LCMS mission work in Panama began with service to military personnel during the Canal Zone era, as early as 1941. The ministry expanded and led to the formation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Panama (IELPA).
Mexico City’s Martin Luther Institute works with North American missionaries and Concordia the Reformer Seminary to form pastors and deaconesses. The Mexican pastorate, which previously numbered three, has more than tripled since the opening of the Dominican seminary, with ten ordained men. Twelve more are in the pastoral formation pipeline. In addition, thirty new deaconess graduates bring the total number of current church workers to 40. Twenty more are studying.
The Luther Academy mission statement is as follows: Luther Academy promotes genuine, confessional Lutheran theology and research through conferences, scholarly exchanges, and publications that assist the Church both to preserve and to proclaim to the world the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the only saving faith.
Lutheran Hour Ministries radio contacts in the 1990s helped begin LCMS efforts in Jamaica. Alliance Missionary Pastor Obot Ite, from Nigeria, has faithfully served the missions since 2007.
Born of the Lutheran Church of Canada’s mission in Nicaragua, LCMS and Nicaraguan missionaries ventured into Honduras 20 years ago and began evangelism efforts in Southern and Central Honduras. Congregations in the U.S. began to support and visit the missions and formed a FORO to coordinate the mission efforts.
Rev. Obot Ite is a church planter in Jamaica and is the longest-serving Alliance Missionary on the LCMS mission field. He grew up with a missionary pastor, later received his theological education, and became a pastor in the Lutheran Church of Nigeria (LCN). Since Jamaica has a substantial population with African heritage, partnering with the Lutheran Church of Nigeria (LCN) to call Rev. Ite to Jamaica in October 2007 as an Alliance Missionary pastor was logical and has borne much fruit.
The rapidly growing Dominican Republic Lutheran Mission (DRLM) is the hub for mission work in the Latin America & Caribbean region (LAC). Church plants in the country’s two largest cities are moving toward self-sufficiency as they identify leaders, reach out to local and immigrant communities, and sow daughter preaching stations.
Twenty-five ladies from five countries gathered for Latin America & the Caribbean’s pilot deaconess intensive in 2016. Afterward, they were excited to promote Concordia the Reformer Seminary’s three-year diaconal formation program. As a result, nearly a hundred deaconesses recently graduated, and 70 more are enrolled in the current cohort. The program has expanded to nine countries.
LCMS involvement in Chile began in the 1960s in Valparaiso, a port city. Since the late 1990s, LCMS Disaster Response efforts have helped extend the reach of the Gospel. The Confessional Lutheran Church of Chile has ten congregations in Santiago, Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, Talca and Constitución.
Vacationing Lutherans in the early 2000s saw a spiritual void in the Cayman Islands and desired to plant an LCMS congregation as an outreach to local Caymanians and visitors alike. The result of their vision was the establishment of Safe Harbour Lutheran Church.
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