American Lutheran Church (1961-1987). Division of World Missions.

See TALC 14/10/2.

See TALC 14/10/2.

See TALC 14.

The South Andhra Lutheran Church (SALC) was organized in 1945. It is the result of work begun in 1865 by the Hermannsburg Mission Society and continued by the Boards of Foreign Mission of the Joint Synod of Ohio and of the American Lutheran Church. When The American Lutheran Church (TALC) was formed in 1960, the Indian work of the ALC became a part of the Division of World Missions of TALC.

Prior to the formation of the SALC, the work of the JSO and the ALC in India had been directed on the field by the India Conference (see ALC 29/7/2/1), later called the Andhra Lutheran Conference.

Initially the new church structure did not show much change in responsibility, although it was at least a delegated body in which the nationals could participate. The offices of president and treasurer were still held by missionaries, and a missionary was placed on every committee, usually as chairperson. Missionaries C.W. Oberdorfer and H.W. Weiss served as first president and treasurer, with nationals K. Nathanael and Marella Anantham as vice-president and secretary. The first Indian president, A.D. Benjamin, was elected in 1954, and the first Indian treasurer, K.D. Benjamin, was appointed by the Executive Committee in 1959.

Official business of the church was conducted at annual conventions, with interim business conducted by an executive committee. Elected offices of the SALC were president, vice president, and secretary, with an appointed treasurer. The executive committee was composed of the president and treasurer, along with four missionaries, two pastors, one teacher, one catechist, and three laymen. Delegates to the annual convention were the three elected officers, delegates elected by the parishes, all ordained church members in active service, and chairpersons of the standing committees and boards. In addition to several standing committees, the SALC also elected four boards: the Board of Trustees, Board of Education, Board of Medical and Merciful Work, and Board of Evangelism.

The SALC has a synodical form of government, with its parishes divided into eight zones. The church holds membership in the United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India and the Lutheran World Federation. It oversees the Katharine Lehmann Christian Hospital in Renigunta and maintains ten elementary, five secondary, and one industrial school.

See ELC 4/4.

See also ELC 4/5/1 Background, TALC 14 Administrative History.

The American Lutheran Church's (TALC) work in China and Taiwan was a continuation of the work carried out by its predecessor bodies, the Lutheran Free Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC), formerly Norwegian Lutheran Church in America and its predecessors. As the merger that created TALC approached, most predecessor bodies were cooperating with other American and European Lutheran missions in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The cooperative effort began after 1949 when the Communist revolution in China forced missionaries to evacuate to Hong Kong and establish mission work addressing the needs of the influx of refugees from mainland China.

The focus of mission work in Hong Kong centered around evangelism and education. TALC's partner church was the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong (ELCHK). TALC also participated in cooperative mission work in Taiwan with European and other American mission organizations. These groups were united into one cooperative agency that worked with the partner church, Taiwan Lutheran Church (TLC). In 1967 the Taiwan Lutheran Mission, the organization that administered and guided work in Taiwan, was replaced by the Taiwan Lutheran Missionary Association (TLMA). Its primary role was to address the various logistical needs of the missionaries.

See ELC 4/4/1 Background, TALC 14 Administrative History, TALC 16/8/8/1 Background.

See TALC 14 and TALC 14/8/2.

By the time the American Lutheran Church (ALC) entered Ethiopia in 1957, the formation of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) was already underway. It was formally founded in 1959 as a union of churches already established in Ethiopia and representing five Lutheran missions as follows: the Swedish Evangelical Mission, Swedish Mission of Bible True Friends, German Hermannsburg Mission, Norwegian Lutheran Mission (augmented by the Icelandic Mission), and the Danish Ethiopian Mission. The ALC joined with these five groups to finish the formation of the EECMY.

The name Mekane Yesus, which means Jesus' dwelling place, was taken from that of the congregation in Addis Ababa. The first president elected was Emmanuel Gebre-Sillassé, with Herbert G. Schaefer, ALC director of the American Lutheran Mission (ALM, see TALC 14/6/4/1/1), elected vice-president. The EECMY was the first church after the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox Church to be recognized by the government.

The ALC, upon the advice of the local church and already existing missions, opened new work in the north. This area became the Wollo-Tigre Synod of the new EECMY and was later renamed the North Ethiopia Synod (NES). The ALC, and its successor, The American Lutheran Church (TALC), through the ALM, worked closely with the new EECMY. In 1965 the ALM transferred most of its responsibility for the work to the EECMY. By 1969 the church and the missions related to it had negotiated an integration policy document by which all programs and affiliated institutions were transferred from the missions to the church.

