Kenneth Loyd Reiner

1. 8/22/1938 New Salem, North Dakota USA

 

Spouse/Family

Wife: Darlene Verna (nee Harley), b. 3/10/1941, Chambers, NE USA; m. 8/7/1960

Children: Kenneth Luke (1963); Sharon Ruth (Oetting) (1964); David Carl (1967)

 

Dates of Service Field Call Assignment

1960-67 Nigeria Teacher, Chaplain

1969-89 Nigeria Field Director, Teacher, School Superintendent

 

Biographical Summary

Kenneth (Ken) Reiner met his wife Darlene (usually called “Dar”) while they were both studying at Concordia – Seward.  Ken had decided he wanted to be a teacher, and he attended two years of undergraduate study at Concordia – St. Paul, MN before attending the Teachers’ College at Seward.  Darlene, meanwhile, was a talented musician and studied in Seward’s music program.  In his senior year, Ken, like all the other students, received a questionnaire asking where he would like to be called as a teacher.  He responded that he would go wherever the Lord called him.  Soon, he was asked about taking a foreign call and responded that he would be open to the possibility.  At the time, he believed that most of the openings for teachers were in Papua New Guinea, and that was where he would likely go.  Darlene was willing to consider living abroad and had a cousin in PNG, so she also thought that area would be interesting to serve in.  However, when the call ceremony was held at Seward, the call Ken received was to Nigeria.  Ken himself was still student teaching and did not make it to the ceremony, so it was up to Darlene to call and tell him “You got a call to Nigeria!”  Although it was something of a surprise, Ken accepted the call right away.  He knew that he wanted Darlene to go with him to Nigeria and so he proposed shortly afterward!  They were married in August of 1960 and arrived in Nigeria only three weeks later.  The call abroad interrupted Darlene’s studies before she could receive her degree, but she was to make great use of her musical talents and training both in Nigeria and afterward.

 

Once the Reiners arrived in Nigeria, Ken found out that he would be teaching at Lutheran High School in Obot Idim.  For the first two years, he taught Bible/Religion classes and was also asked to teach English at the Lutheran seminary in Obot Idim.  Meanwhile, after getting them settled in their home and learning her way around the area, Darlene began to teach music at the seminary as well as Bible classes at a girls’ school a few miles away.  She also led the choir at the high school.  The Reiners often went out on Sundays to congregations in the surrounding area, and Ken would help with communion or other liturgical tasks, while Darlene played the portable organ provided by the mission.  Besides this, Ken taught twelve students in grades 2-7 at the nearby boarding school for Lutheran missionary children during 1962-63.  Darlene taught music and led musical activities and programs at the school.  In the Reiners’ third year in Nigeria, their son Luke was born in May, and shortly thereafter they left for home service.

 

During their home service in the United States, Ken studied for a full year at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and received a Master’s Degree in psychology and elementary education.  The Reiners’ daughter Sharon was born in September 1964, and the whole family returned to Nigeria in December 1964.  This time, Ken was asked to serve as chaplain for the high school, while Darlene primarily took care of their home and two young children.  This lasted for a few years, but in 1967 civil war broke out in Nigeria, and most missionaries on the field were forced to evacuate.  Darlene and the children evacuated in June 1967 with other missionary families, and Ken followed six weeks later.  Ken began teaching at Christ/University Hills Lutheran School in Denver, Colorado only a couple of weeks after his evacuation, and the family would remain in Denver for two years.  The Reiners’ son David was born in October 1967.

 

In Denver, Ken’s call was to work on merging two schools together into one, while acting as principal for the newly merged school as well as teacher for grades 6-8.  With time and some work, the two schools successfully merged and have continued in their educational mission.  By 1969, the conflict in Nigeria was coming closer to a resolution, and the Reiners were called back to continue their foreign mission work.  Ken was asked to serve this time as Field Chairman, charged with merging the LCMS mission in Nigeria into the structure of the Lutheran Church in Nigeria (LCN).  However, it took some time for the Reiners to be granted visas, so they first traveled to England to attend the Summer Institute of Linguistics.  With this training, Ken was also assigned to supervise all missionaries who were doing translation work in Nigeria.  Once Ken and Darlene had survived an intense immigration interview in London by the Nigerian visa officer, they were finally granted their visas in October 1969.

 

Once back in Nigeria, Ken set to work on the task of transitioning the work and assets of the mission to the LCN.  The family settled in Jos, while Ken spent most of his time “living out of his truck” and traveling all over the country – for the next seven years.  While continuing to care for their children, Darlene taught music at Hillcrest School, an interdenominational school for missionary children with a student body of over 500 from over 40 different countries.  She continued to play organ for chapel services.  Because Ken’s assignment took him so far away and for so long, she was occasionally referred to as “the young widow with the three children”!  The separations they had to undergo were difficult for the family, though they continued to trust in God to take care of them and their family bonds.

