This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
© 2007 - Theo Kuster.
Design by cssfill.com
Rev. Theo Kuster is a retired missionary living in Minneapolis, MN. He earned a Bachelor of Divinity from Bethany Lutheran Seminary, Mankato, MN, in 1962; a Master of Sacred Theology from Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, IN in 2002; a BA at the U of Minnesota in 1960 and an MA in Ibero American Studies from the U of Wisconsin in 1981. As pastor he served St. Paul's in Chicago, IL and St. Peter's near Goodhue MN. As missionary he worked in Peru, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ghana West Africa, and Kazakhstan.
This page last updated:
October 24-25, 1966, the ELS Mission Board met at Fairview in Minneapolis. Here were the members present at the meeting. The Board discussed possibilities of work in Taiwan or Brazil. Language acquistion was mentioned. A.V. Kuster was assigned the task of visiting Consulates for information. Here is the paragraph from the minutes.
During the middle of December 1966, I went with A.V. Kuster to visit Consulates in Chicago. Here is the report. Page one; Page two; Page three.
We were eager to learn from others. As a part of their plan to evangelize South America, in 1964 the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod sent missioners to Puerto Rico. The idea was to train the team in evangelization and church planting, and then sent the team on to South America. Helga and I visited the WELS mission in Puerto Rico in 1967. My folks paid for the trip. Here is an article from the official WELS magazine.
During July of 1967 Rev. Theo. Sauer and his wife were sent by the WELS Board for World Missions to South America "to determine the mission possibilities." One of the purposes was to evaluate the possibility of doing Missioner's Corps work, similar to the ongoing the project in Puerto Rico, in South America. They visited Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Panama.
In Peru they visited the then 70 year old German Lutheran Church where services were conducted in German and English. They found no Lutheran work in the Spanish language, however the Lutheran World Federation had built and was funding a child care project (Casa Belen) in one of the barriadas. Rev. Frederick Wolff arrived to begin Spanish work the day before the Sauer's arrived in Lima.
The report mentioned discussions with various missionaries, some of whom suggested that without a building program, a mission would get nowhere. One missionary is quoted: "If you have no building, the Latin-American does not think that you are a church."
Rev. Sauer drew a number of conclusions in his report, possibly thinking of the "building factor", since the Missioner's Corps was specifically designed to not place infastructure. "If there is any conclusion to which we would come, it is that we should give our Missioner's Corps program a thorough testing in Puerto Rico . . . . We have two years before any kind of decision could be made concerning any extension of the Missioner's Corps program. Let us use these two years to test the program as carefully and a patiently as possible and we are sure that it will become clear to us how useful it will be in other areas of Latin America."
November 30, 1967, after our trip to Puerto Rico and before the exploratory trip to South America, we received this very nice letter. Through the Arauco family in Chicago we were able to meet Jorge Arauco when Adolph Harstad and I arrived at the airport in Lima in January of 1968.
In July of 1968 the ELS authorized Orlin and Judy Myrlie to be lay-missionaries. The Lutheran Collegian organization of the WELS was instrumental. More detail on mission staff, fellow workers, and volunteers in another section.
This report deals with the information visits and public relations work undertaken during 1967. The need for additional mission workers came up at this meeting, as well as the necessity to begin learning Spanish. Here is the report: Page one; Page two.
Plans were made for deployment during July of 1968. Here is the report of progress from October of 1967. Page one; Page two; Page three; Page four.
October 28, 1967 I wrote a report of the Sauer visit to Loyd Miller, Chairman of the ELS Mission Board. Here is the letter: Page one; Page two; Page three.
Plans were pretty much set by the end of 1967. We were careful to keep everybody informed of the progress. Here is a report: Page one; Page two; Page three.
There was no lack of volunteers, as we see on page two of the report. Experience in the summer Vacation Bible School program at St. Paul's Lutheran Church on North Ave. in Chicago would prove to be valuable. Page one of the report relates the warm reception I received while touring the ELS congregations. Many many people expressed interest in the upcoming mission project. Page one; Page two.
During 1967 I read Roland Allen's two most important writings. These are available today from Amazon and well worth the cost and reading time. Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours? published in 1912, and The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church and the Causes Which Hinder It, published in 1927.
I discovered the "indigenous principle" which is "the expansion which follows the irresistible attraction of the Christian Church for men who see its ordered life and are drawn to it by desire to discover the secret of life which they instinctively desire to share. That this process has taken place is the only important and unfailing proof that a young church has become indigenous." (From Louis J. Luzbetak, The Church and Cultures: New Perspectives in Missiological Anthropology)
Allen wrote: "This is what I understand by an indigenous Church. I understand a Church which possesses as inherent in itself everything which is essential to the existence of a Church, and is able to multiply itself without any necessary reference to any external authority." (1927:10)
"They [St Paul's churches] managed their own internal affairs under the leadership of their own officers, they administered their own sacraments, they controlled their own finance, and they propagated themselves, establishing in neighboring towns or villages Churches like themselves." (1927:4)
The issues facing missions in Allen's day were essentially the same issues facing missions in the 1960s. I wondered how much of Allen's insights could be applied? As we found out, and as you will read in the following accounts, it would not be easy.
David Paton, Allen's biographer and chief compiler of his works, wrote: "Allen's primary value lies precisely in the area which, one feels, most irritated the church leaders of his own day: the raising with ruthless persistence of precisely those theological issues which are most easily evaded because they call into question current practice." (From David M. Paton, Christian Missions and the Judgment of God)
Allen wrote in Education in the Native Church: "The first group of converts is regarded as the native Church in that country, and, if we desire a native Church at all, our business when we first go there is to see that we establish a Church which is really native." (1926:4)
The principle met with objections when applied. Allen's description of the typical missionary reaction was similar to what we experienced, as you will see from the documentation. Here is what Allen wrote: "The moment it is suggested that a council in which natives are in a majority should have the power to direct the action of a white missionary, the moment it is suggested that a native, even though he may be a man of the highest devotion and intellectual ability, should be put into a position of authority in a province where white men still hold office, the white missionaries revolt." (1962:143)
The "indigenous principle" continues to be discussed and debated by missionaries, mission boards, and "native" church groups. And, even today many acknowledge the wisdom of the principle, and in practice ignore it.
The ELS mission to Peru was an attempt to practice the "indigenous principle." The following pages will inform the reader to what extent we suceeded or failed.