Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod sends 34 new missionaries
Formal sending service set for Friday, July 15
Photos available upon request.
ST. LOUIS—July 14, 2011—The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) will commission 34 new career and short-term missionaries and educators into global service with a special “sending service” set for 2 p.m. Friday, July 15, in the International Center chapel in St. Louis.
The special Divine Service with Holy Communion will be followed by a special reception. The event is open to the public.
The service, at which LCMS President Dr. Matthew C. Harrison will preach, marks the end of an 11-day orientation in St. Louis, which began July 5. The annual event, held this year for the first time at the Synod's International Center, focuses on training, equipping and encouraging the new missionaries.
The 2011 career and GEO (Globally Engaged in Outreach, serving one- to two-year terms) missionaries range in age and experience and include recent college graduates, retirees and mid-career couples from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. The countries where they will serve include Cambodia, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Hungary, Kenya, Macau, Russia, South Africa and Taiwan.
Harrison encouraged church members to support the missionaries with “your prayers and with your treasures.”
“They will bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people all around the world,” Harrison said, “‘for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself’ (Acts 2:38).”
The 34 new missionaries will join a global mission team of more than 1,000, which includes short-term missionaries, military chaplains, international educators and other career and GEO personnel.
The LCMS has been involved in mission and outreach since 1851 when it established its first mission board and sent its first overseas missionary to India in 1895. Today, the LCMS trains, sends and supports called and appointed, long-term GEO and short-time missionaries throughout the United States and in various countries around the world where there are mission stations, partner churches, schools and mission relationships.
For more information about missionary orientation, click here. To find out more about the missionaries, or to support their efforts, download their prayer cards from the LCMS website at www.lcms.org/prayercards.
About The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), is a mission-oriented, Bible-based, confessional Christian denomination headquartered in St. Louis, Mo. Founded in 1847, the LCMS has more than 2.3 million baptized members in some 6,200 congregations and more than 9,000 pastors. Two seminaries and 10 colleges and universities operate under the auspices of the LCMS, and its congregations operate the largest Protestant parochial school system in America. The church broadcasts the saving message of Jesus Christ over KFUO Radio, and it has relationships and active mission work in 89 countries around the world. In the last five years, the LCMS has awarded more than $35 million through more than 900 domestic and international grants for emergency response and disaster relief. Today, the LCMS is in full doctrinal fellowship with 33 other confessional Lutheran church bodies worldwide and is a founding partner of Lutheran Services in America, a social ministry organization serving one in every 50 Americans. For more information, visit www.lcms.org.
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Formal sending service set for Friday, July 15
Photos available upon request.
ST. LOUIS—July 14, 2011—The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) will commission 34 new career and short-term missionaries and educators into global service with a special “sending service” set for 2 p.m. Friday, July 15, in the International Center chapel in St. Louis.
The special Divine Service with Holy Communion will be followed by a special reception. The event is open to the public.
The service, at which LCMS President Dr. Matthew C. Harrison will preach, marks the end of an 11-day orientation in St. Louis, which began July 5. The annual event, held this year for the first time at the Synod's International Center, focuses on training, equipping and encouraging the new missionaries.
The 2011 career and GEO (Globally Engaged in Outreach, serving one- to two-year terms) missionaries range in age and experience and include recent college graduates, retirees and mid-career couples from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. The countries where they will serve include Cambodia, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Hungary, Kenya, Macau, Russia, South Africa and Taiwan.
Harrison encouraged church members to support the missionaries with “your prayers and with your treasures.”
“They will bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people all around the world,” Harrison said, “‘for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself’ (Acts 2:38).”
The 34 new missionaries will join a global mission team of more than 1,000.
The LCMS has been involved in mission and outreach since 1851 when it established its first mission board and sent its first overseas missionary to India in 1895. Today, the LCMS trains, sends and supports called and appointed, long-term GEO and short-time missionaries throughout the United States and in various countries around the world where there are mission stations, partner churches, schools and mission relationships.
For more information about missionary orientation, click here. To find out more about the missionaries, or to support their efforts, download their prayer cards from the LCMS website at www.lcms.org/prayercards.
About The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), is a mission-oriented, Bible-based, confessional Christian denomination headquartered in St. Louis, Mo. Founded in 1847, the LCMS has more than 2.3 million baptized members in some 6,200 congregations and more than 9,000 pastors. Two seminaries and 10 colleges and universities operate under the auspices of the LCMS, and its congregations operate the largest Protestant parochial school system in America. The church broadcasts the saving message of Jesus Christ over KFUO Radio, and it has relationships and active mission work in 89 countries around the world. In the last five years, the LCMS has awarded more than $35 million through more than 900 domestic and international grants for emergency response and disaster relief. Today, the LCMS is in full doctrinal fellowship with 33 other confessional Lutheran church bodies worldwide and is a founding partner of Lutheran Services in America, a social ministry organization serving one in every 50 Americans. For more information, visit www.lcms.org.
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