Global Missions

In 1987, the St. Paul Area Synod of the ELCA began a partnership with the Iringa Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. The goal was to educate pastors in the rapidly growing Iringa Diocese.

Since then, the partnership has grown into a grassroots movement where local churches are matched with congregations within the Iringa Diocese. To date, sixty partnerships have been formed with the goal of providing prayer, communication, scholarships for secondary and post-secondary education, exchange visits, and financial support.

St. Timothy is partnered with the Irindi Parish. We help support their ministry in many ways, including prayer, secondary student scholarships and evangelists’ education. Since 2003 several members of St. Timothy traveled to Irindi as ambassadors from our congregation to learn, witness, and share with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Tanzania. 

February is Mission Support Month at St. Tim’s!
Supporting Medical Mission Work in Tanzania

The St. Timothy congregation is pleased to sponsor Drs. Stephen & Jodi Swanson. They are medical missionaries in Tanzania. They serve the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania at Selian Lutheran Hospital and the Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre in the northern part of the country. As medical missionaries, they bring the healing ministry of the church to an area of the world that has a deep need for it.
 
St. Timothy pledges $2,500 per year for their support. The money goes to ELCA Global Missions and is combined with donations from other churches to meet their annual financial needs. Our support is not part of our annual budget, but comes from designated donations from our members. You are invited to help support the Swansons by a donation to St. Timothy designated for them. It is through the Swansons that we help bring healing to the people of Tanzania.
 
Steve is a pediatrician, a Harvard Medical School graduate, and has specializations in tropical medicine and infectious diseases. In addition to treating children he is a mentor to the younger doctors and nurses at the hospitals. His work with sick children is challenging because systems are often broken, medicines out of stock, and there are almost overwhelming numbers of sick children to treat.
 
Jodi has a Nursing Doctorate and works in the care and management of acute childhood malnutrition, a very important need in Tanzania. When the Swansons visited St. Timothy, we heard about the important and life-changing work they are doing in Arusha. The Swansons have three children and they all cherish your prayers and support! Thanks for your partnership!

The babies that survive because of the NICU at Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre (Tanzania) are tiny miracles.

I remember when Fortunate walked into our hospital from a neighboring government hospital, a 25-week premature baby held against her chest.  She had heard that we could possibly save a baby so small.  Everyone else told her such a baby was as good as dead.

Several years have since passed, and Aichi is now an active preschooler. Our NICU has more than doubled in both size and census. We now have 30 NICU nurses and 2 full-time Tanzanian doctors to support our busy unit.

Babies now come to us from across northern Tanzania, even by emergency air flight.  So do the doctors and nurses from other hospitals, who want to see with their own eyes what they thought was impossible.  

We never turn a family away for inability to pay.  We work with every family to keep their baby in our NICU, while giving them the dignity to contribute what they can.  Every baby’s care is supported in some measure through the NICU Fund, with many babies fully supported.

Please take a moment and watch this 3-minute video, Aichi.  It is one small reason why we give of our lives, finances, and time to serve in this beautiful country.

Aichi.  A gift.

With gratitude,
Steve

Baby Frank is turning 2 years old. He was born 12 weeks premature, barely weighing 2 lbs (950 grams).

When he arrived into our our NICU, he had stopped feeding. He had lost 20% of his birth weight. His mother died shortly afterwards from postpartum complications, leaving us a very small, incredibly sick orphan.

The family wanted him named after the doctor who sent him to us, “Frank”. We didn’t know if he would live. Lots of prayers and round-the-clock NICU care at his bedside for 112 days.

He was our first NICU baby ever to receive donor breastmilk. He was the first baby in Tanzania to be ever fed via… tube. His survival was uncertain, and his grandmother (“Bibi” in Swahili) came and lived in the hospital for 3 months  so that she could hold him every day, in hopes it would help him recover. Every day he grew stronger, and we continued to hope… and Bibi loved. After 112 days, he was finally discharged home to live with Bibi. Our longest NICU admission ever.

The entire hospital course paid for through donations like yours. Frank recently returned for a visit… and reminds us that the 112 days of struggle were worth every moment. Frank has turned 2 years.  Our little fighter. He reminds us of why we fight for the little ones.