Your Global Connection to Mission

Missions Unpacked

Embark on a global mission experience and unpack how LCMS International Mission works without ever having to dig out your suitcase. Learn, sing, eat and pray with missionaries and local church members in Africa, Asia, Eurasia and Latin America & the Caribbean.


Missions Unpacked for Kids is here!
Expand kids’ worldview by introducing them to the people and places of LCMS International Mission and showing them how God uses missionaries in diverse places to add to His family. Check out resources designed for first through sixth grade kids, including video-based sessions and more, which can be used in individual or classroom settings. Learn more!
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Webinar ID: 994 0519 8984
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International numbers available: https://lcms.zoom.us/u/aefLkT2jAF

Week 1

Latin America and the Caribbean

Rejoice with us as we spread the Gospel, plant Lutheran churches, and show mercy across Latin America. Our missionaries and partner churches support 43 church plants, giving faithful witness in 14 countries.

Latin America and the Caribbean

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Week 2

Eurasia

The Eurasia region encompasses Europe, Russia, upper Asia, India and the Middle East, including many former communist countries where Christianity has all but disappeared.

Eurasia

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Week 3

Africa

It is our fervent desire to joyously participate in God’s mission. We strive to respect each and every one of God’s people along with their culture and the organization of their worshipping community.

Africa

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Week 4

Asia

In the Asia region, we work to train pastors, church leaders, and laity to share the Gospel in word and deed. We also work with partners all over Asia to plant churches, show mercy, and provide Lutheran education.

Asia

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Latin America
and the Caribbean

Watch the recorded live event
Presented by: Rev. Herb and Markie Burch

Rev. Herb and Markie Burch serve the Lord through The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) in Belize, Central America. From Belize, they support other Lutheran ministries in Central and South America. Herb travels to several preaching stations throughout Belize where he preaches, coaches pastoral candidates and teaches adults and children about the Christian faith through Luther’s Small Catechism. He also works with leaders of partner Lutheran churches in Venezuela, Guatemala and the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico to share the Gospel, plant new Lutheran churches and show mercy. In addition, Herb visits and mentors leadership in newly planted Lutheran churches in Honduras to encourage the young leaders there and to expand their capabilities.
Missionary Ashley Lehr, serving in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, is your guide for a cultural tour of the plaza in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, where she lives and serves in the areas of English outreach and short-term teams.

Thank God for all the ways He is growing His church on the island, especially as a result of relationships formed through English conversation practice.
Art is an outlet that yields something beautiful but also relieves stress and anxiety, deepens one’s connection to God’s Word, and serves as a bridge into the community in multiple LAC fields. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, missionaries and local partners in the Dominican Republic, Peru and Puerto Rico collaborated on a weekly Facebook Live craft tutorial. One of the guest instructors, missionary wife and mom Lizz Warren, shares her musings on making – and the Maker – on her blog. If you’ve been inspired to roll up your sleeves, follow along with Lizz’s cross art tutorial. Print our John 3:16 template or letter the words yourself! Visual FaithTM Ministry is a free source for additional Bible-based resources, in English AND Spanish, to help unleash your creativity.

Pray that the talents God has given to his servants would continue to open doors around the region.
From the Isthmus of Panama to the Iberian Peninsula and mariachi to merengue, LAC is wildly diverse yet united, in large part, by the Spanish language. New missionaries go through an intensive period of language acquisition when they first deploy but never really stop learning. Many weave Spanish elements into their daily routines to reinforce their newfound knowledge, like the Lehman family in Spain. Listen to the Lehman kids say the family’s everyday meal prayer and then try “Asking a blessing” in Spanish at your own table!

Moreover, pray for the church in Spain and her members, scattered amongst more than two dozen cities.
Ceviche is a popular seafood dish in many LAC countries, but it’s Peru’s national dish. Join Rev. Osmel Soliz, a Bolivian Alliance missionary pastor serving in Lima, as he dons his chef hat and walks you through how to make this delicacy. Here is a shopping list of all the ingredients you’ll need.

