Story by Deaconess Cheryl D. Naumann, VDMA Project Director
Photos by Jana Inglehart and Shara Osiro
Four letters – VDMA, a Latin acronym which translates “The Word of the Lord endures forever” – united Reformation-era Lutherans in solidarity against their adversaries. Today, for Lutheran pastors and seminary students across 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), VDMA refers to the Project that is providing them with a digital library of Lutheran books, to assist in carrying out their work in accord with God’s Word and the Lutheran Confessions.
During the first week of March, LCMS President Matthew Harrison visited the Synod’s regional mission office in the Dominican Republic, where he “pushed the button” to distribute the VDMA Project’s 30th eBook: The Lonely Way Vol. 1 by Hermann Sasse.
This volume has special significance for President Harrison, who translated Sasse’s original work from German into English for publication by Concordia Publishing House (CPH) in 2002. The VDMA Project is grateful for its partnership with CPH, which has allowed the translation of titles for which CPH owns copyrights.
In addition to the eBooks, magazines, daily devotions, educational curricula, disaster response materials, and articles from magazines like Journal of Lutheran Mission are digitally disseminated by the VDMA Project with ease and immediacy. Again, the VDMA Project is thankful for organizations that share their resources for translation into Spanish, including LCMS seminaries, Good News, Luther Academy, LCMS Disaster Response, and several LCMS Recognized Service Organizations.