Missions
Mission Partners
Every year, Lord of Life selects missions in our community and around the world to support during the year, and each month one of them is highlighted during worship. All loose change collected is given to our mission of the month and we ask that you pray for these mission partners.
AbleLight (formerly Bethesda) serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through faith-based programs. AbleLight provides residential and supported-living services across the country. Person-centered, community-connected and faith-based, throughout AbleLight’s past and for its future, people have come together in ministry and mission to enhance the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through services that share the good news of Jesus Christ.
Administer Justice shows mercy and compassion to vulnerable neighbors by providing the help of a lawyer and the hope of God’s love. The Biblical call to justice can be lived out simply. No one should face injustice alone and no one can do justice alone. In Isaiah 58:6-7 we are called to loose the chains of injustice and to set the oppressed free.
For 25 years Administer Justice has partnered with churches, volunteers, and donors around the country to promote true justice and show mercy and compassion to those in need. In churches Gospel Justice Centers transforms lives by the good news of Jesus Christ. Micah 6:8 declares “And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
C24/7 Father’s Arms Ministries, (Christ 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) founded by James and Natalie Crockett, is dedicated through the power of Jesus Christ, to improving the lives of children and young adults in the North of Howard neighborhood of Chicago by providing them with the necessary tools, security and environment for them to thrive economically, socially and spiritually. Their goal is to provide a hope and a path to resurrection to the children and other citizens of impoverished communities.
Children of Faith Missions is located in Vizag, India where leaders Anand and Rosie Thandu care for children teaching them about the love of Jesus since 2003. Today, the school provides shelter, nourishment, healthcare, education and clothing for more than 100 boys and girls. The campus currently includes a three-story building providing housing for the children and staff and a separate building which houses the dining hall and kitchen. A new school building and boy’s dormitory are soon to be complete.
Corbella Clinic (formerly Fox Valley Pregnancy Center) is located in South Elgin and led by Jeanna Pesideri. Corbella Clinic assists women unprepared for pregnancy and empowers them to make healthy, life-affirming decisions through education and compassionate support services.
C.W.O.W. (Church without Walls) is located in Ghana, Africa. John Donkoh, who is C-WOW’s pastor, serves as a missionary in Ghana where he preaches, teaches and leads the native people to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. John also trains leaders to help meet the growing demands of the local church plants in his community.
FaithLife Ministries, based in Alpharetta, Georgia, was founded in 2001 by former Lord of Life members, Barry and Kim Voss. It is a ministry dedicated to training and equipping pastors and church leaders with Biblical, practical and basic leadership and management tools. Their vision is to see training reach 100 nations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Their strategy is to develop foreign trainers, work with foreign hosts, and utilize the internet to deliver and spreading their training in the most cost-effective manner.
Gilgal Gospel Missions is located in Chennai, India, and is led by Christobel Russelliah, reaching the remote Hindu villages with the good news of Jesus. Today Gilgal has a church, a theological seminary, a children’s home and school and nurtures 28 churches in the countryside.
H.E.L.P.S. (Help, Encouragement, Love, Prayer and Salvation), located in Valley View, St. Charles, was founded by Angelo and Norina Valdez and is a Christian ministry that provides transitional housing, food, discipleship and direction for people who struggle with life-controlling issues like drugs, alcohol and emotional problems. The ministry has grown and now includes a community center, a chapel, a food pantry and a shelter.
LCMS Global Mission Fund sends missionaries, responds to catastrophic disasters, cares for the wear, champions the marginalized, strengthens LCMS congregations, supports Lutheran partner churches around the world as they are established and mature, and much more. LCMS Global Missions bring people into contact with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through Word (witness) and deeds (mercy) both here in the United States (National Mission) and in other countries (International Mission). Mercy and witness activities are no longer separated; they are carried out in close proximity to one another by one global team, boldly proclaiming Jesus Christ as Savior and showing His love for all under the banner of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
L.E.R.T. (Lutheran Early Response Training) Ministry, based at Lord of Life, is part of the L.E.R.T. Ministry of Lutheran Church Charities. L.E.R.T. teams are trained and certified to respond to natural disasters within 72 hours or less. Training includes ministry opportunities, phases of disaster work and emotional responses to disaster.
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LINC Chicago is a faith-based leadership ministry set up to engage and equip leaders from diverse communities in Chicago. LINC stands for Leaders IN Every Community with a goal of spreading the Gospel in every corner of Chicago. LINC’s ultimate goal is that EVERYONE would experience the Gospel in terms they can understand from someone they know. We develop local leaders building a ministry plan to reach their own neighborhoods.
Lutheran Bible Translators, organized in 1964, was started by Lutherans to make God’s Word accessible to everyone – literate or not, educated or not – in the language of their hearts. In addition to written translations, they communicate Scripture audio-visually and are involved in Scripture Engagement and literacy programs. As of 2018, there are 29 full time missionaries, 8 adjunct missionaries, 15 associate missionaries and 2 international associates. Together they are working on over 20 Bible translation projects, 60 Scripture Engagement programs, and 4 Language Development programs. The work is being done in over 50 different languages and 16 countries.
Lutheran Church Charities, located in Northbrook, was founded in 1947 to help support the Christian human care ministries of the Church. LCC works throughout the United States and internationally responding to those suffering and in need with the mercy, compassion, presence and proclamation of Jesus to a hurting world. LCC is the home of the K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry and the L.E.R.T. (Lutheran Early Response Training) Ministry and works with and in partnership with our churches providing church worker support, Bible studies and online daily devotions.
New Life Missions is based in Hyderabad, India, where Pastor PJ Honoch leads two churches and focuses on church planting and outreach to children and adults. His outreach program focuses on those in need and in crisis/disaster situations. He preaches to many people at crusades throughout southern India and reaches people on Christian television.
Northern Illinois District – Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod consists 200 congregations of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod which span 24 counties in Illinois, faithfully serving the Gospel of Jesus Christ and sharing it our community and the work. The NID is involved with new visioning and planning in congregations, and small grants to help launch new starts to meet real needs in the community. Enviando! (which means Sending!) is an initiative for sending Hispanic missionaries into the mission field of northern Illinois’ Hispanic population and beyond.
Refuge for Women, located in McHenry, Illinois, provides a place of escape for sexually exploited women. It is a 3-phase program that lasts up to 12 months. A safe place has been created for residents to experience healing without distractions. The key aspects of the Refuge for Women program are sobriety, healing from trauma, and rebuilding trust.
TLC Pregnancy Services with locations in Elgin and Schaumburg, led by Vivian Maly, offers medical, spiritual, emotional and material support at no cost to women facing crisis pregnancy situations. They proudly share the good news of Jesus with all who enter their doors.
Wayside Cross Ministries, headquartered in Aurora, Illinois, has for the past 95 years been providing restoration, recovery, and transitional housing for the impoverished, addicted, and abused. Men, women, and children are discovering new life and new hope. Today Wayside Cross Ministries is a place of transformation and fresh starts in their six programs (a Bible-based recovery program for broken and addicted men, Lifespring Ministries for abused and addicted women and their children, care for the homeless, prison ministry, at-risk youth program, and a transitional work program).
Wycliffe Bible Translators, led by John and Bonnie Nystrom, are dedicated to translating and delivering Scripture to people around the world in their own language. They are currently training Papua New Guineans to translate the bible into eleven local language groups, coaching then through the translation process, and equipping them to pass on their skills to more translators for some of the 300 language groups in Papua that still have no Scripture.