Pray for Rev. Soliz and his young family, that God would grant him wisdom and perseverance as he shines Christ’s light in one of the city’s most challenging districts.
  • Like LCMS Missions in Latin America & the Caribbean on Facebook.
  • Give toward the critical, Gospel-centered efforts in Latin America & the Caribbean that most need your support.  Recent supporters have helped sustain a pastor who’s doing community outreach through music, sewing, and baking in the Dominican Republic; position a Lutheran preschool to flourish in the downtown core of Kingston, Jamaica; and equip pastors and students with electronic theological resources in their heart language from Mexico to Argentina.

Eurasia

Watch the recorded live event
Presented by: Chelsea Irwin

Chelsea Irwin serves the Lord through The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) in the Czech Republic, based in Bohumín. In this role, Chelsea works with the Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession (SECAC) and EC M.I.S.E. Chelsea assists the church in Bohumín as they seek to revitalize the congregation. She teaches conversational English to elementary school students as a way to share the Gospel and connect with the community. She also is helping start a Kids Club and assists with running the Sunday school program. During the summer months, Chelsea helps facilitate short-term mission teams who serve at English Bible camps in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Deaconess Kim Bueltmann serves in Germany, where she assists congregations in Leipzig and Chemnitz in providing outreach to refugees. As a part of her work, she works with Persian musicians to develop more Farsi-language liturgy and hymns. Listen to (and sing) the Nunc Dimittis to an original melody that one of their members wrote and “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” sung in Persian.

Please pray that those seeking refuge in Germany, may discover the ultimate, true and lasting refuge, which is in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The LCMS walks alongside the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine (which uses Russian) to support theological education and mercy work. Download this language guide with basic Russian words & phrases and practice them along with this video.

Please pray for those who serve in Russian-speaking areas as they support the work of these church bodies as you practice a few words of Russian.
Throughout northern Europe, the Christmas season is usually accompanied by Christmas markets in city squares. This tour of the Christmas market in Riga, Latvia shows the Dom Cathedral and other Riga buildings.

Rev. Dr. Charles and Connie Cortright and Rev. Dr. John and Melinda Bombaro are working in partnership with the Riga Luther Academy in Latvia to launch the Livonian Lutheran Project which will provide an online, bachelor’s level curriculum of confessional Lutheran theology in English.

Please pray for this project so that it forges a path to ordination into the office of holy ministry for men in mission fields where it is not possible to establish their own seminary.

Learn how to make traditional Czech potato dumplings with Benjamin Helge, missionary in the Czech Republic. Download the recipe to shop for ingredients and follow along with the video.

Pray for the good news about Jesus to spread among the Czech people and for our missionaries as they share the Gospel in central Europe.

Support Eurasia Theological Education including an accredited English route to ordination through the Livonian Lutheran Project.

Subscribe to missionary Chelsea Irwin’s monthly email newsletter.

Africa

Watch the recorded live event
Presented by: Rev. Gary and Stephanie Schulte

Rev. Gary and Stephanie Schulte serve the Lord through The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) in West & Central Africa. As the Area Director for West & Central Africa, Gary supervises, facilitates and provides vision for the work the LCMS does in assisting its four West African partner churches (Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Togo) and nine mission field locations (the young churches of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Gambia, the two Congos and Burundi) in missionary pastoral training, church planting and doing mercy work. As the West & Central Africa Regional Coordinator for Mercy Medical Work, Stephanie envisions, facilitates and coordinates Community Health Education (CHE) initiatives, health clinics and the deployment of Mercy Medical Teams (MMTs) to these parts of Africa.

It is truly good, right and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to the Lord!

“Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!” (Ps. 100:1–2)

It’s a culinary tour from west to east! Whet your appetite for more than just adventure as you are introduced to staple ingredients and dishes that might grace your Africa missionaries’ tables. You can almost smell the fufu and sauce…

Pray that the Giver of all good things would continue to provide for the physical needs of the people of Africa, even as He uses our missionaries to provide for their spiritual needs.

