Alliance missionaries called to serve

Alliance missionary Rev. Lucas Elberhardt Nunes sings with the children of missionaries who attended orientation in the Dominican Republic in March. (LCMS/Shara Osiro)

An alliance missionary is an ordained pastor from a partner church of the LCMS who is called by his church and, in coordination with the LCMS Office of International Mission (OIM), sent to serve as a missionary. An alliance missionary remains on the active roster of his church body. The alliance missionary model brings together partner church bodies who can combine assets to share the Gospel internationally.

In partnership with the LCMS, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB) recently called eight pastors to serve as alliance missionaries in the Africa and the Latin America and Caribbean regions:

Rev. Moacyr Alves Júnior – Republic of Congo

Rev. Daniel Martins Silva and Rev. Volmir Knevitz da Rocha – Uganda

Rev. Carlos Kracke – South Africa

Rev. Lucas Elberhardt Nunes – Dominican Republic

Rev. Maicon Schenkel Schieferdecker – Uruguay

Rev. Rafael Pereira Milagres – Guatemala

Rev. Raphael Voigt – Panama

In preparation for service, the pastors and their families attended missionary orientation in the Dominican Republic, where they focused on a variety of topics, including language acquisition, culture, team dynamics, wellness, communicating with donors and missiology. Church leaders from the LCMS and IELB also attended the event.

During the week, LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison and IELB President Rev. Geraldo Schüler shared messages of encouragement. Harrison said, “As you go out into the mission field, you will … face many frustrations and trials. We will do our best to care for you and reach out to you. We want you to be able to serve the church for years to come.”

Schüler said, “In 1899, the LCMS sent a missionary to Brazil. Because of this, we received the Good News of salvation. … Today we are more than 240,000 Lutherans in Brazil. We are grateful that we are able to take this Good News that we have received to other countries. From our hearts, we are eternally grateful to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.”

Posted July 8, 2021