We in the Northwestern Minnesota Synod are joining hands with our companion synod, the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC) in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

By walking hand in hand with our companion synod, we are practicing accompaniment – a way of seeing the world and engaging one another in a global mission that places mutual relationship at its core. In this relationship, we experience the persistence and resilience of our brothers and sisters in Andhra Pradesh. Gifted local leaders carry out the programs and ministries the ELCA helps support. Together, we Lutherans in northwest Minnesota and Andhra Pradesh are reshaping how we engage in global mission ventures. [Adapted from the comments of Rev. Rafael Malpica-Padilla in the 2011 Hand in Hand Manual]

 

Stats & Facts

Our companion synod includes:
  • Over 800,000 baptized members
  • Over 5000 congregations
  • 600 ordained pastors and a large number of lay workers
Like Our Synod…
  • Like the folks in our synod, about 80% of the members are from rural backgrounds.
  • Like the members of our synod, residents of Andhra Pradesh regularly battle overland flooding when monsoon rains spread across the flat fields. They reached out to us with funds for flood relief in 2009.
  • Like our synod, the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church serves people through educational, medical, and social ministries and does evangelical outreach.
  • Like the women’s ministry we have in our church, the AELC has a small group of women church workers, the Bible Women, who reach out to other women with the Good News.
  • Like the institutions of our church, the AELC operates a college of education, 24 primary and secondary schools, two seminaries, vocational training schools, a Bible school, two hospitals, a nursing school, and health clinics that fight against communicable diseases.
Unlike Our Synod…
  • Andhra Pradesh has 76 million people It’s located in the tropics
  • The predominant language is Telugu
  • A little less than 90% of the residents are Hindu, a little less than 10% are Muslim, and about 3% are Christians
  • It’s an agricultural area where rice, sugar cane, tobacco, and oilseeds are grown
  • Coal and iron ore are mined, and electronics are manufactured