The purpose of the CLC Mission Helper Program is quite simply to provide opportunities for members of the CLC to participate in our Savior’s Great Commission.
It was twenty years ago, at the 1996 CLC convention, that delegates and pastors gave their approval to the CLC Mission Helper Program. Since that time, by God’s grace, the program has made it possible for more than one hundred volunteers to work alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ in places like India, Nepal, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia. An estimated thirty thousand children in these places have heard the simple Gospel message.
The main goal of each Mission Helper Trip is to spread the Good News of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life through the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior Jesus. To accomplish this goal, trips lasting three to four weeks are made, on a rotating basis, to countries in which the Church of the Lutheran Confession has affiliated church bodies. The trips focus on child evangelism lessons. These provide a unique way for members of the CLC to help spread the Good News of Christ crucified and risen from the dead to sinners the whole world over.
The purpose of the CLC Mission Helper Program is quite simply to provide opportunities for members of the CLC to participate in our Savior’s Great Commission to proclaim the Gospel, and to be His witnesses throughout the world. Many things are accomplished when we make the effort to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ in the work of our Savior’s Kingdom:
1. The truth of God’s Word is taught as we share what we have learned from our Savior through His Word.
2. A bond of brotherly love and concern is developed in the hearts of the Mission Helpers and those we assist as we work together, side by side, to the glory of our Savior.
3. Mission Helpers are able to use their God-given talents in the service of His Kingdom.
4. Mission Helpers return home to the U.S. with a fresh and firsthand appreciation for the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for our church body’s foreign mission work.
5. Mission Helpers often return with new perspectives on, and deep appreciation for, the many blessings God has given us right here at home.
By the time you are reading this article, the 2016 trip to India will have already been completed. Once again, ambassadors of Jesus Christ will have finished their work in India, trusting that our faithful heavenly Father will keep His promise found in Isaiah: “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).
Thanks be to God for the privilege of spreading His saving Word, wherever and whenever He provides the opportunity, whether that be across the room, across the street, across town, across the country, or on the other side of the world!
Todd Ohlmann is pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Manchester, Missouri, and serves as chairman of the CLC Board of Missions.