History – people usually love it or hate it, but either way its importance can’t be denied. When most people think of the history of their congregation, they remember stories of immigrants who settled in the area and joined with other Lutherans to form a congregation. This small band called a pastor and set about providing a place for worship and learning.

The newest congregation in the Nebraska District shares a similar history. A group of immigrants moved to Omaha and settled there. They joined together for worship and fellowship as a mission congregation, and now have become a sister congregation in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The people of this story represent a new wave of immigration to Nebraska. They are not from Germany or from Europe at all. Instead, they are from Sudan -- many of them by way of refugee camps in neighboring countries.

The Sudanese Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mission was formed on October 3, 2004, when the Sudanese groups who worshiped at Pacific Hills,   St. Paul, St. Mark, and Zion+Peace, all of Omaha, joined together. Men from among their group were commissioned as deacons and have served this congregation under the supervision of area pastors. Now, less than two years later, the Sudanese Evangelical Lutheran Church joins the LCMS and the Nebraska District as a partner congregation in the mission of the Lord. The two deacons are in the process of becoming vicars through Synod’s Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology and will be on their way to becoming ordained LCMS pastors.

Many of the members and leaders of this newest congregation have life experiences which those born in the United States may have heard in stories passed down through their families, but never experienced themselves. Many of the Sudanese were born or raised in refugee camps outside the borders of Sudan. They have seen their country engaged in a bitter war in the name of religion between the northern Islamic government and the southern Christians. These people made the decision to leave their home and their family to go to a new country, knowing there was a great chance they would never see either again. They arrived in America among strangers without knowing the language very well. Groups of Sudanese began to form in large American cities like Omaha, and those who were Lutheran began to gather with each other for worship and fellowship.

For many congregations in the Nebraska District, the story is very similar. German, Swedish, and Danish Lutheran immigrants came to Nebraska at the end of the 1800’s and early 1900’s, seeking a better life and escaping undesirable conditions in their homelands. Many of these immigrants brought their Lutheran faith with them and gathered together to worship, eventually forming congregations and a District.

The Sudanese immigrants are new Lutherans who are thrilled to believe, teach, and confess the Scriptures and Lutheran Confessions. When asked what it means for them as a congregation to be a member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, they replied, “It means a lot because now we are a part of the big picture of the LCMS,” a full partner in the larger mission of the Lord.

This congregation becomes the fourth Sudanese congregation in the LCMS, and the second ethnic congregation in the Nebraska District, joining the Hispanic congregation Cristo Cordero de Dios in Grand Island which joined the Synod in 2004.