LCC on the Road: New Year’s Greetings… from Nicaragua!

Dear friends,

It’s a warm Wednesday evening here in Chinandega, the city three hours from Managua where our partner church in Nicaragua has its headquarters and maintains seminary training.  I took to the air January 3 and flew from Winnipeg … to Denver … to Houston … and to Managua to prepare for the church’s Third Regular Convention, which will happen here this coming weekend, January 7-8.

The development of the “Iglesia Luterana Sínodo de Nicaragua” (Lutheran Church Synod of Nicaragua) or “ILSN” is such a heartwarming thing.  Beginning with the efforts of one evangelistic missionary in the late 1990s, several dozen congregations and preaching stations now comprise the young church.  These believers have also taken responsibility for adjacent areas of Central America and have missionaries both in neighbouring Honduras (to the north) and Costa Rica (to the south).

Lutheran Church-Canada pastors and seminary professors have done a loving work in coming here time and again to provide instruction for pastoral and deaconess candidates, as well as continuing education for these servants after they are ordained or consecrated.  The Concordia Mission Society, Lutheran Women’s Missionary League-Canada, and the Schwan Foundation have been other strong partners in getting things financed, planted and watered.  And how I thank God for our wonderful former Synod president, Dr. Ralph Mayan, who has repeatedly come here for months at a time to provide a wise, fatherly presence for the LCC mission effort here!

Of course, like all young churches (you can read about some in the New Testament), our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters have their scrapes and struggles, their differing opinions and personalities.  If the last convention I attended here two years ago was any indication, they find ways to deal with their challenges leaning on God’s Holy Spirit and strong in their confession of Christ.

I’ll try to write again later when things start to happen, but here are a few items for your prayer list over the next several days:  (1) Ask God to bless the Bible studies I will conduct on Christian stewardship on Friday afternoon before the convention begins; (2) Pray that the Lord will bless the travel of those who are driving in on buses, motorbikes and in cars; (3) Join me in praying that He will bless both the talking and listening that happen this weekend; and (4) Beg the Lord to open our Canadian eyes to see and treasure all the things a young church can teach us about love for Christ, zeal for His work, and a willingness to learn.

On the road again for Christ and for you,

Robert Bugbee

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Rev. Dr. Robert Bugbee is President of Lutheran Church–Canada

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