HMONG FACILITATOR – NEWS FLASH

By:  Deacon Dr. Fungchatou Lo, Hmong Mission Facilitator

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOCAL

Within the last two years, Minnesota has been a recipient of more than 6,000 new Hmong refugees.  As part of our evangelism program, I started working with St. Stephanus Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota and Mount Zion Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota to start new Hmong ministries.  We started collecting and distributing furniture to the new Hmong refugee families.  Mr. Alexander Lo started a Bible study class at St. Stephanus; and Mr. Johnny Vang is coordinating an after school tutoring program at Mount Zion with Mr. Jack Carlos, Minister of Outreach.  Please keep these programs and efforts of sharing the gospel in your prayers.

 

 

During the last weekend of October, I organized and facilitated with Bethlehem Hmong ministry in St. Paul and other LCMS churches to have Vicar Chia Thao and his wife for a weekend visit.  The intended of the visit was to see if Vicar Thao would be willing to move to Minnesota to minister to the Hmong people.  Partners In Mission made this visit financially possible. 

 

On November 6, 2006, the Hmong ministry had the privilege of working with the Minnesota South District to coordinate a mission Sunday entitled, “A Taste of Ethnic Missions”.  We had over thirty churches and individuals as sponsors of the event and raised about $9,000 to support the ethnic ministries in Minnesota.  The ethnic ministries consisted of:  Ethiopian, Hispanic, Hmong, Liberian, Somali, Sudanese, and Swahili.  The goals of the event were to inform, educate, excite, encourage, equip, and fundraise to support the ethnic ministries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NATIONAL

 

From October 21st to 24th, my wife and I went to Arkansan to teach a Bible lesson on evangelism and preach at Salem Lutheran Church in Springdale.  Our efforts were to encourage Salem’s members to do outreach to the Hmong people in the Northwest region of Arkansan by starting a Hmong ministry in their congregation.  We also had the opportunity to visit the Hmong families in the surrendering areas.  Please pray for a Hmong LCMS pastor to minister to the people in Arkansan.  I am anticipating having at least ten families to start the ministry in Springdale.     

 

From November 14th to the 18th, I attended the North American Mission Partners Conference in Palm Springs, California.  Prior to the conference, I had the opportunity to visit and share the gospel with some of my relatives in California.  I also had a brief visit with Pastor Kou Thao and his family in Merced, CA.  Please keep Rev. Kou and his family in your prayers.

 

The North American Mission Partners Conference was informative and encouraging in regard to our future mission work.  One of the highlights was the focus on the Ablaze movement and how we are to look at the way we do mission work.  The presentations by a none LCMS Rev. Ralph Moore in regard to “How to Start New Churches” were very encouraging and yet brought out some reservations because of our doctrinal differences. 

 

Another highlights were the opportunities to meet and networking with other hardworking missionaries and leaders in our Synod.  All ethnic mission facilitators met together in a special session with Rev. Jotham Jhang, Executive Director for CAME.  The ethnic mission facilitators were from Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Hmong, and South Asian ministries.  During the meeting each of us shared about the work we done within our ministries; and prayed for one another.  It was wonderful to know that we all are working for the same Lord; and that the glories are His alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTERNATIONAL

 

On November 21st to the 28th, the Thailand Hmong Mission was invited to attend the first Asia Ablaze Summit in Hong Kong.  With the support from Hmong Mission Society and the Thailand Hmong Mission, I attended the summit with my wife.  It was truly a blessed conference for both of us.  There were about 300 attendees from 16 countries.  The focus of the conference was to encourage all the Lutheran missionaries and churches in Asia to act on the Ablaze movement to share the gospel to one million people by the year 2017, which will be the 500 anniversary of the Reformation. 

 

The breakout sessions dealt with the questions of “What does it mean to live a life Ablaze in Asia?  What’s possible—word and deed?  What recommendations are to be made to the International Lutheran Council?”  It was good that the attendees had the opportunities to work on these questions in small group sessions and made their recommendations. 

 

The most interesting part about the summit was the opportunities to meet with LCMS missionaries and leaders from other countries.  We learned that most of the LCMS World Mission missionaries

deployed from the United States are mostly engaging on teaching ESL as a way of sharing the gospel.  Others involved in human cares and social ministries.  This means that most of their works are done from the procedure of “deed and word”, because most countries do not allow Christian organizations to share the gospel right upfront—“word first and then deed”.   In some countries, it is dangerous task to share the gospel.   Therefore, the method of “deed and word” becomes the primary way of sharing the gospel. 

 

One of the draw backs of the conference was that all of the key-note speakers were Americans from the United States.  It would have been more blessed if we had some key-note speakers from other countries to share with the attendees on the mission work they have done.  However, being that it was the first Asia Ablaze Summit, the people organized the conference did a superb job on putting everything together.  I thank God for the opportunity to attend the summit and recommended that the Hmong Mission Society and the Thailand Hmong Mission continue to get involve with the LCMS World Mission.  We cannot just focus our mission work with the Hmong people in the United States alone.  There are many Hmong people in the World that need to hear the Good News and if we don’t become part of this exciting Ablaze movement, we will be missing out of knowing what God has in stored for us in the mission field.  The word of the Apostle Paul resonated loudly in my heart as I immersed myself with others during the summit; “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” (Philemon 1:6, NIV).   So, with that, I encourage all of us to actively sharing our faith with whomever we meet in our daily lives and become part of the LCMS World Mission team and Ablaze movement.

 

Prayer requests:

·   Hmong Mission Society, Inc.--for funding to support Hmong ministry’s work in the US.

·   Hmong New Hymnal—for funding to bring this project to completion

·   Thailand Hmong Mission—for new directions and more leaders to share the gospel.  For the current members in Klong Houi Klai to stay faithful in Christ.

·   New Hmong ministry in Arkansan—for a spiritual leader to start the ministry in Springdale, AR.

·   All Hmong Pastors, Vicars and Deacons—for them to continue to faithfully serving the Lord and support one another in the ministry.

·   For those who recently passed away to be with the Lord:  See Lee, Phia Vang, Nhia Her Lo, and Vicar Paul Pal.

 

Thank You to our supporters:

·   Hmong Mission Society, Inc.

·   Thailand Hmong Mission

·   Partners In Mission

·   LCMS World Mission

·   Center for Asian Mission and Evangelism (CAME)

·   Minnesota South District

·   Grace Lutheran Church, Brooklyn Park, MN

·   St. Stephanus Lutheran Church, St. Paul, MN

·   Mount Zion Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, MN

·   Trinity First Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, MN

·   Bethlehem Lutheran Church, St. Paul, MN