Why do we need Lutheran Cancer & Hospice Society?

As a pastor in St. George, Utah, my congregation granted me permission to serve as the hospice chaplain for the Dixie Regional Medical Center. It was an wonderful experience. Nine of ten patients

Our new partner in mercy is Biblical Charity Institute (BCI). BCI supports the work of Lutheran Cancer & Hospice Society with a helping grant to publish our booklets and organize seminars on the same topics. BCI funds Biblical Charities Continuing Education (BCCE) in conjunction with Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. BCCE has also provided a grant to publish our materials. In 2008, BCI and BCCE will partner with Lutheran Cancer & Hospice Society to organize continuing education seminars for pastors and lay people in the church. The topics of the seminars are taken from the booklets. Pastor Mark Sell will join the authors and a local pastor to make presentations.

The purpose of Lutheran Cancer & Hospice Society is to assist pastors and congregations with information to minister to people facing terminal illness and to introduce hospice and how to minister in the hospice context.

I visited were very faithful members of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons). It was a great way for the local Lutheran pastor to become involved in the community. It was a way to show mercy and love my neighbor.

During my tenure as a hospice chaplain it was difficult - no - impossible, to find Lutheran materials on terminal illness and hospice. I needed materials to bring comfort and understanding to my members and other believers facing the decision about joining hospice. While on hospice, my own members needed strength in the midst of their suffering for daily reading. I needed pamphlets to bring comfort, bible studies, guides for pastors to get involved, guides for congregations to get involved, all from a Lutheran worldview. But, there was none to be found. It

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was a problem I put in my mind's file so that some day I could help solve it.

When Friends of Mercy called me to serve as the executive director, I asked the board of directors if I could add Lutheran Cancer & Hoscpice Society to the two main projects. This would be our domestic project. The board agreed and this fall (2007) we will launch Lutheran Cancer & Hoscpice Society. 

Our first set of booklets are:

Hospice: It Doesn't Mean Giving Up by Rev. Mark E. Sell, M.Div, STM. Executive Director, Friends of Mercy. Pastor Sell was a parish pastor in Utah and Sr. Admin. Pastor in Michigan. He served as a the Hospice chaplain for Dixie Regional Home Health and Hospice for six years. He served as a hospital chaplain for two years in an urban hospital in Ft. Wayne, IN. For 5 years he was on the board of directors for CPH. He was also the Sr. Editor of academic, professional, and consumer books as well as a contributing editor to the Concordia Commentary Series at Concordia Publishing House. He has written many articles and authored a Workbook for Fundamental Greek Grammar.

Theology of One's Cross at Life's End by Rev. Matthew C. Harrison M.Div, STM., Executive Director, LCMS World Relief and Human Care. Pastor Harrison served congregations in Iowa and in an urban ministyr in Fort Wayne, IN. He has written numerous articles and translated many more on the subject of care and mercy from a Lutheran perspective. He brings his knowledge and expertise of many Lutheran theologians to the topic of suffering at life's end. His theology and practice is centered in the cross of Christ.

Comfort from Christ's Cross for the Terminally Ill by Rev. Dr. Reed Lessing M.Div, STM., Ph.d. Pastor Lessing currently is an associate professor of Old Testament at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He served as a parish pastor for 10 years during which time he was the first V.P. of the Oklahoma district. Among his duties at the seminary he also serves as the Dean of Continuing Education. 

Luther on Care of the Sick and Dying by Rev. John T. Pless M.Div.

Despair, Comfort, and Hope in the Midst of Terminal Illness, by Dr. Beverly  K Yahnke

My Life with Cancer by Deaconess Eva Morlock