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LCMS World Mission began work in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1993 in partnership with the Nebraska Lutheran Mission Society. Each year, short-term mission teams assist Lutheran Ministries in Jamaica with vacation Bible schools, construction work and medical assistance. Long-term missionaries have made significant contributions to the mission work in Jamaica through education for missionary children and in outreach and Christian education programs.
In 1997, LCMS World Relief and Human Care began supporting mercy work in Jamaica with a grant benefiting a health care center. Since then, grants aided a women’s microenterprise project, agriculture projects, and hurricane relief and reconstruction.
Although Lutheran Hour Ministries closed its office in Jamaica due to a funding shortfall, it is seeking funding to continue the leadership of a media coordinator.
Currently, Alliance missionaries Rev. Obot and Abasifreke Ite serve in Jamaica through a partnership between the Lutheran Church of Nigeria and LCMS World Mission. The Ites are originally from Nigeria and began their service in Jamaica in 2007.
Over the years, the emerging Lutheran church in Jamaica has grown to 82 members. A Jamaican deacon serves as an evangelist, leading weekly Sunday worship, Bible class and youth meetings and coordinates volunteer groups that work at the Bath Mountain Health Clinic/Community Center. Jamaican deaconesses support the mission and ministry of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Kingston.
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