Monday, December 17, 2018
2 Corinthians 12:15 And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.
SPENT FOR CHRIST
The first American Lutheran foreign missionary was from the liberal Lutheran background, John Christian Frederick Heyer in 1842.
"Father" Heyer, as he was affectionately known in India, came from the General Synod to Guntur at the age of 50, not exactly a spring chicken to begin such demanding work. It is exciting to read about this colorful stalwart for outreach. He worked back and forth from the USA and India until he went for the last time to Rajahmundry at the age of 77. Remember that this was in those primitive days of 1870. He labored faithfully for over a year. The present Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church, which hearkens back to the work of men like Heyer, is the largest Lutheran church in India. This church is centered in the areas of Andhra Pradesh where our sister church, the Church of the Lutheran Confession in India (CLCI), is located.
One might think then that we might be in conflict in villages. Far from it, with over seventy-five million people in Andhra Pradesh, most of whom are unconverted, there is ample elbow room to work without conflicts. Only 16-18% of the state's inhabitants are Christian. With this kind of work before one, it is good to remember "We are God's fellow workers" (1 Corinthians 3:9), with the emphasis on "God's."
There are many more in other denominations who have worked in India in the great century of missions. The Anglican Henry Martyn arrived in India in 1805 and referred to the passage in 2 Corinthians 12:15, "I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls." And sure enough, after six years of intensive translation work, he went home to the Lord.
