Lutheran Asian Ministry in St. Louis at Holy Cross Lutheran Church

By Scanews Staff

About Lutheran Asian Ministry

The Lutheran Asian Ministry in St. Louis is a gospel outreach ministry to 
the Asian community, especially to the ethnic Chinese of the St. Louis area. 
This ministry is the result of collaboration with the Division for Outreach of 
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). This Asian ministry is 
commissioned by both the Multicultural Ministries of the ELCA and of the 
Central States Synod of the ELCA. 

At present, there are 34 Chinese Congregations in the ELCA. The ministry in 
St. Louis is the newest among them, and the first such ministry of the Central 
Sate Synod. This provides a challenge to the members of the ELCA family to 
respond to this outreach ministry. 
 
The Mission

The purpose of this ministry is to share the Gospel message and Christian 
love to Asian people who are just beginning their new life, specifically, in 
the St. Louis area. Those who have traveled from distant places to live in the 
United States experience numerous changes and challenges as they face living, 
not only in a new place but also a new culture.  In recognizing this need, the 
ELCA has responded with the development of the Lutheran Asian Ministry in St. 
Louis, pastured by Pastor Daniel Chong. 

The Place

LAM has an office at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 6325 Clayton Road. This 
location provides a place for Asian students and exchange students to come from the major St. Louis universities and colleges for Bible studies and small group gatherings in cooperation with the other Christian congregations. Worship takes place at 13014 Olive Blvd. Sundays at 10:30am. Also located at 13014 Olive is an extensive resource center containing videos, cassettes and volumes of books, gifts of the Chinese Cultural Center of Taiwan, English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and Senior Citizen Services.  
   
Community Service

The Community Services Mission is dedicated in providing cultural, educational, economical, health, social and spiritual services to the St. Louis Asian community.

The vision of Community Services:

Committed to provide quality services that meet the changing needs of the 
Asian Community in Missouri. 

Services that we currently provide: 
  - English as a Second Language (ESL)
  - Library service
  - Information/resource referral
  - Senior citizens service 

About ESL (esl@lamstl.org)

All our ESL class time are very flexible, and they are offered at 3 different locations.  In the central county, it is helded at St. Mark's Lutheran Church at Clayton (across from SSM St. Mary hospital); in south county it is at St. Thomas/Holy Spirit Lutheran Church at South Lindberg (between Watson and Gravois; in west county at Holy Cross Lutheran Church on Olive west of I-270.  The ESL class emphasized on everyday conversation & American customs/culture and were instructed by volunteer teachers. 

About Library service (library@lamstl.org)

Our mission is to promote and provide knowledge, information and cultural 
heritage to the multicultural community.  We have about 9,000 collections of 
books, children's books, literatures, fictions, audio & video cassettes.  Most 
of our collections are in Chinese language.  The hours are every Saturday and 
Sunday from 1pm to 4pm (except public holidays).  We have a fully refundable 
$30 deposit, and library patron is eligible to borrow up to 5 items for 2 
weeks. 

For more information about Senior Services, please feel free to contact Amy 
Hodgson at senior@lamstl.org.

For inforamtion about Information/Resource Referral, please contact Szu-Ching 
Fu at referral@lamstl.org.

For overview of our organizatio chart, please visit 
http://www.lamstl.org/organization%20chart.htm