Language acquisition is a critical step in serving internationally, both for navigating daily life and for communicating the saving message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Depending on their country of service, LCMS missionaries serving in Africa have learned at least five of the myriad languages spoken on the continent. The bond of faith unites God’s people across borders. Listen to some of your African brothers and sisters in Christ speak the familiar words of the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed in the language of their hearts.

Rejoice with Paul as he writes, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9–11).
According to Wikipedia, Africa is 4,600 miles across at its widest point. (The contiguous U.S., by comparison, is about 2,800 miles wide). Buckle up and join the Africa missionary team for an east to west road trip. The variety of vistas — and road hazards — you’ll encounter along the way just might surprise you.

Ask the Lord for protection for everyone traveling throughout Africa, whether by bus or car, motorcycle or bicycle, or simply by foot.
Enjoy this tour of the vast scope of cultures represented across the continent of Africa!

Give thanks to the Lord for the way the diversity displayed across cultures reflects His incredible creativity.

Support the work of spreading the Gospel, planting Lutheran churches and showing mercy in Africa by providing a gift where it is most needed. Recent gifts have made it possible for French-speaking men from Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Togo to bring their families with them as they study to become pastors at the Lutheran seminary in Dapaong, Togo. Other gifts have provided scholarships for women to train to become deaconesses at the Lutheran seminary in Kenya.

Subscribe to the Rev. Gary and Steph Schulte’s monthly email newsletter.

Asia

Watch the recorded live event
Presented by: Rev. J.P. and Aimee Cima

J.P. and Aimee, along with their children (Celeste, 14; Bella, 11; and Isaac, 4), have served in southeast Asia for more than 13 years, currently in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. J.P. serves the Cambodia Lutheran Church (CLC), a growing collection of Lutheran congregations. J.P. travels throughout Cambodia to equip and empower the leaders of the CLC with informal mentorship and formal theological education, that they might boldly announce and demonstrate the Gospel to the people of Cambodia. Aimee serves as the Mercy Manager for the Asia region. She supports the other personnel serving in this region and works with local church partners to coordinate mercy work. 

LCMS missionaries in Asia serve in communities where over 11 dialects or distinct languages are spoken. The Word of God creates faith, no matter if it sounds like Yesu ai nee or Jisasame emba auukaelyamo. (‘Jesus loves you’ in Mandarin and Enga). This language montage concludes with a lesson prepared by Mindy Thews, serving the Lord in Taiwan as an educator at Concordia Middle School.

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11).

Getting around in Asia takes different forms, depending on where you live and where you are going. From high speed bullet trains to bicycles, our missionaries make use of famous Asian technology as well as their own legs. Check out many of these modes of transport, and join the Rev. J.P. Cima on a thrilling bike ride as he transits across Phnom Penh, Cambodia for his Khmer language lesson.

“The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore” (Ps. 121:8).

Making crafts can be a fun activity for all ages. Here is a short project that can remind you of some aspects of living a life in Christ, whether at home or abroad. Olivia, the youngest member of the Wasmund family serving in South Korea, will show you how to make a Kimbap magnet. Here is a list of the supplies you will need to make the craft.

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well”(Ps. 139:13-14).

The Asian culinary landscape is quite vast. From dim sum to live coconut worms, one of the joys of international life is getting to know local flavors. Check out a few common dishes from around the region, then join the Rev. Steven Mahlburg as he prepares a traditional Sri Lankan dish called pongal.

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst’” (John 6:35).

Help make possible things like reaching out to a nomadic people group in Central Sumatra with the Gospel, translating Lutheran hymns into Indonesian and Chinese, and delivering Lutheran resources into the hands of Southeast Asians hungry to learn more about the Jesus who died for them. Support the work in Asia by providing a gift where it is most needed.

Subscribe to the Rev. J.P. and Aimee Cima’s monthly email newsletter.

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