St. Thomas Mission Events Calendar

St. Thomas Lutheran Church Mission Calendar 2007-2008
Updated 1/21/08

Supporting the ELCA Mission efforts and our congregation/small group mission efforts. Please let us know if there is a mission event we should highlight on the calendar (Helen or Shari). Thank you!

October 2007
Mission Committee formed
Requested 2% points budget increase for mission
Hosted introductory open forums,
Including introduction to ELCA concept of “Accompaniment”

November 2007
Host Nov. 18 forum - “Accompaniment” examples
And Global Gifts for donations/sale (Cindy/Kaye/Shari/Helen)
Submit newsletter introducing committee and invitation to global mission “formation events” (Helen)

December 2007
Dec. 1 World Aids Day
Dec 2 - Guest speaker for World Aids Day and Discussion on ELCA global efforts regarding HIV/AIDS also Global Gifts (Chris)
Dec 9 - Efforts of the ELCA in the Holy Land and Palestine (also Global Gifts) both TBC???
Dec 13 (Thursday) Mission Committee meeting at church, 7 pm

Submit article for Newsletter on Fair Trade Coffee (Kaye)
Submit invitation to Global “formation events” in newsletter

January 2008
Jan 10 (Thursday) Mission Committee meeting at church, 7 pm
Jan 20 Temple Talk introducing “Year of Global Mission”
Jan 23 ELCA Missionary Visit, 7 pm, St. Thomas Church
Jan 27 Global Mission church service, Fair Trade coffee tasting and ordering
Forum “Go and Do Likewise” dvd?
Submit article for Newsletter on Fair Trade Chocolate
Provide bulletin insert on World Hunger

February 2008
Feb 3 Youth sponsored “Souper Bowl” for World Hunger
Invite special Global Mission guest or Forum on ELCA Hunger Response Book?
Invite Afghani students for Forum (Helen)
Feb 10 Divine Chocolate for Valentine’s Day (Carol)
Feb. 29 Wisconsin global mission “formation event”

March 2008
Youth sponsored “ResurrEGGtion” for Heifer International
Forum with Kaye reporting on Advocacy

April 2008
April 18 Iowa global mission “formation event”

May 2008
ECHO Temple Talk, Forum and Event (Jan E.)
Operation Bootstrap end of year event?

July 2008
July 17-20 Wisconsin ELCA 2008 Global Mission Event

September 2008
Habitat Interfaith Build

October 2008
Crop Walk - World and Local Hunger

Crop Walk

Thank you to everyone who participated in Crop Walk through prayer support, financial contributions and walking to build awareness! This event supports both local and global efforts to overcome poverty and hunger.

Africa

Stand With Africa is one of the ELCA programs for walking with our sisters and brothers in Africa. December 1 is World Aids Day and the ELCA has developed a variety of materials to build awareness and reflection on the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. We will be considering what we might do as a community. As an individual, please consider keeping this issue in your prayer life.

Asia

To help us better understand what our sisters and brothers at our companion synod in Indonesia (HKBP) might be thinking about or doing during Advent, here is a summary of how they observe this season. For a brief description of the history of the HKBP, please scroll to the bottom of this section.

Advent/Christmas in Indonesia
Advent is not really observed within the church in Indonesia. But it is a time of preparation for many of the activities that will come at Christmas. The following represents some of the activities in the Batak region (north Sumatra) of Indonesia.
During the season, all Christians organize Christmas ceremonies in their own villages, not just for in the church but also on open stages. The resulting festivities often include a drama with Mary, Joseph and the Christ child (from Luke 2); Christmas songs; readings from the Bible in various languages; and finally enjoying Christmas cakes.

In the dramas, people design and create costumes based on their understanding of Jewish custom. The music is provided by guitars, organs or electronic organs, and cassette players.

The cakes are home-made or sometimes bought in stores. This is not some special cake, but a variety of Indonesian cakes are used.

In the church itself, there is a special Christmas program. Numerous church groups participate in this, including Sunday School children, youth, mothers, fathers, and church council members. Usually the program starts a week before Dec. 24. Every night during the whole week, programs are arranged and prepared according to each group's own design and model.

All this culminates in a party, with a meal in the church. Food served includes rice and pork (Sangsang).

After Christmas, every family prepares to welcome the New Year. Like the American tradition of gathering together with the whole family at Thanksgiving, the family gathers at the New Year in Indonesia. At midnight of the new year, churches ring their bells and all families wake, sit together, and have family devotions. After the devotions, those gathered greet one another, forgive one another, and parents bless all the children. Finally, everyone enjoys New Year's cake. There are special cakes for New Year's called Ketupat (with Beef), Lemang (with Beef); and Dodol. All these are made from sticky rice, coconut milk and sugar. Some would drink beer, soft drinks, coffee-milk, etc. The family New Year's ceremony sometimes ends at 5.00 am.

Christmas and New Year's are really joyful times for the family; it is a very sad thing for someone to be unable to be his/her family during Christmas and New Year.



We will be seeking to learn more about our companion synod in Indonesia over the next few months. To get started, here is a brief history of the church there:

Protestant Christian Batak Church
Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP)

HISTORY
The Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP, pronounced hah-kah-bay-pay) grew out of the efforts of the German Rhenish Missionary Society, which began work in Batak country in 1861. In 1930 the HKBP became the first major independent and self-governing church body in what was then the Dutch East Indies. The majority of the members are rural people, engaged in small farming and living in villages, but many of the members reside in cities.

Led by a resolute and clear-sighted missionary, Ludwig Ingwar Nommensen, "the Apostle to the Bataks" the missionaries pressed inland toward Lake Toba. They translated the Bible into Batak, and led whole villages and tribes to become Christian, instead of making individual conversions.

Americas

Guatemala:
- Presidential elections were held in early November, resulting in Alvaro Colom being elected. He is considered to be a center-left businessman who won over the former military candidate. Pray for a peaceful transition and guidance for the country's leadership.
- Sister Parish staff is seeing a turnover right now. Pray for a swift and smooth transition.
- We are waiting to hear a response from our recent letters to our Sister Parish.
- Sister Parish devotions books have been ordered and should be arriving soon.
- Please let Shari know if you have further input or corrections.
For further information, check out the sister parish website at:
http://www.sisterparish.org/

Welcome!

Welcome to the new St. Thomas Mission Blog! We are trying to create a one stop shop for everyone interested in mission at St. Thomas. Our next mission meeting is on Thursday, December 13 at 7 pm at church, room 17.