Some church person asked me to haul a load of teen-agers from Rock Creek Lutheran Church in rural Iowa to a gathering in St. Paul, where we would meet Lutherans from all over the world.

I was a United Methodist at the time, incidentally, but deemed acceptable because I was a dependable youth with a decent driving record. So I agreed to shepherd a carload of youths to the 10th anniversary of the Lutheran World Federation. And during the next couple of days, the worldwide church was opened to me in ways I never thought possible.

I remember sitting on the lawn of the State Capitol in St. Paul on a Sunday afternoon in 1957 with thousands of other Lutherans and watching young people and leaders from all over the world speak of the efforts of the Lutheran church to rebuild nations damaged by the violence of World War II.

Sometimes it takes a long time for those kinds of memories to catch up with a person. Now I realize that the Lutheran World Federation was founded in 1947 by young Christians who had seen the destruction and understood that the world needed to be rebuilt. And it was not just bricks and mortar, but the world's soul that needed new foundations.

Beginning next week (July 8-16), the Lutheran World Federation will celebrate its 50th anniversary at a gathering in Hong Kong. It will the first international religious meeting held there since Great Britain turned the city over to China. The Lutheran church has already posed questions to its Chinese hosts about civil rights abuses that occurred during and after the 1989 student revolt in Beijing.

The Lutheran World Federation can ask those questions because the organization has established credibility and honor among the nations it has served.

In 1947, when the federation was established, Christianity - particularly, Lutheranism - was almost unknown outside of North America and Europe. Now, Lutherans in Africa slightly outnumber those in North America. More precisely, there are 8.6 million Lutherans in Africa and 8.5 million in North America. Lutherans in Europe number more than 30 million, but those statistics are compiled by state churches and may not reflect active participation.

But the outreach impact of the federation is widespread and potent. In Asia, for instance, there are almost 5 million Lutherans in an area that long has been loyal to Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism and a host of folk religions. After 50 years of patient missionary work in Asian countries, the numbers and the influence are beginning to reach critical mass.

Now African and Asian leaders have something to say to their counterparts in Europe and North America. And the needs in those emerging nations are distinct from the needs in the West, where materialism is Christianity's biggest challenge.

But in other cultures, Lutheranism is challenging a number of issues: how women are treated, for instance, and the opportunities offered to young people. The big challenge there is to discuss ways for youths and women to lead into the future without fear of being cast as criminals by their government.

China has a particular problem with young leaders. But with Lutheran youths making up 20 percent of the delegates and women 50 percent of the federation assembly, those issues will surely be highlights of discussion.

The other thing that will keep China - and Hong Kong, in particular - from becoming a prison camp for youths and women is the role the Christian churches have played in the development of the city. Christians run most of the schools, the hospitals, the drug treatment centers and the social service agencies. China will need that assistance as it resumes control of one of the grandest cities in Asia.

This diversity within Lutheranism has become a reality because of a shifting church during the past half-century, says Diane Jacobson, a professor of Old Testament studies at Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul.

Jacobson will lead one of the North American Bible study classes that will consume most of every morning of the nine-day gathering. In all the issues - environmental concerns, refugee resettlement, poverty - the overarching concern is how Lutheranism and other Christian denominations can become a true communion without destroying the diversity, Jacobson says.

"In human rights, for instance, you have this huge religious representation," Jacobson says, "but nobody will be in their face. We will talk openly about all these controversial issues. And just the act of doing that is more effective than confrontation."

It's true the Christian church moves slowly. In 1957, as I sat listening to those courageous Lutherans from all over the world, I probably didn't connect with the dream.

That's because a 17-year old American in those days didn't know much about suffering, about oppressive governments and especially about how a religion takes on the world and brings about change. Now I have seen that happen, and it will continue to occur until tyrants, famine, poverty and evil are wiped from the face of the Earth.

That means, it will go on forever.

Clark D. MorphewJuly 5, 1997