Most of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s (LCMS) mercy projects are incorporated into the regular yearly budget. But what happens when a sudden emergency occurs, or a new opportunity pops up to care for others on the international mission field?
For these situations, the LCMS Office of International Mission allocates funds for unexpected mercy needs in each of its four world regions. Because these funds are already budgeted, they are available for immediate use when an opportunity arises to demonstrate Christ’s mercy to someone in need.
In the Asia region, this money has recently been used to cover emergency travel for several members of the Indonesian Christian Lutheran Church, an emerging partner of the LCMS, following the sudden drowning of a vicar who was working with a remote tribe of nomadic people. These funds also allowed several missionary wives to receive Community Health Evangelism training, which can then be delivered in multiple Asian contexts in close proximity to Word and Sacrament ministry at the Synod’s partner churches.
“[These] funds are an important tool to meet the ever-changing and evolving needs of the people in our region,” says the Rev. Charles D. Ferry, regional director for Asia. “Having a budgeting process which necessitates planning a minimum of 18–24 months ahead would often leave us without ways of responding to unanticipated deviations. The Mercy Fund allows us to be responsive to our partners and to support our missionaries in the work they’ve been called to do by the church in a complex context.”
The LCMS gives thanks to God for the generosity of people throughout the Synod who have supported acts of mercy throughout its four international regions. Read more at engage.lcms.org/mercy.
Posted Sept. 17, 2024
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