AIM History

And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
~ Acts 1:8

Declare His glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
~ Psalm 96:3

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
~ Matt. 28:19

During the 1990’s, Trinity members took part in medical mission trips to Venezuela, Guatemala and Haiti. These trips were organized by Immanuel Lutheran Church, St. Clair and were composed of people from many area churches. Trinity members returned from these trips excited to do more for missions.

Pastor Black assembled a group of interested members and formed the committee known as Alive In Missions (AIM). The committee was formed to facilitate action, provide publicity and information regarding the mission activity of Trinity, to assist the pastor in recommending a missions budget, and to coordinate possible mission trips sponsored by Trinity.

Since we already had a relationship with Brazil through the Brazil Mission Society, the Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB) was contacted in 1999 and asked if there was a need and interest in receiving a medical mission team. IELB responded with a list of four missionaries who were primarily working with indigenous people and had a need for medical assistance. The committee prayed about the missionaries and felt led to work with Rev. Paulino Ratund’s ministry to the Terena Indians. Pastor Paulino and his wife Isabel were contacted and they enthusiastically encouraged our visit. Plans were soon underway, and our first medical mission team went to Brazil in July 2000. Since then, a total of four medical teams and two construction teams have traveled to Brazil and assisted Pastor Paulino in his ministry. See the projects page for a report on the most recent trip.

Early on we were made aware of two challenges in Brazil. First, the number of villages that were requesting Pastor Paulino’s ministry was increasing. Second, since many of the people that Pastor Paulino serves are very poor, the congregations are not self-supporting. IELB was facing funding difficulties and told Pastor Paulino that they would not be able to continue funding the work with the Indians. He would probably have to move to a congregation in a larger city that was self-supporting. Trinity felt that it could help keep this ministry alive by providing the funding. Since 2003, Trinity has been providing the full support for this ministry. As the work in Brazil grew beyond medical assistance to include construction and financial support, Pastor Paulino suggested calling all of the work that has to do with his ministry, the Samaritan Project.

The Samaritan Project is just one part of the total mission focus of Trinity’s Alive in Missions program. There is also funding for our District and Synod, and several other projects that you can see listed in the budget. The budget is funded through white envelope giving and represents Trinity’s budgeted commitment to missions. Additional, but less certain, amounts are available through the blue missions envelope. The blue envelope money is donated to the ministry requested by the donor, or added to ministries already supported in the missions budget if the gift was not specified.

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