Juan Gerardo Berndt

1. 5/11/1925, Coronel Suarez, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

Spouse/Family

Wife: Erma (nee Beckmann), b. 2/4/1927, Gualeguaychu, Entre Rios, Argentina

1. 1/27/1951

Children: Ursula Irene (Abresch) (1952); Gerardo Walter (1955); Cordula Dorotea

(MacDonald) (1964)

 

Dates of Service Field Call Assignment

1951-1954 Obera, Misiones (5 congregations) Pastor
1954-1965 Chile Evangelistic Missionary
1965-1979 Seminario Concordia Argentina Professor
1979-1982 Faith Lutheran Church, Laredo, TX Pastor
1983-1996 Hispanic Institute of Theology, Professor

Concordia University, River Forest, IL

 

Biographical Summary

Both Erma and Juan Berndt were children of missionary parents – both had fathers who were sent as missionaries to Argentina in the early 1920s.  Therefore, both Juan and Erma were acquainted with the life and work of missionaries. They had also grown up in large families, with Juan the oldest of 10 children and Erma the second of 12.  Each family experienced struggles in raising and supporting so many children, but in spite of the difficulties, their parents tried to provide them with the best education.  Juan received his pre-seminary education at Colegio Concordia in Crespo, Entre Rios, and his seminary education at Seminario Concordia in Jose
Leon Suarez.  After graduating from seminary in November, 1950, he was ordained into the ministry on February 4, 1951 in Obera, Misiones.  The weekend before that, he and Erma had been married, and with all these events a new life began.

 

Juan’s first assignment was to be the pastor of the parish of Obera, where he was in charge of five congregations. It was hard work to be done in a very hot climate and with very limited communication services, which meant that really only the most essential things could be done. After 3 years, the Mission Board called Juan to begin mission work in Chile, in the neighborhood of Playa Ancha of Valparaiso.  First, however, he had to help a native pastor to become a Lutheran pastor, an interesting experience for him.  The name of the pastor was Jose Avendano
Valenzuela, and he had grown up in a very strong Catholic family. He studied to
become a priest but dropped out of seminary because of doctrinal concerns just as he was about to finish his training.  Next began his search for the church with pure Biblical doctrine.  He could not find it until he came into contact with the Hora Luterana, the Spanish Lutheran Hour.  Avendano took some courses offered over the radio, and afterward the headquarters of the Lutheran Hour in St. Louis connected him with the Argentine Lutheran Church.  After taking some written courses at the Lutheran seminary in Argentina, he was examined and finally
accepted and ordained as a Lutheran pastor. But, of course, he had absolutely no experience as a Lutheran pastor.  Therefore, Juan was assigned to introduce and guide him in his fledgling ministry.  That was his first assignment, but in the meantime he was directed to begin some mission work in the neighborhood of Playa Ancha, which would become his full-time assignment when Rev. Avendano’s mentoring was finished.  The work in Playa Ancha began with a school, through which Juan and others working there were able to make contact with many people. The school grew, as did the mission work, and Playa Ancha is now a promising mission field.

In 1965, Juan was called to the Lutheran seminary in the suburbs of Buenos Aires to teach in the areas of Systematic and Practical Theology.  He had always enjoyed teaching and now had the chance to help in the formation of new pastors; it was exciting to him that he could now help the church in that respect.  However, feeling that his theological knowledge was limited and wishing to expand it, he enrolled in the graduate program of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

After teaching for almost 15 years, Juan was called in 1979 to be the pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Laredo, TX, on the border of Mexico.  One of the main objects of his call was to begin a Hispanic mission.  Unfortunately, he was not able to carry out that objective in the short time he was there.  In 1983 he was called to teach at the Hispanic Institute of Theology, instructing Hispanic students in their own language regarding Lutheran doctrine so that they could in turn teach it in their language to their own people.  The intention was to prepare Hispanic laypersons and pastors who then could bring the gospel message to their own people. This was mission work that gave Juan special pleasure: preparing Hispanics so they could bring the Good News to their own people.  He served in this capacity until 1996, when he retired, though he continues to preach 2-3 times a week for German services.

 

Nota Bene

 

Phase 2 Information

 

Biggest missiological issue faced?

