Mark (Marcos) Nathanael Kempff

1. 10/16/1952 Antigua, Guatemala

 

Spouse/Family

Wife: Ruth (nee Rivero) b. 8/5/1957 Venezuela; m. 7/30/1978

Children: Raquel Amada (Fehr) (1980); Juan Marcos (b. 1982, d. 1982);

Rebeca Noemi (1984)

 

Dates of Service Field Call Assignment

1975-2003 Venezuela Missionary Educator, Church Planter, Lutheran

Hour Ministries, Mission Field Coordinator

2003-2008 Panama Theological Education

 

Biographical Summary

Mark (Marcos) Kempff was born of missionary parents in Zacapa, Guatemala.  In 1957, his family moved to El Salvador, where his father Gerhard Kempff was instrumental in beginning the Lutheran church.  The family moved again in 1967, to Honduras, where Gerhard Kempff served as a church planter.  Mark graduated high school in Honduras but was advised to apply for university studies outside of that country, so he chose to attend Concordia Teachers College in Seward, Nebraska from 1970-74.  Having spent his entire childhood and adolescence in Latin America, he experienced fairly intense culture shock upon his “return” to the United States.  Upon receiving his Bachelor of Science degree (in teaching biology), Mark was called by the LCMS to mission work of his own, in Venezuela.

 

Because of his experience with missions and with education, Mark was placed as an educational worker in congregations that had already been planted, helping to train Lutheran pastors and teachers.  His work was similar to that of a Director of Christian Education.  Students who expressed interest or who were referred by their pastors studied in the “Juan de Frías” Theological Education by Extension program.  Mark served as a professor in this program and did a lot of traveling to lead courses and seminars for these potential church leaders, as well as doing curriculum development and writing of course materials.  At one time there were close to one hundred students in the program.  Mark also worked as a church planter during many of his years in Venezuela, including leading Bible studies, helping with property purchases and church building plans, and conducting visits and meetings with people who were interested in joining the church.  During his first years in Venezuela, he met Ruth Rivero, and the two were married in 1978.  Ruth received a degree in early childhood education (roughly equivalent to a Master’s degree) from a university in Venezuela after remaining at home with their children for the first years of their marriage.  Mark and Ruth’s daughter Raquel was born in 1980.  Son Juan Marcos was born in 1982 but lived only a short time after his birth.  Their second daughter, Rebeca, was born in 1984, and in 1988 Ruth suffered a miscarriage.  Raquel and Rebeca now both live in the United States.

 

After working in educational and evangelistic ministries for over ten years, Mark was asked in 1986 to take on the responsibility of production manager for the radio ministry Christ for All the Nations (the international version of the Lutheran Hour).  In this capacity, he was responsible for the content of the program and for making sure it was produced and aired.  Mark wrote parts of the radio programs and dealt with any production issues.  He also wrote about fifty pamphlets which accompanied the programs and could be distributed to interested listeners, on topics such as family life, vocation, and emotional issues.  Because of the relatively high profile of this work and the desire to reach out to as many people as possible, he also began to do more speaking, working with congregations across Venezuela to host public conferences and presentations on topics of interest (again, family life, vocation and so forth).  Some of the themes of these conferences were interesting to people in the government, and Mark was asked to give workshops in two departments of the government of Venezuela.  Added to all this was his work to help Christ for All the Nations develop all over Latin America, for which he traveled to different countries and contributed to the program’s development in Brazil and Argentina, in particular.

 

In 1996, Mark’s job description again changed, and he became Congregational Consultant, Director of Theological Education, and Mission Field Coordinator for the mission in Venezuela.  He continued holding conferences and teaching but also began working more closely with both LCMS and the Lutheran Church of Venezuela to make sure missionaries were equipped to do their work, to oversee personnel, and to assist in the ongoing transition of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela from a mission field to a fully independent national church.  As the Director of Theological Education, Mark oversaw curricula for the education of national church leaders as well as taking care of personnel working in theological education.

 

Although his job description from 1986 on did not necessarily include church-planting, Mark continued doing evangelism and felt particularly blessed to be part of a new church plant in Caracas in the early 1990s.  Ruth too became heavily involved with this project, helping to found a daycare and preschool at the church, teaching and keeping the program running.

