ELCA: 158 Southeast Asians Baptized

     SIOUX CITY, IOWA (ELCA) -- On Pentecost Sunday, May 31, 158 Southeast Asian people living in Nebraska and Iowa responded to the Rev. Tom B. LoVan's invitation to be baptized in a special service by a swimming pool at Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa.  LoVan is a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
     "In Southeast Asia, Christian people have a tradition of Baptism by immersion," noted LoVan.  "We wanted to make that style available, as well as the more mainstream tradition," he explained.
     "This is the largest Baptism I've seen in this country," noted Bishop Richard N. Jessen, and Bishop Curtis H. Miller agreed.  The two bishops serve the ELCA's Nebraska and Western Iowa Synods, respectively.  Both synods support multicultural ministries, and currently both support LoVan's outreach work among Asian people working and living in the river communities of Sioux City, and Dakota City and South Sioux City, Neb.
     Southeast Asian people from Nebraska and Iowa have been worshiping at Salem Lutheran Church in Dakota City, Neb., and at Morningside Lutheran Church in Sioux City for the past several months.  LoVan, a "pastor developer" who is Laotian, extended invitations for them to come to the two ELCA congregations.
     Jessen and Miller conducted traditional Lutheran Baptisms at pool side, while LoVan and other local pastors carefully submerged those who chose Baptism by immersion.
     "Before this time, Asian people came to the Lutheran church by accident," explains LoVan.  "I came by accident; I married a Lutheran woman. That is how I found the jewel in the Lutheran church: justification by grace through faith."
     "From now on, I don't want Asians to come to the Lutheran church by accident. I want them to be invited!"  That is what LoVan has done in the eight months he has been working in Dakota City, and Sioux City.  Hundreds have responded.
     "It is not me doing this work; it is the Holy Spirit," LoVan insists. "In eight months, I never thought this many people would come.  I expected maybe 10 to 15 families from the two cities.  Now at Morningside, we have 40 to 50 people coming each Sunday.  At Salem Lutheran Church there are 100-150 each Sunday," he said.
     "We use 13 different translations of the Bible, " LoVan said.  He preaches in Lao in English because most of the young people no longer speak their parents' native languages.  While about 80 percent of the new worshipers are Laotian, specific ethnic groups include Thaidam, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mien, Malaysian, Phillipino, Hmong and Yao.
     LoVan noted that more than 50 people were unable to attend the ceremony, and that the two congregations are planning another Baptism ceremony for that group.
     LoVan is part of a growing number of Asian American pastors working with Southeast Asian communities in the Midwest.  There are 58 Asian congregations and ministries in the ELCA.
     LoVan has lived in Iowa for 20 years.  He worked for Lutheran Social Services of Iowa for several years before he became an ordained ELCA pastor.  He served in an ecumenical Laotian congregation in Storm Lake, Iowa, that was a joint project of the ELCA, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the United Methodist Church.
     As more and more Laotian people came to Dakota City, lay leaders and the Rev. Nathan Houfek of Salem Lutheran Church became interested in an outreach ministry.  Many Asian people came to work for IBP, a meat-packing company with many locations across the Midwest.  Salem members contributed $30,000 of the congregation's 125th anniversary offering to that ministry last year.
     "We are conducting joint worships services for special church days, such as Easter and Lent," LoVan noted.  Half of the Sunday School at Salem is now a made up of Asian members.  "The teachers have said they really enjoy having the new Asian members in their classes, and the joint services will cut down barriers between the two groups," he said.
     "It's not been easy on this congregation, because we have people who lived through the issues of the Vietnam era in our country's history," noted Houfek.  "It's not been easy, but the congregation's doing the ministry."
     "When I came to Dakota City in 1986, it quickly became apparent that a large population of Hispanics and Asians existed and that the Asians were not being reached by any churches at that time.  So, it's been a growing interest for the congregation," said Houfek.  The Nebraska native has had a long multicultural ministry, tracing back through a close family friend who was a missionary in Tanzania for 40 years and through the intricacies of sponsoring a 13-member refugee family while a pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Lincoln, Neb.
     Nebraska Synod congregations have welcomed Asian people for many years although not in the numbers worshiping at Dakota City.  During the early years of the ELCA,  members of the Hmong community in Omaha, Neb., worshiped in a separate service at Augustana Lutheran Church.
     Lormong Lo, a longtime leader among the Hmong in Omaha, said, "Basically, we  go to the regular services with all the rest of the congregation. We have become quite comfortable with English."

     [*Linda Janssen Gjere, Communications, Nebraska Synod ELCA operating
     from the Office of the Bishop, in the Lind Center, Omaha, NE]

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Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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