03/20/2018

ELCA Global Links news

Updates on the South Sudan global ministry project
Since it's official dedication in November, the new Reconciliation Lutheran Church in Juba, South Sudan, has become an important center for the community, with over 1,000 people attending weekly worship and many more receiving skills training and health care through the community center and clinic. Your gifts to the South Sudan global ministry project have brought us this far, but Reconciliation still needs your support to provide necessary resources and programming. Give today to help ensure this ministry continues to thrive and grow! 
 
Support International Women Leaders!
The ELCA recently joined with others around the world to celebrate International Women's Day (March 8). To commemorate this important day and the ongoing work of gender justice, we'd like to invite you to support the International Women Leaders initiative. And because of two generous families in the ELCA, all gifts will be matched up to $100,000! We give thanks to all those who have donated so far and helped get us closer to the $100,000 match, which will provide four scholarships for next year's academic year. Join us in reaching our goal and empowering the future leaders of the global church by making a gift today. Learn more at ELCA.org/IWL.

Teach abroad in Central Europe - apply now!
Are you interested in teaching abroad? Do you want to know more about Lutheranism outside the United States? The ELCA Central Europe Teachers program sends people of all ages and experience levels to teach for a year in Lutheran high schools in Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. Participants receive international health insurance and a modest financial salary. Apply now –applications are due March 30.

Stories of lives transformed
Gifts to ELCA Global Church Sponsorship and ELCA World Hunger support programs around the world that impact lives daily. In his blog, the Rev. Viking Dietrich, an ELCA missionary, shares stories of the lives touched and transformed through ELCA-supported programs in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Read about refugees who have found safety and community at StARS in Cairo, activist organizations in Serbia working among Roma settlements to empower community leaders, and a Food Safety project in Lebanon that has secured livelihood in areas of plight.

Mission immersion donor trip to Tanzania and Rwanda
Do you want to see ELCA ministries and God's work in action around the world? Are you interested in making an increased investment in ELCA ministries? Join the ELCA on a mission immersion donor trip to Tanzania and Rwanda this fall! We are inviting current and prospective donors to see the work that gifts to ELCA Global Church Sponsorship and World Hunger are making possible. We will visit with ELCA missionaries in Tanzania, as well as leadership from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. In Rwanda, we will visit with Young Adults in Global Mission participants and leaders of the Lutheran Church of Rwanda. The trip includes three days of safari at Ngorngoro Crater and Tarangire National Park. Trip dates: Sept. 20-Oct. 4. Cost: $5,000 (including flight, food, accommodation, transportation). For a trip brochure, application and more information, email Andrew Steele, director for ELCA Global Church Sponsorship at andrew.steele@elca.org. 

Outreach in Malaysia
With laws in place that prohibit evangelism to Muslim or Malay people in Malaysia, it is challenging for the Lutheran Church in Malaysia to continue growing. However, the largely ethnic-Chinese Lutheran community is seeking to broaden and deepen their outreach with the indigenous Orang Asli, who have been left behind in the development of the country. Learn about how the ELCA is accompanying the Lutheran Church in Malaysia in its outreach efforts and the development of faithful leaders.

'Hope at home'
Through the AMMPARO initiative, the ELCA is committed to a holistic response to the crisis of migration from Central America. In this Living Lutheran article, written by the Rev. Stephen Deal, an ELCA missionary, read about how our companions in the Salvadoran Lutheran Church are providing returned migrants with spiritual, emotional and practical support. Deal works alongside Lutheran churches in Central America as an ELCA regional representative.

'Crafts with a Cause'
Young Adults in Global Mission participant Katie Golden serves in York, England, with social service programs at St. Columba's United Reform Church. In a February blog post, she shares the story of initiating a crafts group at the church, which has become a place of community building, bringing together congregants, people in the neighborhood, and those who are part of the social service programs of the church.

Constructing new churches in Zambia
Due to the rapid growth of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zambia, congregations find themselves in need of sturdy, weatherproof buildings to house their worship. Learn about the initiative to fund 15 church buildings, starting with a leadership training center. 

Give today!
Make an online gift to God's work around the world. Thank you!