When St. John’s Lutheran Church member Mike Doscek thinks about the Lake Township church, the altar rail is the first thing that comes to mind.

He and his wife, Kathy, were married in front of it, and so were her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.

It epitomizes the kind of church St. John’s is, he says – small but solid, deeply traditional and rooted in a historically rural area populated by the same families for generations.

About five years ago, Doscek says, the church at Oday and Cook roads hosted a speaking engagement by two missionaries to Tanzania working with International Health Partners, a Christian non-profit agency, invited by a church member who did business with them at a local shipping company.

And St. John’s hasn’t been quite the same since.

Dr. Denny Lofstrom, a retired surgeon from Arkansas, and his wife, Paula, told the congregation about their project building a much-needed hospital in Mwanza, a remote northern Tanzania city of 500,000 along the shores of Lake Victoria.

Shortly afterward, Doscek recalls, “a couple in the congregation, Jim and Sue Dowling, stood up in church and said, ‘We’ve decided we’re going to Tanzania to help out. Does anybody want to come along?’ ”

And so began a relationship with people half a world away that continues to enrich lives on both sides of the gulf that separates the United States from the developing countries of Africa.

Doscek says members of St. John’s started assisting the Lofstroms by making receiving blankets when they heard women in Mwanza who gave birth had nothing in which to wrap their babies.

A confirmation class collected drugstore items to ship to the hospital, which often went without things as simple as aspirin and adhesive bandages.

In 2007, after raising about $200,000, 33 St. John’s members went to Tanzania for three weeks for the rigorous work of erecting a hospital building from the ground up.

“It was something the whole congregation got behind and really supported, both with finances and a lot of prayer and encouragement,” says the Rev. Ralph Easterhaus, St. John’s pastor.

A particularly moving part of the trip, Easterhaus says, came when the group placed in the building’s foundation the ashes of a 66-year-old supporter of the project who died of cancer shortly before the trip.

When residents of Mwanza found out, they asked to name the structure the Patricia Schaefer Ward after the long-time Lutheran Hospital nurse from Fort Wayne. It’s now known among them, and even on the hospital project’s Web site, simply as the Patricia ward.

More recently, St. John’s has taken on helping equip the hospital. Last month, the congregation received a donation from Lutheran Hospital of a much-needed X-ray machine for an infectious diseases clinic and a large electric generator.

Members are now raising money for a shipping container to send the items overseas. And, about 25 members, including some of Schaefer’s grandchildren, are planning to go to Mwanza next summer.

Their objective is to get the X-ray machine up and running and possibly build a shielded room around it, Easterhaus says.

Doscek says members also hope to deepen ties with children at a local Lutheran congregation and a nearby orphanage by offering a Christian education activity similar to a Vacation Bible School.

The orphanage, which serves albino children, illustrates the contrasts of Tanzania, Doscek says.

While Mwanza is a relatively modern city, he says, a sizable minority of residents still believe in witch doctors, who have circulated the idea that albinos are cursed.

That causes their parents to abandon them or in some cases physically abuse them, he says, noting that in recent years albinos have even been killed in Tanzania because of the inherited color of their skin.

News reports say a black market exists for albino skin and body parts because they are believed to have magical powers.

“Albinos are shunned. … By visiting the orphanage, we hope to show the love of God for everyone,” he says.

Doscek says St. John’s has received assurances that the X-ray machine will allow the hospital to get government certification, as well as help diagnose diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C, major killers in Tanzania.

The generator, he adds, will prevent disruptions in medical procedures because of common power failures and brownouts.

About $125,000 will allow the church to achieve its objectives and pay for travel expenses for the project, which has been dubbed Back2Africa, Doscek says. He plans to seek a grant from the Lutheran Foundation in Fort Wayne to cover some travel costs.

Easterhaus says the first trip proved unforgettable for St. John’s members.

“When you’re in the United States, we just take for granted all the stuff we have. When you’re in a country like Tanzania, you realize, ‘My goodness, we take for granted such plenty,’ ” he says.

“The people there didn’t have a whole lot in terms of physical things, but to see their courage and faith and incredible enthusiasm in worshipping God and sharing their faith was a life-changing experience.”

And church-changing one, too, Doseck says. The experience has brought global needs and the church’s efforts to serve them home to the church many locals call St. John’s of the Cornfields.

“You have to understand that this is a small church. Pretty much everybody is in farming. Most people live within five miles of the church,” Doseck says.

“Most haven’t traveled outside the United States or even outside Indiana, and they don’t know that much about the rest of the world.

“I think this whole thing is kind of remarkable.”

rsalter@jg.net