To Commend,Strengthen,and Give Thanks for Alliance Missionary Program

WHEREAS, The Alliance Missionary Program of the Office of International Mission (OIM) is an initiative crossing decades of the Synod’s recent history, under which church workers on rosters of the Synod’s international Lutheran church partners are called and sent by their own church bodies into foreign mission areas of the Synod, with administrative and financial support and supervisory coordination provided by the OIM; and

WHEREAS, Over the past quadrennium, the Alliance Missionary Program notably has been expanding with respect to the number of church workers called, sent, and supported as they spread the Gospel, plant Lutheran churches, and show mercy in the foreign mission areas of the Synod; and

WHEREAS, The Alliance Missionary Program currently embraces active alliance missionaries called and sent from Lutheran church partners (located in Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, Paraguay, Taiwan, and Venezuela), working in mission fields such as: Belize, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Jamaica, Macau, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Republic of Congo, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Uganda, and Uruguay and proclaiming the Gospel in four languages (English, French, Mandarin, and Spanish); and

WHEREAS, Two of these currently serving alliance missionaries began their work in 2003 and 2008; and

WHEREAS, The Alliance Missionary Program draws on long-held generational relationships between the Synod and partner churches, in which accumulated and mutually shared histories and experiences are directly applied to contemporary mission opportunities facing global Lutheranism; and

WHEREAS, The Alliance Missionary Program expands the capacity of the Synod as we jointly take the Gospel into foreign mission areas; and

WHEREAS, Alliance missionaries strongly complement and enrich the work of Synod-called or appointed missionaries; and

WHEREAS, The Alliance Missionary Program affords numerous opportunities for excellent stewardship of collective resources (i.e., funds, materials, manpower, administration) shared between the Synod and partner churches; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod commend OIM for its comprehensive work in continuing, developing, and expanding the Alliance Missionary Program and for its ongoing efforts to improve the same; and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod direct OIM, working under established policies and oversight provided by the Board for International Mission, to continue to identify and address new opportunities in the Synod’s foreign mission areas where alliance missionaries might be appropriately called and deployed to carry out the Church’s mission; and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod encourage congregations and districts to continue to support the Alliance Missionary Program with gifts, prayers, and coordinated efforts under the supervision of the OIM; and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod give thanks to God for the expansion of the Church’s global mission resulting from the Alliance Missionary Program and for all of the Synod’s partner churches involved in the Alliance Missionary Program to date;

and be it finally

Resolved, That the Synod give special commendation and thanks to the Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil) for its close partnership and engaged codevelopment and strengthening of the Alliance Missionary Program, including its committed investment in the calling, deployment, and continuing support of its pastors in the furtherance of the preaching of Christ crucified