Mission Board

The Mission Board exists to encourage, promote and publicize the missions of the New England District and beyond.

The Mission Board is composed of persons directly responsible for specific mission ministries within the New England District and is dedicated to assisting pastors, teachers and congregational members achieve their mission goals. Leaders include Pastors Tim Sandeno, Paul Lantz, Steven Law, deacon Steve Vekasy, Marla Zeneski, Leslie Colligan and Barbara Lis involved with the New England District LWML. These leaders serve at congregations across New England.

If it is the Lord's will, the New England District LCMS is working to start new churches in New England. Some of these new congregations serve English-speaking populations while other church plants serve populations speaking Spanish, Oromo, Portuguese, Mandarin and other languages.

Please contact us if you would like to join the mission board and help grow the Kingdom here in New England.

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

New England Missions

Circuit 1 (NH, VT, ME) Received help from the NED and Synod for Hope Lutheran in Bangor, Maine.

Circuit 2-3 (Greater Boston) An Oromo-speaking church plant in Boston. Please pray and financially support the Boston Oromo LCMS church plant as they share the Gospel in Massachusetts.

Oromo Boston from New England District LCMS on Vimeo.

The New England District has four missionaries for university ministry and community development around Boston with Lutheran Young Adult Corps. This ministry will start in 2017. Contact Nik Locker for more information.

Circuit 5 (Eastern Connecticut) One church plant. An English-speaking church plant at Our Redeemer in New London.

Please pray and financially support Our Redeemer in New London, CT as they share the Gospel along the Connecticut seacoast.

Download the NED Church Planting Booklet to learn more. The first or last page of the booklet can be used for bulletin inserts, etc. The middle sections provides more details for you and your congregation.

New Church Plants

We encourage new church plants to develop prayerfully and locally in churches and circuits. We encourage new churches to be started within a healthy culture of discipleship and generosity. The New England District has seven circuits made up of 8-11 churches located geographically near each other. The New England District partners with our district churches to start new ministries and churches in our six states. For more information please contact the district office.

The New England District works in partnership our sister districts, seminaries and organizations to identify church planting candidates and share resources across the LCMS. The New England District has budgeted resources to invest in future pastors, deaconesses and missionaries in New England. Please contact us, if you would like to plant a new church with us.

Why Start New Churches in New England?

Jesus commanded his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations and baptize them (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). New churches are started as we go and make disciples in the Northeast.

If New England's six states became one large state, then it would become the fifth most populated state in the country (just behind Florida and larger than Illinois). The New England states combined produce the fourth largest GDP $953.9 billion, just behind New York and slightly behind the entire country of Mexico (#15 in the world in 2015). The Northeast corner of the United States is one of the most densely populated and affluent areas of the country. It is home to thought leaders, innovators, and cultural movers and shakers. What happens in New England has profound social, political, economic and spiritual ripple effects across the United States.

New England is the least churched corner and least Bible-minded area of the United States. It is common to meet entire generations of New Englanders who have never been in a church except for a wedding or a funeral. Many people in New England have never heard the Gospel or they have a very skewed misunderstanding of the good news of Jesus Christ.

In addition New Englander's church attendance is the lowest in the country. There are many spiritual and cultural factors that contribute to this reality. Click here for more details from the Hartford Courant. Ministry is difficult in New England, but the New England District partners with our local churches and mission churches in the proclamation of the Gospel.

This historical corner of the country was the "Bible-belt" four hundred years ago. The Pilgrims, the Puritans and other immigrants came to New England for religious freedoms. They settled in little colonies and built pretty white steepled churches all over New England. Nearly every town green was home to a Christian church. People were hearing the Gospel and new generations were baptized into the Kingdom of God. During the 18th century, famous preachers like Jonathan Edwards and other pastors sought to re-awaken New Englanders to the Gospel. Gradually, Christianity moved from the cultural center of New England to edges.

Today some churches are closing and being sold to developers. Pulpits that once preached salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ are simply vanishing and becoming condos. Some entire neighborhoods and communities in New England need new communities of Christian missionaries and pastors to go and make disciples who make disciples.

Our churches continue to preach Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23). We continue to make disciples in New England and equip saints who make an eternal impact around the world.

The New England District LCMS continues to focus on preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and making disciples of Jesus Christ. As believers in Jesus Christ, we seek to make new disciples and start new English-speaking and non-English speaking churches across New England. We are making disciples and starting new churches so all people can experience God's grace, forgiveness and life in Jesus Christ.

We need your help. You can partner with us (see "Partner with Us" below).

Partner with Us

Prayers

Pray for us. We need your prayers.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Luke 10:2-3 ESV)

Financial Support

If you would like to financially support future churches in New England please contact Brenda Bacon. We need your help to support our existing church plants and fund additional church plants in the Northeast. We truly appreciate your prayers and financial support.

Donate Your Building To Plant a Church

Please contact us if you would like to donate your church building or property, so that we can start a Gospel-preaching church in your city. We'd love to partner with you to grow the Kingdom in your community.

Join Our Team

Are you interested in planting a new church? Are moving to New England? Maybe you would like to help a Law & Gospel preaching church in the Northeast? Please contact us if you would like to join our team. We look forward to partnering with you.

Ed Stetzer, Christian author and church planter, shares Church Planting Shifts: Supporting Church Planters in a Christianity Today article. He describes the shift in the culture saying, "As we look to the future, we're going to find it more challenging to fund church plants the traditional way, primarily because the sending context will be vastly dissimilar to our current context. That's already true in places like Boston or Madison, WI, but it is becoming more evident in Columbus as well." The article continues with some suggestions and encouragement.

Denominational Support and Assistance

Please contact us if you're an established church seeking to partner with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. We look forward to working with you. We are a church body with over 6,000 churches in the United States and international partners all around the world. The New England District is working in partnership with the LCMS through Mission Field: USA.