LCMS World Mission calls regional directors for Eurasia, Latin America
"Mission News" e-NewsLCMS World Mission announced in late December that Dr. Jorge Groh and Rev. John Mehl will serve as regional directors to work with LCMS mission partners and partner church bodies to establish mission priorities, develop comprehensive strategies and evaluate LCMS international mission work and involvement.
Groh and Mehl are among four new regional directors that will serve as deployed members of the St. Louis administrative staff of LCMS World Mission, coordinating the work in Africa, Asia, Eurasia and Latin America.
“These two men bring a wealth of missionary experience to the regional director positions and a sensitivity to relationships with partner churches,” says Rev. David Birner, associate executive director of the international mission team for LCMS World Mission. “We give thanks to God for their willingness to accept this challenge to serve as regional directors, and we pray that God will bless their work among us.”
Groh accepted the call to serve as regional director for Latin America. He is a native of the Entre Rios Province of Argentina. Groh attended both pre-seminary and seminary in Argentina and served as a parish pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina for five years after graduation in 1977. Upon receiving a doctor of ministry degree in cross-cultural missions from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1989, Groh began ten years of service as a professor at Concordia Seminary in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He also served as the seminary’s president from 1992 to 1994.
Groh comes to LCMS World Mission after serving St. Luke Lutheran Church, a congregation of The Lutheran Church—Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, for three years as an associate pastor working in Spanish ministry. He and his wife, Olga, have three daughters: Jesica, 25, Pamela, 23, and Analis, 18.
Groh says, “It’s an honor to be called to this position. I will humbly do my best and the Lord will do His mission, opening doors and opportunities for us to face in Latin America.”
Commenting on the challenges and opportunities that he anticipates encountering while working in 21st century global missions, Groh said, “I think we need to deepen what we call ‘partnership’ [and come to a common understanding]. Does partnership mean that we are partners in being the church? In sharing resources? In being missionaries? Only by understanding that we are partners in the Gospel can we identify the challenges and opportunities together with our partners and develop the best strategies for mission outreach that will bring Christ to a world in crisis.”
The Rev. John Mehl will serve LCMS World Mission as regional director for Eurasia. A native of Lexington, Mo., Mehl attended Concordia College, Ann Arbor, Mich., where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1981 and graduated from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo., in 1985. Since 2000, Mehl had served with LCMS World Mission as an area director for the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltics.
Prior to beginning work as an evangelistic missionary and church planter in Moscow, Russia, for the LCMS in 1993, Mehl served as a parish pastor with St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Lincoln, Kan., for eight years. Mehl and his wife, Susan, have three children: Katrina, 14, Louisa, 11, and Theodore, 9.
Mehl says, “ I count it a privilege to serve the LCMS in this way. The church cannot be the church without mission. This mission requires a unified vision not only among LCMS World Mission and its partners, but among the whole The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.”