 

The most important aspect of Ken’s task was his work at building relationships.  He needed to form his own relationships with mission and church workers as well as to facilitate relationships between mission and church workers.  The work was rewarding but challenging, as many mission policies had to be changed and land and properties had to be transferred.  Ken hoped to ensure that all the changes would be understood and approved by both mission and church workers, which meant that he held many meetings and conversations.  His work progressed so that in April 1976 the Lutheran Church held a formal ceremony blessing the transition of Evangelical Lutheran Mission into the Lutheran Church of Nigeria.  The Reiners had taken six weeks home service on two separate occasions during these seven years, and now that Ken’s assignment was completed for the LCN, they returned again to the United States for a six-week home service.  Since Ken already knew that he was to return to Hillcrest as a teacher, he used the time to renew his teaching certificate at Seward.

 

The Reiners returned once again to Jos, Nigeria to serve in Hillcrest School.  Hillcrest was administered by thirteen denominations and its board consisted of a representative from each denomination; Ken had previously served on the board and so was familiar with the school.  For a year he taught fifth grade and supervised the elementary school, and after that year he became vice principal.  He continued teaching science and substituting, as well as supervising the elementary school.  He also served in the chapel and taught confirmation classes for all Lutheran seventh and eighth graders at Hillcrest.  Ken concluded his last five years, 1984-1989, at Hillcrest as the Superintendent of the School.  Darlene once again taught music and piano lessons, and she served as the chapel organist for the school.  The Reiners served at Hillcrest until 1989.  Their three children graduated from Hillcrest in 1981, 1982, and 1986 respectively and left Nigeria to attend college and establish their lives in the USA.

 

Ken and Darlene remained involved with the wider church and their community while working at Hillcrest.  Ken continued some of his duties as leader of the mission transition during his first two years at Hillcrest.  He also had a special ministry with the hostels that boarded Nigerian children who attended Hillcrest, by assisting them to improve standards and sharing the Gospel.  Ken hosted Bible classes in their home on Saturday afternoons which were meant to mentor several young men who were in lay leadership positions. He joined the Horticultural Society in order to be involved in a group that enjoyed gardening and thus give him contact with members of the community that were not necessarily associated with Hillcrest School or the mission community.

 

By 1989, Ken had served at Hillcrest for thirteen years and had managed to get the school accredited by the government of Plateau State while he was Superintendent.  In 1989 he was asked to develop a Sunday School curriculum for the Lutheran Church of Nigeria.  However, Ken says that at that time “the Lord spoke through Darlene” to let the Reiners know that it was time to return for service in the United States.  Darlene had begun to feel divided between her ministry in Nigeria and her desire to be with their family in the U.S., and Ken agreed that it was time to make a change.  They moved to St. Louis, where Ken became Counselor for Personnel Services for the Board for Mission Services.  His duties included helping prepare mission workers for the field and assisting those who were returning from the field, as well as taking care of any practical or personal needs that might arise for missionaries abroad.  Darlene attended Webster University to finish her bachelor’s degree in music, concentrating in organ.  She assisted with music at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Ellisville, filling for a time as music director; then she became full-time music director at Village Lutheran Church for nine years.  Darlene still teaches piano lessons and plays the organ in her “retirement.”  Ken retired from BFMS in 2006, but was asked to continue working part-time in a similar capacity.  While in St. Louis, he has also participated in the Stephen Ministry, as a trainer, at St. John’s Lutheran Church.  At the LCMS International Center, he has been a faithful organizer and supporter of a Wednesday Bible study attended by staff, and he also helped organize a program that trains staff as listeners, for which he continues to serve as a trainer.  Ken, Darlene and their family continue their work of spreading the Gospel and serving their neighbor and the life of the church, as they did for many years on the mission field.

 

Nota Bene

Ken served as part of the evaluation team for a school for missionary children in Bauke, Ivory Coast.

 

Phase 2 Information

Biggest missiological issue faced?

Living and traveling in rural areas of Nigeria at the time they did, the Reiners and other missionaries found that communication was always difficult.  They had no cell phones or e-mail, so they attempted to talk back and forth with single-band radios, with some success.  The roads were bad and traveling was difficult, so it was a real undertaking to get to talk face to face with someone.  The problem this caused was that without good communication, it was easy for misunderstandings to arise.  The importance and yet difficulty of good communication was what led Ken to spend nearly all of his time traveling during the seven years that he supervised the transition from mission field to national church in Nigeria.  Good personal relationships and clear communication were so necessary for the transition that he found himself doing whatever it took to be able to see people and talk to them, including lots of driving, hiking, wading through streams and so forth.  All this travel, of course, was not easy for his own family.  It was also quite difficult to communicate with the mission board and one’s family back in the United States.  Missionaries on the field were generally quite independent, because letters home took 3-6 weeks, so that by the time they would be able to get approval from the mission board to undertake something, the time for action would have passed!

 

Most significant contribution during missionary service?

Ken’s work to supervise the merger of Evangelical Lutheran Mission into the Lutheran Church of Nigeria was a very detailed, yet extremely fulfilling process that has had lasting benefits for the LCN.

 

He feels blessed to have been able to shepherd Hillcrest School through its accreditation with Plateau State in Nigeria, the first time the school was accredited after having been operating for many years.