See TALC 14 Administrative History, TALC 14/8/3 Administrative History, TALC 14/3/8/1 Adminsitrative History.

The majority of the records was collected by Theodore P. Fricke, who served as Executive Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the American Lutheran Church (ALC) from 1948-1960, and as Associate Director (1960-1963) and Executive Director (1963-1970) of the Division of World Missions (DWM) of The American Lutheran Church (TALC).

The Lutheran Mission New Guinea was the official title given to the cooperative mission work of the ALC, the Neuendettelsau Mission, the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia, and the Lutheran World Federation. For additional information on the mission work of the American Lutheran Church and The American Lutheran Church see ALC 29, ALC 29/8, TALC 14, TALC 14/8/3, and TALC 16/8.

See TALC 14/6/4 and TALC 14/6/4/1/1.

See ALC 29, ALC 29/8, TALC 14, and TALC 14/8/3.

See TALC 14.

The correspondence was collected by Theodore P. Fricke, who served as Executive Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the American Lutheran Church from 1948-1960 and as Associate Director (1960-1963) and Executive Director (1963-1970) of the Division of World Missions (DWM) of The American Lutheran Church (TALC). Some of the correspondence is to and from Morris A. Sorenson, Jr., an Assistant to the Director from 1966-1970 and Fricke's replacement from 1970-1981.

See ALC 29/7/2/1.

See ALC 29, ALC 29/8, TALC 14, TALC 14/8/3, TALC 16, and TALC 16/8.

See ALC 29, ALC 29/8, TALC 14, TALC 14/8/3, TALC 16, and TALC 16/8.

See IOWA 26, ALC 29, ALC 29/8, TALC 14, and TALC 14/8/3.

See TALC 14/6/4 and 14/6/4/1/1.

The task of the Theological Committee of the Lutheran Mission New Guinea was to study and provide suggested statements on matters of doctrine. Chairmen of the committee were Kenneth Thiele, [1960]-1961; H. Hannemann, 1962-1964; H. Wagner, 1965-1966; and J. Weiss, 1967-[1968]. The committee dealt with such subjects as inerrancy of scripture, plural marriages, and church discipline. Although the makeup of the committee was mostly missionaries, it provided study documents for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of New Guinea (ELCONG) as well. The Theological Committee received reports from and made suggestions to the Commission for the Study of Theological Education (CSTE) and Committee on Theology and Inter-Church Relations (CTICR).

The CSTE was initiated by the Joint Committee for Theological Education specifically to conduct a study of need, location, curriculum, and language of theological education in New Guinea. It was especially involved in the formation of the Martin Luther Seminary.

The CTICR was a cooperative effort of the Lutheran Mission New Guinea, Evangelical Lutheran Church of New Guinea, New Guinea Lutheran Mission-Missouri Synod, Wabag Lutheran Church, Australian Lutheran Mission, and the Siassi and Menyamya congregations. The purpose of the committee was to look for ways to unite the various Lutheran church bodies. As such they spent much effort working out confessions of faith and other doctrinal statements.

The Ethiopian Lutheran Mission was organized in 1958 with the two missionaries then on the field (Herbert G. Schaefer and R.O. Wendel), their wives, and Theodore P. Fricke (executive secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the American Lutheran Church) present. Although the government gave initial approval of the name, it reversed its decision in 1959, and the name was changed to American Lutheran Mission (ALM).

The ALM was composed of all American Lutheran Church (ALC) missionaries on the field. Officers were director and secretary. The ALM held an annual conference to conduct business and provide spiritual renewal. Between conferences business was transacted by the Executive Committee, consisting of the director and two elected members. The secretary was elected annually, the Executive Committee members annually or biannually, and the director every five years. Herbert G. Schaefer served as director from 1958-1965.

In 1965 the position of director was eliminated and that of an ALC representative appointed by the Division of World Missions was added. The meetings were then chaired by a chairman rather than a director, the office of treasurer was added, and a Missionary Committee, consisting of the chairperson, assistant chairperson, and the ALC representative, conducted meetings between conferences. Leonard Flachman became the first chairperson (1965-1967), followed by Philip K. Mueller (1967-1968), Loren F. Bliese, (1969-1970), Lorne Hovdestad (1970-1974), and Edith Bliese (1974-[1976]).

See TALC 14/10/3.

