Working Together to Share God’s Word

UPDATE 7-16-2020

The total gift to LHF was $3503.06, and the gift will be matched. View a thank-you letter to the Northern Illinois District by clicking below.

Lutheran Heritage Foundation letter

From the letter:

Thanks so much, Lois Stewart, and all teachers and administrators and students of Northern Illinois District LCMS schools!! Thank you for your mission hearts to Spanish speakers!! God bless you all! P.S. Thank you for your prayers!! -Pastor Matt Heise, Executive Director
We so appreciate the students’ participation in the Hearts for Jesus Spanish project and the gifts given. Gift will be matched. -R. Rahn, Founder

Original article updated 6-24-2020

For the 2019-2020 school year, Northern Illinois District Lutheran schools teamed up to support the mission of Lutheran Heritage Foundation (LHF).

Every year, the School Advisory Cabinet, headed by Mission Facilitator for Schools, Lois Stewart, selects a mission to support. This initiative, called “Hearts for Jesus,” has been an annual tradition since at least the 1980s. Last year’s mission was Rebecca’s Garden of Hope, an organization equipping congregations to reach out to youth in need of tutoring services so that their spiritual growth might be nurtured.

Lutheran schools across the District raised $2,800 for Lutheran Heritage Foundation. That money will be used to print books like the “Children’s Garden of Bible Stories” or Luther’s Small Catechism. Those books, requested by pastors, missionaries, and organizations here at home and in countries abroad, will be given to people for their own.

Click a photo to enlarge it.

Uruguay – Uruguay has the dubious honor of being called the most atheistic nation in the Americas. However, the Lutheran Church of Uruguay has a Lutheran school system and the majority of their students are unchurched. Books like the Spanish A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories can share the Gospel at home with a child who normally doesn’t attend church. (This photo was taken at a school fair, where the children were given their books.)

Venezuela – In the midst of devastating social upheaval, congregations of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela continue to deliver the sure, true Word of God to children living in extreme poverty. Here, a Sunday school in La Caramuca receives their very own Bible storybooks.

Guatemala – LHF partners with other mission organizations around the world to make sure the books the students provide are distributed to the people who need them. Here, school students in Guatemala eagerly begin reading their copies, delivered to them by Lutheran Hour Ministries.

Dearborn, Michigan – Spanish materials aren’t needed just in Central and South America – they’re also needed right here in the United States, where LCMS congregations throughout the country have Hispanic outreach programs. Pastors and evangelism teams have learned that the gift of a book – written in a language the immigrant can read and understand – is a great way to open doors to conversations about who Jesus is.

Throughout the school year, LHF representative Rev. Rod Benkendorf remained in contact with Lois Stewart (and through her, with Lutheran schools) about the Juan 3:16 program they were supporting. He created and shared video messages over YouTube, including a year-end thank-you video to all schools.

It is a privilege to partner with different people and organizations to share the life-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ.

LHF prints a variety of resources and works in countries across the globe. They work with translators in Africa and Asia. More recently, they have begun working in communities closer to home. Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri has requested materials in Spanish, as has Phil’s Friends, a ministry based right here in the NID that offers support and hope to those affected by cancer.

The $2,800 raised by Hearts for Jesus will cover the cost of printing about 600 books. LHF’s goal is to print 13,000 this summer.

To see how the resources that Lutheran Heritage Foundation produces and provides are useful, tune in to an interview (6:30 p.m. CST, June 18, 2020) between Rev. Rod Benkendorf and Rev. Joel Fritsche, director of Seminario Concordia el Reformador in the Dominican Republic.

View the conversation here:

Praise God for the collaboration between NID schools and Lutheran Heritage Foundation! We give thanks to God for spreading His Word, our true heritage, to us and through us.

Working Together to Share God’s Word

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