November 2016
By Jackie Bussert
Faith Lutheran Church in Lake Forest, Illinois, has stepped up to become a generous partner in ¡Enviando! — the district-wide initiative to expand Hispanic missions in northern Illinois.
The congregation has issued a challenge grant of up to $50,000 to enable live-streaming the entire Missionary School from San Pablo, Aurora.
“We’re pleased to be able to work together on this,” said Rick Bersano, who serves as president of the congregation, which has been vacant since Rev. Jerry Menk retired in August 2015. The pastors of district’s Circuit 1 (Antioch, Grayslake, Gurnee, Waukegan and Lake Forest) have been discussing the need for LCMS Hispanic and other immigrant outreach in Lake County for several years now and feeling they want to do something.
“The mission field is big, and Christ gave us his commission to follow,” Bersano said. “This is the job he gave us and we need to be about it. But we need to know how to reach people. This Missionary School is one of the things that will help us.”
Pastor Alex Merlo started the Missionary School at San Pablo to train Spanish-speaking lay people in doctrine, leadership and missionary outreach in their community. Courses with seminary-level content help prepare some to go on to the seminary’s Center for Hispanic Studies for certification as pastor or deaconess.
Merlo says he knew there could not be growth in reaching the growing Hispanic population in northern Illinois without better ways to prepare both lay people and future church workers. Missionary School classes have been meeting weekly at San Pablo in Aurora for a number of years. Pastors from five of the NID’s Hispanic ministries studied in part at San Pablo, as did two others now serving in Central America. Online classes will broaden the number of people trained in doctrine and mission.
An introduction to the Old Testament began live-streaming the end of August, taught by Merlo. Three online students are in northern Illinois. More are becoming involved from Mexico and Honduras—students from Pastor Carlos Catalan’s Church in Guadalajara (Catalan studied with Merlo before going to seminary himself), and also contacts with pastors Merlo has met doing relief work in Honduras. Because all courses are archived, late starts can catch up or go through the entire course at their own pace.
Full funding of the $50,000 match, if met, would enable putting the Missionary School’s full three-year program online. It is a challenge to congregations of the district. Faith congregation will match any gifts from NID congregations through the end of this year.
Your church is invited to consider a special gift for this purpose now, while matching funds will apply. (Send to NID LCMS office and memo it for Missionary School match.)
Bersano said their members want to see the support of congregations, not just individuals, as “an indication that this will last for a long time.”
“We hope this will strengthen and expand Hispanic interest across the district,” he added.
“What Alex Merlo and his people are doing is exciting,” Bersano added. Two members from Lake Forest visited San Pablo to see that ministry firsthand.
“I was impressed by the magnitude of excitement in the people—and the number of children that are reached,” he said. “One of the things that really touched me was their outpouring of generosity in bringing in shoes to take to Honduras” (a collection that was underway when Bersano visited).
Faith itself is acting with an outpouring of generosity. In addition to the $50,000 challenge, the congregation began making San Pablo’s mortgage and interest payments in August to free up dollars for expansion of San Pablo’s children’s outreach and other ministry. That amounts to a gift of over $67,000 from Faith over the next year, with potential for another year.
“We look at it as a partnership,” Bersano said. “I am humbled that this is from God’s hand, and he is enabling us to see it.”
Bersano explained that just prior to presenting their proposal to help San Pablo to their voters, the right amount of money to cover the mortgage for two years came to light. It was money that Faith could claim from the State of Illinois’ unclaimed bank accounts.
When Bersano visited at San Pablo, Merlo asked him why they were doing this. “I explained how God’s hand was working to bring it together,” Bersano said. “If San Pablo is going to be helping us [prepare church workers], we should help them—it just fits in.”
For more information about ¡Enviando! or the $50,000 challenge, please contact NID’s Mission Advocate at the district office, Sue Green, 708-548-1207.