John brought Andrew, Andrew brought Peter,
Peter brought Philip, Philip brought Nathaniel. John 1:33-51
On January 18, 2009, my visit to India began in Mumbai where I preached for a Lutheran congregation located in the worst slum of all India. It was the day the church observes the confession of Peter and the reading for the second Sunday after Epiphany was the calling of the first disciples.
A fitting beginning to underscore the biblical Truth that confession and missions go together. The reason the LHF publishes books and materials that are Christ-centered, Bible-based and Reformation-driven are so that people can make a good confession based on Bible Truths and be led to bring others to Christ and Lutheran altars.
Sunday morning worship service was at the congregation of Rev. P. Alfred, whose congregation is located in the worst slum of India. The congregation, with men on one side and women on the other, participated with only a few hymnals available. After the service we distributed some Tamil copies of the Bible Stories in Pictures, published in 2008. From there we proceeded to the Lutheran Center where the Trinity Lutheran congregation meets. The service was in the Marathi language, and after the service we distributed the Marathi, Hindi and Gujarathi Catechisms to the 200 in attendance. Many were pastors who had come to get copies for their congregations.
The next day we proceeded to Rajahmundry where we helped sponsor a seminar on Baptism so that the 150 pastors attending would be better equipped to make their confession clear. Serving as speakers were Rev. John Pless, Concordia Theological Seminary - Fort Wayne; Rev. Michael Albrecht, St. James Lutheran Church, West St. Paul, Minn.; Rev. Steven Briel, Christ Lutheran Church, Corcoran, Minn.; and Rev. Daniel Preus, Luther Academy, St. Louis, Mo.
During the conference four titles were released in the Telugu language, including Luther’s Small Catechism (Enchiridion), the Large Catechism section on Baptism, The Augsburg Confession, and a translation of a letter by Martin Luther – “Does My Baptism Count?”
My next stay was in Chennai, where we met with the LCMS World Mission representative for India, Rev. Herbert Hoefer. We discussed our review plans for the Tamil Book of Concord.
From Chennai we drove to Ambur for a meeting with 50 pastors of the IELC participating in the release of the Book of Concord in the Tamil language. It is the first time in the church’s 100 year history that they have the complete volume.
It is considered a review edition and Rev. John Sundaram, LHF coordinator for India, has all translators and pastors involved in studying assigned sections. The final edition is expected to be released in January 2011.
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