Hand in Hand Global Mission Support Blog Digest

The Rev. Dr. Benjamin and Margit were called to served as Pastor of the American Church in Berlin, Germany, in September 2002, where they served until June 2010. Prior to responding to the call to serve in Germany they resided in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

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Dear Gol Sunday School:

The American Lutheran Church in Berlin, Germany, is located in what was East Berlin and serves a diverse congregation.

Thank you so much for the Thanksgiving greeting card. Your love and support is deeply appreciated by Margit and me! We have been serving the American Church in Berlin, Germany. Can you find that on a map? It is many hundreds of kilometers from Kenyon, Minnesota,  but we are one in Jesus. When we pray we meet at the throne of God’s grace and there we are one together.

The children at ACB are part of the “Kids of the Spirit” program – where they hear the stories of the Bible, learn about Jesus and share together in prayer, just like you do.  In a couple of weeks they will be sharing with all the people of the congregation their gifts in singing, reading and sharing the Good News of the birth of Jesus. We have over 30 nations of the world represented in the congregation so we have children who have come from many different places in the world. We have many different languages spoken but the common language of English is the language we use in the church.

Thank you for thinking of us and praying for us. We would ask that you continue to do that for the people at the American Church in Berlin. 

Blessings and Love,  Ben and Margit

Pastor Ben and Margin Coltvet are ELCA missionaries serving the American Church in Berlin, Germany.

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Thanks are rolling in from missionaries the world over for the more than 3000 Thanksgiving cards sent through Operation Thanks-Giving!

“Last year, Edwin Holmvig-Johnson’s first Thanksgiving as a missionary teaching primary school in the UK was also his first away from home. Edwin was a young adult volunteer who said that ‘My homesickness had been fairly stable up until that week,’ he said. ‘The weather was gray and it gets dark here around 4:00 in the afternoon. It was a hard week.’

Then, a package from the ELCA churchwide organization in Chicago arrived.

Edwin opened it expecting to find official forms needing his John Hancock. Instead he found a package filled with handmade cards thanking him for what he was doing and bringing Thanksgiving greetings.

‘There were these fantastic cards and greetings from an ELCA congregation Trinity Lutheran Church in Vale, N.C., that I’d never met on the other side of ‘the Pond.’  It felt wonderful to know that I was being thought of and prayed for and made it easier to keep going,’ Edwin said.” (From Living Lutheran, where you can read more about this story).

Operation Thanks-Giving began last year when Global Mission Support Director Twila Schock was talking to colleague Sue Edison-Swift about how Thanksgiving can be a hard time for missionaries, since by Thanksgiving time the novelty has worn off and the difficulties (language, shopping, being away from family) seem to grow heavier.  A Thanksgiving care package she received helped immensely.

Thus was Operation Thanks-Giving born. Congregations, organizations and individuals were asked to send Thanksgiving greetings to ELCA missionaries thanking them for what they are doing.  The project has turned into a meaningful exchange for both sender and receiver alike.  Thanks for your overwhelming thankfulness!

For more on Operation Thanksgiving, and ideas for next year, see:

Operation Thanks-Giving
Living Lutheran
Women of the ELCA Blog

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Millions of Bibles come off the press each year in Shanghai

The Amity Printing Company (APC), located in Shanghai, China, recently celebrated the printing of its 80 millionth Bible.  The event highlighted the importance of the Amity Foundation’s continuing Christian vision and values. This event also marks an important occasion, as the APC has scaled up their operations in the last 3 years, printing 10 million copies of the Bible for domestic and international churches each year.

The official speeches focused on the importance of the cooperation between international and national churches in making this occasion possible. Mr Qiu Zhonghui, the Amity Foundation’s General Secretary, introduced the event and highlighted three important services supplied through the APC. These included increasing the cooperation between the Chinese Church and Christian society in China with the objective of printing Bibles, involving international churches in the Chinese Christian movement and reaching the Chinese population with the Bible’s and the Amity Foundation’s message of love and charity.

International partners highlighted the historical background for the APC and the connection to the TSPM, with the representative for the United Bible Societies commenting that ” all of us today are celebrating a miracle”. The APC therefore demonstrates the importance of faith acting out love both through practical and spiritual nourishment and knowledge.

APC was founded in 1987 as a joint venture between the Amity Foundation, an independent Chinese voluntary organization, and the United Bible Societies. It is the world’s largest Bible printer and 75% of the Bibles Amity prints annually is sold inside China. Most are in Mandarin, but editions  in several ethnic minority languages are produced as well as a paralel Chinese-English version.  In addition, APC produces Bibles in other languages for export. Domestic Bibles retail for as low as $1.20.

Early in the history of APC, the ELCA had provided funding for the purchase of paper. Paper of the appropriate quality for Bibles was not available at the time in China and had to be imported from abroad at a higher cost. Since then, APC has spearheaded efforts to produce better quality paper domestically in China, thus reducing the APC’s reliance on outside assistance.

(Parts of this entry were taken from news from the Amity Foundation.)

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