Immanuel Lutheran Church

Global Mission

October 1, 2006

Tanzania Task Force

Working in partnership with our sister congregation, Mkimbizi, the Tanzania Task Force gains and shares international perspectives and challenges Immanuel’s mission of service. Several Immanuel members have visited Mkimbizi in 2005 and 2006, and Immanuel now sponsors twelve of Mkimbizi’s high school students with financial resources for supplies and to pay for school. This summer’s VBS collected flip-flops for Mkimbizi children. The two churches now pray for each other and sing one another's music. The Mkinbizi partnership is part of the St Paul Area Synod - Iringa Diocese Companion Synods Project, which matches over 60 St Paul area Lutheran congregations with sister congregations in Iringa, Tanzania.

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Guatemala Partnership

Immanuel began a relationship with Guatemala in 2003, when a dozen members joined a work/vision team sponsored by Common Hope. Immanuel members helped build a house, and they worked in the garden, the warehouse, the library, the kitchen, the pharmacy, and the classrooms. But the gift was what they received – what they learned about the people of Guatemala, their culture and their needs. They returned with a heightened sense of global responsibility, to share with others beyond our local community what we have been given in terms of education, economic opportunity, and resources.

Immanuel continues to collect shoes for the children of Guatemala, who are not allowed to attend school without them. Several members sponsor children through Common Hope, which gives their entire families access to medical and dental care, in addition to supporting the child’s education.