 

The mission of the LCMS underwent a downsizing in 2002-2003, and at that time the Kempffs were pulled out of the mission field in Venezuela.  They quickly received a call to serve in Panama, where Mark was to serve as professor and director of the Theological Education by Extension Program.  He continued as director until 2007 and as professor until 2008, but in 2004 he took on an additional exciting responsibility when he was asked to serve as Regional Consultant for Theological Education Programs in Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela and the Caribbean and as facilitator for the network of theological education institutions of the International Lutheran Council – Latin American Region.  In this role, Mark assisted theological educators with curriculum and administrative issues, but his main role was to create bonds of support and shared knowledge between educational institutions across Latin America in order to facilitate good theological education techniques throughout the continent.  Both the Kempffs’ daughters were away at college by the time they were called to Panama, and with more time available to work outside the home, Ruth became involved in the seven small congregations (concentrating on three) in any way possible – most especially women’s ministry, but also special programs and projects, daycare and preschool.

 

In 2008, LCMS World Mission once again made a series of cutbacks, and Mark’s position in Panama was terminated.  He and Ruth settled in the U.S., and soon he was asked to become instructor and course developer for the Center for Hispanic Studies at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.  In this position he is able to continue his educational ministry, now specifically for Hispanic theological students in the United States.  Ruth teaches Spanish to children of the seminary community.  For both, it is an adjustment to live and work in the United States after so many years in Latin America!  After a lifetime of ministry in the Lutheran church and in Latin America, the Kempffs continue to express their faith through their vocation and their life, and they remain particularly concerned for the life of the church in Latin America and the theological education of Hispanic church leaders throughout the Americas.

 

Nota Bene

Mark’s work in theological education has required that he create many and varied materials: coursework and curriculum design for theological education; radio programs and accompanying pamphlets; updating others’ courses and educational materials; conference and presentation materials.  The materials he has produced were used all over Latin America, and many are still in use.  He continues to develop courses in his role with the Center for Hispanic Studies.

 

Phase 2 Information

Biggest missiological issue faced?

One of the most significant issues for mission work as a whole is how to transition from a mission field to a national church and how to prepare the church in a particular place for the presence of fewer or no missionaries.  Thus far Mark does not believe LCMS World Missions has done a good job of transitioning: when changes are made, new programs supplant the old without drawing from or learning from past work.  Missions should not need to reinvent the wheel every time a transition happens; the sending church needs to pay more attention to what missionaries and national leaders have achieved before simply replacing old ideas with new ones and discarding the old.

 

The “corporate USA model” is a poor, and too-often used, model for mission work.  Much of the work of missionaries from the U.S. is judged heavily on the basis of numbers; summaries of mission work are boiled down to number of people, churches or programs, and of course costs.  Mark would agree that tracking of outcomes for mission is important, but not the most important thing by which the work of the Gospel should be judged – such a system begins to crowd out the Gospel as the driving force for missions.  There is a need for a “church model” of mission work, rather than the church simply copying corporate business models.  Mark notes that St. Paul never discusses “strategic planning”; his strategy for mission is to follow the Lord’s plan.  Too much reliance on pure numbers and on a corporate mentality creates a danger of ignoring the Lord’s plan for the spread of the Good News.

 

The mission in Venezuela was blessed to have very little internal conflict, whether among missionaries or between missionaries and national church leaders (and it’s possible that the relative harmony among the missionaries influenced the tone of the relationships between missionaries and national church leaders and among national leaders themselves).  Conflict between missionaries can sometimes give rise to a national church with a habit of conflict.  This is an important issue in missions, but it was fortunately not the case in Venezuela.

 

Most significant contribution during missionary service?

Mark has felt blessed that he was able to serve on the same mission field for so many years.  It has given him the chance to see the work and the church mature (in Venezuela in particular, but all over Latin America), and it is a great joy that Latin American churches are now sending missionaries all over the world.  There is even a school for missionaries in Argentina.

 

Being facilitator for theological education across Latin America was a great joy for Mark.  He would have liked to continue this work with more time and resources (having just one facilitator to do all the work of networking with educational institutions across Latin America was stretching the work pretty thin!), but even so the work he was able to do came as a great blessing.

 

Connection to today’s mission?

The Lutheran Church of Venezuela continues to conduct worship and share the Good News of Christ.  It also maintains a commitment to theological education, conducting Theological Education by Extension in thirteen centers throughout the country.

