The mission of the church has always been the faithful preservation of the means of grace to edify the church and to proclaim the Gospel to the world. Our work centers on people, speaking with them, preaching to them, teaching them, and having mercy for them. We invite you to partner with us in this work. Click on a project that interests you. Learn more about it from the stories and updates. And then partner with us through your prayers and financial support.
With Latin American Seminaries at their fullest residential capacity, and with a burgeoning deaconess program taking off in the region, an additional seminary and mercy training center in Latin America was identified by Regional LCMS leadership as a critical need.
The Venezuelan Lutheran church finds herself in a country
facing a severe socio-political crisis. For the past 10 years,
inflation has crippled the economy. LCMS Office of
International Mission has continued to assist this daughter
church in the preparation of her people in the areas of elders,
Sunday school teachers, deaconesses and pastors. Juan de
Frias, the Lutheran Bible Institute, so named after the first
Lutheran martyr in Venezuela, is the vehicle for preparing
these men and women.
The project, named VDMA, or Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum (Latin for “ The Word of the Lord Endures Forever, Isaiah 40:8,” and a classic reformation motto) has provided pastors in Latin America with more than a dozen core theological books available in Spanish with plans to translate five more per year over the next three years
to eventually total 25 titles.
The South American nation of Uruguay is an important mission field,
being the most atheist nation in the western hemisphere, and
home to one of the highest depression and suicide rates in the
world. The extremely secular nation has been the home of a single
Lutheran congregation for nearly 100 years, and joint mission
efforts between Brazilian, Uruguayan, and American Lutherans are
working to reach the population of this country.
With the 500th Anniversary of Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses, the Lutheran Mission in Spain pursues a unique second chance to bring the truth, freedom and joy of the pure Gospel to Spain, five centuries after the first Lutheran Reformation in Spain was snuffed
out by the Spanish Inquisition.
In the past five years, missionary efforts have led to planting 40 churches
across 10 Latin American countries. As the Lord blesses the planting of
churches through the preaching of the Gospel, there is a need to prepare
pastors.
The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region has church
planting pastors in 10 countries and projects in 7 others,
proclaiming the Gospel in new places while strengthening
the Lord’s church in others.
In the early fall of 2017 Puerto Rico was hit by two major
hurricanes that devastated much of this US territory’s
infrastructure. In 2018 many people in the island’s smaller villages
and interior are still without power and drinkable water. The loss of
jobs because of the storm has increased Puerto Rico’s already high
unemployment rate. While Puerto Rico has benefited from
immediate support from LCMS Disaster Response, the mission in
Puerto Rico is looking into the future to establish a vibrant national
church body in the territory.
The Lutheran Mission in Peru seeks to plant a Peruvian led Lutheran church body in the country. Formed after LCMS response to an earthquake in Southern Peru in 2007, outreach continues in that area. Since then, missionaries have established Word and Sacrament or teaching ministry in five key locations in the capital city of Lima. Manpower
and mobility limits expanding those five locations until additional missionaries and local nationals can be raised up.
The Lutheran Church of Panama (IELPA) bears vestiges of
congregations founded during the U.S. ownership and
operation of the Panama Canal as well as congregations
planted by LCMS missionaries working throughout the
country.
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