LAMP ministry continues during the pandemic

by Michelle Heumann

LAMP (Lutheran Association of Missionaries and Pilots) recently shared a video made by Bethel Lutheran Church (Sherwood Park, Alberta.) about some of the creative ways its missionary teams are finding to continue to reach out to the northern communities they would have normally visited in person in the summer of 2020.

LAMP teams make a long-term commitment to the communities they serve, returning to the same place year after year, building lasting relationships with the people they meet. The volunteer missionaries from Bethel serve several different communities, and reached out in ways ranging from mailing packages to phone calls and texting to offering virtual Vacation Bible School programming.

The video made by Bethel Lutheran highlights their projects and shares their love for the communities they return to year after year. It also invites prayer for these people and their relationships.

KI and Wapekeka team in action videotaping VBS

Former LAMP director Judi Luckhardt has close ties with the community in Hall Lake, Saskatchewan. In 2018, at the request of two friends there, she began leading an online daily devotion. Over the years, the group has grown from three to more than twenty-five. They now also have a Facebook page where they share a daily Bible verse for other members of the community.

Jeanne Johnson has been a volunteer missionary to Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (K.I., also known as Big Trout Lake) in Ontario for 18 years, and for eight years to neighboring Wapekeka. Her team has a core group of at least three, but over the years they have had more than sixty people travel from different states and provinces to teach VBS and share God’s love with these communities. In the summer of 2020, being unable to lead Bible camp in the usual way, the team created videos based on the armour of God, a LAMP curriculum. A friend in one of the northern communities mentioned on Facebook that her grandchildren were excited to learn more about God, but she didn’t know how to teach them, which was a perfect chance to point her to the team’s videos.

Other pandemic-friendly ways LAMP found to reach out has included mailing packages to people in the communities, as well as delivering VBS supplies, PPE kits (in partnership with several organizations, including Samaritan’s Purse), Bibles and devotional materials, and prayer blankets via plane, thanks to Missionary Pilot Andrew Anstey. A northern airline, SkyCare, graciously delivered a few packages to some of the communities as well. Lutheran Laymen’s League provided books, crafts, and snacks to make 500 packages for children, and LAMP staff added colouring sheets and personalized notes.

Michelle Heumann is Regional News Editor for The Canadian Lutheran magazine.