January 1984

A visitation team was sent ot India, consisting of Pastors Norbert Reim and David Koenig. They were to hold doctrinal discussions with Pastor Bas at Trivandrum and visit Pastor Benjamin and his people. Discussion disclosed an agreement on the teachings discussed and a willingness of Pastor Bas to continue in the Word.

April 1983

Based upon doctrinal agreement with V.S. Benjamin’s Church of the Lutheran Confession of India (CLCI), and with a prayer for a missionary to be sent, the BoM authorized the purchase of a Mission House in Nidubrolu at a cost of $9,500. The building was then used as a residence for Pastor Benjamin and as a

January 1983

A visitation team representing the CLC embarked for India to investigate the field of labor around Nidubrolu, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh State, India. The team consisted of John Rohrbach and Pastors David Schierenbeck and David Koenig. They held doctrinal discussions with V.S. Benjamin in which it was observed that we were in doctrinal agreement and

July 1982

The BoM in a supplementary report to the CLC convention made mention of a meeting with John, correspondence with both John and the contact in India, Mr. Benjamin, a West Central Conference Memorial on the issue, and a projected budget for the effort. The report stated, “Recognizing the apparent mission opportunity the Lord may be

Initial Contact

The CLC Board of Missions (BoM) received a letter from John Rohrbach, a member of Zion, Ipswich, S.D., dated Dec. 10, 1981. In it he wrote, “This past summer I went to Sri Lanka and India… While there I became sick and was hospitalized for ten days. During my stay at the hospital a schoolmaster

March 1980

Recognizing that correspondence was not doing the job of keeping in touch with our sister church, a visitation team of Pastors Egbert Albrecht and P.F. Nolting visited the churches and held discussions with the leaders. The number of congregations had declined to 27. There were serious internal problems in the church. After assessing the report,

September 1977

The NCLC had applied for a government registration number. This was a prerequisite to eventually apply for overseas missionaries. After much work and time on the part of NCLC members, the church was incorporated and registered with the Federal Government.

Late 1974

Patrick Udo with his wife and infant daughter arrived in the USA to begin his studies at Immanuel Lutheran College to prepare for the ministry. He had been chosen by the visitation team to come to the USA for training. At this time also, it appeared difficult to get a missionary into Nigeria from our

April 1974

Pastor E.E. Essien and several stations that he served addressed a letter to the CLC inquiring of affiliation. Pastor Essien had been trained at the old Synodical Conference school at Obot Idim. It seemed this would be a real doctrinal boost to the group now calling itself the Nigerian Church of the Lutheran Confessions (NCLC).

January 1974

In answer to this request, which was forwarded to the CLC Board of Missions, a visitation team of Pastors Carl Thurow and Norbert Reim traveled to Nigeria and visited the churches and individuals that voiced interest in the CLC through Oscar. It was determined by this visitation that here was a mission field in which

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