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

WHEREAS, The Alliance Missionary Project 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 Project 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 Project currently embraces 20 active alliance missionaries called and sent from eight calling and sending Lutheran church partners(located in Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, Paraguay, Taiwan, and Venezuela), working in 15 mission fields (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, respectively; and

WHEREAS, The Alliance Missionary Project draws on long-held generational relationships, that are dearly held between the Synod and beloved Lutheran church partners, in which richly accumulated and mutually shared histories and experiences are directly applied to contemporary mission opportunities facing global Lutheranism; and

WHEREAS, The Alliance Missionary Project expands the overseas mission capacity of the Synod as we jointly take the Gospel into foreign mission areas along with, in many cases, historic daughter churches of the Synod that were originally planted out of the work of Synod missionaries; and

WHEREAS, The Alliance Missionary Project expands the overseas mission capacity of the Synod’s international Lutheran church partners, for which they have expressed deep joy and thanksgiving; and

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

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

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

Resolved, That the Synod direct the 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 Project 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 Project and for all of the Synod’s beloved international church partners involved in the Alliance Missionary Project 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 recent close partnership and engaged co- development and improvement of the Alliance Missionary Project, including its committed investment in the calling, deployment, and continuing support of its roster ed church workers in the furtherance of this important initiative.