Outreach Focus

Trinity supports a variety of ministries and organizations in Lincoln throughout the year. The Outreach Focus includes four different areas: Learn, Pray, Give, and Serve. Information about our Outreach Focus can also be found in the Narthex at Trinity Lutheran Church and on our social media.

Learn

Welcoming the Stranger

"You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." — Deuteronomy 10:19


Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets repeatedly emphasize how the Israelites were to treat vulnerable people, especially "the stranger," what we would call an immigrant today. For Christians, such repetition signals a crucial message. These repeated commands reveal God's heart: Yahweh desired His people to be known by their compassion for the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the sojourner.


How we treat immigrants is, first and foremost, a spiritual matter. The Biblical narrative is rich with stories of people migrating for various reasons, illustrating that the movement of people is an integral part of God's global plan. Through this theme of immigration, God paints a picture of how He moves people through hardship for His glory! Joseph understood God's goodness and character, confident that what his family intended for evil, God intended for good!

Juniper aims to empower the church to be agents of that good God intends for the vulnerable. We are His Spirit-led body, commissioned to this work. With the gift of globalization, much of "the ends of the earth" has actually come to us. In fact, missionaries are now moving to Lincoln!


Juniper's Approach: Education, Encounters, and Enrichment

So, practically, how do we help the church become an agent of God's intended good? Juniper achieves this through three programs of engagement:

  1. Education: Equipping the local church with understanding.
  2. Encounters: Facilitating direct interactions.
  3. Enrichment: Serving refugees through volunteer programs.


Our Scale of Engagement visually illustrates these three program types.


Beginning with Education and Encounters, the church can become learners of the vulnerable refugees in our communities. Approaching service with humility opens us up to the transformation God intends for us as He uses us to be agents of His love and mercy. Through these, we can also discover culture and language through fun face-to-face interactions!

PRay

  • Pray for a dear woman in our English program: for more Christian community, and for her to experience God’s nearness. She told Juniper, “Sometimes I feel down because I miss my family. I get tired of being alone, tired of work, tired of everything… but after crying for an hour or two, I feel better.”

  • Pray for wisdom and discernment through seeking new staff hires and saying goodbye to other staff. Turnover due to graduations and retirements of two management positions within a couple months of one another is big. God is moving in Juniper, and we need prayer to continue serving refugees and churches throughout this transitional season.

  • Pray for our upcoming trauma healing training in September and for the refugees that God is preparing to participate. Pray God would send the right refugees for our healing groups, and for His wisdom to speak through us. Pray for interpreters who believe in the curriculum and are able to commit to it. 

  • Pray for a woman who was in our driving program. She is struggling to practice due to chronic pain: pray for reduced inflammation, reduced pain, perseverance through pain, and supernatural ability to learn to drive so that her family can flourish. 

Give

Donations to Juniper Refuge can be given through the Outreach envelope during August and September. You can also give online HERE. Trinity’s donation will go towards refugees finding belonging and practical assistance among Jesus followers.


We are collecting 16 new or in good condition basketballs, soccer balls, and kick balls for Juniper Refuge’s Summer Picnic on August 23rd. The balls will be given to refugee kids to play with and then take home. All donations need to be at Trinity by Wednesday, August 20th. These donations can be left in the yellow Outreach Focus barrel in the Narthex.

Serve

We are excited to invite Trinity Lutheran to upcoming Education and Encounter opportunities. You can sign up for these at the Juniper Refuge table in the Narthex by scanning the QR code. Other volunteer opportunities can be found HERE. 

Outreach Events