According to a letter written January 1, 1969, by Donald E. Trued, assistant executive secretary for world missions of the Lutheran Council in the USA (LCUSA), "In recent, assorted meetings of World Mission staff members from the three churches (LC-MS, ALC, LCA) [Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, The American Lutheran Church (TALC), and Lutheran Church in America] there surfaced a common need which is of moment to every missionary. Each Board had indicated the need for a review, in somewhat broad perspective, of current missionary compensation systems. Each Board had, in fact, taken initial steps in pursuit of an answer to this concern. However, upon learning of almost identical needs and plans of sister church World Mission boards, they decided to proceed with a study in concert rather than through separate efforts."

LCUSA arranged a consultation to develop procedures for such a study, and A. Herbert Monson, a missionary of the LCA on furlough, drafted a questionnaire and conducted interviews with a variety of mission boards and individuals. A proposed compensation policy was drafted, and the Missionary Compensation Committee formed with representatives of LCUSA and all three church bodies.

The committee looked at such issues as base salaries, the relationship of mission salaries to American pastoral salaries and to the salaries of national workers, pensions, social security, housing, allowances for children, incremental salary increases, and the difference between salaries of married and single missionaries.

TALC representatives on this committee at various times included Orval R. Varland, Jr.; Theodore P. Fricke and Morris A. Sorenson, Jr., executive directors of the Division of World Missions (DWM); Philip Jacobson, DWM business administrator; and Lowell Hesterman, DWM associate director. In addition, sub-committees consisting of one representative each from TALC, LCA, and LCMS, but none from LCUSA, looked at more detailed policies such as cost of living adjustments, vacation, travel, and vehicles. Sorenson and Hesterman served as TALC representatives on this sub-committee.

The result of the study produced a compensation scale document that TALC and LCA adopted, although the LCMS did not. The Board of World Mission of TALC adopted this document in May 1971, to be implemented on January 1, 1972.

See TALC 14/10/3.

Work in Tanzania (Tanganyika prior to 1963) was never a major mission field for The American Lutheran Church (TALC) and its predecessor bodies. They did, however, provide the occasional missionary to work under the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, later the Lutheran Church in America (LCA). When the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) was established in 1963 as an ecumenical effort by several Lutheran bodies, so too the coordination of Tanzania mission work came under the umbrella of ecumenical Lutheran agencies.

There were two major agencies, the Lutheran Coordination Service (LCS, see LWM 1/10/1) and the Tanzania Assistance Committee (TAC, see LWM 1/10/2). The LCS was first established in 1964 as the Committee on the Coordination of Assistance to Tanganyika, renamed Committee on the Coordination of Assistance to the ELCT in 1967, Lutheran Coordination Service-Tanzania in 1969, and Lutheran Coordination Service in 1973. The Tanzania Assistance Committee was formed in 1964 and continued until the LCS took over in 1973. During the years of the TAC, the two agencies seemed to overlap in their duties, with many of the same people serving in both.

TALC participation was through these agencies, with missionaries on loan to the LCA and funded by Lutheran World Action Funds of the USA National Committee of the Lutheran World Federation, which in turn responded to requests from the LCS and TAC. Thus the country of Tanzania itself does not show up in TALC mission budgets, though it did relate to TALC missionaries on the field through the secretary for Africa and Madagascar.

Following the end of World War II it was necessary for the Lutheran missions to rebuild their mission work in New Guinea. Four groups agreed to administer the work together. These groups were the American Lutheran Church (ALC), later part of The American Lutheran Church (TALC); the Neuendettalsau Mission, later taken over by the Lutheran Church of Bavaria; the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia (UELCA), later the Australian Lutheran Church; and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) through its Commission on Younger Churches and Orphaned Missions.

This combined mission work was called Lutheran Mission New Guinea, a term that had been used periodically since the early 1920s. The first Executive Committee, consisting of furloughed ALC and UELCA missionaries, met in Columbus, Ohio in 1945. An interim conference was held in 1946 after the missionaries had begun returning to the field, and the first annual field conference was held in 1947.

These field conferences consisted of reports, elections, resolutions (including those related to the placing of missionaries), study, and worship. Beginning in 1950 there is mention of welcoming native visitors, and from 1951 on they are listed as delegates. These native delegates were allowed to vote on matters pertaining to their own congregations.

Officers of the conference were superintendent, vice-superintendent, secretary, and treasurer. Work was directed between conferences by an Executive Committee composed of three (later five or more) members, with the superintendent and vice-superintendent (president and vice-president after 1952) serving as ex-officio members. After 1952 the secretary was also automatically a member of the Executive Committee. Superintendents (presidents) of the LMNG were John Kuder from 1945-1968 and Rufus Pech, 1968-1974. In 1974 the LMNG transferred its property to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of New Guinea.