Ministry to the Armed Forces: Serving those who serve

(LCMS/Erik M. Lunsford)

In the photo above, volunteers from the Operation Barnabas chapter at Peace Lutheran Church in Camarillo, Calif., visit with passersby attending the Wings Over Camarillo Air Show on Saturday, Aug. 15. The community event provided an opportunity for Peace’s Operation Barnabas chapter to use a canopy it developed with assistance from LCMS (Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod) Ministry to the Armed Forces (MAF), which also sent devotional resources to the congregation for use at the air show.

Operation Barnabas is the LCMS network of care for the nation’s military members, families and veterans. Through Operation Barnabas, MAF cares for Reserve chaplains and their families and congregations; trains and assists local congregations in providing care, support and outreach to all military-connected people in their congregations and communities; and serves as a resource to other organizations that provide care to military-connected people.

Operation Barnabas chapters in LCMS congregations serve deployed active military members and those returning home as well as those who are military-connected. Al Bosman (pictured), president of the Operation Barnabas chapter at Peace and a veteran of the Vietnam War, said that doing so “gives us an opportunity to show our love of Christ to the community.”

Learn more at lcms.org/operation-barnabas, and look for more about Operation Barnabas in a future issue of Lutherans Engage the World magazine.

Posted Aug. 26, 2026