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1999 NCC News Archives

Amity Teacher Of English In China Dies

October 13, 1999, CHICAGO (ELCA*) -- Scott M. Minson, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) teacher, was found dead Oct. 12 in his apartment at Ji'an Teachers College, Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. The cause of death has yet to be determined.

Mr. Minson, 25, was serving with the Amity Teachers Program, an English teaching program administered through Church World Service and Witness, a unit of the National Council of Churches. In his work, he taught English as a second language classes to college-age students. Mr. Minson began his work in China in August.

"I wish to express our profound sense of loss and sadness at the death of Scott Minson," said the Rev. Will L. Herzfeld, associate executive director of the ELCA Division for Global Mission and president of Church World Service and Witness. "Especially do we remember Scott's family, his parents and brother, and hold them in prayer that they may be sustained in this difficult time."

The Amity Teachers Program is a cooperative program in which Church World Service and Witness works directly with the Amity Foundation in China, established in 1985 as a non-governmental organization at the initiative of Chinese Christians, who continue to serve on its board. Mr. Minson was one of 12 new teachers commissioned this summer to a two-year term of service in China.

Mr. Minson, born in Independence, Mo., graduated in 1992 from Buffalo Grove (Ill.) High School. In May 1996, he graduated with honors from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, after completing a bachelor of arts degree with a double major in biology and religion. Prior to accepting the teaching assignment in China, he was employed at Hewlett-Packard, Falls Church, Va. He was a member of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod congregation in Prospect Heights, Ill.

Mr. Minson is survived by his parents, Michael and Judy Minson, Arlington Heights, Ill., and a brother, Jeffrey.

-end-

* Story prepared by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

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