Letter of Appreciation to Norwegian Missionary Society (NMS)

I got a very nice letter in a frame the other day - well actually it was The Norwegian Missionary Society who got it (NMS)

Here is a picture of the letter.

The following is the content of the letter:

This year the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong celebrates our 95th anniversary. Besides giving thanks to God, we would also like to express our gratitude to our partners in mission!

When we started in 1913, this seminary was built only to train Chinese Lutherans. Nowadays, we not only have Lutherans, but also have students from more than 70 different denominations and independent churches. We are not only training Chinese but, as a regional seminary, also have students from 19 different countries

We are one of the most international and ecumenical seminaries in Asia. In 1913 we had only 5 professors that were all male missionaries. Nowadays, we have 27 full-time faculty members, of whom only 1/3 are missionaries, the rest are local scholars. There are female as well as male professors. In 1913 we had 16 students, all of whom were male and wanted to be clergy. Today we have 700 students. Half of them are females and half of the students are not seeking to be ordained, but to witness to the Gospel in all different professions. We have become one of the largest seminaries in Asia. This is a great improvement but we could not have reached this level without you. For this we have deep appreciation!

You helped us not only in quantity but also in quality! Through your cooperation, you help us to understand things from different perspectives and make us become famous for providing innovative ideas to Hong Kong and Asian Churches. We are the first seminary to teach Biblical criticism, Ecumenical Theology, Feminist Theology, Ecological Theology, Religious Dialogue, etc.
We cannot inspire Asia about these insights without your accompaniment. For this, we have deep appreciation!

You help us in enormous ways - you pray for us, support us financially, send us excellent missionaries who provide us with various wonderful talents. You are courageously stand by us facing all the challenges.

You are a vital part of our community and we feel privileged about it!

THE LTS COMMUNITY, year 2008


Of course it warmed my heart to be able to receive this letter. I felt privileged too and so does my wife - Po Chu Groenvold who is one of the teachers at LTS.

So let it be known - what NMS was part of starting in China back in 1913 - only 11 years into our presence there has with the help of many partners: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, The Finish Evangelical Lutheran Mission and others have grown to something big and wonderful here in China - serving God to the best of their abilities.

I am going to hang the frame on my office wall here in Hong Kong.