2023β2025 Mission Grant #24
God's Word for Central and South American Missions
Lutheran Heritage Foundation β $100,000
About This Mission Grant
Lutheran evangelism efforts are being intensified in countries like the Dominican Republic, Chile, and Uruguay. The need for Spanish language Bibles, Lutherβs Small Catechism, childrenβs materials, devotions, and other resources is continuous. New pastors who are being trained to be missionaries and evangelists need to be equipped with materials that help share the Good News.Β
This grant will provide for the translation and printing costs of approximately 25,000 books by Lutheran Heritage Foundation (LHF). LHF will distribute the printed books free of charge to people in Central and South America who live from week to week and have little to no savings. Even though economic or political conditions may force missionaries to come and go in these countries, they leave behind the Lutheran books which continue to teach for generations.
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Over 435 million people in our world speak Spanish, and many of those men, women and children are still waiting to be introduced to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. One good example: These students of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Uruguay are 80 percent unchurched. LCMS missionary Rev. James Sharp has been thrilled to provide free copies of the Spanish-language A Child's Garden of Bible Stories, which they can take home to share with their siblings and parents.
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The problem is, more Bible books are needed. It's a significant hurdle for sharing the Gospel with Spanish-speakers, especially in Central and South America: there are few Lutheran books available in the Spanish language. Rev. Ted Krey, LCMS World Mission Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, has asked LHF for assistance in translating and printing more resources to introduce new believers to Jesus.
One of the favorite books is LHF's Bible with Small Catechism, bound together in one volume. In the Dominican Republic, these Bibles are carried into the streets as a conversation starter, says LCMS missionary Rev. Joel Fritsche. "This Bible is a critical tool for us... we also carry them as we go around making evangelism calls. The crucifix on the front cover is always a conversation starter, because with their Catholic background, the people recognize that image."
For many children in poverty-stricken areas of Peru, Guatemala, Venezuela and Mexico, LHF's Spanish translation of the children's Bible, A Child's Garden of Bible Stories, is the only book they own. Missionaries share the Bible books at after-school and weekend programs that help bring the kids in off the dangerous city streets.
In these books' colorful pages, children are reminded β or in many cases, told for the first time β that there is a Creator who loves them so much that He sent a Savior, Jesus Christ, to save them and take them to heaven someday. Best of all, the children get to keep their Bible storybooks and share them with their families.
As LCMS mission work expands in Central and South America, the need for these resources to assist the missionaries and church partners in their work is ever-growing. While tens of thousands of Bibles have been freely distributed across 20 countries, many thousands more parents and children are still waiting for their own Bibles, too. Additionally, Small Catechisms and devotion booklets are also needed.
With the help of the national LWML, LHF can answer these calls for God's Word in Central and South America. At a cost of less than $5 per book, this grant from the LWML will provide more than 25,000 books not only for Christian education in our Spanish-speaking Lutheran churches, but also to introduce new believers β young and old β to their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