One of the biggest issues Juan faced was that when serving with Hispanics, time and again he recognized the fact that he was not one of them: his thinking, feelings, way of being, music, upbringing, etc. were all different. Even though he speaks perfect Spanish, can sing the appropriate songs and enjoy Hispanic music, his feelings and thoughts are different.  Juan says he has always blamed himself for being too German!  In the classroom, he often expressed this feeling to his students, though of course they denied it.  However, it was something that he always felt, and he thought that if he could think, act, or be like “one of them” he could better communicate and influence the religious life of those Hispanic people he ministered to.  Juan reports that in his judgment, this is one of the greatest impediments the Lutheran church has to real communication with Hispanics.  Our hymns, the way we act in services, our liturgy, and so forth has a very strong Germanic accent (even though the liturgy is of Latin origin), “which I
enjoy with all my heart,  but it does not speak to, nor touch the heart of the Hispanic.”  That was one of the biggest problems Juan and other Lutherans had in Argentina in their mission work.  They were often called the church of the Germans.  In his own mission work, therefore, Juan resolved to at least do it all in Spanish.  That was one of the principles he followed when beginning mission work in Chile.  He notes that he cannot change his feelings or upbringing, but at least he could express it all in Spanish.

 

Most significant contribution during missionary service?

Juan: “For me the most significant contribution during missionary service was when I could really connect with the people, really talk to them.  When doing missionary work, I always tried to do it through something that called their attention, or that had their attention already.  Therefore, I generally found very little value in canvassing from house to house.  I also did that, but very seldom. Often I have accused myself that I do not have enough faith in God, because I think I have to help Him to impact the thinking and feeling of the people, but I hope that is not the case.  I believe that even though I use things to call attention, the blessing of the work comes only from God.

 

“Therefore, I began mission work in Playa Ancha, Chile, through opening a school.  A school was needed in that area, it filled a need, it was well received, and so the school was a means to begin a mission.  I began visiting the parents, they opened the door, I felt welcome and we talked about several topics and, of course, also of religion. They were open, they listened.

 

“The same was also true of the missionary work during the second part of my vicarage.  I had two years of vicarage and during the second I worked in a new mission field.  In the northern part of the province of Santa Fe in Argentina there was a colony of Swiss people who longed for spiritual care, but nobody knew it.  Sometimes they were visited by a traveling sectarian preacher. Once they asked him if he didn’t know of some church which could serve their spiritual needs. He connected them with the Spanish Lutheran Hour, to which he listened often, and this connected them with the authorities of the Argentine Lutheran Church. The Mission Board, in agreement with the seminary, sent me.  When I got there, I was not looked at as an invader to their life. Rather, I was welcomed, because I was bringing them something they were longing for. I could sit down and plan with them what we could do together. After some time, we were looking for a place we could rent to have our services. They brought benches, a desk for the altar, etc. The most interested brought new persons to our services. Of course not all came that easy. I had to do also real missionary work, bringing lost sheep to the fold, but the point I want to make is I could do the work through something that called their attention; and in addition I did it only in the Spanish language. With the blessing and guidance of God, the work developed in a wonderful way to the point that after seven months they called a pastor to continue the work.  Nowadays it is one of the nice and growing congregations of the Argentine Lutheran Church.

 

“In addition to this I would like to add one small but very personal thing.  In the second year after beginning the work in Playa Ancha, our 1-1/2 year old son died suddenly of a very bad staph infection.  It was something terrible for us, really devastating.  As always in those cases, one asks Why. Why did it happen. Why did God permit it to happen.  God surely knows. But one answer sometimes came up in our minds, namely, maybe God permitted it to happen for the benefit of His mission there. It was something that really called the attention of the people. They often mentioned it, often remembered it. Attendance from about that time increased. I had the funeral service. Maybe the way we conducted ourselves, the way we demonstrated our faith in God, impacted them. To God all the glory.”

 

Connection to today’s mission?

In Argentina, for many years the Lutheran church was thought of as the “German Church.” That is no longer the case.  Juan reports that as far as he knows, all work is done in Spanish.  The church connects much more with the people, their way of thinking, their problems, their way of doing things.  Spanish is the language of the church.  Besides this, mission work today is conducted largely by finding ways to call the attention and get the interest of the people in order to evangelize.

 

Lessons Learned

Juan: “I experienced over and over again  what is expressed in such a wonderful way by the poet when he says: God acts in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. Blessing in the mission work is over and over again a manifestation of God's wonderful and mysterious working.”

 

Best Practices

 

Phase 3 Information

Inspiration for entering foreign missions?

 

Quotation by/about or brief story: