Global Missions

There are many worthwhile organizations that provide aid to people in need all over the world. St. John's has strategically partnered with the following groups and agencies in order to make the largest impact. If you would like to serve with any of these partners, please reach out to the contact person to get started!

Lutheran World Relief

The next Ingathering will be Saturday, October 26! Mark your calendar to help! Watch for the sign-up in October!

St. John’s volunteers provide more than 300 quilts and 1,000 care and school kits through LWR each year. These quilts and kits are distributed worldwide to those coping with war, disaster, poverty, disease, and suffering. St. John’s ministry groups and individuals buy supplies, make quilts, and assemble kits throughout the year. St. John’s also hosts an annual Ingathering, where nearly 100 churches from the region bring donations to be loaded by our volunteers onto a semi-truck for delivery to LWR headquarters. From headquarters, supplies are sent to people in need in more than 34 countries. Donations of time, talents, donations, and money combine to make these projects successful.

Contact: Vickie Robertson

SCHOOL KIT SUPPLIES

• 70 sheet notebooks—wide or narrow lined (please, no loose leaf)

• Ruler—30cm/inches

• Pencil sharpener—small plastic

• Scissors—blunt

• Pencils—#2 with erasers

• Pens—black or blue

• Crayons—16 or 24 count

• Eraser—pink, classic block style

Personal Kit Supplies

• Bath towel—dark colored, lightweight 27” x 52” only

• Soap—bath size (4–5 oz.)

• Toothbrush—Adult size, new, in original packaging

• Comb—Sturdy, adult size

• Nail Clippers—small, fingernail size

You can also shop from the Amazon Wishlist and send your donations directly to the church, 1617 E. Emerson Street, Bloomington, IL 61701.

Hopedale Growing Project

Hopedale Growing Project is an ecumenical, city/rural partnership between the Hopedale Mennonite Church and St. John’s Lutheran Church to help fight world hunger. Each year the Hopedale farmers raise a crop on 34 acres near their church, dedicating the proceeds to an agricultural training project in Zimbabwe, and St. John’s raises money to offset the costs of raising the crop. Specifically, the money we raise goes toward the $4,760 cost to rent the farmland. Local businesses donate the seed, fertilizer, chemicals, and other costs. Hopedale farmers contribute the labor, fuel, and equipment to plant and harvest the crop. Growing Hope Globally is the Christian non-profit organization that encourages volunteer groups like the Hopedale Growing Project and 200 other growing projects across the country to raise money, then works with Lutheran World Relief and 15 other organizations to fund and oversee projects in developing countries that help grow lasting solutions to hunger. Growing Hope Globally sends our proceeds to a project in Peru. The program offers training to diversify crops and livestock, use conservation farming methods to increase yields, adopt better storage techniques, and learn financial resource, water management, and basic health education. Donate to this project.

Contact: Steve BeMiller

Zambia Pastors’ Children Education Fund

Each year, St. John’s assists pastors of the ELC–Zambia synod by sending a financial gift to help with their children’s education expenses. The pastors have called this their greatest need. This helps them to spend time building their congregations and spreading the Gospel in Zambia.

Sisters Chilombo, a 22-year-old nursing student, and Gift, a 17-year-old student, are in school this year because of your support of the ELC-Zambia Pastors’ Children’s Education Fund. For seven years St. John’s has been helping the 20 pastors of this small synod in Zambia with funds to pay school fees for their children. As the children have grown older, the cost has increased. High schools are not near the children's homes, so they have to pay for room and board during the week. St. John’s is the only contributor to this Education Fund.

Contact: Connie Moll

Madagascar Missionary

Pastor Kristin Engstrom, ELCA missionary in Madagascar, is ELCA Madagascar Country Representative and YAGM Madagascar Country Coordinator. Read Pastor Kristin’s blog and newsletter.