 

While working for the Board for Mission Services, Ken was instrumental in getting satellite and cell phones set up in various countries in order to facilitate communication.  He also set up medical evacuation insurance for missionaries, so that any missionary or family member with emergency medical needs on the field would be promptly evacuated for proper medical care.

 

Connection to today’s mission?

The missionary community in Nigeria is changed, and some institutions and structure of the church have changed with it.  Hillcrest is now smaller than it once was and has fewer missionary kids, but remains an excellent, Christ-based school that continues to educate many children, missionary, Nigerian and international, in the area.  The Lutheran Church in Nigeria is now independent and a partner church of the LCMS.  The LCN continues training leaders, holding worship in its congregations, and sharing the Gospel.  Ken notes that “with mission work you’re always building on what someone else has done,” and the same holds true for those who came after him and his colleagues – all present work has ties to the work that went before.

 

Lessons Learned

• The key lesson learned is that God is totally in control, the mission is His, the church is His, the Christian school is His.  We are but His ministers/instruments to carry out His will in His time.  He continues to strengthen and lift His ministers up so they can carry out His mission.  Is 40:32 ff

 

• One lesson Ken learned well on the mission field was that God can speak through anyone.  As the called missionary and the “head” of the family, he was at first surprised when God’s wisdom came through Darlene’s thoughts and words, but he learned to hear God’s words no matter who was speaking them.

 

• Missionaries should be open – a missionary must learn to listen and consider before making judgments.

 

• Respect for people of other ethnicities and cultures is absolutely essential.

 

• The Lord is always with those who do His work, even when they make dumb mistakes.

 

• People are incredibly gracious.  It is amazing how people will forgive a newcomer for errors and culturally based mistakes.

 

• The saying that missionaries should keep mouth shut and ears open is very true.

 

Best Practices

• Most of the best practices on the mission field arise out of previous mistakes.

 

• Ken’s experience was that he and other missionaries fared best when they prayed a lot, stayed in close contact with God’s Word, and always listened carefully to God and to the people around them.

 

• In supervising the merger of ELM into LCN, Ken found that the process could not be rushed and needed to be a team process rather than pushed along by any one individual.  He made an effort to listen to all viewpoints regarding the merger, including those who were opposed to the way he was doing things.  Putting people with differing viewpoints on committees together ensured that everyone had a place at the table, and everyone could share and learn – many times, consensus was much easier to reach when people just had a chance to talk to each other.  He also found he had to be sensitive to the needs both of the LCN and of the missionaries, particularly as properties were transferred.  However, work also had to go on – he and others doing the work had to listen to all viewpoints, but still had to choose a particular direction for their work and make sure that work was actually completed.

 

Phase 3 Information

Inspiration for entering foreign missions?

Ken states that his call to foreign mission work was “a total God thing” which came through the synod.  He hadn’t really considered foreign mission prior to the questionnaire during teachers’ college that asked where he wanted to go and then the later suggestion by Dr. Maier, the College Placement Director, that he consider going abroad.  He had been willing to go wherever the Lord sent him, and it turned out that God worked through his mentors and the LCMS to send him to Nigeria.

 

Quotation by/about or brief story:

• Ken: “The school of hard knocks is a very effective teacher, if you survive it!”

 

• Ken recalls a time when Dr. Oswald Hoffman came to visit the missionaries in Nigeria as a retreat speaker.  Dr. Hoffman stayed with the Reiners, and after he spoke Ken was to show him around the area.  After a rocky start (the Reiners’ dog stowed away in the pickup truck Ken was driving and had to be taken home!), they were on their way, and after a time they crossed over a Bailey bridge.  This was a simple bridge that could be constructed by hand.  If made well the bridges could be strong, but Ken later found out that this particular bridge had collapsed only an hour after they crossed over it, with a truck on it.  This incident demonstrated the uncertainties of foreign mission work, but also the way in which God cares for His workers.

 

• The Reiners’ work at Hillcrest School provided many opportunities to serve as witnesses to God’s Word.  As vice principal, Ken interacted with many parents of students.  He once worked with a woman from Sri Lanka who had moved with her family to Nigeria because her husband had found a job there.  The family had two girls who they hoped to enroll in Hillcrest.  They had also had a son, but he had died just a short time before, while they were still in Sri Lanka.  This mother was still devastated by his death, and her son’s death and her grief kept coming up when she would come to the school to talk about enrolling her daughters.  With the opportunity this gave Ken to talk with and counsel her at a difficult and emotional time, he was able to share God’s Word and presence with her.  After a time, both she and her daughters became believers in the good news and hope God gives through Jesus Christ.

 

• Another sad event that occurred while Ken was chaplain at Lutheran High School in Obot Idim provided an opportunity to witness and give comfort.  Some of the young men who attended Lutheran High School had traveled to another school to play basketball, and during the game one of the players collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.  Despite the hospital staff’s best efforts, he died of a brain aneurysm.  The high school staff took their students to his parents’ house for his funeral.  Ken and other staff tried to comfort and counsel students as best they could, and the students had some chance for reflection on the uncertainty of our life in this world and God’s promises that we can be certain of Him