Asia: Library

    Asia Library Highlights

  • Carmen Tomfohrde & Kristin Lehmann currently serving
  • Facilitate the translation of Christian literature into Chinese characters

Providing resources in Hong Kong

Carmen Tomfohrde and Kristin Lehmann first moved to Asia in 2005. Between them, they have received Kingdom Workers support for eleven years of service in Chinese-speaking areas of Asia. They have taught English and Art to adults and children, from small groups to assemblies exceeding 1,000 students, and now serve full-time in Learning Resources and Communications at Asia Lutheran Seminary (ALS).

ALS is not your typical seminary in that it trains only pastors; instead, it also teaches men and women to be evangelists – spiritual leaders in their communities. The Seminary professors teach in English, while an interpreter translates the lessons into Cantonese, the primary language of Hong Kong. Several students coming in to ALS are native speakers of other languages, including Mandarin, the primary spoken language of mainland China and Taiwan. Right now there are about 80 students attending ALS. Some are part-time while others are full-time, and nearly all are first-generation Christians. ALS even serves students thousands of miles away through distance learning programs. A number of students can only study in the evening (7-10 p.m.) because they work full-time jobs during the day (9 a.m.-6 p.m.) and still have an hour-long commute by train or bus home in the evening. If that isn’t enough pressure, a few students also have to deal with family strain from those who don’t understand the importance of their commitment to Christianity.

    You never have a day that you doubt your work is important. You see the immediate feedback of people and know what you are doing is worthwhile.”

The Resource Center is a central part of the Seminary, providing much-needed textbooks, resource books, publications, and communication for students. Finding Chinese translations of English theology books is a continuing challenge, as is getting books in the hands of some students. Working together, Tomfohrde and Lehman try to find “twin” copies of books, one written in English with a similar version written in Chinese, so professors and students can work through coursework together. The Translation Working Group is another key area of Asia Lutheran Seminary, translating Christian literature into both Traditional and Simplified Chinese characters.

The Seminary began in 2005 with the Learning Resource Center being added in 2008. The ALS library started with a donation of 1,700 books, and now contains around 5,000 volumes. Donations are a prime way in which the offerings are expanded at ALS, but because space is so limited in Hong Kong, Tomfohrde needs to be particular in choosing the collection. She will accept donations, but they need to fit a specific need at the Seminary. She has prepared a few different donation programs to make donating as easy as possible for those wanting to help in the United States. Tomfohrde developed a wish list on Amazon.com, deals directly with individual donors from around the world, and works with the Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society (LWMS) of Minnesota, where she organized a special drive to collect CD-ROMs of a Bible Study Collection from Northwestern Publish House. These items may be brought to Hong Kong in the suitcases of travelers, or may be stored in a collection place in the U.S. until enough items accumulate to fill a container or pallet for shipping by barge across the ocean.

One of the greatest rewards of working at ALS is, “You never have a day that you doubt your work is important,” says Tomfohrde. “You see the immediate feedback of people and know what you are doing is worthwhile.” Take Cynthia for example, a recent graduate of ALS with an associate’s degree. The average apartment in Hong Kong is so tiny that there are no places for students to study. As a result, SALEM (the congregations begun by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod in Hong Kong) offers study centers where students can rent a desk so they have a quiet area and place to study. Cynthia manages one of the study centers. During the week it is used strictly for academic purposes, on the weekends, it is used as a church. From her outreach efforts with youth and teens, there were 13 baptisms last year.

“ALS has grown so fast since its beginning in 2005,” reports Dr. Steve Witte, Seminary President. From its inception in 2005 to 2008 no students had received a theological degree from ALS. In the past two years, seven theological degrees have already been earned. The Seminary began with one full-time professor and as of 2011 is up to four. In the past 18 months more than one full-time and 12 part-time translators were hired to help with 74 projects. In 2009 the Seminary served mostly students from Hong Kong with just one or two from Taiwan, but in 2011 they have several students from Nepal and other East Asia locations. In fact in 2012, ALS hopes to start a satellite Seminary for students in East Asia living further away from Hong Kong. “It’s exciting to see what God has in store for this ministry.”

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