August 11, 2010

CHICAGO – Although there are no Lutheran churches in China, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has developed deep, mission-focused relationships with Christian councils and Protestant expressions in the country. At the invitation of Chinese church leaders the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, will visit China Aug. 28-Sept. 5.

"The Christian community in China is full of vitality," said the Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida, director, Asia-Pacific continental desk, ELCA Global Mission.

Chinese church officials have traveled to the United States, said Ishida, adding that Hanson's visit to China is an "occasion to express more fully our accompaniment and demonstrate our commitment to working together."

Ishida, the Rev. Peter Shen, ELCA consultant on China, and the Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla, executive director, ELCA Global Mission, will travel with Hanson to China.

The Rev. Gao Feng, president of the China Christian Council (CCC) in Shanghai, invited Hanson. The CCC is a national expression of the Chinese church, representing Protestant Christians in China.

"Our desire in undertaking this journey is to deepen and extend the relationship and ministry collaboration between the ELCA and the CCC," said Hanson. "The growth of ELCA engagement in China reflects the respect offered by the leaders of the Christian community in China for the way the ELCA engages in missional collaboration."

During the visit Hanson, Gao and other CCC leaders will consider avenues for mutual ministry, particularly in theological education and social ministry. According to Malpica Padilla the ELCA group will visit sustainable development programs, and the relief and rehabilitation work being conducted in response to the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan.

"Our church enjoys a good relationship with the CCC that has led to collaboration in several programs serving the Chinese population in Mainland China," said Malpica Padilla.

It is estimated that more than 12,000 church buildings are open for public worship in China, and some 25,000 groups of Protestant Christians meet in private homes. The CCC coordinates theological education and publishes Bibles, hymn books and other Christian literature. More than 2,700 seminarians have completed theological training in 18 seminaries, and thousands of lay church workers have been trained for ministry.

While the ELCA relates as a whole to the CCC, its specific engagement in China is with the Sichuan Council of Churches (SCC), particularly with the SCC's Luzhou Christian Church.

For the past five years the ELCA has "accompanied the Luzhou church in ways that holds up a holistic way of doing ministry," said Ishida. This has included health care, community development, ministry among people living with disabilities, leadership training, education and evangelism.

In the past two years ministry efforts between the ELCA and China's Christian councils has come to include disaster response, following earthquakes that struck Sichuan in 2008 and Yushu in 2010. Yushu is located in the Qinghai Province of China.

According to Ishida the Luzhou Christian Church has been a key leader in earthquake relief efforts, working with the ELCA.

The earthquake in Yushu killed more than 1,700 people, injured 13,000 others and rendered 100,000 residents homeless. The Luzhou church quickly mobilized a rescue and damage assessment team. The ELCA helped to fund this response with $50,000.

"Four of the team members were members of the Luzhou church," said Ishida. "They had to obtain permission from government officials, both in Sichuan and Qinghai provinces, to travel to the earthquake zone. It took two days for the team to arrive on site, high on the plateau and amidst great cold," he said.

"Under the banner, ‘The Social Service Department (ELCA) April 12 Earthquake Caring Team,' the team was able to deliver some badly needed relief tools and assessed where their help could best be utilized," said Ishida.

"Responding to the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan has been a major focus for the church in Sichuan. The church has been able to engage affected communities through a process of dialogue and care supported by the ELCA," said Ishida.

Social services such as counseling for survivors of disasters are a significant way churches work to meet the needs of people, according to Ishida. This illustrates the good churches do in Chinese communities. Because of this positive response the Chinese government has come to recognize the role of church in society, he said.

Support in recovery efforts following a natural disaster has been mutual, particularly between the Luzhou church and ELCA. The Luzhou church contributed $400 to support the ELCA's recovery efforts in the United States' Midwest, following flooding of the Red River in 2009.

Information about China is available at http://www.ELCA.org/China/, on the ELCA's website.

ELCA News Service