2015–2017 Mission Grant: Training Teachers and Leaders, $100,000 fully paid

Rev. Amos Bolay from Liberia

Rev. Amos Bolay, Pastor and President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Liberia, spent two years at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, to complete a Master of Arts degree. He returned to his native, war-torn Liberia and served as a catalyst in helping organize a united Liberian Lutheran Church. He is currently strengthening his teaching and leading skills in Concordia’s Doctor of Ministry Program.

Rev. Charles Bameka serves as the President of the Lutheran Church of Uganda. As one of at least 15 applicants to Concordia Seminary’s graduate school, Charles prays that he will be next to have the opportunity to pursue an advanced theological degree.

Over the past five years, the number of international Lutheran graduate students at Concordia Seminary has grown from 15 to 40. The LWML Mission Grant, Training Teachers and Leaders, has $100,000 to defray tuition expenses for international students like Rev. Bolay and Rev. Bameka, and others who have been sent to Concordia Seminary from their home church bodies around the globe.

Vicki Biggs, Senior Vice President for Seminary Advancement at Concordia Seminary, writes,
“We are so grateful for this wonderful gift and pledge to use it in a most God-pleasing way to help advance the Gospel. We can’t do what we do without the help of partners such as the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League.”

For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.

2015-2017 Mission Grant: Outreach in Refugee Camps, $72,000 paid in full

Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) in Lebanon, locally called Middle East Lutheran Ministry (MELM), is using $72,000 in grant funds to turn around a cycle of poverty and psychological trauma. LHM Grants Manager, Lois Engfehr, reports their goal is to reach 15,000 women and children, including widows and orphans, who have become refugees during the war in Syria. Since many men remain in Syria to join in the conflict, thousands of women and children have been left in refugee camps in Lebanon, without food or essential household items.

To restore hope and dignity MELM is reaching out with humanitarian assistance and spiritual support. They provide hygiene kits and basic foods, including rice, beans, sugar, wheat, cheese, pasta, and cooking oil. Diapers for newborns, blankets, and medicine are given as needed.

Through the sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, hope is restored during a time of dire need.  MELM staff and volunteers are forming relationships with refugees, allowing them to trustfully share the Gospel. Individuals receive a New Testament or Bible correspondence course booklet, “The Life of Christ”, for their children. All are Arabic-language materials published by LHM.

By providing for the refugees’ physical and spiritual needs, Lutheran Hour Ministries is reflecting the love of God through Christ, and opening the door for the Holy Spirit to change the lives of many refugee women and their families.

For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.

2013–2015 Reallocated Mission Grant: Conference Center and Theological Education for Disaster Response Training Conference in Latin America/Communion Kits, $100,000

A thank you from Rev. Michael Meyer on behalf of LCMS Disaster Response for reallocated funds from the 2013–2015 Biennium, explaining how the funds will be used.

For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.

Thanks for Mites from The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

We give thanks to our God always for you.
MERCY: Because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.
WITNESS: That in every way you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge.
LIFE TOGETHER: God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

A thank you for mites from The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, for the funding of 2011-2013 National LWML Mission Grants and various district mission grants.