Poster - Worship Slides

Poster - Front-and-Center Slides

Poster - Event Slides

We have been in Sri Lanka one month. Already we have a place to live and are becoming familiar with our surroundings. We thank the Lord that we are finally beginning the work that he’s been preparing for us!

We are currently laying the groundwork for a church music program for all the congregations of the CELC. Pastor Devanesan of Immanuel in Colombo graciously offered to host “Music Club” at the church on Wednesdays. This should prove very helpful for us since there is so much to learn about South-Asian music and, in particular, Indian Carnatic music. The Tamil service at Immanuel is also exposing us to the Tamil hymns and liturgy, upon which we will focus heavily in the music program.

Benjamin is diving into the Tamil liturgy, studying how the text and the music interact. The goal of church music is that the music serves the Word, that the music lifts hearts even as the Gospel of Jesus lifts to new life. Training and enabling Tamil musicians will be pivotal in attaining the goal because God uses musicians to proclaim the Gospel! For now, it looks like we will not have the program in full swing until the new school term in September. But this gives us time to become more familiar with the liturgy and hymns. May God give us strength, wisdom and patience!

Vicar Benjamin and Grace Vanderhyde serve the Lord through The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) as missionaries in Sri Lanka. In his role as vicar, Benjamin trains up musicians to serve the Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church while assisting the other LCMS missionaries serving in Sri Lanka with their work and learning from them. You can read more about the Vanderhydes at www.lcms.org/vanderhyde.