong people than any other city in the United States. The University of Minnesota has more Chinese students than any other university in the United States. Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic community in the Twin Cities.

Inner city and first-ring suburban churches are often in great need of partnerships in ministry. Let God work through your faith community by becoming involved as a local mission partner for a new or struggling congregation in the Saint Paul Area Synod.

Local Mission Partners is a program of the ELCA that encourages ministries to build relationships with each other around:

Prayer—strengthen the bonds of partnership by regularly praying for one another.
Presence—bless each other by connecting member to member with your partner congregation.
Presents—share God’s gift of financial resources to support and strengthen your partner congregation’s ministry as well as your own.

Congregations Seeking Partnerships

The Local Mission Partners program specifically attempts to partner stronger ministries with new or struggling ministries, such as new congregations, ethnic ministries, and urban ministries. In the Saint Paul Area Synod, these faith communities have identified specific needs in terms of prayer, partnership, and financial needs:

Minnesota Faith Chinese Lutheran, St. Paul, provides outreach primarily to Chinese Christians and seekers.
Christ Lutheran on Capitol Hill, St. Paul, is a diverse population worshiping in three languages.
Pueblo de Fe, a bilingual and multi-cultural mission congregation worships in Neighborhood House on the West Side of St. Paul.
Hmong Central Lutheran, St. Paul, reaches our to Hmong people in the Twin Cities.
Zion Lutheran, St. Paul, is beginning transformational ministry in a diverse neighborhood by reaching out to the community to help end poverty.
VIBE (Value, Invest, Build, Equip) is an urban youth ministry initiative made up of several urban congregations.
Royal Redeemer Lutheran, St. Paul, is a city congregation with specific needs for partnership.

For information, contact the Rev. Vern Rice, chair, Local Mission Partners team, at 763.785.4013 or email vernrice2000@yahoo.com.

Focus on Local Mission Partners: Minnesota Faith Chinese Lutheran

By Kari Aanestad

Pastor Shen Lin, Minnesota Faith Chinese Lutheran, St. Paul, has baptized 85 Chinese adults into the Christian faith in the last five years. In one year alone, he baptized 22 adults. “You don’t have to go to our country to do mission work—we are doing it here,” Shen Lin said.

The congregation, which meets in St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church, St. Paul, focuses on building friendships first. “We have a good meal, which will attract almost 100 adults. That’s the easy part. Talking about the gospel is a different stage because it’s very different from what they were raised with as atheists,” Shen Lin said.

In addition to serving meals and hosting programs that attract seekers, Shen Lin also invests time building relationships with people looking to convert. For example, one man and his wife had expressed interest in being baptized, but the man did not feel ready. Shen Lin spent nine hours one evening, talking to the man until 6:00 a.m. “They like a personal relationship,” Shen Lin said.

Even with the number of adult baptisms, Shen Lin is overwhelmed by how much there is left to do. Minnesota Faith Chinese is the only Chinese Lutheran church in the state, and there are 30,000 Chinese in the metro area alone.
The church faces challenges besides daunting numbers of Chinese. A majority of the congregation is composed of students from the University of Minnesota, either in undergraduate studies or post-graduate studies. After a few years, the students have completed their programs and move away to find jobs. “It’s very hard to maintain stability. It takes years to build mature Christians,” Shen Lin said.

With the body of the congregation always in flux, the church also struggles to find financial stability. Shen Lin said that offerings have been decreasing and he predicts that they will have an unbalanced budget this year, yet the adult baptisms continue. Shen Lin said, “The Chinese ministry needs a focus and consolidated resources to work together. We encourage local churches to support us in prayers and financially. We’re doing good work here and it won’t go to waste. “

Kari Aanestad is a senior at Augsburg College and served as an intern in the Saint Paul Area Synod.