2022-2024 New England Mission Goal and Grants

LWML–New England District 2022-2024 BIENNIUM MISSION GRANTS

2022 -2024 Mission Goal:  $75,000

     This Mission Goal will fund $48,750 for LWML-NED Mission Grants, $18,750 for national LWML Mission Grants                 and $7,500 for LWML-NED administration.

Thanks, and All Praise to God!!!!!

2022-2024 Mission Grants for Funding

Your Mite Box donations will fund these Mission Grants!  Please, send your mites to our Treasurer regularly.

1. Sowing Seeds for a Harvest: Vocational Training in Liberia, Gbarnga Lutheran Mission Project-$5,000          Gbarnga Lutheran Mission Project would like to implement a vocational training program and open a small community bakery on their campus. Vocational training provides an excellent opportunity for students to work learning basic reading, math, business, and Bible skills with the help of a teacher while meeting the financial needs of their families. The grant would be used to hire a Liberian teacher and a childcare provider as well as to purchase ovens, baking equipment, baking supplies, and literacy and Bible study materials. The staff would begin the training in basic baking skills along with math, reading, and Bible literacy. Classes will initially be held twice per week. Bakery items will be sold as the students become proficient in their baking skills.

2 a. Bringing New Hampshire Families to Christ, Trinity Lutheran School, Keene, NH- $600                                     The purpose of this project is to update the presentation of school lessons by purchasing four classroom whiteboards. The school has brought in more students due to the marketing they have done and the number of parents wanting in-person classes due to the pandemic. The total cost is expected to be $1,200 with the school contributing $600.

2 b. YWR and Junior Pastoral Counselor to National LWML Convention, LWML-NED-$2,000                                        This will provide the funding to send the LWML-NED Young Woman Representative and the Junior Pastoral Counselor to the national LWML convention allowing them to more fully understand and embrace the mission of the LWML.

3. Trinity Lutheran Preschool, Trinity Lutheran Church, Ashaway, RI-$1,200                                                      Trinity Lutheran Church has operated a Christian Preschool for 37 years. The Preschool is an outreach mission to the community of Ashaway, RI, and the surrounding towns. The Preschool was forced to shut down for a year and a half during the pandemic meaning the Preschool received no income during that time. The Preschool is thankfully again educating God’s little lambs but lacks funding for enrichment activities. This grant would allow storytellers, musicians, and Audubon Society programs to continue as part of the curriculum.
4. Brazilian – Portuguese Language Outreach, Messiah Lutheran Church, Lynnfield, MA-$5,000                            The purpose of this project is to help Messiah Lutheran Church share the Gospel with the Portuguese-speaking population in their area. First-generation Brazilian immigrants need resources for spiritual growth in their native language, and Messiah needs help in communicating with them. They currently have several families connected to the church that would benefit from Portuguese language resources, and they believe that if they can provide Bible Studies and fellowship opportunities in Portuguese that number will grow. This grant will provide Portuguese Bibles and catechisms, food and supplies to host fellowship gatherings, and a Portuguese-speaking LCMS pastor to lead regular Bible Study in Portuguese over Zoom.
5. Ethiopian Outreach of Boston, LCMS-NED Church Planting and Revitalization Committee-$5,000                       The LCMS-NED has been working to colloquize the Rev. Adam Tefezi to work among the Ethiopian immigrants in the Boston area. He is now organizing fellowship groups to integrate into the existing congregations of the NED. He will provide services in Oromo and Amharic languages for the first generation while connecting the second generation to other English-speaking children. Beginning in 2022, the Church Planting Committee estimates the need each year to be $100,000 to support the call for the Rev. Adam Tefezi. The Committee is seeking additional funds from Synod, District, congregations, and grants.
6. Ambassadors for Christ, First Lutheran School, Holyoke, MA-$1,000                                                                The choir at First Lutheran School is aptly named Ambassadors for Christ as their mission is to share the Good News with their community through the singing of God’s praises at local venues and events such as: City Hall, shopping malls, and nursing homes. This grant will be used for the purchase and upkeep of choir “uniforms” and to help cover the cost of bus transportation to the events and venues.
7. New England District Church Planting, LCMS-NED Church Planting and Revitalization Committee-$5,000         The NED Church Planting Fund is the recipient location to receive donations including the NED 1-1-1 campaign in 2022 from which grants will be awarded to support the financial needs of church planning efforts in the NED. There is currently no specific location in mind for the use of this LWML grant, but two locations are in the planning and development stages.
8. Hope for the Hopeless—LCMS Life Ministries, LCMS Office of National Mission, St. Louis, MO-$5,000                   This grant will provide funding for curriculum and resources specifically developed to provide a Christian response to mental illness that includes an emphasis on the hope of the Gospel and sharing Christ with psychological sensitivity. Pastors, church workers, and lay leaders will have access to training to be equipped to share the hope that is found only in Jesus Christ with the people who are feeling hopeless and despairing of earthly life, to prevent the wish to die by suicide. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. In 2019, the last year for which statistics are available, 47,511 Americans died by suicide and research estimates that more than 100 million Americans may think about ending their lives by suicide. The pandemic has only increased the need for this outreach.
9. God’s Word for Teenagers Around the World Lutheran Heritage Foundation, Macomb, MI-$2,500                      When sharing the Gospel with teenagers, many missionaries and pastors are searching for new ways to connect them to God’s Word. A Bible storybook called God’s Word for You has been written in an easy-to-understand way and colorfully illustrated in a comic book style that especially appeals to teens. Lutheran churches in countries like Muslim Indonesia and Buddhist Thailand are asking for this book to be translated into their languages. At a cost of just $5 per book, this grant will provide 500 teens and their families in Southeast Asia with the Gospel. Books will be distributed free of charge. The total project cost for this project is $16,500.
10. Sea Containers for Haiti Earthquake Response, Ministry in Mission, Chesterland, OH- $5,000                          Ministry in Mission has been working in Haiti for almost 15 years through all of the disasters such as the 2010 earthquake, hurricanes, COVID, political unrest, and general poverty. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and medical care for this desperate population is less than acceptable. The medical professionals in Haiti are few and not well trained, and medical supplies are lacking. A Ministry in Mission Board member is a physician and leads medical teams to Haiti. As the mission teams travel from the US to Haiti supplies are carried in 50-pound suitcases, but they are unable to carry enough to last even a day. It has been reported by our medical missionaries that gauze is picked up off the emergency room floor and reused several times. A sea container full of medical supplies would go a long way toward containing infection and saving lives. Shipping containers to Haiti is very expensive with the cost ranging from $10,000 to $12,000.
11. Tuition Assistance for Deaf Students, St. Martin Lutheran School for the Deaf, Dearborn, MI-$2,500                   St. Martin Lutheran School for the Deaf seeks to provide Christ-centered education for K–8 students who are Deaf or Hard-of-hearing in Dearborn, Michigan, and to bridge the gap that is keeping these children from knowing their Savior. Much of the Deaf community in the United States is unchurched. St. Martin, with Ephphatha Lutheran Mission Society, reaches out with the Gospel to the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing. This grant will provide scholarships for those students and their families struggling to meet the tuition costs for attending St. Martin Lutheran School for the Deaf.
12. Wheels for the Lord’s Physically Disabled, Good Shepherd Family, Stockton, CA-$1,800                                       For the past 55 years, St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Stockton, California, has reached out to adults in their community who are mentally and physically disabled through a ministry called Good Shepherd Family (GSF). Three Saturdays a month, ministry volunteers welcome them to the church. These adults attend chapel and hear a Christ-centered message, followed by Bible-based crafts and songs. Birthdays are celebrated and prayer concerns are shared. The people are happy and excited to see one another and are eager to worship and learn more about God. Participation is hindered by a lack of appropriate transportation vehicles, especially for those using wheelchairs. The grant funds will be used to help purchase a van that will accommodate wheelchairs and provide sufficient seating for others.

