Grass-roots mission: sharing the message of the cross

After the first year of a new LCANZ grants fund designed to nurture a missional culture across the church, 10 congregations have begun a journey to bring their local mission dreams into being.

You can read about their inspiring grass-roots outreach and service endeavours in the April–May 2025 edition of The Lutheran. However, the story doesn’t end there – the Local Mission Fund and Seed Project funding will return this year.

So, if your congregation has a local mission idea that needs financial support to become a reality, these grants might be the answer you have been praying for.

A total of $400,000 is being made available annually with Local Mission Fund major project grants of up to $100,000 each, and Local Mission Seed Project funding grants of up to $10,000 each. Inaugural grants were awarded in 2025 for missional projects, including cross-cultural ministry and church planting, a regional learning hub, and mission and ministry activities that enhance school-church connections and outreach.

Ministry Coordinator Lisa Enever, from Wodonga Lutheran Parish in Victoria, which plans to better engage with co-located Victory Lutheran College, says members were thrilled that their funding application was approved.

‘After watching the Friday livestream of the Convention of General Synod, which focused on the mission work of the LCANZ, I felt incredibly excited and inspired by the direction the church is heading in,’ Lisa said. ‘It was so uplifting to see the amazing mission efforts other parishes are making in their communities. I’m truly grateful and blessed that the LCANZ approved the funding grant for our parish, allowing us to extend our reach and connect with even more people in our community.’

College Chaplain Tala Aufai, from Queensland’s Trinity Ashmore Lutheran School Church Plant, says the school is ‘so grateful for the positive response from our alumni’. ‘Three students who graduated last year [have come] on board as part of our team of volunteer leaders for Encounter Youth – praise God,’ he says.

Each of the 2025 successful local mission grants was awarded to a congregation whose project supports local mission innovation and efforts that might be applied more broadly across the church.

The LCANZ Local Mission Fund application process for 2026 grants opens on 1 July 2025.

HOW TO START PREPARING NOW TO APPLY FOR A GRANT

• Place the 2026 Local Mission Fund on your church committee meeting agendas.
• Read the application criteria available at www.staging.lca.org.au/local-mission-fund
• Invite your members to start thinking and praying about the local mission opportunity God might be placing before your congregation.

Jodi Brook is the LCANZ’s Local Mission Coordinator. As part of her role, Jodi mentors and supports groups that receive funding.