The couple, who have called

Cathedral City, Calif., their home for the

past seven years, spent six months last

year visiting congregations and schools in

the Midwest and West, raising funds and

pledges for their mission and enlisting

what Kip calls his PIT crew, for

 Personal Intercessory Team.  By

November, they had made more than 100

presentations to about 7,000 people.

Accompanying them were their young

children, Noah and Kayla.

Kip and Ivy met during the late

1980s in Taiwan, where he was serving a

three year missionary stint with LCMS

World Mission. Both speak Mandarin

Chinese. That equips them for communi 

cating with the Dungan, who speak a sim 

ilar dialect of Chinese.

Most recently, Kip has been minis 

ter of evangelism and world missions with

Our Savior's Community Lutheran

Church, Palm Springs, Calif. The

Missionary Charles Groth shares a Bible story with children in

Hoechs are active participants in the Tian Shan

Ghana,West Africa.

Mission Society (TSMS), an LCMS World Mission

partner organization that focuses on reaching the

Our largest partner church? 

Dungan. They have gone on short term mission

It's in Brazil

visits sponsored by the TSMS to the Dungan in

Kyrgyzstan.

This summer, the Evangelical Lutheran

 Before our mission trip in 2000,  Kip said,

Church of Brazil begins its centennial celebration

 we actually prayed that God would not send us as

under the theme  Christ for All Yesterday, Today

career missionaries to this difficult place among this

and Forever. 

resistant people. But as we met and befriended these

That church body, known by its Portuguese

wonderful people, God began to change our hearts.  

acronym IELB, grew out of mission work that the

Their mission for LCMS World Mission and

Missouri Synod began in 1900. It was organized as

TSMS is to start Christian fellowship and Bible 

the Synod's Brazil District in 1904, and in 1980 the

study groups, to train local leaders and develop self 

district became the independent IELB.

propagating Christian churches among the Dungan,

With more than 221,000 members in 1,300

who number about 100,000 in Kyrgyzstan. That is a

congregations, it is the largest of 29  partner

Muslim country and the Dungan are  resistant  to

churches  Lutheran church bodies that share

the Gospel, Kip says. It is estimated that the cost for

altar and pulpit fellowship with The Lutheran

the mission there all raised or pledged is about

Church Missouri Synod.

$75,000 a year.

For its anniversary, the Brazilian church is

Rev. B. Steve Hughey, director of partnerships

planning worship services and public concerts, as

and involvement for LCMS World Mission, said he

well as a special convention next January.

believes that the case of the Hoechs and the TSMS

The IELB has just combined two seminaries

committing ongoing support for mission work

into one, conducts evangelism programs and spon 

 presents a new paradigm what is going to have to

sors a host of social ministries in Brazil, where the

be the more common model for expanding mission 

majority of the population is impoverished. One of

ary service in the future.

its congregations operates the world's largest

 LCMS World Mission is very open to

Lutheran university with more than 60,000 stu 

expanding work through such strategic partner 

dents on 14 campuses.

ships,  Hughey said.  And, of course, the ongoing

About 80 percent of the church's members live

prayer support the Hoechs have is invaluable. 

in southern Brazil, where German immigrants set 

Photo: LCMS World Mission

(47) FEBRUARY 2003

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