13a. Outreach, Meals, and Bible Study Materials, Lutheran Student Fellowship of Pittsburgh, PA-$1,500                 Pittsburgh has one of the largest concentrations of international college students in any urban setting in the nation. First Trinity Lutheran Church of Pittsburgh serves as a home base for campus ministry to almost 85,000 students within a five-mile radius of the church. International Student Ministry (ISM) and Lutheran Student Fellowship (LSF) create connections and bring the saving Word through the many outreach programs of First Lutheran. ISM and LSF members also work with Pittsburgh Lutheran Center for the Blind, First Trinity Homeless Ministry, and Pittsburgh Lutheran Deaf Ministry. Grant funds will provide financial assistance to maintain the ministry with campus students.

13b. Sowing a Missionary Mindset through Study Abroad, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN-$5,600    Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana (CTSFW), brings the saving Gospel into all the world by forming servants in Jesus Christ who will teach the faithful, reach the lost, and care for all. Because all Lutheran pastors and deaconesses should be knowledgeable about world missions and have first-hand experience in international mission work, students are encouraged to participate in a study abroad mission trip. During mission trips to Kenya, students participate in theological seminars alongside African students from Matongo Lutheran Seminary in Kenya. They learn the history and current work of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya. Visits are made to the Evangelist School in northern Kenya, the Diaconal Center and Home for the Severely Handicapped in Kisumu, and the Lutheran orphanage in Matongo. Grant funds will assist one student with travel, accommodations, class credit, and course material expenses while participating in the study abroad mission trip.

14. International Students: Making Jesus Known Throughout the World, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO-$50       This project will help to support the education costs of our international students. The Seminary currently enrolls 50 international students from 25 different countries. Few of these students are financially able to enroll at Concordia Seminary without much-needed support. Most of these students, after earning their advanced level theological degrees, will serve as professors at their countries’ seminaries. There they will serve the vital role of preparing the shepherds who will serve congregations and minister to the unchurched as they carry out the Great Commission.

LWML-NED 2022-2024 Mission Goal and Mission Grants