Planting Churches

In His Timing

We had our first in-person worship service in the reopening on Pentecost Sunday. We met in the outdoor patio of our earthquake damaged buildings rather than the much smaller rented location where we could barely seat 10 people under the strict social distancing requirements. Because of our position on the globe, Puerto Rican summers are hot, and Ponce is the hottest part of the island; but fortunately, our usual 3 pm service time just happens to perfectly coincide with the ideal angle of the sun for casting shade over our patio.

June 26, 2020

Puerto Rico Update

On May 2nd, 2020, a major 5.4 earthquake hit Puerto Rico near the city Ponce. Two hundred families lost their homes after the earthquake. About twenty families were moved to a hotel near the church. The hotel is full because the other rooms are occupied with all the people who were at the refugee camps back after January’s earthquake who did not find a home. The pandemic has not stopped the Church’s response or outreach!.

May 28, 2020

Venezuelan Immigrants Begin New Life

People come here to survive—not voluntarily. Waves of Venezuelans, including nurses, dentists, engineers, teachers, students, and others, reluctantly take the short, ninety-minute flight to the Dominican Republic, and embark on a life vastly different from what they are accustomed to. Having left behind family and friends, home, and everything familiar, they begin life again, from scratch. They leave the country that they love, not because they want to, but because they have no other option if they want to live.

May 13, 2020

On Being Luterano in a Spanish-speaking World

Questions arise from North American friends who learn we are serving in Latin America as Lutheran missionaries: “But aren’t all Christians there Catholic?” Well, to a large extent, yes, because the Spanish and Portuguese Crowns did a really good job of propagating the Catholic faith for hundreds of years.

May 8, 2020

Online English Conversation Partners

Across the Latin American and Caribbean Region, our LCMS Missionaries continue to spread the Gospel in the midst of the ongoing pandemic. In this video, Regional Director Ted Krey talks about our missionaries, changes that have taken place, and how they continue to move the work forward under these trying conditions.

May 2, 2020

International Service in Indonesia

The Rev. Matthew Wood family in Indonesia, focus on language acquisition, hymnal translation into Indonesian and GKLI partner church workshop.

April 27, 2020

International Easter Vigil

With Holy Week falling in the middle of a worldwide pandemic lockdown, Ascension Lutheran Church in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, made creative use of technology to host an international Easter vigil service online.

April 18, 2020

Video: Panama Mission Update

In this video, Missionary Pastor Brian Gauthier gives a quick update on the quarantine, how his young family is coping, and how the mission work is continuing to move forward in Panama.

April 3, 2020