LWML presents funding for four mission grants to Synod

By Megan K. Mertz

ST. LOUIS — Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) representatives visited the LCMS International Center here Jan. 6 to present checks totaling $254,064 for four mission grants adopted at the organization’s convention last June.

Funding for the grants came from “mites” donated by LWML members. At the 2015 convention in Des Moines, Iowa, 19 mission grants totaling more than $1.4 million were adopted by participants for the 2015-17 biennium.

From left, Sheila Lutz, Christian Living editor for Lutheran Woman’s Quarterly, and Shelley Moeller, LWML vice-president of Gospel Outreach, talk with Synod staff members Deaconess Grace Rao and the Rev. Dan McMiller at the LCMS International Center Jan. 6. (LCMS/Frank Kohn)

“I thank the Lord for people like you,” said Shelley Moeller, LWML vice-president of Gospel Outreach, before she presented the checks to LCMS program staff members. “We may not be the ones who can go to [Papua New Guinea] or work in the disaster areas, but we surely can help you, pray for you and give everything we can to support you.”

Three of the four mission grants were paid in full:

+ $100,000 to the Synod’s Global Seminary Initiative to provide scholarships for pastors from emerging and partner-church bodies of the LCMS to obtain advanced degrees at the Synod’s two seminaries as well as to send LCMS professors and qualified pastors to teach at seminaries around the world;

+ $14,064 to the LCMS Office of National Mission for the Synod’s Rosa J. Young Academies and After-School Programs to provide children with a safe environment for education and spiritual growth; and

+ $100,000 to Lutheran Housing Support for its “Helping Hand” initiative, which enables LCMS congregations to assist their low-income, disabled or elderly neighbors with home-repair projects.

In addition, Moeller presented Deaconess Grace Rao, director of LCMS Deaconess Ministry, with a check for $40,000 that partially fulfills the mission grant of $90,000 to provide educational and financial support for women in the U.S. and around the world who are training to become deaconesses.

“Our partnership with the LWML truly impacts the Lutheran mission around the world,” said the Rev. Bart Day, executive director of the LCMS Office of National Mission. “What a blessing that they share such resources with us as we work domestically to support districts, congregations, schools and workers, as well as with our missionaries and partner churches.”

The LWML is an LCMS auxiliary.

Megan K. Mertz (megan.mertz@lcms.org) is a staff writer and managing editor of Lutherans Engage the World with LCMS Communications.