 

La Paz Lutheran Church in Petare (Caracas), the church Mark helped plant and for which he trained the pastor, is an ongoing ministry in the city.

 

Mark believes there is not enough of an ongoing connection between LCMS World Missions itself and former missionaries.  Missionaries, who already have a heart for the development and success of God’s work in missions, could be utilized by the church for their expertise on topics in mission and particular mission fields.  More connections should be maintained in this way in order to use the knowledge gained through many years of service by missionaries all over the world.

 

In the end, Mark says: “All that we do is God’s – only the Lord knows what remains.”

 

Lessons Learned

• “The church is the Lord’s, and we are His instrument.”
• “The mission doesn’t belong to the church; the church belongs to the mission. And both the mission and the church belong to the Lord.”  Most basically, Christians must be humble and ask that the Lord’s will be done.
• God may put us in situations that are unplanned, and we may never know the outcomes.  Mark recalls that his father used to say it might be better when we don’t know the outcome of our work, lest we take the credit for what God has done through us.

 

Best Practices

• The transition from control of the church by the mission (sending church) and control by a newly formed national church should be an intentional transition.  It should be motivated by the knowledge, experience and collaboration between the sending church and its missionaries and the national church.  It should not be motivated by money issues or the sending church’s desire to use their missionaries in other ways.  The needs of the field and the soon-to-be independent national church should be considered first and foremost.
• Church-planting is a joint venture between missionaries and the national church; it should not be done only by missionaries, especially so that the national church is equipped to continue evangelistic work after missionaries have left the field.
• Mission work is most successful when there are long-term missionaries on the field.  Short-term missionaries can do a lot of good, but to have long-term as well as short-term missionaries ensures a continuity of work and knowledge.
• Teamwork among missionaries and national church leaders is extremely important.  Pastors, teachers, directors of Christian education and other leaders should work together as they seek God’s will.  It is a great boon to have even one other person to talk, study and pray with as one tries to do God’s work.
• Moreover, “teams don’t just happen; they have to be put together.”
• In Venezuela, church planting and theological education went hand-in-hand from the beginning of the mission, and that was very helpful.  Getting church members involved in theological education early develops their gifts, wherever those gifts may lead.
• It would be a best practice for the LCMS as a whole if career missionaries were more involved (even on a volunteer basis) in the orientation and sending of new missionaries.  In general, a more intentional use of the talents and heart of career missionaries to benefit the church would be a best practice.
• Mission work is a gift and is not necessarily for everyone.  A person’s desire to do mission work may or may not be indicative of a call from God, that God has endowed that person with the gifts or resilience for such work.  Careful discernment is needed when sending missionaries onto the field.
• Even short-term missionaries, and even those sent to do very specific projects, should be integrated into the overall mission of the church.

 

Phase 3 Information

Inspiration for entering foreign missions?

Mark notes, “I was a part of mission work my whole life.”  Having spent his entire childhood and youth outside the U.S. as the son of missionary parents, mission seemed the natural thing for him.  He also tries to use responsibly any influence he has in educating and training leaders to encourage those who have a heart for missions.  He would still like to see the LCMS do a better job of creating ties between missionaries and between career and new missionaries (or those considering or with the talents for mission).  Intentional facilitation of good communication could be very helpful in influencing those who can do God’s work of mission.

 

Quotation by/about or brief story:

• Mark writes, “When I was a small boy, I broke my nose falling out of my father’s Jeep.  From a very early age, I wanted to tag along with my father whenever he would visit the villages.  One evening just as he was going to leave for worship in a small village in rural Guatemala, I climbed into the Jeep and hid.  My father did not know I was there and when he drove off, I fell out and right on my nose.  My first ‘scare for the sake of the Gospel.’  Throughout my years in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Venezuela and Panama, as well as many visits in almost every Latin American country, I didn’t fall out of any more Jeeps, nor did I suffer any major injuries.  Yes, there were many moments of frustration, failure, sorrow and feelings of inadequacies.  But there are no words to humanly describe the joy, peace and rejoicing that came while serving the Lord as a missionary in Latin America.  What a privilege to serve Him all those years.  What an opportunity to be one of His servants.  I pray I remain faithful, true and humble all the days of my life.  All honor to Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.”