Zion's global missions focus on ministry opportunities beyond our local community, sharing Christ's word, strengthening faith and serving those in need.
Partners & Projects
Redeemer Lutheran Church in North Minneapolis
Redeemer Lutheran Church was chartered as a ‘mission church’ in June of 1909, reaching out to the surrounding neighborhoods of Harrision and Bryn Mawr. The congregation was soon able to support itself enough to purchase an older church building, and after 20 years of fast growth was able to build the beautiful church now standing at the corner of Glenwood and Logan in North Minneapolis. The community was primarily Scandinavian working people, eager to find a church home. The congregation grew steadily, reaching peak attendance around the mid to late 1960’s.
After many of the original members had passed on and their children had married and moved away, many of the once single-owner homes were subdivided or torn down, creating a more transient community. Redeemer’s congregation declined, but the members who remained agreed that the community needed a strong church presence, and opened its doors to the whole community as a ‘Beacon of Hope’. With the new more transient membership, Redeemer returned to the status of a mission church.
In the mid 1990’s the Minneapolis Area Synod matched up congregations in need of a mission partner with congregations they thought could help. A lay person from Redeemer came out and talked to Pastor Ed Blair and Pastor John Folkerds, and also preached on stewardship Sunday. Zion then became one of several congregations that partnered with Redeemer.
Mission Jamaica
Mission Jamaica is a short-term ‘vacation with a purpose’ program, which began at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi in 1990.
Mission Jamaica provides Christians a meaningful way to put their faith into action through short-term mission trips to Jamaica. The trip combines a service project with time for reflection and spiritual rest. It allows a person to experience an international mission field that is close to home yet far enough away to immerse into another culture for a week. We serve our Jamaican partners by planning, funding, and implementing Christian teaching, medical care, childcare, and construction projects. Whatever your gifts or talents are, you can use them to serve the Jamaican community. Mission Jamaica provides a way for anyone to love and serve our neighbors just as Jesus taught us through his love and service to others.
Village of Hope in Zambia
The mission of All Kids Can Learn International (AKCLI) is to rescue and care for orphaned and vulnerable children, seeking economic sustainability, to the Glory of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Village of Hope provides orphaned children with quality care, education, Christian discipleship training, vocational training, and employment settings in which to grow and thrive. At Village of Hope in Zambia, these children live in family households with Zambian ‘mothers.’ They attend school, learn basic skills, are discipled as followers of Jesus, and laugh and live in a place of love and caring.
Updates
Could It Be You?
The Global Mission committee is putting feelers out to see if there are Zion members interested in joining our team. We meet on the second
Support Global Mission Work During Lent
Lent is our solemn observance commemorating the forty days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan. We observe this season for
We Helped the School of Hope!
We currently have three mission partners- Mission Jamaica, All Kids Can Learn International (AKLCI), and Redeemer Lutheran Church. For the past few years, Zion’s Global
Ukrainian Refugee Report
Zion continues its support of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. Tetiana Chibova is a thirty-year-old woman with two children, Sofiia, eleven, and Olena, seven. They
“Foundations for Farming” at the School of Hope
Our mission partner, the School of Hope in Zambia, has embarked upon a new program of agricultural training for youth and young adults. This agricultural
Future Mission Trip Opportunities
For many years, Zion has provided global travel opportunities to participate with our mission partners in Jamaica and Zambia. These mission trips combine a service
Calendar
- Sunday, May 5
- Global Missions Sunday
- Saturday, May 18
- Mission Jamaica Celebration at St Andrews
Past Projects
Kelsey in Malaysia: In 2009 and 2010 the congregation helped support Kelsey Mackereth as she spent a year in Malaysia through the Young Adults in Global Missions program with the ELCA. Kelsey’s Blog
Schelleng Congregation in Nigeria: Zion was briefly part of a partnership with a congregation in Nigeria.
Murnyak Family in Tanzania: Dennis and Meredith Murnyak served as ELCA missionaries in Tanzania from 1983 to 2008. Zion was their home congregation, and one of their financial and prayer sponsors, beginning in 1984.
Zion later helped build a church in Mkurankga, and supported a hospice program in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.
