Local Mission Fund

A growing mission partnership between Wodonga Lutheran Parish and Victory Lutheran College in Victoria reached a joyful milestone last month with the baptism of a Year 3 student during the parish’s family chapel service.

Does your congregation, school or agency have a bright idea for local mission that needs financial support to become a reality? The LCANZ’s Local Mission Fund may be able to help.

Starting or expanding multiethnic ministries in church or school communities was a popular theme among LCANZ Local Mission Fund applications for this year, and St Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Brisbane hopes to build on its history of outreach among people of different cultures thanks to the grant.

Pastor Adrian Kitson and the St Petri congregation at Nuriootpa in SA’s Barossa Valley were delighted to receive an LCANZ Local Mission Fund grant to further their vision for a regional learning hub.

With support from an LCANZ Local Mission Fund Seed Grant, St James Lutheran Church Hervey Bay has launched the Community Connection and Growth Project. Led by Child & Youth Ministry Coordinator Hannah Doecke, the project is already strengthening ties between church, school and community.

Planting a new church has always been a great step of faith. Despite that, members of Grace Lutheran Chinese congregation in Perth have taken that step to serve Chinese-speaking people in the suburb of Duncraig. This bold vision is being supported by an LCANZ Local Mission Fund grant.

Members of St Paul Lutheran Church Blair Athol in suburban Adelaide are keen to strengthen relationships with those around them, especially the children and families of the co-located school and playgroup, as well as the wider community.

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

Members of Trinity Lutheran Church Ashmore in Queensland are making a bold move for the sake of the gospel and have received an LCANZ Local Mission Fund grant to support them. Trinity is partnering with co-located Trinity Lutheran College to plant a church for students and their families.

The people of Wodonga Lutheran Parish in Victoria have a vision of being ‘a welcoming, compassionate and growing church in which Christ’s love inspires transformation and growth … with a faith that endures forever’.

In early 2024, our congregation at Glynde Zion Lutheran Church in South Australia initiated a long-term strategic plan and a new mission and vision.

The Combined Churches Welcome Pack Project, spearheaded by Victor Harbor Lutheran Church and funded by a $10,000 LCANZ Local Mission Seed Fund grant, is a collaborative effort among churches on the Fleurieu Peninsula to welcome the growing number of new residents moving into the area.

Inspired by a story about mission grants available in the LCANZ and acknowledging a lack of youth and young families in their congregation, members of Immanuel Lutheran Church Kadina SA decided to act.

Ten LCANZ congregations will be supported in outreach endeavours through the inaugural grants from the church’s Local Mission Fund. The fund is designed to enhance a mission culture across the church.