"laestadian, apostolic, gay, lgbtq, ex-oalc, ex-llc, llc, oalc, bunner" LEARNING TO LIVE FREE: ALC Foreign Mission Sites

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

ALC Foreign Mission Sites

This may be news only to me, but I thought I'd post some relatively new links to the ALC Foreign Mission.

As far as I know the ALC (Apostolic Lutheran Church of America "Federation") is the only Laestadian group in the U.S. that does missionary work.

http://www.themissionsite.com/ This is the offical web site for The Foreign Mission of the Apostolic Lutheran Church

http://www.foreignmissionnewsblog.blogspot.com/ This blog appears to reprint the monthly newsletter and other breaking news and letters regarding ALC foreign missions. Maintained by John Ruotsala

http://foreignmission.blogspot.com/ This blog is also maintained by John Ruotsala, but has different content then the one above. This blog appears to be reprints of devotional material.

http://foreignmissionstore.blogspot.com/ The Foreign Mission Store. As far as I can tell all products are created by Apostolic Lutherans, including a memoir by an ALC pastor, handcrafted wooden pens made by another pastor, and (my favorite based on title alone) "Naomi in Nigeria" --a collection of correspondence surrounding early ALC mission attempts in Africa.

I thought the store in particular was most interesting. Aside from the kitschiness of some of the items, I never knew there where that many ALC-themed products in existence!

5 comments:

  1. EX FALC says

    The LLC also does some mission work. I know this because my cousin married a guy from Togo, Africa. They also do some missionary work in Ecuador, but I don't know how the missionary work is being carried out, or the effectiveness of it.

    There have been several other women who have married people from Togo and Ecuador. Not any men that have married women from those countries that I am aware of. I think the LLC'ers marrying people from different cultures and different skin colors is a positive sign. Many LLL groups (not specifically the LLC) have been racist or exclusive towards other ethic groups and this is a good way to teach the next generation to be accepting of all people regardless of skin color. There are a lot of things I disagree with about the LLC and other Laestadian groups, but I take this as a positive sign. I actually have more respect for the LLC than the church I came from (FALC) because they are reaching out to other people around the world.

    If LLC'ers continue marrying people from other countries, things eventually will change, and here's why...

    Do you really think you can take someone from a country like Togo, where dance and their ethic clothing and food are so important to their way of life, and tell them they can't do it anymore? If you do, why do you think you have the right to tell someone that your way is right, and their way is wrong? Are you going to get them to start eating nissu and pasty's, and tell them they can't dance? That's similar to what happened to the Sami, but I don't think it could happen to the Africans & South Americans in the same way the Sami were forced to change. The Sami shared the same land and a lot of the same food as the non-sami finns and swedes, and it was also a different period in time, where information wasn't shared like it is today. Stranger in a strange land, you know a lot about the Sami, maybe you can add to this.

    Seeing what happens with the mission work will be interesting to watch.

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  2. The LLC does foreign mission work also. Russia, Africa, and Equador that I know of.
    -Eyeswideopen

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  3. The book "Naomi in Nigeria" is an account of the first ALC mission there (or anywhere, if I remember correctly). Her husband was killed in a car accident after just a short time in country. I'm constantly amazed at the courage of missionaries who move their families to foreign (and often unfriendly if not dangerous) lands. The story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot and the mission group they were involved with is wonderful too.. books and videos are available...

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  4. In the LLC there is a man who married an Ecuadorian woman. They reside in the states. I don't know of any others.

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  5. Yes, the llc does misionary work. I hope it will bring around change to the llc(like ex-falc said-they can't change the ethnicity of the african people), but I don't see it happening yet. My husband and I were at the llc church at christmas with my family, and felt like we weren't the odd ones out anymore. Even though the few african men that have married women from here are laestadians, they still get stared at the same as us, if not worse. It's actually quite sad to see. I hope having african people in their church brings positive changes, but I think it will take awhile if it happens at all.

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