Year: 2019

Twenty-four years ago, in the small city of Kakinga, Uganda, a baby boy was born. His parents named him Obed, but sadly, Obed was not well. “As I was still a baby, a disease attacked me,” recalled Obed Orishaba. “For three years, my mom carried me to hospital every day,…

In a country that’s about 95 percent Buddhist, it’s not always easy to be a Christian. But since 2004, the Thailand Concordia Lutheran Church (TCLC) has been making inroads in shining the Light of Christ among their Buddhist neighbors. Fewer than 600 of Thailand’s 69 million people belong to the…

Your prayers are urgently requested for translator Päivi Räsänen in Finland. Päivi, who is a Christian medical doctor and a member of the Finnish Parliament (Christian Democrats), is being investigated for “incitement to hatred” for her work on a 2004 publication supported by LHF, concerning Christian marriage and homosexuality. “[This…

Rev. Zerit Yohannes, a member of the LHF board of directors, is working with the LCMS Michigan District to help better educate pastors from Africa who have immigrated with their people to the United States. Before starting new lives in the United States, many of these pastors lived in refugee…

LHF is beginning work in a new language of Nigeria, Hausa. Hausa is spoken by about 67 million Nigerians, including Muslims in the northern region of the country. Translation will likely begin with an LHF publication called Guidelines for Sharing the Faith With Your Muslim Friend, as well as the Small…

In late August, Rev. George Ondieki (LHF translator in Kenya, Africa) and Tuomo Simojoki (coordinator for the LHF-Kenya office, pictured at the top of the stack of photos below) set out for the Kitui region of Kenya, boxes of catechisms and Bible storybooks packing the trunk of their vehicle. As…

In August, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana (ELCG) celebrated its 60th anniversary, and an important highlight of that celebration was the dedication and distribution of new LHF publications in five Ghanaian languages.More than 700 people participated in the celebration, marking the birth of the ELCG in 1959. “Real Lutheran…

Less than 400 miles up the coast from Somalia in east Africa, there is a small country called Eritrea. Though there is much greater freedom of religion in Eritrea than in Somalia (half the population is Christian, and the other half Sunni Muslim), Eritreans are leaving their country in droves.…

Somalia, in northeast Africa, is one of the world’s most dangerous places to be a Christian. Over 99 percent of the country’s population identifies as Muslim, and it’s not hard to see why. Sharia law is enshrined in Somalia’s constitution, and anyone who expresses doubt about Islam or even curiosity…

Anyone who’s ever gone to an LWML, LEA or LCMS district convention has seen exhibitor tables, where companies and organizations distribute brochures and free giveaway items like pens, keychains or stress balls. Chances are, the stress ball you pick up might be from an imprinting company called Ariel Premium Supply,…